“Throughout my childhood,...
“Throughout my childhood, many of my relatives worked for GM and drove Pontiacs,” Stephan Locker tells HPP. “I purchased my first new car, a ’65 black GTO with Tri-Power and a four-speed, after high school graduation. I drove and raced it my first year out of high school and then sold it to help pay for college. I owned several more while in college and the army. I have always enjoyed Pontiac performance cars, so when I saw this triple-black ’71 455 H.O. Ram Air GTO, I couldn’t pass it up.”
Atime-honored selling tactic at nearly every automotive dealership in the known universe is to order up a few eye-catching and desirable models to display in the showroom or out on the front line with the express purpose of drawing in customers.
Once potential buyers are in the door, the salesman pitches them regarding the attributes of the fine vehicle that had caught their attention. More times than not, that particular machine is beyond the price range of the prospective buyer, but that’s fine. Even the sale of a less expensive car means that the “bait” car did its job because had it not been there, the buyer may never have stopped in at all.
This practice was just as prevalent in the musclecar era as it is today. Of course, there is nothing wrong with it, in fact it’s lead to some great classic Pontiacs, which quite possibly would not have existed, because they may never have been ordered that way if it was left up to the factory or the customers to do it.
Case in point, Stephan Locker’s ’71 455 H.O. Ram Air GTO. This Goat was ordered as a dealer demo by Bert Adams Pontiac in Joliet, Illinois, on November 30, 1970, and was delivered on January 27, 1971. What makes it so special? Let’s hit a few highlights. It was ordered triple-black with a 455 H.O. Ram Air engine, Rally stripes, a hood tach, Honeycomb wheels, an 8-Track, a Custom Sport wheel, and a bunch more options.
The Honeycomb wheel could...
The Honeycomb wheel could be had in 14- and 15-inch sizes in ’71. This GTO has the 14x7s. Center-caps lacking the Pontiac arrowhead are generally specific to ’71 models, but we have seen at least one original ’72 that has them as well.
Now you may ask why the dealer didn’t just order a Judge. Stephan wondered too. “When I spoke to Bob Adams, the son of Bert Adams, the owner of the Pontiac dealership, he told me he was responsible for ordering this GTO for display at the dealership,” Stephan recalls. “I asked him why he ordered all the performance options and didn’t just order a Judge. He told me he didn’t care for the spoiler on the decklid and the Judge brand had insurance issues, as did four-speed cars. They had a lot of four-speed GTOs on the lot, but interested customers were being turned down by their insurance companies.”
Once the Starlight Black ’71 served its purpose of increasing customer traffic, it was sold to Kenneth and Barbara Shelton. Here is where the story gets even more interesting. The Sheltons kept the GTO in pristine condition for three decades. Then they traded it in to the same dealer to buy a new '02 WS6 Trans Am!
Having remembered ordering and prepping the GTO back in 1971, Bob Adams kept and carefully stored it for the next seven years. Stephan was floored when he saw the condition of the 56,000-mile Goat and all the paperwork that went with it (see sidebar) while at the Mecum auction on May 16, 2009.
“I had never wanted a GTO this new before,” Stephan told HPP. “All of mine were mid-’60s models and four-speeds. When it came to this one, however, I was first attracted by its rarity—Pontiac only built 412 455 H.O. GTOs in 1971 [just 210 455 H.O. non-Judge GTOs with Ram Air, 105 four-speed and 105 automatic—Ed.]. It only built 104 GTOs with shoulder harness seatbelts. Though I cannot document the overall rarity from an options standpoint, it is probably one of very few built with similar options.
“The second important factor was it was still under the original owner’s title. Even though the Pontiac dealer took it in trade, it never retitled it. Third, this Pontiac was presented as one of the most-documented ’71 GTOs in existence. Finally, the Pontiac was also in great original condition except for one respray.”
The auction for this Pontiac was part of Mecum’s TV Star Saturday program and was televised live. Stephan said that two bidders were in a war that had stalled. There was a lull in the action as auction officials discussed the possibility of dropping the reserve. Once the decision was made and announced, Stephan placed a bid and caught the other two bidders off guard by entering the battle so late. Before they knew it, the gavel fell and the GTO was his.
Here you can see Stephan’s...
Here you can see Stephan’s attention to detail and cleanliness at work. Note the inspection marks that he replicated and the small decals he replaced during the resto. Though this ’71 GTO is loaded with factory options, its 335-horse 455 H.O. Ram Air engine is unencumbered by A/C or power brakes. Unlike the Ram Air IVs, the coveted aluminum intake on the 455 H.O. was painted engine color.
Having become an icon of the...
Having become an icon of the industry, the hood tach was in its last year as an RPO. It could still be had in ’72, however, dealer installed.