In 1969 Pontiac created a car called the GTO Judge, and in my humble opinion, this was the pinnacle of their muscle cars; yes they did have the Trans AM, but it didn't have quite the reputation of the Judge, this was a very special car for the Pontiac motor company, the Judge could instill fear in most people who would want to race it. Now the whole reason for any motor company to create a muscle car, was simply this, they wanted to instill excitement in the younger car buyers, as they had started to lose sales to that sector of people, enter the GTO Judge, this car was built to excite, and that is just what it did, with it's 400 CID engine, with the ram air III or IV option, if the owner wanted a bit more, ground pounding excitement they could step up from the Ram Air III to the barley Ram Air IV it would upgrade you to forged pistons, round port cylinder heads and 1.65:1 rocker arms. The Ram Air III was rated at 366 HP, but you know how bad the factory underrated the hp on the muscle cars, so they could keep them insured while on their car lots, all Judges got the Ram Air III version, unless the owner upgraded, the upgrade to Ram Air IV included a $-Speed manual transmission, and all Judges were endowed with an aluminum intake manifold, 4 bolt main caps, and of course oval port heads with 67 cc chambers, at that time only 34 people ordered the ram air IV option for their GTO's. The standard Ram Air IV came with, a heavy duty cooling system, the standard gear ration was 3.90:1, and a Safe-Track limited slip differential. If this gearing just wasn't quite enough, you could order a set of 4.33:1 rear gears. The Judge also came with heavy duty suspension, which would stiffen up the suspension on the car, by adding heavier springs and heavy duty shocks, drum brakes were standard, but the front disc setup could be had for an extra $62.45, a very good buy for the money. The Judge had a paint scheme that was designed to stand out from the rest of the pack of muscle cars, it was bight orange, well at least the one that I seen, and had a factory stripe running down each side from under the rear quarter window to the end of the front fender, and a graphic sticker at the very front of the front fender, about midway up the fender that simply said "The Judge", as I said before the car was rated at 366 HP @ 5400 rpm and 445 lbft of torque @ 3600 rpm. The transmission that GM selected for this car was the Muncie M-21 four speed manual transmission, the Judge cam with a distinctive hood mounted tach that registered 8,000 rpm, a compression ratio of 10.75:1 in the Ram Air IV version, GM Rochester 4 barrel carburetor, the Judge was designed to thrill, and it could give a healthy man a heart attack, this car was extreme for most people, but it could certainly cause an afternoon of fun. The GTO Judge was my second favorite car from Pontiac after the Trans Am, it was honestly a more powerful car then the Trans AM, but the T/A afforded another kind of fun. |
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