Comments on: USAF: Goodbye Chevrolet Camaro, Hello Pontiac GTO

By: Usaf Gto - Pontiac GTO Forum

Usaf Gto - Pontiac GTO Forum — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:58:18 +0000

[...] Usaf Gto Hey there guys i ended up find this out its pretty cool. Goodbye Camaro, Hello GTO | The Truth About Cars [...]

By: ejacobs

ejacobs — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:20:59 +0000

Enthusiasts won’t need to worry. I doubt they bought any with manual trannies.

By: HEATHROI

HEATHROI — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:14:43 +0000

seems to me the only car they really needed is Saab (made from jets…or something)

By: Nicodemus

Nicodemus — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 05:10:50 +0000

I wonder if they might have considered a Holden Commodore Wagon? Same running gear – huge body. Or a Ute for that matter.

By: UnclePete

UnclePete — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:59:04 +0000

I’ll have to take my GTO down to the nearest AF base and see if they’ll let me chase the jets! :)

By: rudiger

rudiger — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:43:33 +0000

I wondered what happened to all those new GTOs that had been sitting on Pontiac lots for so long, then suddenly disappeared.

Still, while I can buy that the Corvette is too expensive, I have a hard time believing that there’s that much more room in a GTO’s trunk than in the hatch area of a ‘Vette.

Though either would still have a lot less room than the hatch area of a Camaro, particularly with the rear seat folded down. Too bad the Dodge Ram SRT-10 was so expensive. Seems like it would have been perfect for the job.

By: Virtual Insanity

Virtual Insanity — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:10:50 +0000

Just more excuse to buy a Texas Speed 402, lol.

By: Orian

Orian — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:56:30 +0000

# Virtual Insanity :
March 7th, 2008 at 4:38 pm

So I can hit up a government surplus sale in a year or two here and pick up an LS2 goat on the cheap?

I’d guess not since they ran the Camaros till they died…or did that since they couldn’t source any new replacements (not sure which).

By: Raskolnikov

Raskolnikov — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:59:28 +0000

Load the trunk up with MRE’s and you’re good to go!!

By: Virtual Insanity

Virtual Insanity — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:38:09 +0000

So I can hit up a government surplus sale in a year or two here and pick up an LS2 goat on the cheap?

By: kazoomaloo

kazoomaloo — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:36:52 +0000

Holy crap, the car companies should have been battling each other for the opportunity to provide these cars to the USAF, I can see huge advertising opportunities for a car that the Air Force figures can keep up with jets.

By: Mike Solowiow

Mike Solowiow — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:43:26 +0000

The USAF has used GTO’s for a couple years now, however, with the last of the Camaros starting to go out of comission, especially in deployed locations, they are augmenting their ranks with all GTO fleets, in order to keep the parts inventory down (less parts with one model of car, instead of two or three).

And the GTO’s trunk is just big enough for a U-2 wing strut… just….

And they are a riot to see as they light up the rear wheels and scream down the runway after the U-2.

By: lambo

lambo — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:12:08 +0000

I should think people should be happy that USAF is choosing reliable up-to-date tech from Europe.

Well all the pilots and former pilots I work with here refer to them as Scarebus and you couldn’t pay them enough to fly anything they make.

But agreed that the trunk in the GTO is super small as they had to move the gas tank behind the back seats to meet US crash regulations. Just enough room for a donut and a day bag or two.

By: JJ

JJ — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:03:07 +0000

Sammy – if that is a knock on the recent tanker award to NG/Airbus, then I’m right there with ya. Idiotic…

How is that…

I should think people should be happy that USAF is choosing reliable up-to-date tech from Europe.

Although, as much as I dislike to admit it, the A380 is a lame duck.

By: Sajeev Mehta

Sajeev Mehta — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:02:29 +0000

+1 for Mr. Karesh. The GTO’s trunk is tiny, but I guess its just large enough.

Something about this blog makes me wanna enlist. That looks like some seriously fun sh–!!!

By: lambo

lambo — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:17:54 +0000

Sammy – if that is a knock on the recent tanker award to NG/Airbus, then I’m right there with ya. Idiotic…

But they’ve actually used GTOs to chase U2s for a couple years now according to my colleagues here at Lackland AFB.

Maybe you’ll be able to find them at military surplus sales one day…

By: Sammy Hagar

Sammy Hagar — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:11:33 +0000

I’m surprised the Air Force didn’t hold a competition and award the contract to Fiat.

By: Bancho

Bancho — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:52:58 +0000

They wanted stable, reliable and fast. Why would they have considered the Magnum?

When I was in the USAF (’87-’91) they were using Mustang GTs…

By: yankinwaoz

yankinwaoz — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:40:53 +0000

Awesome. Glad to see a simple solution to this problem was devised using off-the-lot hardware instead of some billion-dollar custom “solution”.

By: Virtual Insanity

Virtual Insanity — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:19:37 +0000

When I did my G8 and G8 GT test last week, we also had a Charger R/T out there. It was considerably slower and handle a million times worse that the G8 GT, and I owuld argue it wasn’t faster than the G8 with the V6. A LS2 Goat would blow up a Charger or Magnum R/T.

By: Bunter1

Bunter1 — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:10:09 +0000

Cool.

By: cretinx

cretinx — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:07:39 +0000

Dodge Magnum RTs are nowhere NEAR as quick as an LS1 GT0 – they’re heavier, and make way less power.

We’re talking a full second difference here, at least.

By: blautens

blautens — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:43:48 +0000

LS2 powered GTO’s are VERY fast cars (and that’s a reliable engine), particularly for the money. And I would argue that they are actually more faithful to the original muscle car concept (normal sedan with large motor) than most people admit.

Good choice, USAF.

By: Virtual Insanity

Virtual Insanity — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:41:44 +0000

Any chance that, in reality, this did coincide why I couldn’t talk a dealship down from 30k on the black auto LS2 Goat they had on the new car lot, even though it had to have been there for a year, and they shoulda just CPO’d it?

By: Michael Karesh

Michael Karesh — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:41:12 +0000

The GTO has such a small trunk. I’m surprised they didn’t opt for the Dodge Magnum R/T. Maybe not quick enough?