REVIEW - 1972 Pontiac GTO, 1/25 AMT

Background :   

Created in 1964 and perfected in the late 60's, the GTO moniker had many differing opinions attached to itself.  Everything from the GTO being the best muscle car Pontiac produced to a shaming storyline of stealing Ferrari's namesake, the GTO became famous or infamous in big ways.  In the realm of GM vs. Pontiac, the GTO was better at almost nothing compared to the sporting Italian.  However, the GTO was an astonishing mid-sized muscle car and did so at almost 1/7th the cost of the Ferrari.  GM had 16,000 reasons to say the GTO was better. That said, 1972 was the GTO's swan song - even though the namesake lasted past that year.  All "judge" names were gone and the 455ci was down to a mere 300 net horsepower.  Venerable 1/4 mile times that used to be as low as upper 13s, were now in the mid 15s.  By the time "GTO" was vanquished, it was a 200hp slug - with the body of a Nova. 

Specs : 455ci V8, 300hp,  3700lbs, 112in wheelbase
0-60 - n/a, 1/4 mile - 15.2 @ 94mph  (Motor Trend)
                                 
                                AMT is one for creating some ridiculously poor-quality models, and the 72 GTO is no different.  Whether you get the grey or orange-molded version, be ready for a "flash" nightmare.  The body is replete with horrible amounts of flash - to the point of having to guess where to stop trimming.  The chrome also has an innate ability to explode with particles of poorly attached chrome... to the point of looking like you just finished with a new glitter project. 

                                Two of the biggest assembly/design flaws have to do with the rear bumper.  The first is that the bumper is far too wide on both sides (fig 1) - leaving a cheap-looking overhang.  I was able to fix this by cutting the bumper in half and then gluing together, but it still had a noticeable hairline.  Mine, shortly afterwards, went to the scrapyard (trash) due to how bad the rest of the model was.  The second flaw is the fitting at figure 2.  The rear valance fitting with the bumper can be horrible.

                                These BIG flaws aside, the car still suffers from almost no detail in the engine bay, poor piece quality (lights, grille inserts, exhaust), and weak underside detail.  Worse than that, the car itself isn't worth the money and effort necessary to buy resin and other parts to make the car right.

                                This GTO is among the most inexpensive in the model-car world - with retailers selling them for as low as $12.  That said..., I would only take this car again if GIVEN to me!


1.5/5  Very Poor