Thursday, August 03, 2017

What did the letters GTX represent?


Gas,tires,xtreme
Gas Tires Xtras
Gas Tires and X Wife
Goat Xtreminator
Got To Xcelerate
Grand touring ..... xtreme?
Gran Tour Express
Grand touring experimental.
Grand touring exterminator
Gran Turismo eXecutive
Good Times eXtravaganza
G reat T orque X perience
Great To Excess.

According to Jack Smith, it was a business decision to just take the GTO name since they were selling so well. They couldn't use GTO, so they came up with GTX. He said the X didn't really mean anything, and was just a letter they decided to use.

In Jack's words...

"I was there to become the manager of the mid-sized Plymouth product planning group. When I got that job, one of my first chores was to field something that could compete with that GTO. Thus, the Plymouth GTX was born. Frankly, it was just a philosophical copy of the GTO. We took a premium Belvedere with a premium interior, premium accoutrements and moldings—all that stuff—and added the biggest engine that Chrysler had, the 440 four-barrel. A very strong car! It could easily compete with the GTO.

"And I can tell you how we got GTX, if you want to know. What does that X mean? It's just a letter. We arrived at it in sort of a logical way, but it was a copy of GTO."

or they are all wrong and Ma Mopar actually did print a definition:


https://www.facebook.com/groups/996045710517424/permalink/1275019039286755/
at

3 comments:

  1. Tim Vacula6:21 AM

    How funny that you would post this today! I was driving to a job yesterday when I crossed paths with a newish R/T, and it got me to wondering about American muscle car model abbreviations, and their 'meanings.'

    GTO, GTX, GT, AAR, R/T, RS, GS, SD, SS, etc., etc.

    I really thought about pitching the idea of a post about that, and here you've touched on the subject - thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Jesse7:23 AM

      Welcome! As for the rest of the letters, did you check the dictionary of muscle cars? http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2006/11/101-things-you-need-to-know-about_21.html

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    2. Jesse7:31 AM

      I know I've covered all those abbreviations, but probably not in the same place all at once. Gran Tourismo Omologato, Gran Tourismo, All American Racers (Dan Gurney's) Road and Track, Rally Sport, Gran Sport, Super Duty, Super Sport.

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