Rawhide’s GTO: GTOhhhhhhh What a Car!

by Darrel Burnett, Executive Director, The Automobile Gallery

Through the magic of Hollywood, generation stacked upon generation will forever link the name DeLorean to the 1985 cinematic masterpiece Back to the Future. The truth is, John DeLorean went Hollywood 20 years before Doc Brown and Marty McFly stuffed a flux capacitor in a DeLorean DMC-12. Some executives climb the corporate ladder. DeLorean hurdled it. By the age of 40, he was the youngest division chief in General Motors history. With dashing good looks and eye for design, DeLorean used his sway as head of the Pontiac Motor Division to change the white shirt world of Detroit forever. John DeLorean’s legend can be summed up in three simple letters…G-T-O.

DeLorean’s ingenious idea was to take Dad’s sedan, pour it full of performance and then point it directly at a young generation hungry for horsepower. To do that, DeLorean and Pontiac marketing genius Jim Wangers turned to Hollywood. From the famed Monkeemobile to Ronny and the Daytonas’ hit song Little GTO, the GTO was a phenomenon giving birth to a whole new category called “The Muscle Car”.

Like millions of other young boys, Paul Kardish dreamed of one day owning a GTO. Years later, that dream came true when he purchased this one-of-a-kind custom 1965 GTO currently on display at The Automobile Gallery.

After enjoying many sunny days cruising around in his dream machine, Paul, his wife Lisa, and son Hudson had a bigger dream: They recently decided to donate their GTO to our friends at Rawhide Youth Services which is dedicated to helping troubled youth. Make sure to stop by and see this wonderful piece of power before it goes to a national auction in early 2021.

John DeLorean’s GTO changed the course of automotive history. Rawhide’s GTO may change a young man’s life!