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Email Traffic With GM Car Czar Bob Lutz Re: The GTO

5K views 28 replies 15 participants last post by  jontyrees 
#1 ·
OK...this is too weird.

A lady here at my new gig and I were talking today. She asked if I was the one with the Yeallow GTO...I confessed. She asked me how I liked it. I told her that I think it's a great car...fast, solid, and comfortable. She agreed and told me a story about how she and her husband borrowed one and had a blast melting the rear tires into slag near their home-- much to the chagrin of their neighbors.

When she left, one of the IT guys spoke up. "You know who she is, right?"

"I dunno...she works over in North Shop, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Also, her Dad is Bob Lutz."

"The Bob Lutz? As in the GM VP Car Czar Guy Bob Lutz?"

"The very one."

So, I fired off an email to the lady, asking her to please pass on to her Dad about how much I like the GTO (his brainchild), and how it wooed a hard-core German import guy over to an American drivetrain.

I get an email back:

Bob, please YOU tell him...he will LOVE to hear that...he is addicted to his blackberry...he will respond. There was just a really nasty letter in automotive news form a Chevy dealer saying that he would rather drive a Chrysler 300 than almost anything GM makes. He stated that Bob has NOT delivered the hot cars he promised, so poor Dad could use a boost. He has a pretty tough job right now.
So, I did.

Hello Mr. Lutz-

I have recently taken the position of Purchasing Manager here at the company where your daughter XXXX works, XXX. Up until 3 weeks ago, I was purchasing Manager at Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's outfit in Mojave. We built the SpaceShipOne manned spacecraft....I only bring that up as I know you are a big aviation kind of person--- that beautiful L-39 of yours gives you away there.

I was just talking to XXXXX about my new beloved car-- a 2004 Yellow Jacket GTO. My previous two automobiles were BMW 3-Series cars--Yes, I was a die-hard adherent to the Bavarian Way. Last September, I had almost settled on another German export as a replacement for my long-in-the-tooth 323i. My wife, a native of the GM Belt in Ohio, suggested I try a car made by the General. I must admit to being less than enthusiastic about it. A domestic car? A pushrod V8? Me? Nein.

I spoke to the salesguy at Motor City Pontiac, a true gearhead. I laid eyes on a beautiful Yellow Land Rocket in their showroom, with black SS stripes and 18" Momo wheels. Nice, I thought, but...He answered my questions intelligently, saw my doubt, shrugged, and gave me the keys.

Then, I drove the dealer's demonstrator. Hard. The incredible acceleration and beautiful wailing song of that LS-1 powerplant...the solid and precise Tremec 6 speed...the solid feeling of a modern chassis and IRS...oh, man. The classy interior design and way-above-price-point materials....but mainly, that snarl. I was hooked. I put down a deposit to hold it and bought the yellow GTO three days later.

My commute out here to Glendale is 105 miles each way from my home in Bakersfield, taking me an average of one hour forty minutes each leg (I open her up once I'm out of LA traffic). The GTO lives up to its name-- it is a world-class Gran Turisimo car. Comfortable, fast, taut, fast...oh yeah, I said that. It is an absolute joy to drive. The car is exceedingly well built and has been trouble-free since day one. And anyone who says that the styling is boring should have to explain the thumbs up I get from guys driving Porsche Carrera Cabrios on the 5 Freeway, the approving nods I get at stoplights, the kids pointing with mouths agape as it rumbles by. The car gets people's attention...in the best of all ways.

The GTO has made me this BimmerHead into a GM believer. When it's time to put my Goat out to pasture in three years or so (210 mile daily round trips will eventually take their toll), I will get a Cadillac CTS-V, or possibly a C6 Corvette. Oh man oh man...if I'm really good, maybe the amazing Z06 C6. Drool.

Sir, under your guidance, GM has become a true car guy company again, and I just wanted to thank you for that.
Sure enough, I get a response from him:

Thank you very much. Stories like that are the reason we go to work every day and try to create exceptional cars. My one request to you would be: Talk it up! Hget others to try! Get them out of the import rut! Anyway, thanks again, and enjoy the car. I know I love mine!
Bob Lutz is the man behind the Holden Goat...but I had no idea that he owns one!

:) :)
 
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#28 ·
I went to the Chicago Auto Show on Thrusday because it is always more fum than working. I wanted to see the 05 GTO and see how I liked the changes. I can say I like the hood and am ambivelent about the rear. I like my 04s better.
After looking at cars for several hours I think that Mr Lutz is to be thanked a lot for bringing us the GTO. I think it is by far the best value for the money even at sticker price. Perhaps the previous poster is correct in stating that this car is here to draw us into buying a Caddy because the CST-V would be my next choice.
I did ask for a $45.00 per hr raise in pay today as I think I would look good in an Astin Martin DB9. They think I'm funny.
There have been some good highspeed touring cars recently, one being the GEN III SHO Tarus. (I had a 99). It seems that these types of cars are never really promoted properly. It is good to have a car that goes fast well and really only gets noticed by those in the know. Neither my green SHO or my black GTO seem to create too much of a stir when I blow by people. No cops are good cops.
 
#29 ·
Not a real big surprise I suppose, but I also went from a Gen III SHO (red '96) to the black GTO. We also had a '90 Q45 before that, which was also an excellent GT car, (unfortunately it suffered from horrible electrical gremlins). In fact I still have the SHO in my driveway, getting ready to try selling it. The Pontiac dealer would only give me $1k trade-in on it! That was the best car we've ever had - not one single problem in the 6yrs we drove it - but it's getting a bit long in the tooth now. Still can't believe resale is sooo bad on them - mine only has 95k miles, and I'll be lucky to see $3k out of it.

The SHO was my wife's car, but we're trading off on the GTO - she has it this week.
 
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