The Ultimate Pontiac GTO Picture Site By Sean Mattingly. There's no bigger GTO image collection anywhere!
Not this
blue car . Or this
blue car . Nor this
one .
But here is the 1968 Royal Bobcat car which was white with gold stripes.
It had the same paint scheme as the later 1969 car above, but in white
and gold instead of blue and white. The car had unique gold-colored Hurst
wheels on it too.
Howard Anderson provided the picture above. He says it was photographed
at the Detroit Auto Show. More about Howard, below.
When I questioned him about this fabled car, Pontiac guru Jim Wangers
has told me the following: (quoting)
"Yes, there was a White '68 Royal Bobcat trimmed with Gold Stripes very similar to the '69 Crystal Turquoise and White car that got so much press. I used it as a "personal driver," until a sharp Royal Pontiac salesman Dick Jesse sold it out from under me. The new owner lived in Massachusetts, and the car left Royal Oak, MI, never again to be seen or heard about. One ugly rumor that did draft back to us was that the car was involved in a fatal accident and was destroyed. Of course, that was never confirmed. One other interesting fact about this car was that it was a favorite of George Hurst (who supplied the gold anodized wheels) and was used somewhat as a prototype paint scheme for the very popular '69 Hurst Olds. The car was never duplicated by Royal in those same colors, after it was sold to an out-of-state customer. As I also mentioned earlier, we received rumors that the car was "totaled" in a fatal accident shortly after it left Royal."
I'm searching for more info or pictures of the white and gold 1968
GTO.
UPDATE 5/00 Howard Anderson (rmcconst@hotmail.com) now in South
Carolina wrote to say that he was the original purchaser of this car and
has the bill of sale to prove it.
CLICK -> 
Take a look at the receipt from July, 1968.
It did have the Ram-Air IV engine, and was sold
as a 1968 1/2 GTO. Howard paid $4,200.00 for it in July of 1968. The Royal
dealership was asking $5,200.00 but he went to Royal Pontiac with $4,200
cash and they took it, though that was a substantial sum in 1968. Howard
was 21 years old.
Howard says: "When M.J. McHugh handed me the
keys he also gave me (the picture above). Mr McHugh told me it was taken
at the Detroit Auto Show. You have one of a kind." Howard still has
an original photo and negative of that GTO which was given to him at the
dealership that day.
Howard also points out that the salesman was
not Mr. Jessie as Jim Wangers stated. It was Mr. Mike McHugh. The car was
not in a fatal accident in the 3 years that Howard owned it. He says he
kept that car in mint condition until the day he sold it. The man he sold
it to blew the engine and put in a 326 cubic inch engine from a Pontiac
Tempest. Howard was in the process of buying the car back when the man
let a friend drive it one night, and it was totaled, at least that's what
Howard was told. He never again saw the car. He plans to search in New
Hampshire for the car.
This is the bill of sale from Royal listing the options the car had.
It lists it as a 1968 1/2 GTO.
Howard also found the original temporary 30-day plate paperwork.
This was issued so he could drive it from the Michigan dealership to his
home in New Hampshire.
Can anyone recall seeing this car at the Royal
dealership?
Seen it on the road? ...in an east coast junkyard?
Any magazine articles on this car?
Surely, someone saw the car at the crowded dealership
and snapped a photo of it!
Howard Anderson says the dealership gave him a
magazine that the car was featured in. It may have been Hot Rod Magazine,
or one of those publications, and it was the centerfold of the magazine.
Howard says he raced the car at New England Dragway to see what et. 1/4
mile it would turn and it came through the traps with the following times:
12.67 seconds at 122mph, 12.78 seconds at 115mph and 12.90 seconds at 108mph.
There was "NOT" another GTO, 442, Chevelle SS396 or 427, Corvettes with
those engines, Mustangs 428's or 429's, 440 six packs that could keep up.
He raced 3 different ones. He raced 3 or 4 426 Hemi Cudas. Only one other
Ram Air GTO came close to beating him, and the Royal car won by several
car lengths. That GTO would hookup like no other, coming off the line.
Royal Pontiac mechanics told Howard that the
car was what they called "BobCatted" and that included cc'd heads, thinner
head gaskets, Isky springs and retainers so in reality solid lifters, cam
was standard Ram Air 4 which had a nice rumble but didn't shake the car
and sounded good. As he was told by Royal, the Ram Air IV engine it came
with was a prototype and only 500 were made.
Also the carb was rejetted and a Sun Distributor
was on it. When he picked it up from Royal Pontiac they took out the 4.33:1
gears it came with and put in 3.90:1 at his request. There were 3,400 miles
on the car when he bought it, and he was told that it was driven by Jim
Wangers as his personal car. At the time, the name Wangers meant nothing
to Howard and his feeling was "I have the title and bill of sale so it's
mine now". Howard brought the car to DeLongchamp Pontiac in Fitchburg MA.
when he needed a fine tune or work done, as their mechanic was awesome
and knew how to tune and adjust everything when it needed work. There was
no warranty on the car. Howard bought the car sight unseen, as he made
a deal over the phone. That car was his second choice because Baldwin Chevrolet
in Long Island NY didn't have any Baldwin 427 Camaros left. He was ultimately
happy with the GTO. If a person could only have the foresight to know the
future, he says he'd still own the car.
Looks like a similar car was featured in an issue
of Motor Trend. Here is what the cover of the magazine looks like.
It wasn't the cover car that month...
There is a small black-and-white picture of a
Royal car which appears in the magazine ...
Here is a scan of the
article. Although there were no color photos, the article says
the car they tested was red with flat black textured stripes on it.
For some more interesting reading on 1969 Royal Bobcat cars, go to the UltimateGTO.com Advanced Picture Searcher. Or just click right here to see a search I've already performed using "1969" plus keywords "royal bobcat".
Background on the Royal Pontiac dealership:
Royal Pontiac was located in Royal Oak Michigan about 11 blocks away from
the famous Woodward Avenue. Royal Oak Michigan is located about 15 miles
north of the city of Detroit. The dealership was located about 6 miles
away from the General Motors Technical Center in Warren Michigan.
CLICK -> 
Here is a map to the former dealership which is now gone.
The old Royal Pontiac building has since been
demolished and there is a new Pontiac dealer located there now. Royal Pontiac
did all the "dealer prepped" cars for the magazines. They would also "Royal
Tune" your GTO by adding a distributor curve, different head gaskets, carb
kits, etc. There were various stages that you could do to your GTO. They
would even do an engine swap for you. Pontiac filtered their performance
parts through the Royal dealership. You could mail order parts or go to
their parts counter. Milt Schornack was a mechanic back then for them.
He still attends the yearly Woodward Dream Cruises. He is a very fascinating
man with ongoing enthusiasm for Pontiac performance.
Look for this printed literature which features Royal:
Motor Trend, May 1962 - Royal Bobcat 421 Catalina, Jim Wangers driving, Dick Jesse, Frank Rediker and Jack Kay wrenching. The Royal Story, published by Royal itself, 1962, 1963 and 1969 - Containing a compilation of magazine reprints, performance recommendations, parts list, performance packages, services, and membership applications for the Royal Racing Team. Royal handed these three issues out to the people who attended their open houses over the years. Speed and Custom Magazine, August 1963 - Containing a "how to" article on building a Royal Bobcat with Jim Wangers and Dick Jesse. Popular Hot Rodding, March, 1964 - A test of a 1964 GTO tri-pwer and how to make it a Royal Bobcat with test results. Car and Driver, March 1965 - Pontiac 2+2 vs Ferrari 2+2 Car Craft, December 1965 - Preparing the Royal '66 Race car High Performance Your Guide to Speed, March 1966 - Test of Royal prepared GTO tri-power and Tempest Sprint Super Stock and Drag Illustrated, March 1966 - Royal builds a B/S GTO. Drag Racing, August 1966 - The Royal Pontiac Story Super Stock and Drag Illustrated, May 1966 - On page 49 is a picture of a 1966 Royal GTO at AHRA meet, Milt Schornack misses shift and loses to Jules Meyers Pontiac GTO. Super Stock and Drag Illustrated, August 1966 - On page 50 is a picture of Geetotiger, with Dennis Frazho (left) John "the Cheater" Politzer dressed as the Tiger and John Kosmala (right). Motor Trend, January 1967 - Test of 2 Royal Bobcats, one stick and one auto, the twins with a story which was later written up in Jim Wangers' 1999 book called Glory Days; When Horsepower and Passion Ruled Detroit Super Stock and Drag Illustrated, February 1967 - Royal '67 Super Stock drag test Hot Rod, May 1967 - How to install a Bobcat on a '67 GTO Motor Trend, August 1967 - Testing two '67 Royal Ram Air Firebirds Super Stock & Drag Illustrated, October 1967 - The cover shows new GTO's with Jim Wangers' gold '67 2+2 and street racing '67 Firebird in background while parked at the Big Boy restaurant at Woodward and 10 Mile Road High Performance Cars, October 1967 - Royal's 1967 GTO Super Stock & Drag Illustrated, November 1967 - Royal '68 GTO drag test, Royal's John Kosmala driving. Car Craft, December 1967 - Royal prepared '68 B/S GTO test Royal Pontiac Story / Accessory catalog, 1968 - 1969 - Containing pictures and info on Royal cars in general. Car and Driver, February 1968 - 1968 Royal 428 GTO test Hot Rod, February 1968 - 1968 Royal prepared '68 GTO Ram Air I Super Stock and Drag Illustrated, May 1968 - Containing a red Royal Firebird on the cover. Cars Illustrated, April/May 1968 - Royal Bobcat '68 GTO Ram Air I test Car Life, May 1968 - 1968 Royal RA I test High Performance Cars, June 1968 - Royal Bobcat '68 Firebird 400 test High Performance Cars, November 1968 - Royal Bobcat '68 GTO Ram Air II test Motor Trend, December 1968 - Containing a one-page black-and-white article about a red and black '68 car. Incidentally, inside the cover of this issue is an early foldout ad for a 1969 Judge showing some prototype stripes which never made it onto the production version of the car. Super Stock and Drag Illustrated, March 1969 - Containing Royal '69 Firebird on the cover. The '69 White and Blue car was/is owned by Jerry Wills. Popular Hot Rodding, March 1969 - Containing an article on both the '65 and '69 Royal GTO's. Popular Hot Rodding, March, April, June, August and December 1969 - The last Bobcat magazine project car that Royal prepared which had to be finished by George Delorean's Leader Automotive since Royal had been sold midway through the project. Hi-Performance Cars Magazine (issue date unknown) - Super Stock & Drag Illustrated, April 1969 - Royal Bobcats RA III vs RA IV Glory Days; When Horsepower and Passion Ruled Detroit, 1999 - Contains a whole section on Royal Pontiac according to first-hand accounts as told by Jim Wangers. Available here in in paperback.Do you know of more literature on the subject? Please send me an email about it.
Here is an email I received in November 2000 from
an anonymous insider. He expresses his own strong opinions on the Royal
subject here...
Sean, I just read your website story about
Royal. It's a good start. As for info about Bobcat paint jobs there were
several customer cars painted with the Bobcat striping. I personally know
of two other striped GTO's in '68 and another '69 RA IV, sister to the
blue and white. One of the '68's was a 428 Crystal Turquoise car with a
white landau top. Owner was Les Goodman. The other '68 was a red car with
flat black striping. This car was a Royal Test car, 68 1/2 RA car, and
can be seen in the 1968 - 1969 Royal Pontiac Story / Accessory catalog.
There were also Royal Firebirds in '68 and '69. You can see the red Royal
Firebird on the cover of Super Stock and Drag Ill, May, 1968 and the Royal
'69 Firebird on the cover of Super Stock and Drag Ill, March, 1969. The
'69 White and Blue car was/is owned by Jerry Wills who at one time worked
for George Delorean. George bought the Royal Racing Team in 1969 when Ace
Sr. sold Jr's dealership. The new owners of Royal, and Packer Pontiac were
no longer interested in high performance street cars. The Warren brothers
(Sid and Dave), Merel Whitacker and Joe Voytish, and the service managers
were the guys who worked the cars. The Inventor of the Bobcat package was
Frank Rediker. You will find names like Win Brown, Chuck Broomfield, Clarence
Walters, Dick Jesse and Jim Wangers. Sometimes even Pete Seaton (his father
was a GM VP). Pete ran a Royal sponsored Pontiac in the early years. There
are a few close friends of Jim Wangers who have been trying to persuade
him to publish a second book on all of the "factual" behind the scenes
goings on at Royal and at the factory. Jim has at least started, albeit
a couple of years ago, with a slide presentation about Royal. There were
many one off projects and fun things.
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Join a Royal club at the Royal Pontiac Club Of America website at http://clubs.hemmings.com/royalpont/ They meet monthly at Denny's in Novi, Michigan.
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