Old Cars Weekly – 29 August 2019

http://www.oldcarsweekly.com August 29, 2019 ❘ 65

The 1969 GTO "The Judge" repeated the fresh A-body

styling that was introduced in 1968, which also saw the

return of the Endura front bumper.

LeMans with additional standard equip-

ment features including a 400-cid/350-

hp V-8, dual exhaust, 3.55:1 rear axle

ratio, heavy-duty clutch, three-speed

gearbox with fl oor shifter, Power-Flex

cooling fan, sports-type springs and

shock absorbers, redline wide-oval

tires, carpeting, Deluxe steering wheel

and choice of bucket or notchback seats.

A cross-hatched grille insert with hori-

zontal divider bars appeared and hidden

headlights were standard. GTO lettering

was seen on the left-hand grille, right-

hand side of deck lid and behind the

front wheel openings. Tail lamps were

no longer completely surrounded by

bumpers and carried lenses with bright

metal trim moldings. Rear side marker

lamps were of a shape inspired by the

GTO shield instead of the triangular

type used on Tempests.

Pontiac Motor Division’s release of

the “The Judge” option package was

made on Dec. 19, 1968. At fi rst, “The

Judge” came only in bright orange with

tri-color striping, but it was later made

available in the full range of colors

that were available for other ’69 GTOs.

Special standard features of The Judge

package included a blacked-out radia-

tor grille, Rally II wheels (minus bright

trim rings), functional hood scoops and

“The Judge” decals on the sides of the

front fenders and “Ram Air” decals on

the hood scoops. At the rear of the car

there was a 60-inch wide “fl oating”

deck lid airfoil with a “The Judge” de-

cal emblem on the upper right-hand sur-

face.

The standard “The Judge” engine

was the Pontiac 400-cid/366-hp Ram

Air III V-8. It came linked to a three-

speed manual transmission with a fl oor-

mounted Hurst T-handle shifter and a

3.55:1 rear axle. A total of 8,491 GTOs

and Judges were sold with this engine

and only 362 of them were convert-

ibles. The more powerful 400-cid/370-

hp Ram Air IV engine was installed in

One feature that Jan Jordan added to her "The Judge" were trim rings for the

Rally II wheels. These rings were not available on "The Judge," but they do im-

prove the look.