WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BLUE CAR
- Greg Raymond
- Feb 1
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 24
"A Tribute to Jim Wangers' 1964 GTO 'Test Car' built for Car and Driver March 1964"
CHAPTER 3 Greg Raymond
It’s well established that General Motors supplied two Pontiac GTOs for Car and Driver’s exhaustive road test in Daytona Beach, Florida, in late December 1963. Before diving deeper into the story of the lost “Blue Car,” it’s important to introduce someone who holds a direct connection to the other half of that legendary duo: Tenney Fairchild, the current owner of the original “Red Car.”
Tenney’s father, Phil Fairchild, was a copywriter at McManus, John & Adams, working alongside Jim Wangers during Pontiac’s performance‑driven glory years. Tenney’s memories of the car reach back to childhood.
“I got to ride in this car when I was a kid,” he recalls while gently sweeping a duster across the hood of his Grenadier Red 1964 GTO. “I was four years old, and the car was brand‑new. I remember smelling the oil and the exhaust. I remember trying to peer over the hood to look at the engine. This car is the reason I’m obsessed with cars.”
The Red Car
Special‑ordered and prepared under Jim Wangers’ direction, the Fairchild GTO originally left the factory as a Tri‑Power 389 car with an M‑20 four‑speed and 3.23 gears. But that configuration didn’t survive long. By the time it reached Daytona, Jim had transformed it into a full‑blown “ringer.”
To save weight, he ordered the car without sound insulation or seam sealer. Then, working with Pontiac Engineering, he swapped the 389 for a 421 H.O. from a Catalina, paired it with a close‑ratio M‑21 four‑speed, and installed 3.90 gears. The transformation was so seamless that even the Car and Driver staff had no idea. Jim didn’t reveal the truth until his memoir was published in 1998.
“So the magazine guys wouldn’t get suspicious, he equipped the car with a few options,” Tenney explains. “Power steering, a power antenna, and the fancy spinner hubcaps. He wanted it to look like a regular GTO any dealer might have in stock.”
(Originally reported in Hagerty Magazine, Scott Oldham, March 28, 2019.)
At some point during the Daytona testing, the Red Car suffered a catastrophic engine failure. According to the article, Jim flat‑towed it home behind the Blue Car and had Royal Pontiac install a fresh 421. The Red Car then became Jim’s daily driver and Woodward Avenue weapon until August of the following year, when it returned to Royal and was sold to Royal Oak police officer Bill Sherman for $3,200.
By the time New Jersey Corvette collector Joe Conte acquired the car in 1991, it had devolved into a rusty drag car with a heavily modified, incorrect 428. But Conte knew exactly what he had and preserved it. Tenney, who had been contacting him periodically since the late 1990s, finally purchased the car in 2005.
Why the Photos Tell Two Stories
In the Car and Driver article, the engine bay photo and the shot of an acceleration run are of the Red Car, but the remaining images feature the Pilot Car, the elusive Blue Car. After discussing this with Tenney, we agreed there were two likely reasons:
Print limitations of the era. Early‑1960s automotive magazines were predominantly black‑and‑white. The darker Nocturne Blue paint of the Pilot Car offered better contrast and reproduced more cleanly on the page.
The Pilot Car’s build quality. Pilot cars were preproduction vehicles assembled before the official start of the model year. They were built slowly, under the watchful eyes of engineers, to validate processes and ensure everything worked as intended. As Tenney put it, “The Blue Car was a handmade car.” Its fit, finish, and detailing were exceptional, ideal for press photography and for making a strong impression during the Florida test.
There were also notable omissions on the Blue Car. Heavy‑duty jute padding was left out from under the carpet, and no outside mirrors were installed, details consistent with a preproduction build focused on evaluation rather than retail sale.
The Fate of the Blue Car
So what became of the Blue Car? Unfortunately, its story ends on a somber note. As a preproduction vehicle, it carried no VIN. GM could not legally sell a car that had been used for durability and performance testing. After towing the wounded Red Car 1,500 miles back to Michigan, its final act of service, the Blue Car was sent to its fate.
It was crushed.
One of the two most historically significant GTOs ever built, gone forever. And that loss is precisely why recreating the Blue Car today carries such weight, purpose, and responsibility.
“The Red Car” - June 10th 2023 Jim Wangers‘ Celebration of Life at the Petersen Automotive Museum
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