The "Judge" package was a option first introduced on the '69 GTO which consisted of a new rear wing, different wheels and extra decals on the bodywork with "The Judge" logos. The idea came from a popular character on the "Laugh in" TV show ("Here come Da Judge!") and it was meant to be the top performing GTO package. Pontiac's advertising campaign for the Judge was terrific, with slogans such as: "The Judge is now in session" and "The Judge can be bought" (which in fact caused a major protest from the American Bar Association resulting in the ad being dropped!).
For 1970, Pontiac restyled the GTO with the main change being a new endura (painted rubber) nose complete with four recessed headlights and the Pontiac split front grill. In my opinion the 1970 GTO is the best looking of the lot (although the '66-'67 GTO's run it close on the looks front!). The Judge option was still offered, but only around 1 in 10 GTO's made that year were Judges. GM lifted it's corporate ban on engines over 400 cubic inches in displacement and a new 455ci engine was offered for the GTO. In fact the 400ci "Ram-Air" IV engine option was the most powerful engine available that year, as the ram air induction system (essentially two large scoops on the hood which fed extra air directly to the engines carburettor, in effect a primitive form of turbocharging) boosted power considerably. The hood also had an external rev-counter mounted on it, another "performance" option that was available on the GTO. It looked good, but apparently the vibration from the engine generally put the rev-counter out of calibration quickly and made it difficult to read.
Just over 40,000 GTO's were made in 1970, with a sticker price of $3267 for the two door hardtop and $3492 for the convertible. The Judge option added $337.02 to the list price. The following year, only 10,532 GTOs were made, indicating that the performance craze of the late 60's was on it's way out.
This model was the first release in GMPs new range of 1:18th scale 1970-72 GTO's and Tempest LeMans's. It was released at the end of 2001 and is now pretty much sold out everywhere. It is painted a great shade of orange complete with "The Judge" logos and the large rear spoiler that made up the Judge package. It sets a new standard for GMP models as it has full opening features (earlier GMP releases often only had opening hoods, with non-opening doors and trunks) a factor which has resulted in a considerable price increase over previous GMP releases.
The Ram-Air engine looks superb and is fully detailed. The trunk opens to reveal a spare tire complete with jack, and the interior is nicely replicated too. An excellent feature of this model is the realistic brakes lines running from the front discs to the rear drums along the edge of the car's frame. Overall a superb model of a classic American muscle car. It gets 8.5/10 marks from me.
