Enthusiasts gather at Nutter Center to admire GTOs

When Ernest Burse first laid eyes on a Pontiac GTO in a Kansas City car dealer’s lot in 1964, the brand’s birth year, he had one thought: “I gotta have me one of them.”

Three years later, Burse purchased a black 1967 GTO off a Chattanooga, Tenn., car lot and he’s had it ever since, beefing it up over the years, burning up race tracks and taking it to car shows around the country, including on Thursday, July 9, to the GTO Association of America and the Pontiac Oakland Club International Co-Vention at the Ervin J. Nutter Center at Wright State University.

“There are some real nice cars out here, real nice,” Burse, now living in West Chester, said as he gazed at a parking lot full of classic Pontiacs and drooling motorheads from around the country and world.

The event, which runs through Saturday, is bittersweet for Pontiac owners and fans. General Motors announced this year it’s ending the Pontiac brand after more than 80 years in production to focus on what it calls its more important brands: Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC trucks.

Centerville resident Steve Fleury, the Co-Vention’s co-chairman and owner of a 1966 Grand Prix parked at the show, is downright disgusted over it.

“The demise of the Pontiac brand is, in my opinion, the result of bean counters at GM and a lack of passion (that was present) in the 1960s and ’70s,” he said.

Keep reading: GTO's 'godfather' didn't expect to 'outlive Pontiac'

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