1974 · Pontiac · United States
1974 Pontiac GTO: the last original GTO
The last original GTO: a package on the compact Ventura with a 200 hp 350; 7,058 built.
United States · researched through 2026-09-25
For 1974, its final year under the original nameplate before the GTO name lapsed, the GTO moved to the compact Ventura, offered as a coupe and a hatchback, with its only engine a four-barrel 350 V8 rated 200 hp net. This record's own overview states that no factory production table was found for the year, so the reported total of 7,058, 5,335 coupes and 1,723 hatchbacks, rests on secondary histories rather than on a factory production document.1,2
Hooniverse's own account further partitions each body by transmission: 2,487 manual and 2,848 automatic coupes, and 687 manual and 1,036 automatic hatchbacks. This record's own production notes describe these four transmission rows as Hooniverse's own partition of the two body totals, adding that the source underlying that finer split is not itself named, so this record carries the transmission breakdown as reported without independent corroboration beyond the single article it comes from.1
The 350 four-barrel, rated 200 hp and 295 lb-ft, is documented as both the standard and the only engine offered on the 1974 GTO package, with no six-cylinder or alternate V8 recorded anywhere in this record for the Ventura GTO. The package itself is priced as a $195 increment over a comparable V8 Ventura per Hooniverse, with 7,058 installations matching the total production figure above; this record's own prices section otherwise carries nothing further, with no base Ventura price of its own recorded to show exactly what dollar figure that $195 increment was being added to.1
Two unpublished leads bear directly on that package price. An uncited Wikipedia passage instead gives the GTO package as option WW3 at $461, with a four-speed transmission at $207, power steering at $104 and power front disc brakes at $71 all listed separately, a figure this record's own note suggests may reflect a different baseline, a standard six-cylinder Ventura rather than the V8 Ventura Hooniverse compares against. A second uncited retrospective, from Mac's Motor City Garage, gives the same package as $415 to $461 over a Ventura base "around $3,000," the same range and the same unresolved-baseline problem, with this record noting that "around $3,000" is itself too imprecise a figure to promote into a price row. A separate Barn Finds reader comment recalling a $4,500 sticker price is kept as a lead as well, since a single reader recollection is not a published price list, dealer document, or period road test.1
This record's paint, interiors, specifications and performance sections are all empty for 1974, a documented absence of sourced material for those categories rather than an assumption that the Ventura GTO shipped without color choices or measured performance data. What remains is the identification detail: this record's own section documents the body-plate coding scheme, with an example plate reading Build Date 05D, Style 74-2FS87, Body N 226XXX, Trim 596, Paint 75 75, and accessory code W66 BLK. Eleven assembly-plant letter codes are separately documented on the same source page, yet this record notes that the example plate's own body-number prefix, "N," does not match any of those eleven codes, an inconsistency this record states plainly rather than silently resolving by guessing which plant "N" might represent.3
Fact sheet · 1974 · United States
The numbers
1974 Pontiac GTO — The last original GTO: a package on the compact Ventura with a 200 hp 350; 7,058 built.
Coverage: Partial — researched sections are shown; missing ones are not yet sourced. Researched through 2026-09-25.
Every figure is labeled with how sure we are. Reported means a manufacturer, registry, or reference figure we cite but have not reconciled against factory records ourselves. Disputed means credible sources disagree and both are shown. Rows are separately scoped; don't add them together unless the note says they make up a total.
Key facts
Production
| What was counted | Count | Basis | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ventura GTO total2,4 Ventura GTO · 350 4-bbl · not stated by source Standard Catalog lineage. | 7,058 | built, model-year | Reported |
| What was counted | Count | Basis | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ventura GTO coupe2 Ventura GTO · coupe · not stated by source | 5,335 | built, model-year | Reported |
| Ventura GTO hatchback2 Ventura GTO · hatchback coupe · not stated by source | 1,723 | built, model-year | Reported |
| What was counted | Count | Basis | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coupe, manual transmission1 Ventura GTO · coupe · manual · not stated by source | 2,487 | built, model-year | Reported |
| Coupe, automatic transmission1 Ventura GTO · coupe · automatic · not stated by source | 2,848 | built, model-year | Reported |
| Hatchback, manual transmission1 Ventura GTO · hatchback coupe · manual · not stated by source | 687 | built, model-year | Reported |
| Hatchback, automatic transmission1 Ventura GTO · hatchback coupe · automatic · not stated by source | 1,036 | built, model-year | Reported |
Body rows partition 7,058 as presented by the sources. The four body-by-transmission rows are Hooniverse's partition; its source is not named.
Engines
| Engine | Factory rating | Availability | Built |
|---|---|---|---|
| 350 4-bbl1,2 350 cu in · four-barrel | 200 hp, 295 lb-ft (SAE net) | standard and only GTO engine | Not yet sourced |
Ratings are the manufacturer's advertised figures under the standard shown (SAE gross before 1972, SAE net after). They are not dyno results, and gross and net ratings can't be compared directly.
Options and packages
| Code | Option | Price | Installed |
|---|---|---|---|
|
GTO package on Ventura1 | $195 | 7,0582 Reported |
Identification
- Body (cowl) plate
- Body (cowl) plate riveted to the top left cowl under the hood. It carries the build date (month 01-12 and week A-E), the style number (year, series and body style), the body number (assembly-plant prefix and production sequence), the trim code, the lower and upper paint codes, and factory accessory codes. The page's example plate reads: Build Date 05D; Style 74-2FS87; Body N 226XXX; Trim 596; Paint 75 75; ACC. W66 BLK.3
- Body-plate assembly-plant codes
- A = Atlanta, GA; P = Pontiac, MI; B = Baltimore, MD; LOA = Lordstown, OH; C = Southgate, CA; X = Kansas City, KS; E = Linden, NJ; Z = Fremont, CA; G = Framingham, MA; 1 = Oshawa, Ont. CAN; L = Van Nuys, CA.3
Identification
Read a 1974 Pontiac VIN
The VIN decoder runs in your browser and never sends the VIN anywhere. How the factory numbered this year's cars:
Same model year
Also in 1974
- AMC AMX The final Javelin AMX: 4,980 built, with the Go Package's cowl induction dropped and a production run that stretched into November 1974.
- AMC Gremlin X and Spirit AMX The Gremlin X gained a 'hockey stick' stripe. The 304 V8 remained available, but no X or V8 counts for the year were found.
- AMC Javelin The Javelin's final year: 22,556 non-AMX cars on a production run extended into November 1974.
- Buick Riviera Colonnade pillared roof; 20,129 built, 1,698 with Stage One and 4,119 with the GS handling option.
- Buick Skylark Gran Sport, GS and GSX The last year a 455 Stage 1 could be had in a Buick intermediate Gran Sport; 3,355 were built, 478 of them Stage 1.
- Chevrolet Chevelle and Malibu SS The SS was gone; the new Laguna Type S-3 coupe carried the Chevelle's performance image, with a 235 net hp 454 still on the engine list.
- Chevrolet Chevy II and Nova Spirit of America Nova (RPO Z51) offered on the Custom hatchback per the source. Enthusiast-compiled production: 390,537 cars; Super Sport 21,419.
- Chevrolet El Camino SS Colonnade-era El Camino; Chevrolet's 1974 data pages define the RPO Z15 SS option for the El Camino Classic. Team Chevelle's production totals give 51,223 El Caminos built, 4,543 of them with SS equipment.
- Dodge Challenger The last original-era Challenger shared a catalog with the Dart; the 360 replaced the 340 as the optional engine and production ended in April 1974.
- Dodge Charger The last B-body Charger before the 1975 personal-luxury redesign, with 5-mph bumpers, carried-over powertrains and an SE that accounted for 30,957 V-8 cars.
- Dodge Dart GTS, Swinger and Demon The 360 replaced the 340 in the Dart Sport, and Flory's production table counts 3,951 Dart Sport 360s at a $3,244 base price.
- Ford Maverick Grabber Grabber production fell to 23,502 by Classic Industries count.
- Ford Ranchero GT The Ranchero GT continued on the 1972-76 Ranchero; 11,328 GTs were built, per reference-site counts in the Standard Catalog lineage.
- Ford Thunderbird Sixth-generation personal-luxury Thunderbird; the record holds the production total and the luxury-group option prices only.
- Ford Torino The 1974 Torino grew again and added the Gran Torino Elite; the Gran Torino Sport survived only as a formal-roof hardtop, with 23,142 built.
- Mercury Cougar Outside the muscle focus: 91,670 Cougars for 1974 per Wikipedia's table.
- Oldsmobile Cutlass, 4-4-2 and Hurst/Olds The Hurst/Olds paced the Indianapolis 500 again and offered a 350 for the first time: 1,800 coupes, 380 of them with the 455 W-30.
- Plymouth Barracuda and 'Cuda The final year: Barracuda and 'Cuda hardtops with a standard 318 and a new optional 360, and 11,734 built before the line ended.
- Plymouth Duster 340 and 360 The 245 net hp 360 replaced the 340 in the Duster's best sales year: 3,969 Duster 360s among 281,378 Dusters, with Twister, Gold Duster and Space Duster packages priced separately.
- Plymouth GTX, Belvedere and Satellite In 1974 a GTX nameplate came with the Road Runner's optional 440 four-barrel, TorqueFlite required; Mueller's Muscle Car Source Book counts 386 of them.
- Plymouth Road Runner The last Satellite-based Road Runner; production roughly halved from 1973.
- Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am A new nose and the last Super Duty: 10,255 Trans Ams, 943 with the SD-455.
- Pontiac Grand Am A revised nose and 17,083 built, only 342 with a four-speed.
- Pontiac Grand Prix The 455 remains the SJ engine as Grand Prix volume falls to under 100,000.
- Pontiac Tempest and LeMans With the GTO moved to the Ventura, the LeMans GT package became the intermediate performance choice, backed by 350, 400 and 455 V8 options.