Images: Classic Street Rods

We’ve gotta be honest here, when we were a kid, we always wanted a GTO Judge. The combination of Pontiac style and psychedelic pop art simply grabbed us for some reason. Yet with that stupid name, there was no car badder than the Judge. We never did get to own that dream car Judge, so when we stumble upon one at a show or like this one eBay, something deep inside us is stirred.

When the Judge debuted in 1969, its signature color was Carousel Red, which is the same as Chevy’s Hugger Orange. Pontiac’s advertising whiz Jim Wangers felt it should be a one-shot deal to kick sales up a notch but, much to his chagrin, Pontiac product planners wanted to offer it for 1970.

Sales were as flat as the black spoiler (option UB5, of which 51 were built) on that white car. What to do? Create a new, exclusive color for the Judge! That’s how Orbit Orange entered onto Pontiac’s palette. Out of 3,797 Judges built for 1970, 618 were built – not bad considering there were 15 other colors available.

When you spec’d out an Orbit Orange Judge, the default stripe color was blue/orange/pink. However, it was possible to override this and choose another combination, such as yellow/black/red. Of course, standard on the Judge was the 366-horsepower 400 known as the Ram Air III, which was the first step up from the base GTO’s 350 horsepower 400.

The RAIII had a bigger cam and bigger heads (at least those ordered with manual transmission) and functional air induction that the driver could control by a dash-mounted cable. Optional was the round-port Ram Air IV and, introduced later in the model year for the Judge, the 455 HO. Only 17 Judges were built with the latter.

Most Judges were sticks, but only 425 were built like this with the RAIII and M40 automatic. When we finally get our Judge, we’re going to have to insist on a 4-speed unless it’s a Ram Air IV, as that gets to be a place where one can’t be so choosy.