Step-front GT chronology

[Dana Loomis <dloomis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

brian shorey wrote:
>>> the stepped hood went away with the 1750, so the '69 has 
>>> the same hood as the '71 (the best year for the gtv). 
>>
and Scott Fisher added:
>demise of the step-front GT styling, which was not used on the 1750
>("went away with the 1750") but ended with the '67 1600 GTV and 1300 GT
>Junior, as well as on the GTA variants of those two cars.

Actually, the GT's original step-nose design "went away" in stages.  brian
and Scott are right that the production 1750 GTV was first to get the flush
hood treatment.  A few 1750s were built in 1967, but production started
seriously in '68.  

The junior variant of the production GT didn't receive the new sheet metal
treatment until later, however.  I believe this occurred in 1972, with the
introduction the 2000.  At that point, the body and interior of the junior
variants, which included a 1600 as well as the 1300 by that time, were
homogenized with the "big" GTV.  

The racing coupes were updated, or not, according to different logic.  The
1750 GT Am, which was homologated in 1969, had the same sheet metal as the
production 1750.  On the other hand, the 1600 GTA was never built in the
flush-nose configuration.  The GTA 1300 junior, which was homologated in
1967, appears to have never gotten updated sheet metal, either, although
GTA juniors continued to be built past the year when the production 1300 GT
junior was updated.  The racing cars were much more variable and not as
well documented, but in looking through a large number of photos I could
only find GTA juniors with the old-style nose, although some of them were
clearly late cars, and the photos were taken in the '70s.  

My books are in storage, so I have been a bit vague about the dates.
Perhaps someone with references at hand can confirm when the production
juniors were updated and when the last GTA 1600 and 1300 juniors were
built.  The last GTA junior will likely be the last example of the
step-nose GT.  

Dana Loomis

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