ALL RISE; Recalling the Goat's past.

Byline: MAC MORRISON

** For those over 40, the iridescent orange Pontiac GTO Ram Air 6 (for sixth-generation Ram Air car) first seen at the 2004 Woodward Dream Cruise and shown on these pages may trigger a nostalgic twinge: For Friday night cruises; for drag races up Woodward Avenue or some equally appropriate concrete strip of middle America; for George, Paul, John and Ringo. Most certainly, for The Judge, Pontiac's high-performance version of its iconic late-'60s-era GTO. But if the car's functional hood scoops and color scheme trigger deja vu among the muscle car faithful, its carbon fiber trim and custom 20-inch wheel package indicates to Gen X and Yers something much more now than then: It's SEMA time.

The Specialty Equipment Market Association's Las Vegas show annually highlights modern hot rodders' best offerings, though carmakers' ever-expanding presence blurs the definition of aftermarket more and more every year. Indeed, it's a shame that General Motors' Performance Division's reach does not extend further into the parent company's product plans. This GTO project took just three months to go from concept to completion, yet it rectifies most of the criticism we've levied at the standard GTO, just about all of which centers on its appearance.

Penned and sculpted by a team led by Performance Division design director Kip Wasenko, this Goat began life as a 2004 production model. By replacing most of the stock car's steel body panels with custom fiberglass, Wasenko's crew transformed the GTO's look from-how to say this politely-Ally McBeal to Pamela Anderson. The doors, greenhouse, decklid, headlights and taillights are the only production exterior parts that carry over to the concept car, which fuses road-racer chic to old-school cool without incorporating stale retro cues.

"Certainly, we wanted to tie in with the heritage of GTO,'' Wasenko says. "The hood is an all-new design, but it's still Ram Air. We chose a 389-cubic-inch engine because that was kind of the main engine for old GTOs (though The Judge commonly used a 400-cid engine), [but] as opposed to old GTOs, which were drag racers, this one was inspired more by road racing.''

The inspiration is appropriate, as GM revs up the GTO for its 2005 Grand-Am GT racing attack (see Competition, page 58). Hood scoops aside, obvious road-racing nods include the front fascia's gaping intake and functional brake ducts, as well as the prominent carbon fiber splitter that features what Wasenko calls the traditional Pontiac "beak-nose'' look. Carbon fiber trim wraps its way around the car, with flat side sills flowing into a large, racing- inspired rear diffuser that Wasenko says improves underbody airflow and reduces lift, though engineers have not yet put the car through its wind-tunnel paces. In profile, the rear brake ducts incorporated into the fenders are well executed and nicely set off by the mid-body crease line.

The best modification is the not-too-sharp, not-too-round flared fenders that allow the concept to work so well visually. Inspired by the '68 GTO's Coke-bottle curves, the Ram Air 6 appears so muscular that at certain angles, and especially from a distance, the car bears little resemblance to its production counterpart.