Aside from the videos (which you don't want to miss) there are few still shots of Mitchell actually driving his GTO. But here is Tom Price enjoying his GTO in 2009. Photo by Richard Prince.
By Stephen Mitchell
Seen in the context of its time, there was nothing quite like the GTO.
When entering the cockpit, I never got used to the fact that the pedals were so close. I’m 5’10″ and my knees were splayed around the steering wheel in an effort to fit into the car. Anyone who has ever made this complaint about a Lusso (which I also owned at the time) or GTE never sat in a GTO! This lack of legroom was probably a result of the rearward placement of the engine for better weight distribution. The bulkhead behind the seat limited aft seat travel, so there was no way to adjust for comfort. I always had it in mind to have the pedals moved forward, but never did. You adapt to the GTO, it doesn’t adapt to you. I’ve heard similar remarks made about the Old Man.
Headroom was fine and the seat was comfortably wide. One of my favorite things about the car was the position of the gear lever in relation to the steering wheel. Visually, that marvelous aluminum gear knob looked as though it would be too high for comfort. One is accustomed to having to reach down for the lever to shift. With the GTO, the knob was only inches away from the wheel, so shifts could be made very quickly with a short lateral move of the hand. In front of you, the tachometer had a telltale that would move to…and remain at…the highest revs attained. I never exceeded 7500 rpm.
GTO shift lever and knob was more than prominent but well placed. This is the interior of chassis 4399 as photographed by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
