There’s a reason we have never forgotten about the Pontiac GTO. It won’t let you forget it. Every single muscle car that followed was basically inspired by the GTO.
The Pontiac GTO arrived in 1964, bringing an aggressive obnoxiousness to the car market. Engineers attempted to fit the largest engine they could under the hood. The GTO has come to represent rule-breaking, reckless decisions, and personality and power over performance.
Now, custom car builder Ringbrothers has reimagined the Pontiac GTO as “BILLIE.”
Meet the GOAT of muscle cars
Ringbrothers has put 5,500 hours into BILLIE, a custom-built 1965 Pontiac GTO Convertible. The car was born as a 1965 Pontiac Tempest Convertible, but extensive metalwork has completely transformed this muscle car while keeping the original aura that transformed the auto industry decades past.
Ringbrothers’ BILLIE has a body five inches wider than the original GTO. This includes dramatic features like carbon fiber doors, a reshaped front fender, a widened rear, and extended rocker panels.
“The challenge was widening the body five inches without losing the proportions that make a ’65 GTO so recognizable,” said Ringbrothers Co-Founder Jim Ring in a press release. “We spent countless hours massaging the factory lines, reshaping the fenders and refining how every panel transitions into the next. There’s a massive amount of fabrication hidden beneath the subtle touches in the design.
“The goal was to make those changes feel completely natural and organic, as if Pontiac had built it this way.”
On top of the widened, dramatic body transformation, Ringbrothers also added a custom BASF Glasurit “Billie Got Blue” finish with polished chrome accents and black detailing. The bespoke carbon-fiber hood has an enlarged scoop, there are carbon-fiber front wheel tubs, and redesigned headlights. All of this and more helped make BILLIE embody a GTO owned by Ringbrothers’ client’s mother.
“BILLIE began as a tribute to a GTO once owned by our client’s mother, who received the original car as a gift,” said Ringbrothers Co-Owner Mike Ring. “The owner wanted to recreate something that held real sentimental value, and during our early conversations, he suggested calling it GOAT. We came back with BILLIE, as in billy goat, and that moniker stuck.
“It’s a playful nod to the GTO’s heritage, but more, a deeply personal tribute to a car with a special place in his family’s history.”
But the BILLIE isn’t special only because of her looks. Under the hood, Ringbrothers placed a Wegner Motorsports supercharged 6.2-liter LT4 V8 engine. This gives BILLIE a whopping 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque. This is more than double the horsepower of the original Pontiac GTO, paying homage to that over-the-top power. To boost performance, BILLIE has a 10-speed automatic transmission, a Roadster Shop FAST TRACK Stage III chassis, FOX coilovers, six-piston Brembo brakes, and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires on staggering 20-inch HRE G-Code wheels.
“More than 5,500 hours went into bringing BILLIE to life, and the result speaks to the design and extraordinary craftsmanship of our team,” said Ring. “We’re also grateful to our trusted partners, including Gentex, HRE Wheels and BASF, whose support and expertise helped make this remarkable build possible.”
