The Pontiac GTO is the first muscle car and nobody argues with that. The marketing, the package, the ethos — it all originated in 1964 when John DeLorean put a big engine in a mid-size body and called it something it wasn't supposed to be called.

But somewhere in the 1980s and 1990s, the GTO fell out of the conversation. Mustangs and Camaros and Corvettes stayed in the popular imagination. The GTO got left behind.

The values reflect this: a clean driver 1969 GTO is still approachable compared to its contemporaries. If you want a genuine American muscle car that drives with authority and doesn't cost Camaro money, the GTO is the answer. The window is closing as people catch on.