Nothing comes between a man and his cars -- all 550 of them and every last one a mighty GTO.

Collector Frank Thompson of Baldwin Borough with a 1969 GTO model made by Racing Champion. (Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette) Click photo for larger image.

Frank Thompson, of Baldwin Borough, has what may be one of the largest collections of toy Pontiac GTOs anywhere, from teeny, tiny 1/144th scale GTOS to a giant 1/12th scale one. All are on display in a basement room in his home, in 15 cases on the walls, two shelves and three or four bookcases -- and with the loving approval of his wife, Noreen.

"Oh, it doesn't bother me at all -- as long as they're downstairs. It's when they were upstairs that it really bugged me," she said with a laugh.

The Pontiac GTO is one of the most storied of American car makes. It went out of production in 1974 and is being reintroduced this fall. It was the first "muscle car" built in this country and sealed Pontiac's reputation as a purveyor of torrid performing cars -- at the time the baby boom generation was just starting to ask for the keys.

GTO stands for "Grand Turismo Omologato," which roughly translates from the Italian: touring coupe qualified for road racing. And it was, when introduced in 1964, simply an option package on Pontiac's LeMans models before becoming an independent model on its own. It was part of an effort by Pontiac to get around a high-performance ban at General Motors by stuffing a huge 389-cubic-inch engine into an intermediate sized car -- hence, the term "muscle car."

But Thompson had a simpler reason for his attraction to GTOs. "When I was growing up, my brother owned Pontiacs, and I bought a GTO -- a 1969 Verduro Green hardtop with a 400-cubic-inch engine and a four speed -- because it was a Pontiac. But I grew to love them.''

His collecting bug bit about six years ago when "one of my daughters came home and said, 'Here, Dad, it's a GTO and I know it's what you'd like, so I bought you one.' It was a 1/64th scale Matchbox 1970 GTO Judge. One of my other daughters, not to be outdone, gave me a 1/18th scale GTO that was Verduro Green, just like my car was."

Frank Thompson shows off his 1966 GTO Muscle Machine made by Fun Line. (Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette) Click photo for larger image.

Pretty soon, he started snapping up little GTOs no matter where he found them -- swap meets, trade shows, wherever he saw one. His friends would help out whenever they traveled by alerting him when they spotted a toy GTO.

"I didn't know there was a big toy car collecting thing out there. I thought the most that I'd find would be maybe 20 or 30. But one thing led to another, and I started finding out what's out there. And here I am with 550 cars. It just snowballs and you get carried away by the hobby. You got to have everything that's out there."

Just looking at his collection, you fully expect to hear the sounds of "Little GTO'' by Ronny and the Daytonas, or one of the other related songs, notably "Mighty GTO" by Jan & Dean.

GTO toy cars can vary vastly in price. You can pay a couple of dollars for a 1/64th scale one by Hot Wheels, Johnny Lightning or some other maker. Or, if you're well upholstered in the wallet department, you can expect to pay up to $500 or more for a well assembled AMT kit of the first 64 GTO -- or even more if the model kit's unassembled. And it's not unusual for promotional models of GTOs passed out by Pontiac dealers back in the '60s and '70s to go for that price -- and in some cases, especially scale model convertibles, even more.

Thompson, who now owns a real 1969 red GTO hardtop, has original sales brochures for GTOs too -- and even those are costly. You can add them to the list of other in-demand sales brochures such as old Corvette, Cadillac, Packard, Mustang or Lincoln sales brochures that go for as much as $100 or more a crack -- if you're lucky.

He had some advice for those who want to follow in his footsteps. One: Don't throw away the boxes that your little treasures come in. Most people do and discover later that the boxes are as valuable as the toy. Second: "If you see a car at a show or someplace and are debating whether to buy it -- buy it. When you go back, it will be gone for sure."

Gone -- just like the legendary GTO in Ronny and the Daytonas' song.

"You oughta see her on a road course or a quarter mile, this little modified Pon-Pon has got plenty of style, She beats the gassers and the rail jobs, really drives 'em why-ee-eye-ild, C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO."