You do realize that they only planned for the GTO to be out for a total of 3 years right? It wasn't cancelled after 3 years, that was all they planned to have it for from the beginning. Pontiac had just gotten a new president and he loved the classic GTO and saw that its 40 year anniversary was coming, so he searched to find what car in the GM lineup would fit the bill and he fell in love with the Monaro and brought it over. Every car was completely built in Australia and shipped over on a boat, which is why they had such limited numbers.
And yes, the car from the outside is a bit bland, which I actually prefer to have a bit of a sleeper instead of something flashy with a big aluminum wing. Besides it was the amazing interior that ultimately sold me on the car. No one can say the interior was bland.
Just curious, in your TransAm, how often do you get a thumbs up or a comment about how much someone loves the car? In the GTO it was a minimum of once a week for the 3 years I owned the car, and no that is not an exaggeration, it was actually pretty crazy. I have a bunch of stories of people telling me how much the love the GTO, some of my favorites are the guy how wanted to have a conversation at 50 mph about how I like the car and that he wants to buy one or the guy at a fast food window who popped his head out and said "I'm not here to help you, I just wanted to tell you I love your car." or the time I parked in front of a mall for 10 minutes and when I came back there were 10 people looking at my car (this one was back in 2004 shortly after the GTO came out) so I talked to them about the car for a while.
For a bland car, it sure turned a lot of heads.
Sorry, I can go on and on about why the GTO is a great car, and like I said, the only people who don't like it either never drove in one, or have to have a flashy car.