Pontiac: The end of the line.

Pontiac made some really great cars in the late 50s, and the 60's.

I test drove a new Pontiac Tempest convertible back in 1964. I wasn't very impressed, and then the salesman said something about a new model coming out soon.

Then he showed me the new GTO sales catalog. (I waited a few months and bought a new Corvette instead.)

I've been a Ford guy a long time, but, in 1966, when my buddy pulled up in his new 1966 GTO, there was no comparison to my 1966 Cyclone. The Pontiac was classier in every way. (More like a slightly smaller Grand Prix.)

First Olds, and now Pontiac. Real shame.
 
Meteorite said:
s640x640.jpg
Click to expand...

is that an old vox?
 
The old Pontiac's were nice cars but I wont miss that POS Quad 4 motor in the Grand Am's! I was dating my wife at the time (87-89) and her alternator went out. What I went through to get at that pos and then to find out replacements were $400 was unbelievable. Last Pontiac I ever messed with.

Brad
 
Well that sucks. I suppose the G8 could become somewhat Marauder-esque in the future, save for higher production numbers than the MM.
 
I had a 91' Grand Prix STE. Nice car when it worked but was full of headaches. I got it with a blown motor, replaced the motor drove it for a few years then the head gaskets blew. Replaced those, drove it a couple more years then the timing chain snapped. That's when it went to the junkyard.

Can't say I will miss Pontiac.
 
What a bummer. My old Ponchos; my 66 Le Mans, my 67 GTO, my 04 GTO and my 90 Firebird Formula. All great cars! Note: The blue GTO is the same car as the white one, the photo was pre-restoration. Two biggest mistakes, restoring the (rusty) GTO and selling the beautiful, rust-free, 50,000 original miles, 326 factory hurst shifter three speed LeMans for basically nothing. Oh yeah, I also should have kept the 04 GTO instead of selling it and just went ahead and bought the MM. The 04 GTO (with a 6 speed Tremec) was fast as hell and was a great car, I was just pissed it had no trunk and my parents couldnt get in the back seat one day. As for the Formula, I shipped it to Santiago, Chile when I was stationed there from 1990-1992. I sold it for the factory sticker when I left and Ill bet its still there cruising around Providencia or driving with the T-Tops off down at Valparaiso on the coast!
 
Last edited:
adam/cleveland said:
...none of the news sites indicate anything other than hummer and saturn going BYE BYE and pontiac being shrunk to a niche brand.

so maybe we'll have some new ponchos for years to come.
Click to expand...


Yeah...I strongly suspect this is MSNBC's lame attempt to "wag the dog". I checked with my servicing dealership, and they were rather surprised to hear about it...for a supposedly "dead" brand, nobody seems to know they're dead. I can see them being drawn down, which they sorta are already. All they've got to offer is the Vibe (yuk), the G6, G8 (which has gotten rave reviews from everybody who's tested it) and the Solstice. Think the G5's already been ditched, and the rumor down at Sinclair Pontiac here in St Louie is that the Vibe's goin' out too. No minivans, nothing else, and---at least, for now---NO plans to make a resurrected Firebird/TA stablemate to the Camaro.

So I'm not stressing yet. I saw that article too; they made a lotta noise about the end of Pontiac but failed to actually give specifics, which leads me to think that they're crying wolf.
 
Y'know, this has been buggin' me for a few days now...so I started working a bit of research.

It looks like MSNBC took a small story and blew it into a big something else. There was a story on one of the miscellaneous car forums around the 'net that said that under the restructuring plan, Pontiac was going to be drawn down to a (very small) handful of vehicles and become a niche division.

Okay...and my response is "And?" As I look into Pontiac's history, it kinda looks to me like that's how Pontiac got started. If you wanted an entry-level car, get a Chevy. If you wanted performance, get a Pontiac. If you wanted a family car, you had your choice of Olds or Buick. And if you REALLY wanted to go super-upscale, get a Cadillac. This kind of retraction is simply getting back to basics where Pontiac is concerned.

Bottom line---and I'm willing to admit, I may not have all the facts---this doesn't necessarily look like a bad thing. The story also wanted to make a big deal out of consolidating the dealership network into Buick-Pontiac-GMC dealers only...this ain't news. As I look around, it seems like this has already been in place for years.

Gmtech, feel free to weigh in here...how does it look from the pov of someone who actually works for these guys?

Sorry...I know this is a Ford/Mercury oriented board, but for me (a Pontiac owner, second one in a row: Grand Prix GXP) this is a big deal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top