View Full Version : RIP Pontiac
The creator of the GTO--the muscle car of my yoot--is defunct as of today.
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/pontiac-is-going-out-of-business-25897.html
w3bny
11-01-2010, 12:18 PM
And good riddance. Stoopit flaming chicken car.
ka8ncr
11-01-2010, 12:18 PM
And good riddance. Stoopit flaming chicken car.
It's been defunct for years. Nothing like taking a Buick and trying to make it look cool by giving it sporty names and a cockpit-like interior.
kf0rt
11-01-2010, 12:21 PM
It's okay though. Most of us here are Buick age anyway.
KG4CGC
11-01-2010, 12:23 PM
We bought a 95 Grand Am in 97 with 40K miles on it. Kept it until 01. Best little FWD car we've ever had! Quality.
WA4TM
11-01-2010, 12:27 PM
My first car was a eight year old '56 Star Chief Safari, (Chevy Nomad in Pontiac clothing):)
I loved the goats and Bonnevilles of the sixties.
I'm ashamed to admit this, but I owned a 1985 Fiero GT. Biggest piece of crap ever known to man.
My first car was a '56 Star Chief Safari, (Chevy Nomad in Pontiac clothing):)
Very cool...
The article in Auto Evolution talks briefly about the glory years circa 1968.
That was during the period when automobile designs weren't homogenized across the entire corporate fleet, although that end was in sight.
When the basic vehicle is the same engine, transmission, chassis, and body styling regardless of the nameplate, what incentive to you have to buy the more expensiver version when you get the same thing with a different name plate for less?
It might be cheaper to build them that way and achieve economies of scale, but in doing so, you remove any incentive (save the name plate) to spend more.
Thus the death of Oldsmobile and now Pontiac.
And good riddance. Stoopit flaming chicken car.
I've never owned a Pontiac (or any other GM-built car, for that matter) and am not particularly distressed by the passing of the marque. I just thought it was worth noting.
KG4CGC
11-01-2010, 12:41 PM
Pontiac was on of GM's move innovative lines. A little more style too.
I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, Pontiac was the first American brand to use paddle shifters. I know a lot of people said that they would never take off but they are popular enough in the rest of the world that many high end sports car manufacturers offer them as standard over a center shift console.
WA4TM
11-01-2010, 01:11 PM
Once upon a time you could see a car several blocks away (depending on your eye sight) and be able to tell the make, model, &year.. Now, I have to look for the Decal under the hood, or in a door jamb.. And, even might not be totally sure just who the hell made the rig!!!:rant:
The article in Auto Evolution talks briefly about the glory years circa 1968.
That was during the period when automobile designs weren't homogenized across the entire corporate fleet, although that end was in sight.
When the basic vehicle is the same engine, transmission, chassis, and body styling regardless of the nameplate, what incentive to you have to buy the more expensiver version when you get the same thing with a different name plate for less?
It might be cheaper to build them that way and achieve economies of scale, but in doing so, you remove any incentive (save the name plate) to spend more.
Thus the death of Oldsmobile and now Pontiac.
kf0rt
11-01-2010, 01:13 PM
I loved the goats and Bonnevilles of the sixties.
I'm ashamed to admit this, but I owned a 1985 Fiero GT. Biggest piece of crap ever known to man.
Nice styling (Fiero, not Bonneville). Too bad they were such POS's.
W3MIV
11-01-2010, 01:37 PM
Quality.
Ha. You mean LUCK.
KG4CGC
11-01-2010, 01:39 PM
Ha. You mean LUCK.
Ha. No such animal.
kc7jty
11-01-2010, 02:31 PM
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/2710292785_4fa49df24a_z.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/4940209916_0aa5e13919_z.jpg
I remember some years back Oldsmobile was going outta business. Now it's Pontiac.
I call bullshit. You can't put a divider between the American public and shit. The two are synonymous.
kb2vxa
11-01-2010, 03:54 PM
"I'm ashamed to admit this, but I owned a 1985 Fiero GT. Biggest piece of crap ever known to man."
You obviously never owned anything made by AMC.
Let me be the first of you distracted posters to ask... WTF did GM do with all that bailout money???
WA4TM
11-01-2010, 04:00 PM
"I'm ashamed to admit this, but I owned a 1985 Fiero GT. Biggest piece of crap ever known to man."
You obviously never owned anything made by AMC.
Let me be the first of you distracted posters to ask... WTF did GM do with all that bailout money???
Bonuses for the big-shots!!! What else???
PA5COR
11-01-2010, 04:09 PM
GM is paying back the bail out money, in fact they make a huge profit again even re hiring people and build new factories.
http://apps.itd.idaho.gov/apps/MediaManagerViewer/NewsClipping/Story.aspx?ID=43711&Type=NewsClipping
W1GUH
11-01-2010, 04:12 PM
Being a Pontiac brat -- my father worked for Pontiac all his career -- I of course have to chime in. Of course, this final obit on the marque affects me. But not so deeply as GM's bankruptcy and the statement that Pontiac is going to be bellly-up. So this is just the final "It's gone, now."
But it was this way back in the 60's. I lived in Pontiac (both the car and the town were named after the Ind...er..."Native American"), and my dad went to work for Pontiac Motors in '39 after he married a steadfast pacifist Swedish lady -- so he was part of America's "Industrial Might" (that did as much to win the war as the grunt in the trench), and made tanks for the war effort. After the war, he got his Chem. Eng. degree from Wayne State and had a very nice career at Pontiac til he retired.
Those years were the zenith of Pontiac. A lot of years we had a new Pontiac every year, especially when I'd gotten my driver's license, and around town, of course Pontiacs ruled. There were the Mustangs from FoMoCo, and of course the Mopars (one of the famous drag cars was named "Pushbuton Engineering."), but, really, Pontiacs, and, of course, especially the "Goats" absolutely ruled!!!
Yea, and my "everyday" crusin' experience was Woodward Avenue. That was before it had gained national popular attention. Yea, it was a very convenient place to drag race...but most of us, with Mom's Catalinas weren't serious..just having fun seeing whose "Mom-mobile" could get to 60 faster. Pretty mild and safe stuff. But the FUN of that crusin' was what it was all about. But...as all fun things that adolescents happen onto...it drew the ire of the OF's, and the drive-in restaurants clamped down on us (simply for having fun), and change policies so the hanging-out aspect was wiped out. (Later to be replace by the shopping center hanging-out of the late 60's early 70's. Again...totally harmless and innocent...but...the conservative OF's didn't like it...so again...it was wiped out).
And those days were when Mr. John Z. Delorean RULED!!!!!! He was a total prodigy of Bunky Knudsen, who was very responsible for Pontiac's achievement of No. 3 automaker, and he really, really had the talent. I recently read a story of how the GTO came to be. Mr. John Z wanted a "fun" car for the weekend, but he was bored with whatever Pontiac had at the time. And in his position, he had his pick of ANY Pontiac to drive at his pleasure. He went to engineering and asked about "putting the biggest Pontiac engine in the lightest body"...so they put the 389 in a tempest body. He LOVED it....and so did everyone else with access to the car. As the story went...so MANY of Pontiac management who had access to it made it difficult for even HIM to get it back. I remember my father when I expressed that I thought the 326 in a '63 Tempest (remember them?) was a great thing. He said, "Heck...they put 389's in them now." That was well before the GTO was made public!!!
Mr. John Z was also the driving force behind the first OHC 6 in American production...in the Tempest in '66. That's been largely forgotten and ignored -- except a recent google of that Pontiac has turned up a very loyal following of that great, great engine. More of Mr. Delorean's talent on display!
One of the classic cars that I truly would like to own (or even drive for a while) would be a '65 Pontiac 2+2 convertible. That is, a Catalina with a 421 with tri-power...appropriate rear-end...and a 4 speed with Hurst shifter. I'm getting wood just thinking about that!
RIP, Pontiac, you provided many people with a great car (in the context of the times), for a good value.
kf0rt
11-01-2010, 06:03 PM
"I'm ashamed to admit this, but I owned a 1985 Fiero GT. Biggest piece of crap ever known to man."
You obviously never owned anything made by AMC.
Let me be the first of you distracted posters to ask... WTF did GM do with all that bailout money???
My HS "street rod" was a stock 390 '69 AMX a buddy owned. It kicked ass.
We once drove it to Wichita and back over a weekend. 120MPH on I-70 and scratching tires in all gears, with a cracked piston the whole time (we found out later). Briggs and Stratton was stamped on the ignition key.
Best fun I ever had, tho, was in an '88 Nissan Pulsar I owned. 125HP DOHC jap motor and t-tops. Drove it solo through the Arizona desert at about 110 from north to south. Damn, that was fun.
Yea, and my "everyday" crusin' experience was Woodward Avenue.
Lots of great architecture on Woodward Ave., and in Detroit in general. I would have loved to see Brush Park in its heyday, maybe even later before they started tearing down the old mansions.
n2ize
11-01-2010, 07:29 PM
My Dad had a Buick Electra.. What a bomb that was... he nicknamed it... "the brown bomber". Even worst was the Caddilac Sedan de Ville. Most unreliable piece of crap we ever owned. I eventually became an expert in changing starter motors in that car. I could go underneath and change a starter in under 5 minutes.
I'll miss them. They kept Chevy honest with the Goat and the Trans-Am. Never got the chance to drive a GTO (still have the hots for The Judge), but I did get to 127 in a Grand-Am once. Great pickup, but it was work getting there full of drama and a bit twitchy in crosswinds. Still, a lot of fun. Have to admit that getting from Penna Dutch country to NYC in 1:15 was more like flying than driving...
My friend was driving the same weekend and got pulled over 5 times on the same roads. He was going slower, but still a bit over the limit. We never saw any red. I think it was the Grand-Am. Nobody thought it could go that fast.
;)
n2ize
11-01-2010, 09:20 PM
Have to admit that getting from Penna Dutch country to NYC in 1:15 was more like flying than driving...
yeah I remember driging like that. I had no license but made it from Miami Fla to NYC in record time. It was intense. I had an erection the whole way.
KA5PIU
11-01-2010, 09:33 PM
Hello.
The Firebird/Trans Am was "THE" Mexican car. ;)
Early 4 headlight cars were extra exciting!
Red? might as well be Mexican candy, for adult Mexicans.
Needless to say I had a red Trans Am ;)
Now I look at the new cars and shake my head, as was pointed out, they are all so uniform, so much alike.
We now buy trucks, the old ones, the new ones, trucks.
"I'm ashamed to admit this, but I owned a 1985 Fiero GT. Biggest piece of crap ever known to man."
You obviously never owned anything made by AMC. < snip >
I did. 1974 AMC Ambassador, or as I preferred to call it, the Cherry Bomb.
W1GUH
11-01-2010, 09:51 PM
I'll miss them. They kept Chevy honest with the Goat and the Trans-Am. Never got the chance to drive a GTO (still have the hots for The Judge), but I did get to 127 in a Grand-Am once. Great pickup, but it was work getting there full of drama and a bit twitchy in crosswinds. Still, a lot of fun. Have to admit that getting from Penna Dutch country to NYC in 1:15 was more like flying than driving...
My friend was driving the same weekend and got pulled over 5 times on the same roads. He was going slower, but still a bit over the limit. We never saw any red. I think it was the Grand-Am. Nobody thought it could go that fast.
;)
"still have the hots for The Judge"
Please educate this OF about the attraction for what is, IMHO, a complete marketing POS?
The '65 and '66 goats had tri-power with all the trimmings...the Judge was a de-tuned, gagged (only a 4 bbl) commercial POS. What he HELL was so popular about them? Specifics....quarter mile time..0-60 time...whatever. I dare say that performance wise, a 65 or 66 goat will blow that piece of junk off the road. So what's the attraction? The cutesy "Judge" logo in that mindless font?
kc7jty
11-01-2010, 10:09 PM
My Dad had a Buick Electra..
what year? my first car was a '61 Electra 225 conv.
Hello.
The Firebird/Trans Am was "THE" Mexican car. ;)
Early 4 headlight cars were extra exciting!
Nope. THE Mexican car was (still is) a '77 Olds Cutlass.
W4RLR
11-01-2010, 11:24 PM
I've only owned two GM cars, a Chevy Cavalier which was a total POS, and a hand me down Pontiac Parisienne wagon. That wagon was tough, though not well put together. Even going through a flood didn't kill it. I sold it to a local guy for $100, he drove off in it. It's still going around town.
kc7jty
11-02-2010, 12:50 AM
Had a '65 Chevelle Malibu wagon w power glide. I think it was the best model and year Chevy ever built. Body rust finally put it on the chopping block in 1986. The 283 was smoking when I bought it in 73 for $250. Put a special set of Pedrick rings designed for worn bores in after only reaming the ridges and re honing in my garage when I lived here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=secane,+pa&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=39.780156,86.572266&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Secane,+Delaware,+Pennsylvania&ll=39.91785,-75.307696&spn=0.00943,0.021136&z=16&layer=c&cbll=39.917764,-75.307641&panoid=6jfqodsYa3veR1VpdNzh6A&cbp=12,254.27,,0,5
had chickens here too...
Went another 100k miles on that re ring without any smoking or problems.
Had the tranny rebuilt once. Very low maintenance car.
kc7jty
11-02-2010, 09:41 PM
Nope. THE Mexican car was (still is) a '77 Olds Cutlass.
'64 Impala, the '77 Cutlass only because the Impalas are all used up.
"still have the hots for The Judge"
Please educate this OF about the attraction for what is, IMHO, a complete marketing POS?
The '65 and '66 goats had tri-power with all the trimmings...the Judge was a de-tuned, gagged (only a 4 bbl) commercial POS. What he HELL was so popular about them? Specifics....quarter mile time..0-60 time...whatever. I dare say that performance wise, a 65 or 66 goat will blow that piece of junk off the road. So what's the attraction? The cutesy "Judge" logo in that mindless font?
The only thing special about the tri-power was in trying to keep it functioning properly. Way to much carburetion for the engines that were so equipped. The best thing about the Judge was the commercial that had a guy opening the factory electric exhaust cutouts that AFAIK never made actual production. Other than that, it was merely a dress option. You could get all the same engine power options (RamAir IV) in the plain vanilla GTO.
Wish I still had the '70 455 4 speed goat of my youth!
KG4CGC
11-02-2010, 11:05 PM
Wish I still had the '70 455 4 speed goat of my youth!
Did ya check Charlie's pen?
"still have the hots for The Judge"
Please educate this OF about the attraction for what is, IMHO, a complete marketing POS?
The '65 and '66 goats had tri-power with all the trimmings...the Judge was a de-tuned, gagged (only a 4 bbl) commercial POS. What he HELL was so popular about them? Specifics....quarter mile time..0-60 time...whatever. I dare say that performance wise, a 65 or 66 goat will blow that piece of junk off the road. So what's the attraction? The cutesy "Judge" logo in that mindless font?
All I know is a couple of friends I knew had it and raced at Raceway Park. They did pretty well with it. One was crazy enough to have it set up for nitrous and lucky that he didn't blow the engine. I'm sure he had no idea what he was doing.
'64 Impala, the '77 Cutlass only because the Impalas are all used up.
Still drive a 64 Biscayne wagon.
Sucker Rocks!!!
I loved the goats and Bonnevilles of the sixties.
I'm ashamed to admit this, but I owned a 1985 Fiero GT. Biggest piece of crap ever known to man.
Brother Dave.... at least it wasn't a Yugo or a Hyundai Excel.....
at least it wasn't a Yugo
You know why Yugos came with a rear window defogger as standard equipment?
To keep your hands warm while you are pushing it.
Brother Dave.... at least it wasn't a Yugo or a Hyundai Excel.....
Wife bought a 93 Excel brand new. If I had been around then, that never would have happened.
We did buy a 2004 Sonata, which was ok, but didn't get very good gas mileage.
W5IEI
11-06-2010, 07:41 AM
When I was a senior in high school 1979,I worked in the oilfield full time.(oil embargo=good money for a kid).
I had at one time sitting in my mom's driveway:
2 1970 GTO,identical color,and everything else.
1 1968 GTO.
1 1964 gto 389 tri-power.
1 1969 Mach 1 Mustang 390 4-barrel top loader 4 speed.
I gave $800 for the most expensive one!!!!!!!
KA5PIU
11-06-2010, 10:02 AM
Hello.
Oil embargo time was berry berry good to me.
I was able to play both ends of the candle against each other. ;)
But in the 80s everything went wrong!
http://www.rense.com/general14/brother.htm
I moved to Houston and stayed there only to decide that I had to find myself, and drive a truck.
After that incident I began to hate everything redneck, something I may never get over.
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