Pontiac No More
APRIL 29, 2009 TAGS:
Despite being the third best-selling make in G.M.’s faltering family, by early next year, Pontiac will be no more. The sickest of the big three announced Monday that it will fold its Pontiac brand as part of a vast new restructuring plan that also calls for massive job losses, dealership and plant closings.
Goodbye Muscle, Hello Hustle. If G.M. needs to furlough the four-on-the-floor, they are in deep, deep trouble.
Since the 1950s, Pontiacs have been G.M.’s power brand, fuel-injected wide-bodied cars fitted and styled for performance. From the Trans Am Firebird to the Bonneville, Grand Prix and classic G.T.O., Pontiac was America’s muscle car. Back when DeLorean was in Detroit and Motown was selling records, Pontiac, like the Native American chief that was its namesake, ruled.
How do you eulogize a brand that hasn’t produced a cool car since the 1980s, but still offers so much by way of nostalgia? Well, you take a look back, to the glory days…
Let’s start with their Logo.
Indian Chief Logo,
Pontiac’s original logo depicted Chief Pontiac himself, an Ottawa tribe leader who attempted to organize a rebellion against the English for control over the Great Lakes Region during the French-Indian War. Pontiac’s revolution didn’t work, much like G.M.’s 2007 advertising campaign “An American Revolution”
V- Logo
Losing the face, Pontiac switched to the arrowhead logo adorned with a star in 1959. The red “V” has remained the brand mark for half a century, longer than the “Silver Streaks” of stainless steel that used to adorn the sides and fins of cars from the 1950s and the split grill up front, which over years of redesigning has lost its original swagger.
And Now the Cars,
The Bonneville
The Bonneville matched luxury and performance. It also paired tall wings with a wide body. Introduced in 1954 as a performance convertible, the Bonneville remained one of the largest cars produced by Pontiac until it ceased production in 2005, as a large-sized sedan.
The G.T.O.
Designed originally as mid-sized body with an out-sized engine (they called it a pony car), the LeMans G.T.O. was introduced in 1964. Five years later it was outfitted with a growling V8. The initiais stand for Gran Turismo Omologato, which is Italian for Official Grand Touring. Although its name was imported, the power behind the car was distinctly home-grown. The G.T.O was the first true American Muscle Car.
Originally, The G.T.O. was only produced for ten years. It was revived from 2004 to 2006, but to poor effect, nothing like the original car that was designed by Russell Gee, an engine specialist, Bill Collins, a chassis engineer, and Pontiac chief engineer John De Lorean.
The Trans Am Firebird
Kit, the talking car in the 1980s television series, Knight Rider, was a third-generation Trans Am Firebird. Sally Field and Burt Reynold's cross-country adventure in the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit was in a second-generation Trans Am. The Trans Am was another V8 monster in a highly stylized body (Coke bottle-shaped), originally conceived of in 1969 and produced through 2002 in three distinct generations.
The Fiero
A tart little two door with a lot of punch and strange wedge-shaped design, the Fiero was the little coupe that could. In only four years of production it broke the mold of American muscle, featuring a compact design that perhaps Pontiac should have pursued more aggressively.
--
These four cars are but a small example of Pontiac's achievments during it heyday. There were Chieftains and Grand Prixs, Grand Ams and Astres that all did a great deal to advance American auto engineering and our culture of riding wide. Finally, It is interesting to note that the mythological heart of the brand fused Native American themes with the lexicon of European motorsport to create a uniquely American idea.
Pontiac lost its way a long time ago. G.M. decided to corporatize all engines across all of its makes in 1982, undercutting the innovation and creativity of Pontiac's engineers resulting in a lackluster class of cars in the 1990s and beyond. Perhaps letting go of the brand now that it no longer offers the unique, worldclass performance and styling is a productive step in moving the American auto industry to a new era. Pity, however, that there will never be a new Trans Am.
--
Related Story
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"Is that a Saturn?" Not Anymore.
by Michael Schaffer
The Saturn was supposed to represent GM's innovation, not its extinction.
Goodbye Muscle, Hello Hustle. If G.M. needs to furlough the four-on-the-floor, they are in deep, deep trouble.
Since the 1950s, Pontiacs have been G.M.’s power brand, fuel-injected wide-bodied cars fitted and styled for performance. From the Trans Am Firebird to the Bonneville, Grand Prix and classic G.T.O., Pontiac was America’s muscle car. Back when DeLorean was in Detroit and Motown was selling records, Pontiac, like the Native American chief that was its namesake, ruled.
How do you eulogize a brand that hasn’t produced a cool car since the 1980s, but still offers so much by way of nostalgia? Well, you take a look back, to the glory days…
Let’s start with their Logo.
Indian Chief Logo,
Pontiac’s original logo depicted Chief Pontiac himself, an Ottawa tribe leader who attempted to organize a rebellion against the English for control over the Great Lakes Region during the French-Indian War. Pontiac’s revolution didn’t work, much like G.M.’s 2007 advertising campaign “An American Revolution”V- Logo
Losing the face, Pontiac switched to the arrowhead logo adorned with a star in 1959. The red “V” has remained the brand mark for half a century, longer than the “Silver Streaks” of stainless steel that used to adorn the sides and fins of cars from the 1950s and the split grill up front, which over years of redesigning has lost its original swagger.And Now the Cars,
The Bonneville
The Bonneville matched luxury and performance. It also paired tall wings with a wide body. Introduced in 1954 as a performance convertible, the Bonneville remained one of the largest cars produced by Pontiac until it ceased production in 2005, as a large-sized sedan.
The G.T.O.
Designed originally as mid-sized body with an out-sized engine (they called it a pony car), the LeMans G.T.O. was introduced in 1964. Five years later it was outfitted with a growling V8. The initiais stand for Gran Turismo Omologato, which is Italian for Official Grand Touring. Although its name was imported, the power behind the car was distinctly home-grown. The G.T.O was the first true American Muscle Car.
Originally, The G.T.O. was only produced for ten years. It was revived from 2004 to 2006, but to poor effect, nothing like the original car that was designed by Russell Gee, an engine specialist, Bill Collins, a chassis engineer, and Pontiac chief engineer John De Lorean.
The Trans Am Firebird
Kit, the talking car in the 1980s television series, Knight Rider, was a third-generation Trans Am Firebird. Sally Field and Burt Reynold's cross-country adventure in the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit was in a second-generation Trans Am. The Trans Am was another V8 monster in a highly stylized body (Coke bottle-shaped), originally conceived of in 1969 and produced through 2002 in three distinct generations.
The Fiero
A tart little two door with a lot of punch and strange wedge-shaped design, the Fiero was the little coupe that could. In only four years of production it broke the mold of American muscle, featuring a compact design that perhaps Pontiac should have pursued more aggressively.
--
These four cars are but a small example of Pontiac's achievments during it heyday. There were Chieftains and Grand Prixs, Grand Ams and Astres that all did a great deal to advance American auto engineering and our culture of riding wide. Finally, It is interesting to note that the mythological heart of the brand fused Native American themes with the lexicon of European motorsport to create a uniquely American idea.
Pontiac lost its way a long time ago. G.M. decided to corporatize all engines across all of its makes in 1982, undercutting the innovation and creativity of Pontiac's engineers resulting in a lackluster class of cars in the 1990s and beyond. Perhaps letting go of the brand now that it no longer offers the unique, worldclass performance and styling is a productive step in moving the American auto industry to a new era. Pity, however, that there will never be a new Trans Am.
--
Related Story
"Is that a Saturn?" Not Anymore.by Michael Schaffer
The Saturn was supposed to represent GM's innovation, not its extinction.
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