Just mention the word “Pontiac” and I immediately reminisce about the highschool years and the 1983 Trans Am I used to own. I loved the car, a 5.0 V8 with 175 horsepower and 250 lbs/ft torque, bucket seats and t-tops - what more could a teenager ask for? At the time Pontiac’s motto was “We build excitement”, and in the eyes of a 16 year old highschool sophmore, they did indeed. Sure there wasn’t foot room for passengers in the back seat and the t-tops leaked, but those were small inconveniences compared to burnouts at home coming, or beating those tricked out rice burners after school.
I always had hope that Pontiac would revive this name plate (Pontiac stopped production of the Trans Am in 2002) but with the company soon-to-be dissolved, I’m slowly losing hope.
Another favorite, and one of the main muscle cars of the 70’s , the fabled, renowned, and occasionally feared GTO will also cease production.
Sometimes I have difficulty grasping all that is happening with the American Auto Industry. Pontiac going under, GM soon to file for bankruptcy, and Chrysler needing a partnership with Fiat. I often wonder - where did American industrial success go wrong?
Pontiac, with all of their knowledge, designs, and legacy, have fallen under the large shadow cast by GM. Often during the design phase, GM would cut production of certain pontiac parts, engine options, and other Pontiac specific items. If the engineers at Pontiac complained, they were given a lesser GM item that would “work” - thus the slow unraveling of Pontiac began.
Pontiac wasn’t just about speed or power, they had other stable production lines, one of them the Pontiac Bonneville.
The Bonneville started manufacture in 1957. In 1967 GM discontinued the Pontiac Tri Power engine options on all Pontiac cars and in 1981 Pontiac-built V8 engines were discontinued. From that point forward, all Pontiac’s were powered by Chevrolet or Oldsmobile engines.
The problems for Pontiac started long ago when GM obviously considered Pontiac to be a throwaway brand, instead of an important member of the family.
If anyone knows even a little about marketing a brand, you know little things set you apart from the competitor. When GM insisted Pontiac use GM parts, they effectively began killing Pontiac sales, and inadvertently, the legacy.