Good Bye Pontiac

[Audrey]

Always sad to see a well known auto brand fall:
We No Longer Build Excitement. Pontiac No More. : The Two-Way : NPR

[Slipster17]

Well, I'll at least miss some of the Holden based imports.

[Corvair]

Pontiac died several decades ago. When Chevy started to move upscale a little, there was no longer a need or a point to Pontiac. Everything Pontiac had, so did another GM division. My first car was a Pontiac Astre. It was 99.9 Chevy Vega. A different steering wheel, grill and tail lights. And that makes it a Pontiac? It was really a GM subcompact. The divisions of GM were being phased out in the 70's. GM cars with different names. Pehaps there were a couple of unique cars along the way, but nothings that couldn't have been a Chevy. I should add that my '76 was an unbelievably bad car. Even worse than my spelling. It averaged a repair a month the four years I owned it! I learned to be a mechanic.

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Originally Posted by Corvair

Pontiac died several decades ago. When Chevy started to move upscale a little, there was no longer a need or a point to Pontiac. Everything Pontiac had, so did another GM division. My first car was a Pontiac Astre. It was 99.9 Chevy Vega. A different steering wheel, grill and tail lights. And that makes it a Pontiac? It was really a GM subcompact. The divisions of GM were being phased out in the 70's. GM cars with different names. Pehaps there were a couple of unique cars along the way, but nothings that couldn't have been a Chevy. I should add that my '76 was an unbelievably bad car. Even worse than my spelling. It averaged a repair a month the four years I owned it! I learned to be a mechanic.

Most mid seventies cars were horrible.

I had a 1976 Buick Skylark with a 3.8 V6 and it was scarily underpowered, I think my moms N/A VW Rabbit diesel would have blown it's doors off in a drag race.

[MGREEN11]

I don't know about the 70's, 80's for Pontiac, but I had a '98 Montana minivan (you have those when you have kids) and a '01 Grand Prix GT. Both vehicles had the 3.8 V6 and did a great job. The only problem on the minivan was the self-closing door which in 1998 was relatively new. The Grand Prix was a great car.

[Norm201]

The demise of Pontiac here in the Western New York area is a bit sad. It was a strong presence here, but apparently not in the rest of the country. Many years back my uncle was the premier Pontiac Dealer and I think the largest in New York State (DiBello Motors). My mother was his book keeper. I head many fond memories of her adventures of using dealership cars. It was not uncommon for her to have to call the garage for a tow because of a broken axle or some such problem. Especially in winter. These memories go back to the 1930's and '40's.
The Pontiac was one of the leaders in the muscle car group. Remember the GTO? My son currently has a high end late model Pontiac. The heads up display is to die for. That should be a standard item in all cars. Who knows maybe someday they might resurrect the name.

[Paradocks]

I had an early 80s Pontiac Sunbird coupe for use at college. Light gray exterior with a RED interior, pop-up glass sunroof, auto trans, AM radio.

It was a great college car for me...unobtrusive enough so that it wasn't vandalized on campus. I liked that car a lot.

Near the end of my college days I thought about trading the Sunbird in for a new Pontiac Fiero 2M4.

Glad I didn't.

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Originally Posted by MGREEN11

I don't know about the 70's, 80's for Pontiac, but I had a '98 Montana minivan (you have those when you have kids) and a '01 Grand Prix GT. Both vehicles had the 3.8 V6 and did a great job. The only problem on the minivan was the self-closing door which in 1998 was relatively new. The Grand Prix was a great car.

That V6 was actually originally designed by Buick WAY back in the 60's and as most GM engines did it evolved over the years but retained a basic design.

That was also the same basic engine used in the Buick Grand National and T-Type, it really was/is a great little engine by the time it reached maturity in the 90's. It was also offered as a 3300.

Not a Pontiac engine though.

[Cobra348]

Yup - my first car was a used Pontiac Ventura (1960) with a Hurst shifter conversion onto the floor. Doggone thing was a boat, but fun.