Pontiac gone

[roadhawg]

I've been itching to do a Tin Indian model the last few days. Who else?

Oh, man, I'd LOVE to......but I already got SOOOOOOOOOOO much going on.....hmmmm.....

[Guest]

Actually the Sky is a rebadged Opel GT. Do a search, you'll see.

[Jon Cole]

Business wise, it has to be. But it still sucks. GM had too many branches, combined with arrogance that they were too big to ever fail.

Bummer.

-Jon-

[Zoom Zoom]

Actually the Sky is a rebadged Opel GT. Do a search, you'll see.

And the Vauxhaul GT is a rebadged Opel GT (so that makes 3 rebadges, not including Solstice) which is mostly a badge-engineered Solstice. The exterior and interior are different enough to whittle down to two cars; Solstice and the Opel/Sky/Vauxhaul variant.

Whatever.

Making four different specialty/boutique badges of essentially the same car (all two seat roadsters) from one car...this is one very good reason why GM is in such dire straits.

The Pontiac Solstice was it's own unique concept, but GM just couldn't help itself and allowed (encouraged?) their divisions cannibalize each other. The Solstice was the last "true" Pontiac, designed from the outset to be a Pontiac first. All the smack-talk compared to the Mazda MX-5 when it came out. The only thing it had over the MX-5 was sexy GM styling. Everything else the MX-5 did was better. And after all the chest-beating and smack talk by GM when the Solstice came out...the Solstice is dying after one generation, the MX-5 is still alive, still racing every weekend, still satisfying owners worldwide, still being developed. Gee, I never saw that coming

The Solstice HT will be one of the few collectible GM cars from this era. Seriously, it has all the right stuff to be a future collectible...last true Pontiac, sports car, head-turning "hey, it looks a bit like the Cheetah" style. I'd own one.

RIP Pontiac.

My only 1:1 Pontiac, loved it...wish I still had it:

'78 Grand Am, this car defined "road manners". '79 Rally wheels swapped from my Mom's '79 Grand Am sedan (this was hers first, then Dad got it, buying her a new '79, I got it 5 years later when he was ready for a new car). Handled like a dream, amazingly quiet ride. These were rare enough when new, and pretty much extinct now.

[Foxer]

'78 Grand Am, this car defined "road manners". '

hehe.. was that good or bad manners you were referring to??

sorry.. I couldn't resist that - forgive me Bob. I respect what you say about it handling .. there weren't many that did back in the day. nice looking car.

Edited April 30, 2009 by Foxer

[Scott - Elm City Hobbies]

Thing is, as has already been pointed out that all the Pontiacs are just rebadged Chevys or similar.....only the Pontiac name is going away, most of the cars will live on in their original form (Chevy Aveo), or get rebadged into Buick.

One of the local dealers here is a GMC, Buick, Pontiac dealer. And from what I have heard from him, his Pontiac line once sold, its replacements will essentially be the same car but with a different name on it. Yeah, maybe some of the cars will disappear, but for the most part, they will live on under another name.

While I hold no ill will to the unions or the people, and I agree with making a fair wage, but when I hear auto workers being told to stay home as they have no work for them, yet they are still getting paid their salary because their contracts are negotiated that way, its not a bit of wonder that GM and Chrysler are toast.....how do you expect to stay alive when you are paying a fair amount of your workforce to stay home....and some of them making up to $70-$75/hr to sit home and do nothing?

As far as imports and people getting upset that other people aren't buying "American" made cars? Most imports are made in North America, Honda, Nissan, Toyota...hell even BMWs are made in the US....so the argument for buying American made vs Imports is pretty much invalid.....

It sucks that the Pontiac name is going away, and it sucked when Olds, Plymouth, etc, went away...Mercury will probably be one of the next to fall....there hasn't been a Mercury in Canada now for years.....but in the end....its just an upscale Ford.....so what is the difference? Ford Taurus....Mercury Sable......higher trim level on the Mercury? Nicer plushier interior on the Merc? Why not just have a Taurus LX with all of that extra stuff?

[Guest Gramps-xrds]

Business wise, it has to be. But it still sucks. GM had too many branches, combined with arrogance that they were too big to ever fail.

Bummer.

-Jon-

More accurate tombstone

[Chuck Most]

My only 1:1 Pontiac, loved it...wish I still had it:

'78 Grand Am, this car defined "road manners". '79 Rally wheels swapped from my Mom's '79 Grand Am sedan (this was hers first, then Dad got it, buying her a new '79, I got it 5 years later when he was ready for a new car). Handled like a dream, amazingly quiet ride. These were rare enough when new, and pretty much extinct now.

One of the few late Carter/early Regan era Pontiacs that actually looked good. Yours is the first one I've seen that was not painted pea green and/or rusted out from the door handles down! I've seen the MPC kit of this body style GA, but I am a bit reluctant to pay the "collector price" on the tag!

Now, let's abruptly switch back to the topic at hand:

Many of you have wondered why GMC truck hasn't gotten the axe (yet). GMC exists only so that non-Chevrolet franchised dealers can have a truck line to sell. They tried making GMC "upscale", since the Pontiac, Olds, Buick, and Caddy car lines it was sold with were once considered a step up from Chevy. It didn't seem to work. But there will probably be a GMC as long as there's a Buick- In fact, I think GM rolled Pontiac, Buick, and GMC into one division a few years back.

Yep, the new car menu is getting thinner. I've hung up my dream of ever seeing Ford bring back the Edsel and Merkur lines. A world without the possibility of an all-new Yugo 2.0 deeply saddens me. Sigh.

[Zoom Zoom]

One of the few late Carter/early Regan era Pontiacs that actually looked good. Yours is the first one I've seen that was not painted pea green and/or rusted out from the door handles down! I've seen the MPC kit of this body style GA, but I am a bit reluctant to pay the "collector price" on the tag!

It was IMHO the best looking of all the mid-size GM cars of the time. Same can be said for the 1st generation Grand Am, though the Laguna S3 is arguably as good. Occasionally a '73-77 Grand Prix could look as good, but most looked a bit over-adorned.

I never saw one rusted out; moved south in 1976 and never, ever looked back. Life is too short to deal with 4 months of brutal winter weather and the effect it has on cars (and everything else).

I wish what you said about an MPC Grand Am were true; there was never a kit of this Grand Am. You might be remembering a Ventura II. If there had been an MPC (or Monogram) Grand Am I would have build a case of them A couple people did Grand Am conversions; I saw them at Toledo years ago. One was a replica of a Grand Am that had an aftermarket bodykit much like a Trans Am, with fender spats and a shaker hood. The real one was in the parking lot. Also had a very rare factory 4-speed.

[FujimiLover]

I think GM stand's for Gone-Mental!

[roadhawg]

I think GM stand's for Gone-Mental!

Nope...it stands for "Government Money".