Pontiac retiring: Farewell old friend

This is a stupid idea that could only be borne of government interference. Pontiac is one of their only good nameplates! Why not GMC? Even Buick would be better to get rid of than Pontiac. The new GTO was one of the few GM cars I'd consider buying. Scratch that off the list, I guess.

I still regret trading in my 65 GTO on a 69 Buick Riviera. Both were great cars, but that GTO had the excitement that Buick will never have.

I still have pictures of my 65 GTO and look at them longingly to have it back. I hope it ended up in a good home somewhere and is still prowling the streets that that super 389 engine and Hurst 4 speed.

I still drive a 98 Supercharged GTP, and plan to keep it a long time. Now I may even consider rebuilding it when its time comes to keep the Pontiac memory alive.

So much for government run business decisions. Cadillac will now become the "excitement division" with cars no one car afford.
I'll miss you Pontiac.

". . . the first GTO, a beefed up LeMans, had 'em too."

Um, no. The first GTO was a 1964. The vertical headlights didn't arrive until 1965; that looks like a '65 in the picture.

This is a stupid idea that could only be borne of government interference.
Posted by: Jeff | April 27, 2009 11:14 AM

Yes indeed. The smart thing was to continue paying the CEO 40 million a year to lose 79 BILLION since he took the job in 2001. You call losing 79 billion in 8 years a smart and successful business decission?

Right you are, DaveB, we stand corrected in the copy. Gotta keep the photo, though.

I loved my Pontiacs, but it's a new world. I think the "blame it on the government" sentiment is unwarranted, but it's a shame to see the brand disappear. Maybe we can organize a national "Goat-in".

RIP Pontiac. Say hello to Oldsmobile for me.

Yet another car legacy ended due to mismanagement in GM. Oldsmobile was painful enough, now Pontiac. Part of America dies with them. I see no reason to EVER buy a new GM product again! Let them burn to the ground. I'm a die-hard American car owner. It was part of being an American, if you were an immigrant like myself, to own an American car. Now, unfortunately, my next car will end up being foreign.

I will never again set foot in another GM dealership.

Buick is the number 1 selling car in China. Anyone who thinks killing off Buick is a good idea has zero idea about the global auto industry and no business formulating an opinion. Being a car enthusiast does not make a person a business man or woman.

In the late 50's and early 60's Pontiac was the other GM brand that believed in "race 'em on Sunday, sell 'em on Monday."

Dad had a '59 and later a cool '65 convert. I had a '64.

Fond memories.

Jeff's right. GM was doing just great until the government stepped in and forced that vastly profitable and well managed company to take government loans against thier will. Obviously the management of GM has thier fingers right on the pulse of the auto markets, and have been consistantly flawless in making marketing decisions, so this MUST be the goverments fault. Never mind that Pontiac has more unsold vehicles than any other GM brand, and that what vehicles they do sell are selling at a higher discount than any other GM brand, Jeff has correctly identified this as inexplicable government incompetence.

It's really been sad to watch GM's mismanagement of their nameplates. Take Oldsmobile. Time was, if you wanted a large sedan, an Olds Delta 88 was the one to get. Twice, in 1978 and in 1983 (IIRC) GM replaced the Cutlass when it was the top selling, or one of the top selling, vehicles in this country. The Cutlass Ciera, a nice car when it came along about 1983, was allowed to get long in the tooth without replacement or substantial upgrade (it wasn't your father's Oldsmobile, it was your grandfather's) until they just couldn't sell them any more. Toward the end, the Auroras were nice cars, but too little, too late. They almost killed Chevrolet, which in the 1970's sold one of every four cars sold in this country; for a long time, a visit to the Chevy dealer was a good reason to walk out and see what the Pontiac dealer had. Now Pontiac, a legendary make in the 1950's through the mid-1990's, has been allowed to become a collection of cats and dogs, mostly me-too versions of Chevrolets without enough differentiation to make them worth buying. True, the Solstice was unique within GM, at least until the Saturn Sky clone came along, but car divisions aren't built on two-seat roadsters.

It's a shame.

With the death of GMs bankability and GM on the whole it will be up to Ford and Chrysler to try to recoup those job losses and profits, but the credibility of the boatshit brands is now nonexistent. Detroit is a dead failure ensured dead by Obama and his Task Force to Kill America and their oil terrorist leaders. Now all there is left is civil war, eviction and execution. Yes we can. Yes we will.

Detroit is a dead failure ensured dead by Obama and his Task Force to Kill America and their oil terrorist leaders. Now all there is left is civil war, eviction and execution. Yes we can. Yes we will.

Posted by: America | April 27, 2009 1:54 PM

Spoken like a true Toyota owner. Prozac!!!

Were you somehow making payments to the CEO billr?

Posted by: bill r. | Yes indeed. The smart thing was to continue paying the CEO 40 million a year to lose 79 BILLION since he took the job in 2001. You call losing 79 billion in 8 years a smart and successful business decission?

Were you loosing your retirement investment in Pontiac billr? maybe you were somehow loosing something that makes you think the government should take over the auto industry? I doubt you've lost anything billr - just making your daily Obama is great statement?

Posted by: springfieldspringfield | April 27, 2009 3:33 PM

and it must be time for your "Obama" sucks statement. I can see you believe it a greater success to lose 79 billion in 8 years and continue to pay your CEO 40 mill a year and blame "The Gov???????" for Pontiacs demise. Or didn't you really read the post?

Dosen't matter never intend to buy a union made America car again.

Johnny (Inky) D--You bailed US cars for that Murano years ago, why am I not surprised? Better to further Japan's economy than pay those U.S. workers, I suppose. Also better to spend $10 billion a month in Iraq than put it toward the U.S. infrastructure, right?

Inky, you'll change your mind when your old enough to drive,

Note to the General:

Stop rebadging crap and maybe you'll sell a car or two.

It really is sad to see the autos we grew up with dissapear! I have had a few Pontiacs in my lifetime, starting with a 56 and a few firebirds, but I guess I'm kee-pin my 88 vette! I think the government and big business doesn't give a rats behind about us?