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As widely reported today:
After eight decades the Pontiac brand is about to die or be sold by GM. The auto maker will announce the end of the iconic American brand early next week. Pontiac is the latest casualty of the radical down-sizing of General Motors. The company will outline further cuts early next week, but it is GM's departure of a brand that's been around 83 years that will get the most attention.
At one point, Pontiac was as much a part of the fabric of America as Chevy and Cadillac. It gave us the GTO, Grand Prix, and Firebird. All Classic American muscle and sports cars.
My early automotive memories are centred around the Pontiac brand... my father owned a sporty red convertible when he got married, and we later owned two Pontiac Parisienne hardtops -- the second was purchased brand new in 1969 and it transported us across the prairies from Manitoba to a new life in British Columbia that same year.
By the late-1970s that last Pontiac was set for retirement... I purchased the Plymouth Valiant from my father instead of the thirsty, heavy, 2-door Parisienne (which had an amazingly small trunk for such a large vehicle and tight back seat; the hood was like the landing deck of an aircraft carrier it was so long).
By the early-1990s my father left GM behind (after a frustrating experience with a poor quality GMC Jimmy), and made the move to the Ford brand of vehicles with his first Explorer. And the rest, as they say, is history.
:cigar:
After eight decades the Pontiac brand is about to die or be sold by GM. The auto maker will announce the end of the iconic American brand early next week. Pontiac is the latest casualty of the radical down-sizing of General Motors. The company will outline further cuts early next week, but it is GM's departure of a brand that's been around 83 years that will get the most attention.
At one point, Pontiac was as much a part of the fabric of America as Chevy and Cadillac. It gave us the GTO, Grand Prix, and Firebird. All Classic American muscle and sports cars.
My early automotive memories are centred around the Pontiac brand... my father owned a sporty red convertible when he got married, and we later owned two Pontiac Parisienne hardtops -- the second was purchased brand new in 1969 and it transported us across the prairies from Manitoba to a new life in British Columbia that same year.
By the late-1970s that last Pontiac was set for retirement... I purchased the Plymouth Valiant from my father instead of the thirsty, heavy, 2-door Parisienne (which had an amazingly small trunk for such a large vehicle and tight back seat; the hood was like the landing deck of an aircraft carrier it was so long).
By the early-1990s my father left GM behind (after a frustrating experience with a poor quality GMC Jimmy), and made the move to the Ford brand of vehicles with his first Explorer. And the rest, as they say, is history.
:cigar:
