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It was reported yesterday the Pontiac, the venerable General Motors brand will be phased out and closed for good in 2010. This sturdy American car line, around since 1926 will take a powder. “GM does not have the resources to invest in Pontiac or provide "marketing muscle," said GM’s new CEO, Fritz Henderson. The Pontiac line was named for the town of Pontiac Michigan, where the cars were manufactured, which in turn was named after the 18th-century Ottawa Indian Chief.
Pontiacs have a great run, with millions who may fondly remember the Star Chief, Bonneville, Lemans, Tempest and GTO. "It is a tough decision because this is a brand with considerable heritage," said Fritz Henderson. "It is an intensely personal decision in many ways but one that needed to be taken," said Henderson.
The demise of Pontiac means a lot to me. I learned how to drive and experienced my formative years in my mother’s Gold 1969 Pontiac Catalina and had many crazy teenaged adventures driving through the streets of New York. That massive behemoth somehow took it all in and never complained. Incidentally, I think the ’69 Catalina had the toughest, most pronounced “nose” of any car every produced. After realizing it was like a solid steel battering ram, I used it frequently. I became a master at the “Art of Vandalism,” but that‘s another story.
Pontiacs appeared in such films as Smokey and the Bandit, where Burt Reynolds famously drove his classic 1977 Pontiac Trans Am and in The French Connection, where Gene Hackman maniacally drove a 1971 Pontiac LeMans under the subway tracks of Brooklyn. (You may remember that he “appropriated” the car from an unsuspecting citizen, before destroying it in one of the great movie chase scenes)
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I remember taking an early car trip through Europe with my brother Dan in 1980. Starting in Belgium, we rented a little white Renault and drove through Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Hundreds of beautiful Porches, Mercedes-Benz, Volvos, Audis, BMWs Ferraris, Citroens and other European cars passed us right and left. But one day, after a few weeks on the road, I spotted a late 1978 Pontiac Trans Am rumbling down the Autobahn. It looks gorgeous, beefy, and very American. I felt proud of that Trans Am and know that others marveled at its audacious muscularity. It projected, if nothing else, American power and optimism of the time.
Curiously, there may be a glimmer of hope according to General Motors. “Pontiac will become a “specialty niche” brand, according to Henderson. Something like what Corvette means to Chevrolet. I hope so. Keep making a few GTOs, LeMans and at least one Catalina, for old time’s sake.
http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewmonthlyreleasedetail.do?domain=74&docid=53947
c. Bob Ecker
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