PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

http://www.bringpontiacback.org/


They're looking for more people to join them to try to get GM to bring back Pontiac.

Wishful thinking can't hurt

That would be exciting to say the least but im not holding my breath.

Pontiac was already dead before most of us were born. Late 70's/early 80's was when Pontiac made their last engine and everything from gm became a corporate copy. I do love some of the cars that had the Pontiac arrowhead on them, but I don't understand why everyone can be so loyal to a specific brand of gm when a lot of the cars that you see across each platform are the same car but with different cosmetics.

In the last 30 years of Pontiac the only car that was specific to Pontiac in the US were the Fiero, GTO, and G8, and even then the only car that was specific to Pontiac globally was the Fiero.

Get any new car from gm that you want and throw some Pontiac badges on it. It won't be any different from what GM was doing when they made Pontiacs.

You do have some good points but it's just what the brand is all about "Driving Excitement"

Look at the 60's-70s cars. That is what the brand was supposed to be. And they finally got it right with the G8 only to shut it down.

I laugh when people ask if our Pontiac 400 is a big block or small block. It's neither, that was for Chevy. Pontiac had one block for 327 all the way up to 455. Some people are just dumbfounded when they hear that. (Obviously not very bright).

IMO, Pontiac is better looking than the other brands.
Bonneville > Olds 88 > Lesabre
Grand Prix > Impala
Etc. They just look more sporty. I have been in pontiacs and GM vehciles exclusively since I was born. Only 20 years but still.

Don't think Ill ever be without one.

94SilverSSEi wrote:You do have some good points but it's just what the brand is all about "Driving Excitement"

Look at the 60's-70s cars. That is what the brand was supposed to be. And they finally got it right with the G8 only to shut it down. .

Actually, when Pontiac was first created it was only supposed to be a slightly upscale Chevy; merely a Chevy with a little more chrome and standard equipment. Then in the 60's-70's it became more about performance, then in the late 70's/early 80s a lot of their cars became about luxury; many of their cars were offered in brougham editions and had softer suspensions, padded tops etc. Their only performance car was the trans am; which was just a rebadged camaro with a pontiac engine. Even the Grand Prix was considered a "personal luxury" car during these times rather than a performance car.
Finally in the late 80's/early 90's they went back to performance and then they started their "Driving Excitement" slogan and later on the "fuel for the soul" campaign. Again though, these cars basically were all shared platform cars just with higher performance drivetrains and sportier looking cosmetics. Otherwise even these cars weren't even all that great. Basically every pontiac built in the 90's/00's is known for their poor build quality. The only car that had decent quality was the bonneville, every other car was prone to knobs that would fall off, switches that wouldn't work, radio displays that stopped working, and interiors that would rattle like there's no tomorrow. By the time they got their stuff together it was already too little too late.

I was upset to hear that Pontiac had disappeared, but I suppose you just need to come to terms with the fact that there really isn't much more to any brand from GM than their badge; their cars are basically just another option package for a GM body. At the end of the day, it's corporate GM that decides what happens with each brand and their cars.

That being said though, I don't think there's too many chevy/buick/cadillac's from 05-13 that I myself am thinking about owning someday besides the camaro, corvette, cts, and maybe even a manual t/c cobalt ss. Basically every other car seems to have had a little more than adequate power for their overweight bodies. The only light at the end of this tunnel to me at least seems to be the Alpha platform that gm is finally putting into production.

To reinstate my point about the rebadging: The G8 that "they finally got it right with" will be returning soon as a chevy.

bs009 wrote:The G8 that "they finally got it right with" will be returning soon as a chevy.

An uglier Chevy version...

I was very sad when the Pontiac brand was axed, but I don't think there's room in the leaner, downsized GM for the Pontiac brand to return, especially if the brand isn't able to offer anything new or different. I don't think we need more badge-engineered Chevys and Buicks.

If it did come back, it would be cool if it was a more specialist brand aimed at auto enthusiasts, offering only cars with genuine driver appeal along the lines of the G8, Solstice, and maybe a reborn Firebird.

The 'Driving Excitement' tag-line was all very well, but they squandered it in the '80s and '90s with humdrum vehicles like the Sunbird, the 6000 (with the exception of the STE), the Daewoo-built LeMans, the Montana, and rental-fodder Grand Ams. I did like the dustbuster minivans, but was there any point in the Pontiac version?

There were plenty of wrong turns in the the noughties too - Aztek, Torrent, and G5 for a start.

I don't give a sh*t if it's a Chevy or other GM corporate vehicle in drag wearing a Pontiac indian head or spear, if it fulfills what the original's purpose was and gets the job done, who gives a turkey! I'm all for waxing nostalgic, but times change, and progress moves on. IF GM hadn't adapted the way they did, and made "corporate this" and "corporate that", we wouldn't be here enjoying what we have now because GM as a whole would be out of business. It's lead, follow, or get stomped into the dirt.

I love old Pontiac's too, and have a "Real" Pontiac in my garage that has a "Real" Pontiac engine, but I've enjoyed all my other "Not-real" Pontiac's with "Not-real" Pontiac engines just as much!

CMNTMXR57 wrote:I don't give a sh*t if it's a Chevy or other GM corporate vehicle in drag wearing a Pontiac indian head or spear, if it fulfills what the original's purpose was and gets the job done, who gives a turkey!

The bit in bold is key. The GTO is a good example of what they should be selling as a Pontiac. It may have been a rebadged Holden, but it drove, looked, and sounded like a Pontiac GTO should. It was an enthusiast's car, and was different from anything else you could buy in an American GM showroom. You couldn't go into a Chevy dealer and buy the exact same car.

Using existing GM platforms is fine, as long as it feels like a Pontiac and the driving experience isn't exactly the same as its GM siblings. Nothing wrong with sharing engines across brands either.

Just my two cents. I've owned some GM cars and still do including a 87 442, a 89 Iroc, and a 87 GN (in pieces) and always felt like Pontiac was the fun division of GM. To this day I still love the trans ams. I'd like to see GM make Pontiac the specialty division. Much like SRT is to Dodge and SVT was to Ford. A part of GM that just makes rare, fun, and exciting cars

Maybe not a new brand, but a special edition or performance package.... Pontiac Edition or Pontiac Package

94SilverSSEi wrote:You do have some good points but it's just what the brand is all about "Driving Excitement"

Look at the 60's-70s cars. That is what the brand was supposed to be. And they finally got it right with the G8 only to shut it down.

I laugh when people ask if our Pontiac 400 is a big block or small block. It's neither, that was for Chevy. Pontiac had one block for 327 all the way up to 455. Some people are just dumbfounded when they hear that. (Obviously not very bright).

IMO, Pontiac is better looking than the other brands.
Bonneville > Olds 88 > Lesabre
Grand Prix > Impala
Etc. They just look more sporty. I have been in pontiacs and GM vehciles exclusively since I was born. Only 20 years but still.

Don't think Ill ever be without one.

well you might be technically correct in you statement about the block being same all the way up to a 455, but they were always referred too as small and large blocks by many that owned them including machine shops (70's) and I wouldn't call them "not very bright" people just because they use that term.

deano55 wrote:

94SilverSSEi wrote:You do have some good points but it's just what the brand is all about "Driving Excitement"

Look at the 60's-70s cars. That is what the brand was supposed to be. And they finally got it right with the G8 only to shut it down.

I laugh when people ask if our Pontiac 400 is a big block or small block. It's neither, that was for Chevy. Pontiac had one block for 327 all the way up to 455. Some people are just dumbfounded when they hear that. (Obviously not very bright).

IMO, Pontiac is better looking than the other brands.
Bonneville > Olds 88 > Lesabre
Grand Prix > Impala
Etc. They just look more sporty. I have been in pontiacs and GM vehciles exclusively since I was born. Only 20 years but still.

Don't think Ill ever be without one.

well you might be technically correct in you statement about the block being same all the way up to a 455, but they were always referred too as small and large blocks by many that owned them including machine shops (70's) and I wouldn't call them "not very bright" people just because they use that term.

The Pontiac block is neither a big block or a small block. The block is physically in between the sizes of SBC and BBC.

no matter what they decide to badge pontiac, i would love to see the arrowhead in GM brand selection.
Remember, there is always the possibility future gets BRIGHTER and the differences between corporate fleet gets bigger, not smaller. Hardly own same size engines between makes like in hayday of 60s but atleast GMbuyers would have more options than just "chevy buick or caddy".

He he he I own the only globally unique Pontiac of the last 25 years...

I agree, badge engineering killed Pontiac. They have learned their lesson with Buick. I see more and more very nice Buick cars that look very luxurious and fun to drive

Too bad they couldn't learn their lesson with Pontiac.... They would be making some awesome cars if they were still around today. Badge engineered or not I think we would see some cool cars.

I can remember when Pontiac came out with their overhead valve V8 in the mid-50's. It caused quite a stir! - BC

i would say last bigger fuzz about pontiac over here was the "lunar" transsport minivan of early 90s. it was like moon car, and sold really well, with chryslers voyager. still many around.
enthusiasts dig the firehawks of course... but those were not super-sellers

Even though since I have been alive Pontiacs were just re-badged Buicks and Chevys, I think it's worth noting that Pontiac design was unique to the brand... love it or hate it, they were always pushing the envelope.

BRING BACK OLDSMOBILE!

CMNTMXR57 wrote:BRING BACK OLDSMOBILE!

JK I miss Olds too, luckily so far I still have one too.