Pontiac, maker of muscle cars, ends after 84 years

Yahoo/AP ^ | 10-31-10 | TOM KRISHER

[kingattax]

DETROIT – Pontiac, whose muscle cars drag-raced down boulevards, parked at drive-ins and roared across movie screens, is going out of business on Sunday.

The 84-year-old brand, moribund since General Motors decided to kill it last year as it collapsed into bankruptcy, had been in decline for years. It was undone by a combination of poor corporate strategy and changing driver tastes. On Oct. 31, GM's agreements with Pontiac dealers expire.

[Leo Farnsworth]

One down, about five more to go...

[al baby]

The Goat

[Wooly]

GM = Junk

[rightwingextremist1776]

Many a Pontiac have seen the tail lights of my Dodge.....

Not much muscle in that brand of “muscle”car..

[pnh102]

Amazing what happens to a company when it doesn't make products that people want to buy... they get a taxpayer bailout.

I wish I could sell "my" GM and Chrysler stock.

[CodeJockey]

I believe Pontiac used one block casting for all their V8’s
326 to 455 cid, unlike Chevy & Ford. Sure brings back some memories of my motorhead days of the 1970’s.

[umgud]

If I were in charge of GM, I’d keep Chevy, Cadillac, dump GMC, Buick............ the unions and Obama.

[blackpacific]

Unions killed it.

[AlexW]

I remember when Pontiac was quite the cat’s meow, back in the early sixties.
It was the favorite of rich kids that had their own car.

[Carbonsteel]

I can't understand why Pontiac folded....

[Vaduz]

Pontiac, whose muscle cars drag-raced down boulevards Honda and Toyota drivers wave as they pass.

[KingOfVagabonds]

“It was undone by a combination of poor corporate strategy and changing driver tastes”

---

It was undone by the U.S. Government after they took a majority share of GM. The UAW bleeding the company dry had nothing to do with it, of course.

[kingattax]

[skimask]

[I cannot think of a name]

When I was growing up an older guy down the street bought a ‘64 GTO. A completely un-PC classic. Solid lifter cam, 389 with three two barrels, Hurst shifter - all factory. He treated it like a baby. Five years later he got married and offered to sell it to me for $900. By then there were monsters like 375hp/396 Cameros around I wasn't interested.

Famous mistake #103.

[RatRipper]

GTO was an awesome ride back in my day. We can spin it like this:

Commie Rat thug unions and politicians killed a great brand, a great traditions, and a great American company.

[andy58-in-nh]

Not much muscle in that brand of “muscle”car..

Sadly, that's true, beginning around 1974-5, when the stupid EPA crap all started. My first car was a Pontiac and one of the last of the old breed: '73 Grand Am with a 455ci V8 topped with a 4-bbl. Holly carb. It wasn't quite as fast as the Firebird but it was fast enough to get me in trouble with the local constabulary. Several times.

It also had nice front bucket seats, which I remember quite specifically because they could be adjusted nearly all the way down, which came in rather handy on more than one occasion... ;-)

[Fresh Wind]

In the apartment complex I lived in back in the 70s, there was a little old gray-haired lady who had a ‘64 GTO. It was an automatic, though.

[Rappini]

Government Motors is just following Fords lead because they iced the Mercury.