With this week's announcement that General Motors will be euthanizing their venerable "excitement" brand in 2010, I can't help thinking back to all the Pontiacs that have rolled through my life over the years.
From my grandmother's 1965 Tempest to my father's lime-green Grand Prix with the white vinyl roof and matching interior (weren't the 'seventies great?), my family had more than its fair share of Pontiacs parked in the driveway. Figure in the black-and-gold Trans Ams that I lusted after as they roared across the screen in all those Smokey & The Bandit movies and the tire-smoking 1969 GTO that I helped a friend restore and I can't help feeling slightly nostalgic, like maybe there really was something worth saving in the Pontiac brand after all.
Of course, that's even more true today with great new models like the G8 sedan and Solstice roadster in the Pontiac line-up, both of which are an absolute hoot to drive in their performance-oriented GXP trim levels (I even found an opinion piece on the NPR website with a young woman pining for her Vibe crossover). Ultimately though, I thought this story from the New York Times did a great job of summing up the irony of GM pulling the plug on Pontiac just when they have some of the best products they've had in years.
Of course, the brand has had just as many misses as it's had hits in the last decade or so (why the "excitement" brand needed a minivan or the way-too-odd-for-words Aztek crossover I never could figure out). To see an entertaining and insightful round-up of some of the best and worst vehicles to wear the Pontiac "arrowhead" badge over the years, check out this story on veteran automotive journalist Keith Buglewicz' Speaking of Cars blog.
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