OPINION: THE LAST PONTIAC...

You are looking at the last Pontiac that will ever be produced: The Solstice. General Motors' "restructuring" (which some analysts say isn't extensive enough) has resulted in the parent company shedding the Pontiac brand (Oldsmobile was discontinued officially on April 29, 2004) and keeping only GMC, Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac brands. Approximately 1,100 units will be produced before production ceases at the end of this month.


When a brash, young John DeLorean took over as chief of GM's Pontiac Motor Division, he introduced the 1964 GTO, fourteen years after GM's Oldsmobile Rocket 88 V-8 became the undisputed first "muscle car" ever to be built. The GTO (which stands for Gran Turismo Omologato, that's Italian for "Grand Touring" in case you're curious) was a sexy, sporty set of wheels that defined Pontiac as the athletic, sport-design driven division of General Motors.

Here was a design with verve, heralded as a leap forward into the exciting 1960's.

In 1966, two GTO's were heavily modified by designer Dean Jeffries for the pop-rock band television show "The Monkees". The original model followed the band to Australia and wound up in Puerto Rico (don't ask me how). Eventually, it was restored and sold down the street from me in Scottsdale, Arizona at Barrett-Jackson Auctions for $360,000. It currently resides in New York State with a new owner. The second car was used for the car show touring circuit.

By 1965, the GTO took on a new look with vertical headlamps and other styling changes.

Under DeLorean's direction, the 1968 Pontiac Trans Am debuted. So much for a shortened history of a car brand founded in 1926. If Oldsmobile lost it's vision and took five years to shudder (GM had to spend millions buying out Olds dealerships) and the Buick remained "the poor man's Cadillac", when was Chevrolet's last exciting car other than the venerable Corvette manufactured? Granted, GM still makes quality SUV's along with solid pickup trucks. Still, the question remains. How was Pontiac allowed to "go to hell in a hand basket"?

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Looking back, DeLorean's arrival at Pontiac was heralded as a new era, and it was! DeLorean brought to the table a true design engineer who had cut his teeth at Packard before joining GM. Under his leadership, Pontiac continued to make big block engines. In fact, DeLorean is credited with the idea of offering the GTO with a dealer option package that included a 389 cubic inch engine rated at 325 or 348 horsepower. He then split off Tempest and LeMans automobiles to focus on the GTO. He also oversaw the introduction of a completely new overhead camshaft 6-cylinder engine in the Tempest, and in an industry first, plastic grilles on several models. By 1968, the Grand Prix convertible was produced (in limited number) with Ram Air induction and a return to horizontal designed headlights with a new G-body construction that accentuated the long hood/short deck look of a intermediate-sized personal-luxury car to compete with the Buick Riviera and the Ford Thunderbird at a lower price. Dealers shipped 112,000 units in 1969, or four times the number of cars sold the previous year! And I mention all of this detail to make a point. Pontiac had first-class designers and stylists.

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For instance, the GTO "Judge" (used by Paul Newman in the film "Slap Shot") came equipped with a 400 cubic inch high performance engine. Unfortunately, John DeLorean would leave his post at Pontiac Motor Division for a promotion to to General Manager of GM's Chevrolet division. He was Detroit's "Golden Boy" executive, but his move to Chevrolet left him suffering through management bungling against his counsel with such ill-conceived projects as the Chevrolet Vega, and ultimately he did the unthinkable. He left to start his own car company, eager to take along lessons he learned about design, production and styling. DeLorean, the man who resolved Packard's transmission woes, created a factory in Dublin, Ireland where assembly line workers could stand underneath the cars and not hunch all day long in a "pit" as they did in Detroit assembling undercarriages of automobiles. DeLorean and his staff were innovators and entrepreneurs. They were Master Craftsmen. We no longer have Master Craftsmen today.

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Even while seated in my SUV at a stoplight, I can look around me and see every vehicle from a Ford, Hyundai, KIA, Toyota, Saturn, GMC or Mercury looking every bit as exciting in design (or lack of it) as a homogenized refrigerator on wheels. Today, we have exciting Ford Mustangs in the "Bullitt", Cobra, GT and two Shelby models. We have the still-exciting Chevrolet Corvette and on the large SUV front, the Cadillac Escalade and CTS automobile. The Chrysler Crossfire and aforementioned Pontiac Solstice were similar in body lines. But inasmuch as we have cannibalized our manufacturing through exporting, we've also suffered from a bankruptcy of designers who have boldness and verve. Today Hummer, Land Rover and Jaguar have been sold. The fate of Volvo and Saab are pending. Add Audi, Bentley and Aston Martin to the mix and you have car companies without a real market in the United States, which is why the U.S. held units have been sold off to new owners. Simply put, we live in a commodity-driven marketplace.

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Granted, we do have better braking systems, safety devices with multiple air bag deployment in the event of a crash, and the elimination of such heavy manual maintenance items as repacking wheel bearings, addressing grease fitings and adjusting pesky carburetors. The interior seats are better and technology has led to improvements in ergonomics. Why then is Pontiac disappearing? Many say they never "adapted". Here's how I see the issue.

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We need to get back to designs that are every bit as bold and exciting as the transition of automobiles from the late 1950's to the 1960's. Computer Automated Design (CAD) has tremendous limitations compared to clay modeling studios when designing concept cars. Pontiac isn't alone in having been deprived of good designers. But now one of the best names in the industry will be consigned to the scrap heap. Picking the brand back up and ridding themselves of Buick as a mid-course correction would be more intelligent for General Motors.