RIP PONTIAC

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Overview-c3351-1993-Bonneville.html?urlSource=switchCarWidget

For a sedan, this thing had some fire under the hood. The SCC(?) version is the one I am thinking of.

 

Nearly 150,000 miles on my baby, which I sadly sold a couple of months ago to a close friend. The worst thing that's happened to it was a busted radiator.

 

But nothing was stronger than this bad boy.

 

Mine's still under 100k (I don't drive much). The fuel pump went out about six years ago, but otherwise it's been pain free.

 

Ah, a rebadged Monte Carlo SS!

 

Had a 98 Grand Am and an 02 Grand Prix. Both were very, very good to me. 120K out of both -- if not for a hit and run accident I'd likely be driving the 02 still.

That said, there was too much redundancy between Pontiac, Buick and Chevy. Why keep all those lines and overhead when you're strapped?

Now I'm driving an 04 Sebring I found on the cheap. So I guess Chrysler's the next addition to Heaven's Auto Mall.

 

G8 GT's pretty nice.

 

That's about all GM had. Certainly wasn't outstanding vehicles ... I'm convinced GM would have had to close its doors many years before this not because of the economy, but because they weren't offering dependable, durable vehicles that actually showed signs of progress.

Pontiac is a serious shame, though. Used to be the butt of GM with the ridiculous moldings and idiotic, useless body cladding. Finally got to building sleeker, more attractive vehicles and putting some acceptable powerplants in them.

 

«THWACK!»

Intercooled turbocharger slapped on top of the EFI 3.8-liter V6 instead of the Monte Carlo's wheezy pickup-truck V8. The Grand National (245hp) and GNX (275hp) were awesome fun cars. The SS ... well, it looked really nice sitting at the curb (especially the Aerocoupe) but its carbureted 180hp 305ci V8 dripped fail from its oil drain plug.

 

Rented a Pontiac Grand Am for a roadtrip through the South, I was impressed.

 

First car I ever bought for myself was a 1969 GTO ragtop with 400 cubic inches, double-barrelled carbs and a Hurst four-speed stick shift. Passed everything on the road except a gas station, as they say.
Bought it because I landed my first job after finishing school at a start-up newspaper in a city about 1 hour west of Toronto. The plan was for the Toronto Sun to print our fledgling newspaper, which was to start as a weekly then go daily after four weeks. The night of our debut edition, the last pages were our live news and had to be delivered quickly to the Sun (this was before pagination and satellite printing, etc.). The paper was to come out Sunday morning and the priority at the Sun was their own Sunday paper so we had a small window on Saturday night to get those pages, which were pasted up at our shop, to Toronto. With all the usual screwing around on a first edition, we had less than an hour to get them there. I volunteered the GTO and off we went, me and a couple colleagues and the pages. Averaged about 140 mph on the 401 late Saturday night and hit downtown TO in about 35 minutes. Never did it faster before or since. Then we hung around until our first edition came off the press, grabbed some copies and drove home at the more sedate pace of 120 mph. Yeah, young and stupid, I know.