So Long Pontiac...

[Normy]

-My dad told me that during the late 1950's, his dad bought a Pontiac car. It had a V8 engine, and dual exhausts. We visited one of his boyhood friends, and in front of me he talked about how he and my dad blew up one of the mufflers on my grandfathers' Pontiac. When he said this, I looked at my dad: I'm not used to hearing him talked about this way! Apparently, my dad was quite the car guy until he turned 23. He blew two mufflers on his dad's Pontiac, and eventually graduated to driving his '63 Corvette split-window coupe up and down the steps of the main hall at Purdue University in 1964. And then he outran the cops. With my mother inside the car~

[I'm alive and 43 years old. How I managed to be born after that one I'm still not sure! Apparently my mother loved my dad a WHOLE LOT!]

Well, fast forward to 1985. My dad needs to replace the PINK [well, "Bimini Beige"] 1977 Cadillac Coupe de'Ville that we had as the family car for the past 6 years. It is getting old, and the the 12 mpg/20 second 0-60 time performance from the 7.0 liter V8 engine is starting to get to even my dad's attention. This is a guy who bought a 1980 chevette because he liked it. This chevette? Me and my mom used the Cadillac to pluck him off I-75 in Michigan one morning because the chevette died. It died due to the fact that the front pulley fell [yes...FELL!] off the engine one morning.

Dad's solution to the problem of finding a new car, considering all the problems above? He bought a 1984 Pontiac 6000 from Avis. A former rental car....

Hello? Can you think of anything more crazy than this? I was all over him. He insisted in buying an American car, and told me that the rental car companies sold their cars on the cheap even though they were GREAT cars. Sure it was a great car: a few months later the tires on the front end were BALD. He went to have it aligned, and they the shop told us it couldn't be aligned, because the engine was approximately 30 mm to the right of where it should be. That works out to about 1.25 inches. You could see this easily when you opened the hood- the engine was a 2.8 liter V6 transversally mounted, and you could see a "dog bone" engine mount that went from the front head to the front cross-member above the radiator. It sat at an angle; It was supposed to be straight!

Dad's cheap-ass solution: Instead of taking the car back....he just made the major complaint and then received a $2000 rebate on the car from Avis, which works out to about 33% of what he paid. [Maybe dad isn't so stupid afterall!]. He put K-mart tires on the car every year, and that worked. We put about 15k miles each year on that car, and since the front tires were about $25 each...he made out like a bandit. They drove that pile of scheize for 5 years like that~

LOL! My dad! He drives a 2003 Explorer now. He says it helps his back. What is funny is that he probably spends more time in my mom's 2003 Passat 1.8T, and doesn't complain about his back despite the time spent in that car.

So long Pontiac. Or more correctly- good riddance!

N!

[Embraer]

hail Purdue!

[mikester]

We had an '85 6000 STE and let me tell you - it was as bad as it was ugly.

Put then I had a '96 Sunfire 4 door and it was a fantastic car. I wish I still had it almost. Nearly no maintenance required - never broke. Quality components and good overall mileage - I could get 400 miles to a tank on the highway. It had no bells or whistles - not even electric windows or door locks and I got it for 10k out the door new. Wrecked it in '00 and the insurance company gave me like 7500 for it.

[pwd72s]

Pontiac tale from the 60's. Kid had a 326 Tempest. Dad had a 426 (cubic inches here kids) Gran Prix with dual 4 barrel carbs. Dad left town one weekend, so the kid switched engines. Not that hard to do. Both engines shared the same block. Kid had the hottest car in town...until dad took his gran prix to the dealership, complaining it was down on power...

[Mr.Puff]

Saab and Pontiac? This day keeps getting better.

[911Rob]

Good story Norm; you should be a writer..... just stay off the sauce when you're writing though; that post from last Friday was a doozy. Ha.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

My second car was a 1978 "Formula" Firebird. A bigger automotive turd has never roamed the earth.

Between the asthmatic 305 engine (that couldn't be modified for less cost than ripping it out and putting in a 350), the slushbox transmission, the "from-the-factory" rust option (including the holes in the floorboards that would allow water through everytime you drove through a puddle), the leaky t-top seals (impossible to seal, even with liberal use of duct tape and silicone), etc. I was all-too-happy to see that one go to the "great beyond" by means of the crusher.

My first, last and only "potty-iac" experience I'm happy to say. Although I have heard positive things about the new GTOs.

I wonder what implications this has for the Rolex series this year - they run a LOT of Pontiacs in their field.

[jyl]

Between Pontiac and Saab, I'd rather keep Saab.

[CJFusco]

I will be sad to see Saab go, if it does indeed go (maybe it will be bought out by someone else?). The old, pre-GM Saabs had tons of character. Were there better cars out there? Sure, but at least Saabs were unique.

But Pontiac? Was there ever a more redundant brand? When I first started driving, I wondered how car companies got away with having 3 or 4 brands of basically the same car - Buick and Olds were essentially going after the same market (competing for customers WITHIN the same corporation); ditto Pontiac and Chevy; ditto Mercury and Ford (over at Ford). I wasn't surprised at all to see Olds go away a few years ago.

I had a 97 Olds Cutlass - the same car as the Chevy Malibu , and the same basic shell as either the Grand Am or the Gran Prix (I forget which). It was unquestionably the worst car I ever owned. The damn thing tried to kill me one day out of nowhere. I was at the top of this really dangerous hilly road on the West Hartford/Avon line in CT when (apparently) the head gasket blew and somehow took with it the power steering and power brakes (I'm guessing the accessory pulley broke too? From the heat?). Absolutely no warning; by the time I realized that there was a problem, I was already flying down the hill with no brakes and no steering. I was lucky that the light at the bottom of the hill was green; this intersection was the site of a major accident just a few months prior, in which a tractor-trailer couldn't stop and plowed through a major intersection, ending up in the front window of a furniture store.

[m21sniper]

I liked my Pontiac just fine thanks:

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

I liked my Pontiac just fine thanks:

I still like mine. This one has an honest to God Pontiac 462" in it, and it's pissed off.

Almost finished.

[Oh Haha]

RandyP--I hope you plan to install some larger/stickier rear tires on that car!!

A Poncho 462 will shred those little sissy tires in no time.










Sweet.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by Oh Haha

RandyP--I hope you plan to install some larger/stickier rear tires on that car!!

A Poncho 462 will shred those little sissy tires in no time.










Sweet.

thanks.

On the tires, I'm probably going to go with the same style rim except 8" and 265 on the back, still on the fence on those or aftermarket mags. it will be staggered 7"+8" like a 911 As it sits if I floor it at 40 MPH or lower it just smokes and smokes the tires.

rjp

[Oh Haha]

I vote for the Rally 2's on the 265 for the rear. Nice and stealthy.

Muwahahahahaha

[pwd72s]

I had one in white like this: It was fun...

[jcommin]

Wide track Pontiacs of the late 50's and 60's. My all time favorite was a 1961 bubble top Pontiac Catalina with a 389. What a car and engine. I swear there was no top end on this car.

Sad to see it all go.

[72 four door]

Here's mine bad pic but shes sleepin

[72 four door]

[Normy]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

I liked my Pontiac just fine thanks:

I got to this post and I just need to add: THAT is a BEAUTIFUL car! I'm not into American stuff, but that ride gets my full vote. Tony Lapine has his act together!

N!

[Normy]

[Just to make sure my point gets across....]

Y'all do realize that the red Pontiac in the previous post was designed by Tony Lapine. He left general motors after designing this car and then moved to Porsche, where he designed the 924, the 928, the 944, and the 968. If you look carefully at a late '60's GTO you will see the rear-end of a 928 but upside down~

If gm had kept Lapine then we would be buying parts for an American car instead of a German vehicle.

N!