Serious Question

15 Comments

1. 

   MNPundit on April 27, 2009 at 2:13 pm

   According to a CNN story, yeah, all the muscle car lovers are crying.

   • 

     BooMan on April 27, 2009 at 2:21 pm

     well, I guess the GTO was pretty cool…once.  

     • 

       blksista on April 27, 2009 at 2:39 pm

       with or without engines. ;D

2. 

   DaveW on April 27, 2009 at 2:18 pm

   Other than the “muscle cars” of an earlier age, Pontiac has been a brand without any reason to exist for quite a while. It seemed like most of its models were just rebranded Chevys. It’s kind of interesting that GM used to think it needed both Pontiac and Oldsmobile to fill in the gap between Chevy and Buick and now has dumped both. Look for even more Chevy models to carry that task should car love ever reemerge as a market force in America.

   Judging by the younger folks I know, there seems to be almost no interest in the matter. Cars have become, for them, at least, just another appliance, much less interesting than cellphones, computers, and music machines. So no, I don’t think anyone will miss Pontiacs or even notice they’re gone.

   • 

     BooMan on April 27, 2009 at 2:23 pm

     You know, I thought Oldsmobiles had been discontinued and then all of a sudden there was this resurgence.  Then they really did cancel the line and I didn’t notice for four years.  

     • 

       blksista on April 27, 2009 at 2:43 pm

       …about the best American cars and what class indicators they are?

       Of course, Beemers and Volvos definitely mean, liberal.  Even VW Passats.

3. 

   Brendan Skwire on April 27, 2009 at 2:51 pm

   fuck yeah dude!
   the GTO!
   the original trans am

   the firebird!

   As for their current line? nah, i won’t miss that garbage, except maybe the car-camping-ready Aztec. i knew some owners from bluegrass festivals, they loved ’em.

   • 

     Grep Agni on April 27, 2009 at 3:33 pm

     Regarding the Aztec:  I never considered the implications of car/tent bestiality before seeing that picture.  I may have been permanently scarred.

     • 

       Brendan Skwire on April 27, 2009 at 3:36 pm

       not me!
       shit, if they put an efficient 4 cylinder in that thing, i’d drive it. room for the bass, the guitar, the mandolin, AND the fiddle with plenty of room for the kid, the g/f and the coolers.

4. 

   boran2 on April 27, 2009 at 3:00 pm

   Hopefully this will not impact upon production of the Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix.  Produced in the same California plant, they are twins under the skin.  They really are good vehicles.  Our 2005 Toyota is running strong.

   • 

     maheanuu on April 27, 2009 at 3:49 pm

     I still have two Fiero’s both ’87 Notchies, 4 Bangers ones a Targa and the other is a moonroof…  For sure they will be collectors items in the not so very distant future.

     I think that my Targa is incredible on the mountain roads here in Oregon, and find it to be one of the finest cornering cars I have ever driven.

5. 

   dada on April 27, 2009 at 4:54 pm

   pontiac’s demise should be the least of peoples worries, GM’s playing chicken witha a lot of peoples future, to wit:

   GM tells creditors to swap for equity or face bankruptcy

   the automaker asked its bondholders to exchange $27 billion in debt for equity or risk taking an even harder hit in bankruptcy court.

   …

   As for the exchange, GM said it would offer 225 shares of common stock for each $1,000 of debt. If not enough debt holders agree to the plan before June 1, GM said it would file for bankruptcy.

   “Exchange offers are a vital component of GM’s overall restructuring plan to achieve and sustain long-term viability,” the company said in a statement.
   GM values the offer at $27.2 billion, and said creditors have until May 26 to participate, or risk an offer of less value.

   “Fritz Henderson basically drew a line in the sand,” David Silver, automotive analyst at WStreet.com said. “It all comes down to risk aversion for these bondholders. Are they willing to take the risk with their bonds? Because if they do not take the 40 cents on the dollar for their bonds now, they run the risk of getting nothing.”

   meanwhile, they continue to struggle:

   GM to cut dealers, workers and Pontiac

   GM said it would eliminate 21,000 salaried and hourly jobs by the end of next year, 7,000 more than previously announced, and would shutter 13 plants in the process. By 2010, it will sell only 34 car models, down from 48 in 2007.

   With Pontiac, Hummer, Saab and Saturn slated to be eliminated, GM will focus on four brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick.

   One sticking point for GM has been reducing by as much as half $20 billion in cash obligations to a retiree healthcare trust. The automaker said it would accomplish that goal with a debt-for-equity swap, and would also offer the same exchange to the Treasury in exchange for up to $10 billion in debt and to private holders of $27 billion in GM bonds.

   A tender offer extended by the company today to bondholders would trade 225 shares in the company for every $1,000 in debt. To avoid a bankruptcy filing, Henderson said, at least 90%, or $24 billion, of that debt would have to be voluntarily swapped.

   By combining its tender offer with its equity offers to the Treasury Department and the UAW, GM hopes to cut $44 billion in debt from its balance sheet.

   If successful, it would give the U.S. government at least a 50% stake in the automaker, with the union holding up to 39% and bondholders with an additional 10% share. Current shareholders would effectively be wiped out.

   chrysler’s likely to file bankruptcy in early may, and, given the increasingly unlikely prospect of 90% of GM’s bondholders to agree to the terms being offered, they’ll likely file in june.

   looks like the u.s. taxpayer’s on the hook still again.

6. 

   The Voice In The Wilderness on April 27, 2009 at 6:29 pm

   Yeah, I’ll miss them. I almost bought a Grand Prix in 2005. Interiors were only available in black and dark gray. Those racing seats were kind of uncomfortable too.
   The Grand Prix was different from the Impala in having a stiffer suspension and a larger final drive gear plus those night-vision friendly orange dash lights. Not a racing car, but a good road car. I tested equivalent Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Buick models on a bad stretch of road called Shales Parkway in Elgin IL. It has a double S curve and is full of potholes and broken pavement at that point. The Buick was uncontrollable at the posted speed of 40. I had to slow down to 20. The Chevrolet stayed in its lane, but bottomed and yawed considerably. the Pontiac whipped through without a problem. Too bad it wasn’t available in tan or light gray interior. Of course, then I’d be stuck with an orphaned car.

   I’ve owned many cars from a ’53 Plymouth to an ’07 Malibu. Most were GM. The best were GM. I’m very sorry that GM is committing suicide. I’ve bought my last GM car. The next will be a Hyundai Sonata or Genesis.

   Of course, in true clueless fashion, GM has decided to keep duplicate Chevrolet truck and GMC truck lines.

   I’d never shed a tear for GMC, but I do for Pontiac.

7. 

   keepinon on April 27, 2009 at 8:20 pm

   Then there are the suppliers of parts for Pontiac, the folks who own businesses that cater to the workers who make Pontiacs, and oh yeah the folks who sell consumer goods to the families of Pontiac workers, or provide public or private services for them. Since I live among these folks, I’ll feel the pinch too as other business go under, the local and state tax base erodes even more and more people leave our state looking for work. Oh one more thing, I’ll covet the memory of a white 1964 GTO.

8. 

   Cab4me on April 28, 2009 at 1:44 am

   I will not miss Pontiac, I never owned one, and never wanted one.  More to the point for me is General Motors, and the animus I hold for them.  You see, in 1971 I was fresh out of the Service, back from Viet Nam, and ready to get a car (after a misadventure with a motorcycle).  I bought what I thought was an affordable, light, economical, practical car: the Vega.  It had an aluminum block engine to cut weight and save gas.  I liked the car, but my needs grew as I got married and needed to move East so my new wife and I could live near where she would go to graduate school in North Carolina.  So I traded the Vega to my parents for their Torino station wagon, something I could use to haul all my new families stuff back East.  Unfortunately for my parents, the Vega had a defective engine design.  The aluminum block wore out prematurely, and burned out the engine, as it usually did.  My parents discovered the engine failure and took it to the local GM dealer, who offered to give them $750 trade-in value for the car for a new car.  They took the trade-in value and bought a new car from the GM dealer.  What they did not know was that GM had also discovered that the motor on the Vega was defective and had (secretly} authorized it’s dealers to replace the motor free to any customer who raised a ruckus about it.  My parents were not the sort of people who raised a ruckus about anything, so they took the trade-in value on a new car (a Nova, known in Spanish as “won’t go”), thus saving GM the cost of replacing a defective engine.  So that’s my story about GM, and why I would never buy another vehicle from them.