Pontiac, Pontiac

The Oakland Motor Company and Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works Company merged in November 1908 under the name of the Oakland Motor Car Company. The operations of both companies were joined together in Pontiac, Michigan (of Oakland County) to build the Cartercar. General Motors in 1909 purchased Oakland. General Motors' first Pontiac was conceived of as an affordable six cylinder intending to compete in the more inexpensive four cylinder model range. Within months of its introduction, Pontiac was outselling Oakland. As a result of Pontiac's sales rising while Oakland's sales were declining, Pontiac became the only companion marque to survive its parent, with Oakland ceasing production in 1932.

In the late 1930s, Pontiac used the so-called torpedo body of the Buick for one of its models, just prior to its being used by Chevrolet. This body style brought some attention to the marque.

A new 173-horsepower (129 kW) overhead valve V-8 engine was introduced. (see Engines section below). Sales increased. With the introduction of this V-8, the six cylinder engines were discontinued; a six-cylinder engine would not return to the full-size Pontiac line until the GM corporate downsizing of 1977. An overhead cam six cylinder engine was used in the Tempest model line starting in 1966, as well as on the Firebird. It was the first mass produced engine in America utilizing an overhead camshaft configuration. http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/pontiactn/ohc6.pdf retrieved 4/19/2009 In 1956 when Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen became general manager of Pontiac, with the aid of his new heads of engineering, E. M. Estes and John Z. De Lorean, he immediately began reworking the brand's image. One of the first steps involved the removal of the famous trademark "silver streaks" from the hood and deck lid of the 1957 models just weeks before the '57s were introduced. Another step was introducing the first Bonnevillea limited-edition Star Chief convertible that showcased Pontiac's first fuel-injected engine. Some 630 Bonnevilles were built for 1957, each with a retail price of nearly $5800. While new car buyers could buy a Cadillac for that price, the Bonneville raised new interest in what Pontiac now called "America's No. 1 Road Car." from the rear, showing double rear fins The Bonneville, a sub-series of the Star Chief introduced with the 1957 models, then, became its own line. These were built on the wheelbase of the A-body platform. A 1958 Tri-Power Pontiac Bonneville was the pace car for that year's Indianapolis 500. Also, 1958 was the last year Pontiac Motor Division would bear the "Indian" motif throughout the vehicle.

The Star Chief's four-door "Vista" hardtop was also shared by the Bonneville. This coincided with major body styling changes across all models that introduced increased glass area, twin V-shaped fins and lower hood profiles. Because of these changes, Motor Trend magazine picked the entire Pontiac line as 1959 Car of the Year. The '59s have a five-inch (127 mm) wider track, because Knudsen noticed the new, wider bodies looked awkward on the carried-over 1958 frames. The new "Wide-Track" Pontiacs not only had improved styling, but also handled bettera bonus that tied into Pontiac's resurgence in the marketplace.

GM had planned to launch a Pontiac version of the Corvair, but "Bunkie" Knudsenwhose niece had been seriously injured in a Corvair crashsuccessfully argued against the idea. Instead, DeLorean's "ropeshaft" design was greenlighted.

The Tempest won the Motor Trend "Car of the Year" award in 1961for Pontiac, the second time in three years. DeLorean's vision has been further vindicated by the adoption of similar designs in a slew of modern high-performance cars, including the Porsche 928, the Corvette C5, and the Aston Martin DB9.

Pontiac engineers ran early tests of this motor by literally cutting off the left bank of pistons and adding counterweights to the crankshaft, and were surprised to find it easily maintained the heaviest Pontiacs at over . In production, the engine received a crankshaft designed for just four cylinders, but this didn't completely solve its balance issues. The engine gained the nickname "Hay Baler" because of it tendency to kick violently, like the farm machine, when its timing was off.

Today, the 215 cars are among the most sought-after of all Tempests. In 1963, Pontiac replaced the 215 with a "new" 326, an iron block mill that had the same external dimensions and shared parts with the 389, but an altered, reduced bore. The car's body and suspension was also changed to be lower, longer and wider. The response was that more than half of the 1963 Tempests and LeMans (separate lines for that one year only) were ordered with the V8, a trend that did not go unnoticed by management. The next year, the performance V8 option was badged as the now-famous GTO. The Tempest's popularity helped move Pontiac into third place among American car brands in 1962, a position Pontiac would hold though 1970. The Buick 215 V8 would remain in production for more than thirty five years, being used by Britain's Rover Group after it had bought the rights to it.

The February, 1965 issue of Motor Trend was almost entirely devoted to Pontiac's Car of the Year award and included feature stories on the division's marketing, styling, engineering and performance efforts along with road tests of several models.

Full-sized Pontiacs were also substantially restyled but retained the same basic underbody structure and chassis that debuted with the 1965 model - in fact the rooflines for the four-door pillared sedans and Safari wagons were the same as the '65 models, while the two-door semi-fastback design gave way to a squared-off notchback style and four-door hardtop sedans were also more squared off than 1967-68 models. The GTOs and Firebirds received the Ram Air options, the GTO saw the addition of the "Judge" performance/appearance package, and the Firebird also got the "Trans Am" package. Although originally conceived as a 303 cubic inch model to compete directly in the Trans Am racing series, in a cost saving move the Pontiac Trans Am debuted with the standard 400 cubic inch performance engines.

Production of the 1969 Firebirds was extended into the first three months of the 1970 model year (all other 1970 Pontiacs debuted Sept. 18, 1969) due to a decision to delay the introduction of an all-new 1970 Firebird (and Chevrolet Camaro) until after the first of the year - Feb. 26, 1970 to be exact.

Astre had been sold exclusively in Canada from 1973. It was offered through the 1977 model year. 1975 would also see the end of Pontiac convertibles for the next decade.

The Vega Wagon body style was added in 1978, Sunbird Safari Wagon, replacing the Astre Safari Wagon. The Sunbird was offered in its rear-wheel-drive configuration through the 1980 model year. (Sunbird Safari wagon through 1979.) For 1977, Pontiac replaced the Ventura with the Phoenix, a version of Chevrolet's fourth generation Nova.

On February 17, 2009, GM originally proposed the elimination of its Saturn division, the sale of Saab, and either the sale or elimination of Hummer, depending on whether a buyer could be found quickly. In the original plan GM also clarified that Pontiac would have begun to focus on "niche" models aimed at the "youthful and sporty" segment, but did not provide specifics. Pontiac was to trim its number of models to four "Official: GM shrinking to four brands; Pontiac to four models" from Autoblog (January 25, 2009) , although there was talk of retaining only one model "Goodbye-amino? Pontiac could kill G8 ST; become one-car brand" From Autoblog (December 15, 2008) . By April 2009 several automotive websites and business publications were reporting that GM was doing a study suggesting it might eliminate the brand altogether, along with sister truck brand GMC "GM Said to Study Dropping Pontiac, GMC in Savings Bid (Update3)" From Bloomberg.com (April 16, 2009) "GM May Kill Pontiac, GMC Brands" From US News & World Report (April 16, 2009) "REPORT: Pontiac and GMC may get axe... you knew this was coming" From Autoblog (April 16, 2009) . On April 23 a report was published "REPORT: General Motors to kill Pontiac on Monday" From Autoblog (April 23, 2004) stating the company would be dropping the Pontiac brand while preserving the GMC truck line, as well as the Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Buick brands. The decision to eliminate Pontiac was made primarily due to the increasing threat of a bankruptcy filing if the June 1 deadline could not be met.

Initially, GM said that, unlike Saturn, the brand was not for sale. But that statement was made before the official GM bankruptcy. As of mid June, Waldron indicated that GM has softened this stance, and that talks with GM relating to the purchase of the brand are continuing. In a bankruptcy, a well-known brand such as Pontiac clearly has a non-zero value to creditors, and ultimately the bankruptcy court must decide if the brand and logos will be sold to new investors or simply eliminated.

Pontiac engineer Clayton Leach designed the stamped steel valvetrain rocker arm, a simplified and incredibly reliable alternative to a bearing-equipped rocker. This design was subsequently picked up by nearly every OHV engine manufacturer at one point or another.

But testing comparisons to the OHV Oldsmobile V-8 revealed the L-head could not compete performance-wise. So, in addition to building a new Pontiac Engineering building in 1949-1951, the decision to re-direct the V-8 to an OHV design delayed its introduction until the 1955 model year.

Produced from 1977 through 1981, these engines had the distinction of being the last V-8s produced by Pontiac; GM merged its various brand's engines into one collectively-shared group in 1980, entitled General Motors Powertrain.

Pontiac engines were unique for their integrated water pump and timing chain cover, and separate valley pan and intake.

Source: Wikipedia > Pontiac