Pontiac was a brand of automobiles first produced in 1926, and sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico by General Motors (GM). Pontiac has been marketed as an "athletic" brand, specializing in mainstream performance vehicles.
On April 27, 2009, amid ongoing financial problems and restructuring efforts, GM announced that it would phase out the Pontiac brand by the end of 2010 and focus on four core brands in North America: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC.
General Motors (GM) built the last Pontiac for the U.S. market on Wednesday, 25th of November 2009: it was a pearl white Pontiac G6 sedan which rolled off the assembly line in Orion Township ataround 12:45 P.M.
History
1926-1942
The Pontiac brand was introduced by General Motors in 1926 as the 'companion' marque to GM's Oakland Motor Car line. The Pontiac name was first used in 1900 by the Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works. The name was taken from Chief Pontiac, an American Indian chief who led an unsuccessful uprising against the British shortly after the French and Indian War. 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 merged in Pontiac, Michigan (of Oakland County) to build the Cartercar. General Motors, in 1909, purchased Oakland. General Motors' first Pontiac was conceived 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 rising sales, versus Oakland's declining sales, Pontiac became the only companion marque to survive its parent, with Oakland ceasing production in 1932.
Pontiac began by selling cars offering 40 hp (30 kW) 186.7 ci (3.1 liter) (3.25x3.75 in, 82.5x95mm) L-head straight 6-cylinder engines in the Pontiac Chief of 1927; its stroke was the shortest of any American car in the industry at the time. The Chief sold 39,000 units within six months of its appearance at the 1926 New York Auto Salon, hitting 76,742 at twelve months. The next year, it became the top-selling six in the U.S., ranking seventh in overall sales. By 1933, it had moved up to producing the least expensive cars available with straight eight-cylinder (inline eight) engines. This was done by using many components from the 6-cylinder Chevrolet, such as the body. 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.
For an extended period of time—prewar through the early 1950s—the Pontiac was a quiet, solid car, but not especially powerful. It came with a flathead (side-valve) straight eight. Straight 8s were slightly less expensive to produce than the increasingly popular V8s, but they were also heavier and longer. Additionally, the long crankshaft suffered from excessive flex, restricting straight 8s to a relatively low compression ratio with a modest redline. However, in this application, inexpensive (yet very quiet) flatheads were not a liability.
1946-1954
From 1946-1948, all Pontiac models were essentially 1942 models with minor changes. The Hydra-matic automatic transmission was introduced in 1948 and helped Pontiac sales grow even though their cars, Torpedoes and Streamliners, were quickly becoming out of date.
The first all-new Pontiac models appeared in 1949. Newly redesigned, they sported such styling cues as lower body lines and rear fenders that were integrated in the rear-end styling of the car.
Along with new styling came a new model. Continuing the Native American theme of Pontiac, the Chieftain line was introduced to replace the Torpedo. These were built on the GM B-Body platform and featured sportier styling than the more conservative Streamliner. In 1950, the Catalina trim-level was introduced as a sub-series.
In 1952, Pontiac discontinued the Streamliner and replaced it with additional models in the Chieftain line built on the GM A-body platform. This single model line continued until 1954 when the Star Chief was added. The Star Chief was created by adding an 11-inch (280 mm) extension to the A-body platform creating a 124-inch (3,100 mm) wheelbase.
The 1953 models were the first to have one-piece windshields instead of the normal two-piece units. While the 1953 and 1954 models were heavily re-worked versions of the 1949-52 Chieftain models, they were engineered to accommodate the V-8 engine that would appear in the all-new 1955 models.
1955-1960
Completely new bodies and chassis were introduced for 1955. 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.
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 Bonneville—a 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."
The Bonneville, a sub-series of the Star Chief introduced with the 1957 models, then, became its own line. These were built on the 122-inch (3,100 mm) 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.
With the 1959 model year, Pontiac came out with its "V" emblem, with the star design in the middle. The "V" design ran all the way up the hood from between the split grille, and on Starchief Models, had 8 chrome stars from the emblem design bolted to both sides of the vehicle as chrome trim. Knudsen saw to it that the car received a completely reworked chassis, body and interior styling. Quad headlamps, and a longer, lower body were some of the styling changes.
The Chieftain line was renamed Catalina; Star Chief was downgraded to replace the discontinued Super Chief series, and the Bonneville was now the top of the line, coming equipped with a fuel-injection system. 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 better—a bonus that tied into Pontiac's resurgence in the marketplace.
The 1960 models saw a complete reskinning, which removed the tailfins and the distinctive split grille (which Ford copied on the final Edsel models for 1960). Ventura was introduced, a more luxurious hardtop coupe and the Vista 4-door hardtop now being built on the shorter 122-inch (3,100 mm) wheelbase platform, with it falling between the Catalina and Star Chief models. The Ventura featured the luxury features of the Bonneville in the shorter, lighter Catalina body.
1961-1970
The 1961 models were similarly reworked. The split grille returned, as well as all-new bodies and a new design of a perimeter-frame chassis for all its full-size models (something which would be adopted for all of GM's intermediate-sized cars in 1964, and all its full-sized cars in 1965). These new chassis allowed for reduced weight and smaller body sizes.
But a complete departure in 1961 was the new Tempest, one of the three B-O-P (Buick-Olds-Pontiac) "compacts" introduced that year, the others being the Buick Special and Skylark and Oldsmobile F-85 and Cutlass. Toward the end of the 1961 model year, a fancier versi
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