Oh great! Here we go again!!

Well I heard it again on the national news! GM TO CUT PONTIAC AND BUICK!!

Does anybody have an idea on what we can do to save our beloved brand?  The brand that kept performance on the road during the hardest times? A brand that until Bob Putz, always maintained the identity and image of a Performance oriented AMERICAN car builder? Do we march on Washington? Do we have every Pontiac enthusiast, and Pontiac car club in the USA drive to Washington and park on every street around the capitol building and the white house until they submit to our demands to save the brand that gave us names like Judge, Trans Am, Bonneville, Grand Prix? That also gave us packages like High Output, Super Duty, and WS6? I ask YOU! What do we do to save Pontiac?

Hmmm....shoulda been a politician......

But seriously, What can we do to save them?

I feel that GM should cut out GMC since they are chevy trucks anyway, lose Hummer, Volvo, Opel, and shed any other brand out side the USA that they still own!  

Amen to that, I see more pontiacs on the road than chevy (except trucks), cadillac, buick, volvo, opel, hummer, and gmc.  If GM drops pontiac (and buick which almost all old people drive), they will be committing suicide.  If anyone has a petition to send to GM or anything I bet everyone subscribed to this magazine would sign it.  GM is just afraid of pontiac selling more than chevy (probably why they won't make a firebird, because it would sell more than the camaro), but if you ask me, why does it matter who sells more, they are all GM and GM needs to sell cars; Pontiac sells.  

The way this country is going we will all be driving the same car within the next ten years and our beloved classics will be outlawed on the street and become museum dust bunny's. Can you say USSR?? Communism is just a stones throw away!!  

I fear that what we knew as american muscle and american made is a thing of the past.  I belive we will look back and see that it was a huge mistake how it was all handled, however, we will move on and 20 years from now, it will all be a distant memory.  it is the end of an age, but the age has been dieing for years. Hold on to the cars we have and restore as many as we can and we will carry on a leggacy that even our great grandchildren will appriciate.  Yes, we may loose an icon, but they can never take away what we already have!  

We now hear the gm is planning to temporarily close most of its US factories for 9 weeks - because of slumping sales and growing inventories of unsold vehicles - well figure that - you make poo - thererfore, poo does not sell - also gm indicated sales were down 49% in the first quarter - again the poo factor - maybe during the shut down period they can fire all of the design folks - lets not worry about the workers - gm has to pay the difference between state unemployment and their regular high wages - and this is while they are not working - wonder if I could get a job - however, plants that make more popular models could remain open - again - figure that - if it is something folks want - it will sell - gm still might go into bankruptcy - no problem with that - except US government is going to guarantee gm's warranties - I for one do not want washington working on my truck

have a great day  

You waite and see, GM is going to be run by the government and the only thing Nancy Pelossi will let them build will be three wheel electric scooters!  

Wow! Nine weeks of no production! This reminds me of the golden years when strikes, production and supply issues left us with unintentionally rare cars due to shortened model years and low production numbers. You all know what I mean, the short runs of TA's in the early 70's and so on. That sort of thing lead to us having rare models to collect years later. Too bad they don't build anything that anyone will want to collect 20 or 30 years from now!
Steve  
Trying to help... 'cause we don't all have to learn the hard way!

The stuff that they build now a days wont last 20-30 years.  
professional hi-performance engine builder

Horsepower sells engines and torque wins races

This is an email I just got......

> Subject: R.I.P. Pontiac
>
> GM prepares to announce Pontiac closure next week By JAMIE LAREAU,
> AUTOMOTIVE NEWS  A picture of GM could annouce next week that the
> Pontiac brand will be phased out.
> GM could annouce next week that the Pontiac brand will be phased out.
> GMGeneral Motors is preparing to announce early next week that the Pontiac brand will be eliminated, said a source familiar with the company's plans.
>
> The announcement will be made as part of an updated viability report to the U.S. auto task force, the source said. A second source indicated earlier this week that GM, surviving with $15.4 billion in U.S. bailout funds, was considering phasing out Pontiac instead of sticking with a plan to have it continue as a niche brand.
>
> In its proposal to the U.S. Treasury on Feb. 17, GM said Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC would be its four core U.S. brands. On March 31, the task force told GM that its restructuring plan wasn't aggressive enough and denied a request for $16.6 billion in additional aid.
>
> Pontiac spokesman Jim Hopson declined to comment on Pontiac's future.
>
> "I can't speculate what next week is going to hold," he said. "When we were asked to go back and look at the viability plan, everything went back on the table. We're reviewing everything. Nothing is sacred. We're still under the original viability plan until told otherwise."
>
> The U.S. today granted $2 billion to keep GM operating while it prepares for a new, June 1 restructuring deadline. GM has been staying afloat with $13.4 billion in U.S. loans granted in December by President George W. Bush.
>
> Bloomberg News said GM is expected to tell the government that it will stick with plans to keep GMC, Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac.
>
> Saab, Hummer and Saturn are for sale.
>
> Pontiac sold 267,348 vehicles in the United States last year, less than a third of its 1978 peak of 896,980. This year's volume dropped 43.5 percent through March as industrywide demand fell 38.4 percent.
>
> "Pontiac is one of my favorites -- I especially like the G8," said John Pitre, general manager of Motor City Auto Center in Bakersfield, Calif., which sells Buick-Pontiac-GMC and Saturn. "I would be sad to see it phased out. However, if some of those products became part of the Buick brand, I could understand GM's logic."
>
> Chris Haydocy, who owns a Buick-Pontiac-GMC store in Columbus, Ohio, said Pontiac isn't essential as long as the revamped sales channel provides most of what customers are looking for.
>
> Said Haydocy: "I think you need 10 or 12 models to do that."
>  

wow, this is really going to hurt the mexican economy with all these american car makers closing the plants.  

bob lutz (yes the former Chrysler vc) is an idiot - count the mistakes - g6 (Grand Am replacement) drab styling & steering problems - g8 ain't no Grand Prix - 2004 fake gto (blunder from down under) - could it be his 73 ++++ age or the fact that he just out of touch with buying public - I still like idiot  

Just to correct you it's Bob Putz not Lutz! GRIM REAPER OF PONTIAC!

Like I said in the blog, I'm done buying New GM. I feel GM should just die if they aren't building Pontiac's and that they deserve it. Lose Pontiac and Keep Buick, who's name spells ICK!! Buick styling, names, image all suck! Pontiac hasn't been great but who's fault is it. I will buy used low mileage Pontiac's till the well dries up, but then I guess it's off to Nissan since I get them for $500 below dealer cost. That's going to piss a lot of you off but hell it's not my fault. If I'd known this would happen 10 years ago I never would have bought another Pontiac and would have started buying Nissan then

I'm so mad about this I'm thinking of selling my 98 Grand am GT and my 68 GTO and all the stuff I've collected for it over the years, flipping my finger at GM and waving goodbye as I go to Nissan. Dumb *sses!! All of them!! The management, the union, all of them!! Greedy jack*sses!  

Werewolf486:
Just to correct you it's Bob Putz not Lutz! GRIM REAPER OF PONTIAC!

Like I said in the blog, I'm done buying New GM. I feel GM should just die if they aren't building Pontiac's and that they deserve it. Lose Pontiac and Keep Buick, who's name spells ICK!! Buick styling, names, image all suck! Pontiac hasn't been great but who's fault is it. I will buy used low mileage Pontiac's till the well dries up, but then I guess it's off to Nissan since I get them for $500 below dealer cost. That's going to piss a lot of you off but hell it's not my fault. If I'd known this would happen 10 years ago I never would have bought another Pontiac and would have started buying Nissan then

I'm so mad about this I'm thinking of selling my 98 Grand am GT and my 68 GTO and all the stuff I've collected for it over the years, flipping my finger at GM and waving goodbye as I go to Nissan. Dumb *sses!! All of them!! The management, the union, all of them!! Greedy jack*sses!

Not that I blame you for being irate over this, but I DO beg of you to reconsider where you are going.  You're sending your money to Japan.  At least keep that money in the US, where it belongs.  Me, I'm going to go sit with Ford until my beloved Pontiac comes back.  I would go to Mopar, but they're just not that appealing to me (not to mention too high-priced).  

But I can't blame you for going where the price is right....  

Given my choices of a FORD(VOMIT) or a Fiat Chrysler.....I go Nissan. I uderstand keeping the money in the USA but I can not buy FORD and Chrysler has more issues than GM with reliability and to much plastic, simulated wood, and just plain crap.

I WANT MY PONTIAC!!! but instead I guess I will just have to _SHIFT.