Pontiac (automobile)
Pontiac, formally the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors, was an American automobile brand owned, manufactured, and commercialized by General Motors. It was introduced in 1926 as a companion make for GM's more expensive line of Oakland automobiles. Pontiac quickly overtook Oakland in popularity and supplanted its parent entirely by 1933, establishing its position as one of GM's dominant divisions.
Sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico by GM, Pontiac came to represent affordable, practical transportation emphasizing performance. The division’s name stems from the Odawa chieftain Pontiac, who led an indigenous uprising from 1763 until 1766 around Detroit, Michigan.
In the hierarchy of GM's five divisions, it slotted above Chevrolet but below Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac. Starting with the 1959 models, marketing was focused on selling the lifestyle that the car's ownership promised rather than the car itself. By emphasizing its "Wide Track" design, Pontiac billed itself as the "performance division" of General Motors that marketed cars with the "we build excitement" tag line.
Facing financial problems in the late 2000s, and a need to restructure as a prerequisite for a $53 billion government bailout, GM agreed to discontinue the Pontiac brand. The final Pontiac, a white G6, was assembled on January 4, 2010. Franchise agreements for Pontiac dealers expired on October 31, 2010, leaving GM to focus on its four remaining North American brands: Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC.
History
1926–1942
The Oakland Motor Car Company was founded in 1907 in Pontiac, Michigan, by Edward Murphy, a manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages. The following year, another former buggy company executive, William C. Durant, founded General Motors in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for the Buick Motor Company. GM soon bought other automakers, including Oldsmobile and Cadillac. In 1909, Oakland became part of GM. The first model made its debut as the Oakland Four from 1909 until it was replaced by the Oakland Six in 1916. In 1926 the Pontiac Series 6-27 was introduced as a junior brand to Oakland, which featured a six-cylinder engine. Within months of its introduction, Pontiac was outselling Oakland, and became its own GM division when Oakland was canceled in 1931.It was named after the famous Odawa chief, who had also given his name to the city of Pontiac, Michigan, where the car was produced. Body styles offered included a sedan with both two and four doors, Landau Coupe, with the Sport Phaeton, Sport Landau Sedan, Sport Cabriolet, and Sport Roadster.
Pontiacs were also manufactured from knock-down kits at GM's Japanese factory at Osaka Assembly in Osaka, Japan, from 1927 until 1941.
Pontiac produced cars offering, L-head straight-six cylinder engines in the Pontiac Series 6-27 of 1927; its stroke was the shortest of any American car in the industry at the time. The Series 6-27 sold 39,000 units within six months of its appearance at the 1926 New York Auto Salon, hitting 76,742 in 12 months. The next year, 1928, it became the top-selling six-cylinder car in the U.S., as well as ranking seventh in overall sales. When the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred in September, both Pontiac and Oakland sales dropped dramatically and because Oakland was the more expensive, GM leadership decided that Pontiac should remain.
1932 was the first year for the Pontiac Series 302 V8. The 1932 V8 had an oversquare bore and stroke of x displacing with a compression ratio of 5.2:1. Horsepower was rated at @3200 RPM using three main bearings, solid valve lifters and a Marvel one-barrel carburetor. Unusually, Pontiac switched to the straight-eight for 1933 until it was replaced in 1954.
As the economy began to recover, by 1933, Pontiac had moved up to producing the least expensive cars available with straight-eight engines. This was achieved by using many components from the six-cylinder Chevrolet Master, such as the body. The Pontiacs were differentiated by a large chrome strip on the top and center of the front hood that Pontiac called the "Silver Streak". Only eight-cylinder engines were offered in 1933 and 1934, displacing rated at.
In 1935, Pontiac shared the "torpedo" body appearance with the LaSalle and the Cadillac Series 60, just prior to its being used by Chevrolet, earning some media attention for the marque. At the 1939 New York World's Fair, a 1939 Deluxe Six was displayed with body panels made entirely from plexiglass. An unusual feature of the "torpedo"-bodied exhibition car was that, with the push of a button, the front half of the body would open showing the engine and the car's front seat interior.
A major change occurred in 1937, when all Pontiac models except the new station wagon began using the all-steel B-body shared with Oldsmobile, LaSalle, and small Buicks. A new stronger X frame had a Hotchkiss drive using a two-part drive shaft. The eight-cylinder had a wheelbase, while the six-cylinder had a wheelbase. Both engines increased displacements with the six going to producing and the eight to rated at.
From 1940 through 1942, the Pontiac Torpedo was the brand's only model built on three different bodies: the "A" body shared with Chevrolet, the "B" body shared with Oldsmobile and Buick, and the "C" body shared with the large Oldsmobile, Buick, and the small Cadillac. It shared some appearances with the Opel Kapitän. In 1941 the Pontiac Streamliner appeared with a straight-8 engine, and on February 2, 1942, the last civilian Pontiac automobile was manufactured in the United States, as all automobile factories converted to military production.
The prewar through the early 1950s Pontiacs were not powerful as they featured the heavy and long Pontiac straight-8 engine, which was less expensive to produce than the increasingly popular V8s. Their long crankshaft suffered from excessive flex, thus limiting them to a low compression ratio with a modest redline.
1946–1954
From 1946 until 1948, all Pontiac models were essentially 1942 models with minor changes. The Hydramatic automatic transmission was introduced in 1948 and helped Pontiac sales grow even though their cars, Torpedoes, and Streamliners, were becoming out of date.The first all-new Pontiac models appeared in 1949. They incorporated styling cues such as lower body lines and rear fenders that were integrated into the rear-end styling of the car. The Chieftain line was introduced to replace the Torpedo. Built on the GM B-body platform, the Chieftain featured different styling from the Streamliner. In 1950, the Catalina pillarless hardtop coupe was introduced as a "halo" model, similar to the Chevrolet Bel Air of the same year.
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 featured a stretch to the A-body platform giving it a wheelbase.
The 1953 models were the first to have one-piece windshields instead of the previous two-piece units. While the 1953 and 1954 models were heavily reworked versions of the 1949-52 Chieftain models, they were engineered for the V8 engine that was supposed to be introduced on the 1953 models, but the Buick division complained to GM's management that the introduction might take sales away because Buick was introducing the new nailhead V8 in 1953.
In 1954, Pontiac continued to build upon the design and engineering of their vehicles, which had seen significant updates in previous years. While the 1953 and 1954 models were reworked versions of the 1949-1952 Chieftain models, the year 1954 brought a unique marketing strategy to the forefront. Pontiac introduced an advertising campaign that featured striking prints depicting the impressive feats of Native American tribes. These prints showcased various aspects of tribal life, from awe-inspiring acts of construction to hunting and other means of survival. The campaign not only highlighted the rich heritage and craftsmanship of Native American cultures but also added an element of cultural resonance to the Pontiac brand, creating a unique and memorable connection with potential customers.
1955–1960
Completely new bodies and chassis were introduced for the 1955 model year and sales increased. A new overhead-valve Strato Streak V8 engine was introduced. With the introduction of this V8, the six-cylinder engines were discontinued; a six-cylinder would not return to the full-size Pontiac line until the GM corporate downsizing of 1977.In 1956, when Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen became general manager of Pontiac, alongside new heads of engineering, E. M. Estes and John DeLorean, Knudsen began reworking the brand's image. One of the first steps involved the removal of the "silver streaks" from the hood and deck lid which were a traditional styling feature beginning in 1933. These were eliminated from the 1957 models just weeks before they were introduced. The first Bonneville was also introduced. This was a version of the Star Chief convertible to showcase Pontiac's first fuel-injected engine. About 630 Bonnevilles were built in 1957. As a sporting model, they were built on the short wheelbase Chieftain chassis. Pontiac marketing described all Pontiac's as "America's No. 1 Road Car".
The following year, the Bonneville became its own line, built on the wheelbase of the B-body platform. A 1958 Tri power Bonneville was the pace car for that year's Indianapolis 500. The 1958 model year was final use of the "Indian" motif throughout the vehicle. The only exception would be the Indian head high-beam indicator light in the instrument cluster. All 1958 models featured ball joint front suspension replacing the previous kingpin design.
With the 1959 model year, Pontiac came out with its "Arrowhead" emblem, with the star design in the middle. The "Arrowhead" design ran all the way up the hood from between the split grille, and on Star Chief models, had eight chrome stars from the emblem design on the body sides as chrome trim. Knudsen directed that the Pontiacs received a completely reworked chassis, body, and interior styling. Quad headlamps, as well as a longer, lower body, were some of the styling changes.
The Chieftain line was renamed Catalina; the Star Chief was downgraded to replace the discontinued Super Chief series and for the first time did not have a two-door hardtop, only a two-door sedan along with a four-door hardtop and four-door sedan; in addition, there was no Star Chief wagon. The Bonneville was now the top of the line, coming in three body styles: a two-door hardtop, a four-door hardtop, and a four-door station wagon. The Star Chief's four-door "Vista" hardtop was also shared by the Bonneville. Catalina models included a two-door hardtop, two-door sedan, four-door sedan, and four-door hardtop as well as two station wagons, a six-passenger with two rows of seats, and a nine-passenger version with a rear-facing third row. Bonneville and Star Chief were built on a wheelbase with the exception of the Bonneville wagon, and all Catalina models and the Bonneville wagon rode on a wheelbase. Catalina was also shorter than Bonneville and Star Chief and weighed less than its long-wheelbase counterparts. All 1959 Pontiacs were equipped with a V8 engine with horsepower ratings from to a "Tri-power" carbureted version. All automatics were four-speed Super-Hydra-Matics or, as the Hydramatic Division that designed and built them called them, "Controlled coupling HydraMatic". Oldsmobile used this same transmission and called it Jetaway Hydramatic; Cadillac also used it and called it 315 or P 315 Hydramatic. A three-speed, column-mounted stick shift was standard on all Pontiacs. This coincided with major body styling changes across all models that introduced increased glass area, twin V-shaped fins, and lower hood profiles. Motor Trend magazine selected the Pontiac line as the 1959 Car of the Year. The 1959s featured a wider track. The increase to was because Knudsen noticed the new, wider bodies looked awkward on the carried-over 1958 frames. The new "Wide-Track" Pontiacs improved styling, handled better, and contributed to Pontiac's resurgence in the marketplace.
The 1960 models had a complete reskinning with the exception of the body's canopies, which remained identical to the 1959s, but removed the tail fins and the distinctive split grille. The 1960 models' standard engine had a power gain of 3 hp due to a compression increase of.25. The Ventura was introduced, and a more luxurious hardtop coupe with the four-door hardtop built on the shorter wheelbase platform, thus positioned between the Catalina and Star Chief models. The Ventura featured the luxury features of the Bonneville in the shorter, lighter Catalina body.