I grew up smelling the foundry (when the wind was right) where they made the iron to cast engine blocks and other parts. I walked by the old Oakland Motor Car factory on the way to school, and I worked several summers at Pontiac itself. That was a sprawling factory complex on the city’s North side, and included the foundry, Fisher Body plant, the various assembly plants, and pressed metal plant. I spent one summer assembling engine heads, and another summer in the pressed metal plant, feeding the giant presses. Pontiac’s headquarters and engineering center was also in the manufacturing complex, and even though many of the underpinnings of the cars were common, in those days each brand had much more identity than today. Pontiac even had it’s own factory dealership in downtown Pontiac, which I’m sure was always the first place in the country to get the latest models. Pontiac always seemed to have some unique models and features. The most notable I can remember was the new GTO, which I believe is the first true muscle car.
When I returned from military service, I bought my parents (and grandparents) home and continued to live in Pontiac until the city had decayed to the point where it was no longer safe. By that time, the sprawling Pontiac manufacturing complex had become a polluted weed field and the Pontiac name became just another sticker applied at various factories around the country. I haven’t bought a Pontiac in many years for the simple reason that I could always find a comparable GM car with the same features at a lower price, and indeed, most often with more features at a lower price. It’s sad but as with most things GM has touched, Pontiac became a victim of the suite of diseases that has virtually destroyed the company– Overmanagement, aversion to risk and short-term decision making. GM embalmed and painted the corpse of Pontiac in the 1980’s, so it’s fitting that they are finally going to bury it. I know a big, empty space in Pontiac, Michigan they can use.