Pontiac was shut down 10 years ago. The brand that was once GM’s excitement division is now just ashes. But the fact that it lasted as long as it did is itself a miracle and is thanks in no small part to one car.
Pontiac has a unique history compared to Chevrolet, Olds, Buick, and Cadillac all of which were standalone manufacturers acquired by GM. Pontiac however was an invented division that was a result of price gaps in GM’s lineup in the 1920s. There was a gap between Chevrolet and Oakland, a really big one between Olds and Buick, and another between Buick and Cadillac. To fill these in, GM created 4 new brands: LaSalle slotted between Buick and Cadillac, Viking and Marquette slotted between Buick and Oldsmobile, and between Oakland and Chevrolet, the Pontiac name appeared. Viking died after 3 model year in 1931. Marquette died after just 2 in 1930. Lasalle was a bit more successful, going from 1927 to 1940. But Pontiac was the only one that lasted, quickly outselling its companion Oakland, the latter was dropped for 1931.
Over the years, Pontiac made itself into a maker of solid and sensible cars that weren’t very exciting. Sales were consistently disappointing with the company stuck at 5th or 6th in the sales charts, falling behind Buick and Oldsmobile, both more expensive brands.
1958 was the low point for Pontiac, just 218,000 found buyers, falling to 6th place in the sales charts. At around this time, Ford had killed off Edsel and Chrysler had killed off DeSoto and it seems likely that GM was ready to consider killing off their own seemingly superfluous middle market brand. But there were 3 men: Bunkie Knudsen, Pete Estes, and John DeLorean, who had a rescue plan for the ailing marque. They wanted to make it into the excitement division. Their plan had already begun in 1958 with the Bonneville. The Bonneville had been a trim level on the Star Chief in 1957, but it was spun off as its own model for 1958, the top of the line Pontiac. The engine was a 6.1 liter V8 with a 4 barrel carburetor, 3 2 barrel carbs, or fuel injection.
1959 saw the transformation begin in earnest. New that year was Pontiac’s trade mark “wide track” styling with the wheels out 64 inches apart. This greatly improved handling. That year also saw the first use of Pontiac’s famous split grille. All of this paid off handsomely with sales surging 76%, allowing Pontiac to vault past Buick and Oldsmobile in sales to 4th place.
For 1961, the Bonneville lost a couple of inches, and with the longer roof, it made it look substantially smaller. The split grille had disappeared for 1960 but it came back and became a permanent Pontiac trademark to the end. By 1962, Pontiac had overtaken Rambler and Plymouth to reach 3rd place in the sales charts, a position it would continue to occupy through the 60s.
A facelift in 1963 brought stacked headlights that would be used on all other Pontiacs and be copied by Plymouth, Ford, and Cadillac by 1965.
For 1965, the Bonneville was redesigned with all of GM’s other full sized models. It was longer and wider than before and got the trendy coke bottle shape.
1969 was the end of Pontiac’s 7 year streak in 3rd place. Sales for that year were 870,000, more than 4 times what they were 11 years earlier. With the Bonneville, Pontiac was saved. But with the 3 men who engineered its recovery leaving for other jobs at GM, Pontiac would slip back into familiar patterns.
For 1971, the big Pontiacs got new swoopy styling, which I think was quite attractive. Pontiac also changed up its hierarchy. The mid range Executive model was discontinued and the Bonneville got moved down to that hole while a new Grand Ville took its place at the top of the line. Like all cars, the Bonneville would suffer in performance from heavy 5 mph bumpers and emissions controls. 1973 saw Pontiac reach its all time high in sales: 919,870, which put them in 4th place behind Chevy, Ford, and Olds. Demand for the big Pontiacs would be destroyed by the energy crisis. The Grand Ville was discontinued in 1975 and a new Bonneville Brougham became the top-of-the-line model once again.
For 1977, the Bonneville was part of GM’s full sized downsizing, resulting in a car barely bigger than Pontiac’s own intermediate LeMans. It was 14 inches shorter and 800 pounds lighter than before. This allowed the use of much smaller engines. Unfortunately, with the energy crisis in 1979, sales of the big Pontiacs virtually ground to a halt.
For 1982, it was decided for Pontiac to ditch the full sized market. The Catalina was killed off and the Bonneville name was put on the smaller LeMans. This move would be quickly abandoned and Pontiac wound up selling the Canadian built full sized Parisienne starting mid way through 1982. With this, it marked the end of Pontiac’s unique V8 engines.
For 1987, the Bonneville was a full sized car again, having moved to the H-body platform shared with the Olds 88 and Buick LeSabre. But because the H-body was a downsizing compared to the B-body it was replacing, the full sized Bonneville was not actually any bigger than the intermediate Bonneville that preceded it. It was now front wheel drive and powered by a 3.8 liter Buick V6. Unfortunately the styling was pure cookie cutter, even losing the split grille.
1992 brought much more distinctive styling. It also brought optional passenger airbags and anti lock brakes. There was also now a supercharged version of the 3.8 liter V6 making 205 horsepower (240 after 1996).
2000 brought a very aggressive redesign with optional stability control. In 2004, for the first time since 1986, you could get a V8, Cadillac’s Northstar making 275 horsepower. But this was a last hurrah before the Bonneville was killed off in 2005. The last rolled off the line on May 27. The Grand Prix effectively took over for full sized duty and that was replaced by the extremely excellent Australian built G8 in 2008 right before Pontiac’s demise.
The Bonneville arrived in 1958 and almost single handedly saved Pontiac. It brought much excitement to a moribund division. But even it could not survive through GM’s many mistakes starting in the 1980s that would ultimately spell its doom.