Pontiac at Concours Devou

 

One hundred years ago, General Motors had established itself as one of the major automotive manufacturers in the world. Owning multiple brands, it was aiming them toward different economic groups with Chevrolet being the "entry" level automobile and Cadillac being the halo brand. Sitting just above Chevy was Oakland and Oldsmobile which were very close and similar in appeal. GM decided, in 1926, to create a slightly less expensive companion brand to Oakland called Pontiac. By 1931 it was obvious to the GM leadership that, with Pontiac greatly outselling the older Oakland, one would have to go. Oakland was discontinued and Pontiac filled the space between Chevy and Olds. For years Pontiac was seen as something of a stodgy family car. In 1956 a new regime took over the Pontiac division, led by Semon "Bunkie" Knudson with top engineers E. M. Estes and John DeLorean (yeah, that guy). This marked a huge turning point because by 1961 Pontiac introduced the new compact Tempest and the new team, particularly DeLorean, created something outstanding out of it by offering upgraded packages including the top-of-the-line Le Mans and the high-performance GTO. This marked what many consider the mainstream beginning of the muscle car era. 

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the introduction of Pontiac, the Concours d'Elegance at Devou Park held a special Pontiac class which was loaded with some of the classic models from the muscle ear. Among them was a 1969 Grand Prix SJ (top), a 1978 Trans Am, a 1968 GTO, a 1973 Trans Am, and a 1965 Le Mans