1968 Pontiac Firebird on 2040-cars

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GM doing fine at retaining Pontiac owners

This isn't the first time we've reported positive news about General Motors retaining former Pontiac owners. Get a few more stories like this latest report from Edmund's Auto Observer, and it will mark an ongoing positive trend for GM. Edmunds.com crunched the numbers to see how well the General is hanging on to customers after shutting out the lights at Pontiac, and it found that nearly 40 percent of Pontiac owners stayed with a vehicle from a General Motors brand.
The numbers are a little lower than an earlier R.L. Polk & Company study, but Edmunds says General Motors is keeping more former Pontiac buyers than it has since 2007. Most are turning to vehicles from Chevrolet, especially during January and February of 2011, when GM incentivized Pontiac owners to stay under the umbrella. Those moves seem to have worked, and 28.1 percent of Pontiac owners trading up made the jump into a Bowtie.
Buyers that have gone elsewhere have largely stayed loyal to Domestic automakers, with Ford picking up the most conquests from Pontiac, with 9.4 percent switching. Toyota and Honda picked up 7.4 percent of the pool of former Pontiac drivers. The numbers are defying any predictions that Pontiac buyers would completely exit the General Motors fold, and have climbed up closer to parity with the retention figures of other GM brands from a 2009 low of only 16 percent retention.

Junkyard Gem: 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix Daytona 500 Edition

The W Platform proved to be extremely long-lived and versatile for General Motors, remaining in production from 1988 all the way through 2016. You had your Impalas and your Regals and your Cutlass Supremes, and of course the 1988-2008 Pontiac Grand Prix was a W-body. For the 2000 model year, Pontiac made the racy-looking Daytona 500 Edition Grand Prix, an example of which I just found in a Northern California self-service wrecking yard. 2,000 of these cars were made, presumably because it was the year 2000, and each one sports plenty of cool-looking Daytona 500 graphics. Perhaps some Regal owner will buy these seats and swap them. This is the second junked Daytona 500 Grand Prix I have seen recently, after this one in Colorado. The Daytona 500 was about the same as the GTP version, with Eaton-supercharged 3800 engine making a respectable 240 horsepower. Disappointingly, this car has an automatic transmission. It never saw 150,000 miles, unlike most 21st-century W-bodies I see in wrecking yards. Featured Gallery Junked 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix Daytona 500 Edition View 21 Photos Auto News Pontiac Sedan

This 1927 Oakland is a minimalist hot rod

There are hundreds of American automakers that sprung up during the dawn of the automotive era, only to fold into obscurity or get gobbled up by what would eventually become the Big Four (yes, we're counting AMC here). Oakland is one such company, which was the forbearer for General Motors' Pontiac division. Sold until 1931, you simply don't see Oakland-badged cars anymore. Unless, that is, you know Brian Bent.
Bent drives a 1927 Oakland that still rides on wooden wheels. Its original wooden wheels, from the sound of it. That makes this anachronist and his Oakland the perfect subject for a Petrolicious video. Like many of the cars highlighted by Petrolicious, this old Oakland has had some work done to it, featuring a Pontiac flathead engine that's been pushed forward and a clutch pack built by Bent.
Take a look below for a closer look at this rare and fascinating Oakland.