2004 Pontiac Gto Base Coupe 2-door 5.7l on 2040-cars

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Lutz says Washington killed Pontiac, next G6 was to be ATS derivative

How many people think Buick or GMC should have gotten the axe instead of Pontiac? You can't see it, but I'm raising my hand. Autoweek reports that former Vice Chairman of GM, Bob Lutz, has indicated that things didn't have to end up the way they did.
"The Feds said, 'Yeah, how much money have you made on Pontiac in the last 10 years?' and the answer was, 'Nothing.'"
In a talk given at the Petersen Automotive Museum for the Inside the MotoMan Studio series, Lutz says "The Feds said, 'Yeah, how much money have you made on Pontiac in the last 10 years?' and the answer was, 'Nothing.' So, it goes. And when the guy who is handing you the check for $53 billion says, 'I don't want Pontiac, drop Pontiac or you don't get the money,' it doesn't take you very long to make up your mind." Lutz even added that the next-generation Pontiac G6 would have benefitted from the rear-wheel-drive platform of the Cadillac ATS. How awesome would that have been?

Florida man runs down bikers in traffic

A Florida biker and his passenger got a nasty surprise when a road rage incident turned ugly on Monday. According to WTSP, Joe Calderazzo was returning from a Veterans Memorial Day motorcycle rally around 5:30 pm with a group of fellow riders. During their ride, the group got entangled with an overly aggressive driver in a Pontiac. Abe Garcia of Tampa watched the silver Pontiac attempt to run the pack of bikers off the road, which started the altercation. The bikers caught up to the Pontiac in stopped traffic, and a shouting match ensued between the bikers and the Pontiac driver. At this point, Garcia pulled out his phone and started recording. The exchange escalated, and suddenly the Pontiac driver floored it, turned hard to the right, and ran over Calderazzo's Harley. The Pontiac mangled the Harley and knocked Calderazzo and his passenger to the ground. The Pontiac then fled the scene. WTSP spoke to Calderazzo as he was on his way to the hospital. "I thought the guy was trying to kill us obviously," said Calderazzo. "You know you don't know what's going through your mind. Is he going to put the car in reverse? Is he going to turn around? Is he going to stop and pull out a gun? You don't know what's going on." The Pontiac driver, a serial traffic offender named Robert Paul Vance, was picked up by police soon after the incident. He is charged with hit-and-run, a moving traffic violation, and aggravated battery. Related Video: News Source: WTSP Weird Car News Pontiac Driving Safety Motorcycle Videos Sedan Navy road rage pontiac g6 Memorial Day veterans Florida Man tampa

Junkyard Gem: 2009 Pontiac G3

Things weren't looking so rosy for Pontiac Division in late 2008, as The General had troubles of its own that culminated in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June of 2009. Meanwhile, the Solstice and G8 had failed to revive Pontiac's youthful "excitement" image. Naturally, this seemed like the ideal time to put Pontiac badges and a new grille on the Chevrolet Aveo (itself a rebadged Daewoo Kalos) and call it the G3 (in the United States) or the G3 Wave (in Canada). Sales were not brisk, to put it mildly, and the 2009-only G3 has become one of the rarest modern Pontiacs in the junkyard world. The announcement of Pontiac's demise came in the spring of 2009, with the very last Pontiac-badged vehicle built being either a G3 or a Vibe (since those cars were really Daewoos and Toyotas, respectively, the true final Pontiac was the 2010 G6). The Aveo itself disappeared after the 2011 model year, replaced by an updated Kalos design known here as the Chevrolet Sonic. As a result of the GM bankruptcy, termination of the Pontiac brand, a nasty worldwide recession, and the preference of American vehicle shoppers for trucks or at least truck-shaped cars, few knew the G3 existed and fewer still thought to buy one. This is only the second G3 I've managed to find in a car graveyard, and I've been searching diligently.  So, it's a Junkyard Gem in the historical sense, not in the sense of being the kind of car you'd want to take to your 20th high school reunion. That said, it has power windows, air conditioning, and a CD player— pretty nice stuff for a dirt-cheap econobox from a decade back. And look! An AUX jack for your iPod or early-model smartphone. I drove dozens of cheap rental cars for my job with the 24 Hours of Lemons Traveling Circus during the late 2000s, and very few had this feature; until about 2013 or so, you had to travel with your own CDs or one of those horrible wireless FM modulators if you wanted to listen to anything other than the radio in a non-high-roller rental car. Under the hood, a 106-horse Daewoo Ecotec displacing 1.6 liters. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. If there were any television commercials for the G3, I guarantee that they weren't as fun as this one— set in the California high desert, of course— for the SKDM Kalos.