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Junkyard Gem: 2001 Pontiac Aztek

Ah, the Pontiac Aztek. Everyone laughs at the Aztek ... except, apparently, for Coloradans who like to go camping, bike riding, hiking, and all that outdoorsy stuff that folks do in the Centennial State. You'll see Azteks being driven, unironically and without shame, all over the place in the Denver region, and now plenty of them are showing up in the local wrecking yards. Here's a first-year-of-production example in its final campground. These minivans or crossovers (or however the experts finally decided to categorize them) had built-in air compressors, audio controls in the rear cargo area, and other features meant to enhance tailgating, camping, and other activities deemed central to Generation X's allegedly active lifestyle. You could even get an optional camping kit with a tent that attached to the rear of the Aztek. So, it was a General Motors minivan-like vehicle, cousin of the weird-looking Dustbusters of the 1990s, with lots of useful features for those who did more than just commute to work and drop off kids at school. Unfortunately for GM, the Aztek was staggeringly ugly, and Generation Xers were too damned broke to buy new cars in 2001, anyway. I see plenty of them in Denver-area wrecking yards now, along with their slightly-less-offensive-looking Buick Rendezvous siblings, and so I decided to document one before they're all gone. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Gear up, go for a stroll, or let it slide? Related Video: Featured Gallery Junked 2001 Pontiac Aztek View 11 Photos Auto News Pontiac Crossover pontiac aztek

AMC Trans Am Javelin SST, an ultra-rare underdog, is up for auction

Among the rarest of the American muscle cars that went racing in the early Seventies — cars including the Camaro Z/28 and the Boss 302 Mustang — the 1970 AMC Trans Am Javelin SST may be the most hard to find, and among the most valuable. Only 100 units of this unique Javelin were produced, and one of them is up for auction at the Mecum event in Dallas on September 20. The Trans Am Javelin was fashioned in a patriotic livery of tricolor paint — red, white and blue — and arrived after the American Motors Corporation had decided in 1968 to compete in the Trans Am racing series against Ford and General Motors. The company's chief driver, Mark Donohue, would dominate the 1971 season, taking seven wins in his Javelin AMX and that yearÂ’s SCCA Trans-Am Championship. AMC took the trophy with 82 points, well ahead of Ford's 61, Chevrolet's 17 and Pontiac's paltry 7. The example listed for auction came equipped with a 390-cubic-inch V-8 engine with 325 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 420 pound-feet of torque, power steering and brakes, dual exhaust, BorgWarner four-speed manual transmission and Hurst competition shifter. Its “ram induction system” sealed a chamber around the air filter so that cool air from the functional hood scoop would be funneled into the intake. This JavÂ’s factory price was $3,995 — a mere $32,000 or so in today's money, though it was expensive by the standards of the time. The 100 Trans Ams were among 19,714 Javelin units built in 1970, so they started out rare, and today the surviving examples are highly collectible, if and when they come up for sale. No bid estimate is available yet. Related Video: Motorsports Chevrolet Ford Pontiac Auctions Automotive History Racing Vehicles Classics

Question of the Day: Most degraded car name?

When Ford came up with a not-so-sporty version of the Pinto and slapped Mustang badges on it in 1974, that was a low point for the Mustang name. When Chrysler applied the venerable Town & Country name on perfectly functional but unglamorous minivans, it saddened many of us. But perhaps the biggest demotion for a once-proud model came when, in 1988, General Motors imported a misery-enhancing Daewoo from Korea and called it the Pontiac LeMans. The original Pontiac LeMans was a great-looking midsize car with fairly advanced (for the time) suspension design and engine options including potent V8s and a screaming overhead-cam straight-six. The Daewoo-based Pontiac LeMans was a cramped, shoddy hooptie that served only to ruin the LeMans name forever, while stealing sales from the Suzuki-based Chevrolet Sprint. Sure, using the once-respected Monterey name on the Mercurized Ford Freestar was bad, but Mercury didn't have long to live at that point. I say the downward spiral of the LeMans name was the most agonizing in automotive history. What do you think? Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Auto News Ford Mercury Pontiac Automotive History Classics questions ford pinto names