Not Your Father's Pontiac

Pontiac is out as part of GM's restructuring and the eulogies are rolling in. First Oldsmobile, and now this, the company that built classics like the Firebird and the GTO. Sure it's a shame to lose another American icon (origin 1926), but when you have to dip back to the 1970s to think of a Pontiac that made your heart pound, it's probably time to kill the brand.Or maybe it's 30 years too late.
The brand had a few recent highs (the GTO reissue, the G8), but even those cars suffered from the "it's as good as the (insert your favorite foreign car here)" syndrome.
But more often than not, the Pontiac of the last two decades has been a plasticy mess of bizarre styling (check the Aztek pictured above). The last Pontiac we really liked had t-tops and a bird on the hood.
In the din over Pontiac's demise, a few brave auto writers have said it's their favorite all time GM brand (even during the GTO days that's like calling Ringo your favorite Beatle). It's proper to talk well of the dead. But we think GM made the right call to put Pontiac out of its misery.