ONE FINE PONTIAC

“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:6)

That’s the last verse in the Old Testament- well, specifically, it’s the last Old Testament verse in most Protestant Bibles. The Bible also says God will wipe away every tear in heaven. I believe that; but it’s kind of challenging for me this week, because if my late father is aware of the demise of General Motors, and especially of the Pontiac brand, I’d expect him to be CRYING! I’ve written on my blog a few times about the fact that my late brother Eddie (who was a great mechanic) hated G.M. cars. My father was just the opposite- he was a big fan of G.M. cars.

Obviously I don’t remember this, but my first car ride was in a General Motors car. The car was my father’s 1947 Pontiac 4-door-sedan. (I’m not sure what the model was...maybe a “Chieftain”.) I know G.M. made Pontiacs with two basic body styles in the late 1940s. There was the “torpedo” which looked more like a typical American car of the early and mid-1950s, and there was the “streamliner” which looked more like a typical American car of the early 1940s. Dad’s Pontiac was a “streamliner”. The Pontiac was black. Dad LOVED that car.

When my father was honorably discharged from the Army Air Corps shortly after the end of World War 2, as soon as he could, he bought a brand new Chevrolet. As I recall his story, the Chevrolet was maroon in color, and was a 2 door coupe. New cars were difficult to get in 1946. I’m pretty sure he financed the car, and I guess he must have made a halfway decent salary to be able to afford a new car. The ‘46 Chevrolet was a “stripped” model. In 2009, that pretty much means it doesn't have a C.D. player or cruise control. In 1946, that meant no radio, no heater, NO NOTHING! And it was the lowest trim model, which pretty much meant NO CHROME TRIM. That was the best new car Dad could manage to find in 1946, but he had a hankering for a much nicer car.

In 1947, he dropped into a Pontiac dealership and made a deal on the brand new black Pontiac 4-door-sedan. This car was NOT “stripped”, although, again, this was 1947,so even though it was a “higher end” Pontiac, that still meant no air conditioning and manual transmission. Even so, Dad took meticulous care of that car!

A lot of you don’t know my parents each got jobs at Convair Aircraft in San Deigo, California shortly after they were married in 1950. They drove the Pontiac out to California and lived there for a year. One of their memories was driving through a cave in Missouri on the trip. I suspect it was “Fantastic Caverns” just outside Springfield, Missouri. I often say I was the first one in the family to go to Springfield, Missouri, but actually, THEY probably were! There are many black and white snapshots of the trip to California and many snapshots featuring the 1947 Pontiac. My folks also took a vacation to Quebec’s Gaspe Peninsula in 1953 where my father managed to survive using the French he’d learned from his Canadian immigrant parents while growing up.

When I was just under two, my father had the opportunity to buy a 1948 Chrysler convertible which had been owned by his older sister and her husband. The car was a low mileage car, and was a “semiautomatic” (no clutch, but you still had to shift the gears with a lever). (Incidentally, Volkswagen built a semiautomatic in the late 1960s and Chrysler’s “Eagle Vision” of the 1990s came with the option of a semiautomatic transmission.) The Pontiac had never given my Dad any problems, but it DID have high mileage in 1956 and my father figured buying the Chrysler convertible was probably a good idea.

He sold the 1947 Pontiac to a couple of newlyweds who answered his classified ad. It turns out they owned the 1947 Pontiac until 1961 and it wasn’t until they’d had it for 5 years that it gave them any problems. The couple sent my Dad a Christmas card every year for a number of years and often commented how much they’d enjoyed the ‘47 Pontiac.

It’s hard to believe Pontiac is about to become an “orphan make” (a discontinued make like Oldsmobile, LaSalle, Studebaker, AMC and others). When the news of Pontiac’s demise hit the press, I was on my month off in southwest Missouri. A Pontiac enthusiast from Strafford, Missouri who owns a classic ‘67 GTO was interviewed by the Springfield, MO “News-Leader” newspaper. He lamented that G.M. really SHOULD have discontinued the Buick instead of the Pontiac, and I heartily agree. (Pontiac’s sales are much better.) For guys like that, the happenings at G.M. are very sad.

And, for the World War 2 vets who knew the thrill of seeing and driving those beautiful big steel automotive wonders like a “high end” black 1947 Pontiac, well there are certainly a lot of tears.