Poor Pontiac.
If you would have told people back in the day that the mighty Wide-Track division would be callously euthanized and sputter to an end with a rebadged Toyota as one of its last models, no one would have believed it in a million years.
What’s worse, now that this nightmare scenario is a reality, it seems most Americans could care less.
For us Poncho fans left in the wake who DO care, we still have the cars, the molten rubber memories and grainy old TV commercials like this one we’ve unearthed for you on YouTube.
The black and white spot is a mock press event heralding Pontiac as Motor Trend’s Car of the Year for 1965. A Cronkite-esque announcer walks us through a cool montage of several gorgeous 1965 Ponchos being put through their paces on treacherous, off-road courses and sweeping raceways.
Old road test footage is an effective reminder of how far automobiles have evolved in the following decades.
These old Pontiacs careen around with front ends bobbing, tires screeching and sheet metal violently heaving up and down like old schooners in a storm.
Nonetheless, the GTO’s and Grand Prixs look fantastic speeding past the camera. Before you know it, the spot fades to black and reality sinks back in. Pontiac is indeed dead and gone.
Or is it? Would GM resurrect Pontiac? Possibly, but no one could even whisper of such things until the U.S. Government packs up and goes home and with GM’s current stock fluctuations, that ain’t happening any time soon. For now, sadly, RIP Wide-Track Tiger.
