It's based of a paper wrote by Nick Bunkley, it was in the New York Times, enjoy

Pontiac, 84, Dies Of Indifference

Alexander Illig

Feb. 16, 2011

Ms Baker- MWF 10a.m.

Born in 1907, Pontiac Spring and Wagon was a car company starting out in a new world. It

merged with the Oakland company and in 1909 was bought by GM. The first Pontiac under GM's

wing sold for $825, known as the “Chief of the Sixes”, was a 6-cylinder motor which did almost as

well as the Model T. After GM saw the sales numbers, they cut Oakland. Pontiac survived and made

affordable luxury cars. Things changed over the years and Pontiac was “the muscle car” of the 1950's

making a better performing track car. It was the first car company that introduced “Muscle” to the car

industry with the GTO in 1964, thanx to John Z. DeLorean, developer of the GTO. Pontiac paved the

road that everyone else followed. The car to have was a Pontiac hands down. “The Excitement

Division” was the company's motto and there is a good explanation for it. From being in movies like

“Smokey and the Bandit” to shows like “Knight Rider.” No one could top them, but sadly the sales and

styles of the car slowly fell through the years. For inconsiderate reasons such as poor design and

futuristic ideas that took away from the original ideas and love for the cars with models like the

Sunbird or the Aztec. Slowly the sales fell until the age of 84 after 40 million sales, the company gave

its last breath in October 2010. Car enthusiasts were stunned, but saw it coming. The company will

live on in the cars that the company produced and in all American car enthusiast's heart will fly on.

Nick Bunkley is a car enthusiast at heart and is hurt by the fall of this giant icon. By writing

his piece, “Pontiac, 84, Dies of Indifference”, he shows compassion for the company in almost every

paragraph. He's just a regular “Joe'” that wrote a piece on Pontiac's long and drawn out murder. I

agree with him 100% of how he feels. Bunkley shows a lot of good points and opinions in his article.

He explains what Pontiac stood for and why it stood so tall in the car industry back in the day. He also

shows the love people have for the cars, there is no such thing as “death do us part” in a car enthusiasts

mind when it comes down to the love of a steel wide bodied boat with wheels.

“Taught baby boomers to salivate over horsepower.” I honestly would bet this is what shifted

the muscle car era into 2nd gear, they were cheap, classy, had great quality and had tons of power under

the hood for those times. How he explains that it is “Sportier than a Chevrolet, but less uppity than

and Oldsmobile or Buick”, the way he degrades the two brands in a sudal, but still shows how it's the

the best looking cars GM had to offer with big engines and they were for the middle man that didn't

look like they were for old people or the bland. I also enjoyed how to put “It's biggest triumph was the

GTO, developed by Mr. DeLorean, the brand's rebellious chief engineer, in violation of the G.M. Policy

dictating the maximum size of a car's engine.” Here he put a little history into this quote, Pontiac was a

French Indian who organized Indians 1763 and rebelled against the colonials. Pontiac, the man was the

reason for the name of the company. The name showed a rebellious and brute force teenager that will

do whatever it wished. Another part I agree with is “But in the decades since, Pontiac's edge and high

powered image wore off.” That is completely true the cars lost their rebellious image and high output

motors since MPG's are more important than HP's and TQ's. The bodies went through complete

changes and weren't based off of the originals like all cars in the 90's, but the bad part for Pontiac was it

just never recovered. They tried to give it some more time on earth with the GTO and G8 (based off of

the Australian car company Holden), but it was too late.

The next statement I absolutely back 100% is “Aztek, a bloated-looking crossover widely

regarded as one of the ugliest vehicles of all time.” Sadly this is true, so true that it was rank 4th ugliest

car to date behind the Ford Pinto and Yugo, which are TOTAL FAILURES and DISGRACES to the car

industry. My favorite quote Bunkley wrote was “it's top selling model was the G6, a sedan commonly

found on car-rental lots.” Fact of the matter is this is so true if you go to a car rental place, 5/10

chances you will get a G6. It's sucks, but what can you do that to me is going from a management

position to a janitors position, it's embarrassment and you feel a shamed. The one quote in this article

that is more than opinion, but truth. Mr. Knudsen said “the change kept the wider-bodied 1959

Pontiacs from resembling “a football player wearing ballet slippers.” The style was distinctive, and

Pontiac's frequent wins on the racetrack in that era helped sales soar.” This quote shows the impact of

how Pontiac's rule over the streets and struck fear into the eyes of it's competitors. “You hate to see

them go, but they were floundering and couldn't find their place in the market.” said time Dye, a huge

Pontiac fan for years, who has own 21 Pontiacs and is opening up a Pontiac museum in Pontiac, Ill.

The cars really couldn't the cars go somewhat uglier due to the 80's and 90's. The Firebird wasn't a

Firebird at all, it was a Fiero front end with a 350 small block Chevy motor. Pontiac didn't have Ram Air

until 1998 with the LS1 motor and that lasted 5 measly years. They looked to much like the Chevy

Camaro and they didn't have an identity. Pontiac wasn't itself anymore, in the 70's they had the 400

and 455 small block PONTIAC motors that kicked ass and the Ram Air was the selling point, since the

technology back then was nothing like it is today.

“Pontiac, 84, Dies of Indifference” his title is pure genius. He's saying no one was concerned

with the death.. Majority of the people in America didn't seem to care, it was just another day with

bankruptcy. It's sad and sickens me, but it's like everything else in America, a fad that passes on, but

people remember. Pontiac stood for the American working man who wanted something different,

something that said “look at me, but I want you to hear me coming.” We are all attention whores

sometimes and owning this piece of history will give everyone the attention they crave.

The things I mainly like is Bunkley's word choice and the way he sets begins the his paper with

a little knowledge on Pontiac, so people know why It was a great company. The one word choice

example I like is in the sentence “General Motors blamed a terminal illness contracted during last

year's bankruptcy”, that is a great his choice of words are incredible, showing a reason why Pontiac

was murdered. The so called “terminal illness” is bankruptcy like a metaphor for cancer. It just got

worse and worse until it was inoperable and they pulled the plug. The history he puts in his article is

quite amusing like the quote “German luxury car-maker BMW sent a team of engineers, designers and

marketers to meet with Mr. DeLorean's team and study how the brand did so well.” I find this funny,

BMW the world leader in Luxury cars came to America to see what Pontiac was doing. Well I think it's

because Pontiac's didn't look the same. If you look at a Beamer, there front ends look the same, the

grill never changed shape it seemed. They sounded the same, looked the same, even the interior was

the same, just same all around, nothing exciting.

I like the fact that there are other peoples opinions in this piece, not just Pontiac fans, but car

dealers. “When the muscle-car era was in it's heyday, Pontiac was king. It put us through school. We

were the house down the block that had a swimming pool growing up” Fredrick Perrine, a car dealer in

New Jersey, whose family sold Pontiacs since the dawn of the Industrial era. These cars put food on

the table and clothes on America's back. He had a swimming pool in the 60's and 70's, back then you

know someone had money if they had a pool and obviously lived in a nice neighborhood. He describes

what the cars looked like so consumers or readers know what separated Pontiac from the rest of the hot

rods. “The best Pontiacs, recognizable by their split grille and red arrowhead emblem in the middle,”

This was the front end of the Pontiacs back in the day, but are now known for the sexy recessed and

honeycomb grills and the Ram Air hood (which aren't functional now a days) which gave extra airflow

for power and a sleek aggressive look. “Pontiac fans lament that the brand finally got a few worthy

models in it's final years-the G8 full-size sedan and the Solstice sports car, but by then it was too far

gone.” They were great cars with a punch especially the GXP models with the 6.2L LS3 6-speed G8

with 415 hp , the rarest Pontiac of it's day since the G8 only lasted 2 years. They were sleek and sexy

for a sedan, that competed with Mercedes and BMW. The Solstice GXP was the 2.0L Turbo Eco-tech

motor with 260hp, which may not seem like much, but it was a light car so had great pick up.

Pontiac was a great company and fed many families through the years. It will always be

remembered as the original muscle car, with it's sporty looks and huge horsepower. Pontiac is a brand

that will never be forgotten not for being known as the “Bankruptcy Brand”, but the Excitement

Division, like it should be. The cars will always be at car shows, there will always be car enthusiast

forums on the web like ForeverPontiac.com. Even 70+ years from now the car nation will always

remember it as the working man's car. If you ever have the chance to ride in this classic brand, don't

hesitate, just agree, sit down and hold on to something. By the time you get out of that car, you will

have a strange new feeling with a new perspective on things and you will ask that person, how much?

heres the original

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/business/30pontiac.html

I read a bit of it (don't have time to read it all sorry!), I like it but I'm not gonna say anything on the actual writing

I'm glad you chose this Alex, great topic to write about

wow dude serious tear...... it makes me sad, they made a mistake. but maybe with a little luck and a little persuasion from people like us (foreverpontiac.com) (facebook.com/pontiac) and all the others we could get them back. Deloreans not the happiest person right now. They killed his car! Both of them pontiacs and DMC 12

Jim did you at least read the last paragraph....and the grammer is good in it...right??? lol

I'll have to read this later, when I'm not about to go to sleep... lol

Jim did you at least read the last paragraph....and the grammer is good in it...right??? lol

I'll have to read it later then. Way too busy, had to squeeze in time for these few posts

REVISED

Murder of the Working Man's Pride

Alexander Illig

Feb. 16, 2011

Ms Baker- MWF 10a.m.

Born in 1907, Pontiac Spring and Wagon was a car company starting out in a new world. It

merged with the Oakland company and in 1909 was bought by GM. The first Pontiac under GM's

wing sold for $825, known as the “Chief of the Sixes”, was a 6-cylinder motor which did almost as

well as the Model T. After GM saw the sales numbers, they cut Oakland. Pontiac survived and made

affordable luxury cars. Things changed over the years and Pontiac was “the muscle car” of the 1950's,

making a better performing track car. It was the first car company that introduced “Muscle” to the car

industry with the GTO in 1964, thanks to John Z. DeLorean, developer of the GTO. Pontiac paved the

road that everyone else followed. The car to have was a Pontiac hands down. “The Excitement

Division” was the company's motto and there is a good explanation for it. From being in movies like

“Smokey and the Bandit” to shows like “Knight Rider.” No one could top them, but sadly the sales and

styles of the car slowly fell through the years. For inconsiderate reasons such as poor design and

futuristic ideas that took away from the original ideas and love for the cars with models like the

Sunbird or the Aztec. Slowly the sales fell until the age of 84 after 40 million sales, the company gave

its last breath in October 2010. Car enthusiasts were stunned, but saw it coming. The company will

live on in the cars that the company produced and in all American car enthusiast's heart will fly on.

Nick Bunkley is a car enthusiast at heart and is hurt by the fall of this giant icon. By writing

his piece, Pontiac, 84, Dies of Indifference, he shows compassion for the company in almost every

paragraph. He's just a regular “Joe'” that wrote a piece on Pontiac's long and drawn out murder. I

agree with him 100% of how he feels. Bunkley shows a lot of good points and opinions in his article.

He explains what Pontiac stood for and why it stood so tall in the car industry back in the day. He also

shows the love people have for the cars, there is no such thing as “death do us part” in a car enthusiasts

mind when it comes down to the love of a steel wide bodied boat with wheels.

“Taught baby boomers to salivate over horsepower.” I honestly would bet this is what shifted

the muscle car era into 2nd gear, they were cheap, classy, had great quality and had tons of power under

the hood for those times. How he explains that it is “Sportier than a Chevrolet, but less uppity than

and Oldsmobile or Buick”, the way he degrades the two brands in a subtle way, but still shows how it's

the the best looking cars GM had to offer with big engines and they were for the middle man that didn't

look like they were for old people or the bland. I also enjoyed how he put “It's biggest triumph was the

GTO, developed by Mr. DeLorean, the brand's rebellious chief engineer, in violation of the G.M. Policy

dictating the maximum size of a car's engine.” Here he put a little history into this quote, Pontiac was a

French Indian who organized Indians 1763 and rebelled against the colonials. Pontiac, the man was the

reason for the name of the company. The name showed a rebellious and brute force teenager that will

do whatever it wished. Another part I agree with is “But in the decades since, Pontiac's edge and high

powered image wore off.” That is completely true the cars lost their rebellious image and high output

motors since MPG's are more important than HP's and TQ's. The bodies went through complete

changes and weren't based off of the originals like all cars in the 90's, but the bad part for Pontiac was it

just never recovered. They tried to give it some more time on earth with the GTO and G8 (based off of

the Australian car company Holden), but it was too late.

The next statement I absolutely back 100% is “Aztek, a bloated-looking crossover widely

regarded as one of the ugliest vehicles of all time.” Sadly this is true, so true that it was rank 4th ugliest

car to date behind the Ford Pinto and Yugo, which are TOTAL FAILURES and DISGRACES to the car

industry. My favorite quote Bunkley wrote was “it's top selling model was the G6, a sedan commonly

found on car-rental lots.” Fact of the matter is this is so true if you go to a car rental place, 5/10

chances you will get a G6. It's sucks, but what can you do that to me is going from a management

position to a janitors position, it's embarrassment and you feel ashamed. The one quote in this article

that is more than opinion, but truth. Mr. Knudsen said “the change kept the wider-bodied 1959

Pontiacs from resembling “a football player wearing ballet slippers.” The style was distinctive, and

Pontiac's frequent wins on the racetrack in that era helped sales soar.” This quote shows the impact of

how Pontiac's rule over the streets and struck fear into the eyes of it's competitors. “You hate to see

them go, but they were floundering and couldn't find their place in the market.” said Tim Dye, a huge

Pontiac fan for years, who has own 21 Pontiacs and is opening up a Pontiac museum in Pontiac, Ill.

The cars really couldn't get any uglier since to the 80's and 90's were the worst times for change. The

Firebird wasn't a muscle at all, it was a Fiero front end with a 350 small block Chevy motor. Pontiac

didn't have Ram Air until 1998 with the LS1 motor and that lasted 5 measly years. They looked to

much like the Chevy Camaro and they didn't have an identity. Pontiac wasn't itself anymore, in the

70's they had the 400 and 455 small block PONTIAC motors that kicked ass and the Ram Air was the

selling point, since the technology back then was nothing like it is today.

“Pontiac, 84, Dies of Indifference” his title is pure genius. He's saying no one was concerned

with the death.. Majority of the people in America didn't seem to care, it was just another day with

bankruptcy. It's sad and sickens me, but it's like everything else in America, a fad that passes on, but

people remember. Pontiac stood for the American working man who wanted something different,

something that said “look at me, but I want you to hear me coming.” We are all attention whores

sometimes and owning this piece of history will give everyone the attention they crave.

The things I mainly like is Bunkley's word choice and the way he sets his paper with

a immense knowledge on Pontiac, so people know why It was a great company. The one word choice

example I like is in the sentence “General Motors blamed a terminal illness contracted during last

year's bankruptcy”, that is a great choice of words are incredible, showing a reason why Pontiac

was murdered. The so called “terminal illness” is bankruptcy like a metaphor for cancer. It just got

worse and worse until it was inoperable and they pulled the plug. The history he puts in his article is

quite amusing like the quote “German luxury car-maker BMW sent a team of engineers, designers and

marketers to meet with Mr. DeLorean's team and study how the brand did so well.” I find this funny,

BMW the world leader in Luxury cars came to America to see what Pontiac was doing. Well I think it's

because Pontiac's didn't look the same. If you look at a Beamer, there front ends look the same, the

grill never changed shape it seemed. They sounded the same, looked the same, even the interior was

the same, just same all around, nothing exciting.

I like the fact that there are other peoples opinions in this piece, not just Pontiac fans, but car

dealers. “When the muscle-car era was in it's heyday, Pontiac was king. It put us through school. We

were the house down the block that had a swimming pool growing up” Fredrick Perrine, a car dealer in

New Jersey, whose family sold Pontiacs since the dawn of the Industrial era. These cars put food on

the table and clothes on America's back. He had a swimming pool in the 60's and 70's, back then you

know someone had money if they had a pool and obviously lived in a nice neighborhood. He describes

what the cars looked like so consumers or readers know what separated Pontiac from the rest of the hot

rods. “The best Pontiacs, recognizable by their split grille and red arrowhead emblem in the middle,”

This was the front end of the Pontiacs back in the day, but are now known for the sexy recessed and

honeycomb grills and the Ram Air hood (which aren't functional now a days) which gave extra airflow

for power and a sleek aggressive look. “Pontiac fans lament that the brand finally got a few worthy

models in it's final years-the G8 full-size sedan and the Solstice sports car, but by then it was too far

gone.” They were great cars with a punch especially the GXP models with the 6.2L LS3 6-speed G8

with 415 hp , the rarest Pontiac of it's day since the G8 only lasted 2 years. They were sleek and sexy

for a sedan, that competed with Mercedes and BMW. The Solstice GXP was the 2.0L Turbo Eco-tech

motor with 260hp, which may not seem like much, but it was a light car so had great pick up.

I don't like his closing just because he doesn't show hope, that the brand will live on. It's a

quote from a dealer who wasn't even a fan,he just said”It was a great line, while it lasted”, how does

this show love. It's like not making a speech at a family member's funeral who you were close to. It's

heartless to the brand and it's fans.

Pontiac was a great company and fed many families through the years. It will always be

remembered as the original muscle car, with it's sporty looks and huge horsepower. Pontiac is a brand

that will never be forgotten, and not for being known as the “Bankruptcy Brand”, but the Excitement

Division, like it should be. The cars will always be at car shows, there will always be car enthusiast

forums on the web like ForeverPontiac.com. Even 70+ years from now the car nation will always

remember it as the working man's car. If you ever have the chance to ride in this classic brand, don't

hesitate, just agree, sit down and hold on to something. By the time you get out of that car, you will

have a strange new feeling with a new perspective on things and you will ask that person, how much?

Whenever I see this thread I think of

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68edB_Q1e4g

me and my friends have a long joke with this and that's not the reason I'm not comparing your writing or anything with it lol.

your such a douchecanoe lol i say this with love