Brief History of Pontiac

The Pontiac Motor Company has a distinguised history dating back to the latter part of the nineteenth century, when Edward Murphy established the Pontiac Buggy Co. in Pontiac, Michigan.

In the early 1900’s he turned his interests towards automobiles and in 1907 the Oakland Motorcar Co. was formed, which shortly afterwards became part of General Motors. The first car to actually carry the Pontiac name appeared in 1926 as a sister car to the Oakland and was such a success with the introduction of the ‘L’-head V8 engine that in 1932 the Oakland marque was discontinued entirely.

For 1934, the famous ‘Silver Streaks’ appeared on the bonnet of Pontiacs and by 1937 they formed a continuous motif down the front of the grille, giving it more than a passing resemblance to the famous diesel-electric express locomotives of the day. These, plus the famous Indian Head mascot, became the symbol of the Pontiac motorcar for over 20 years.

With the introduction of the Bonneville in 1957, Pontiac started to shed its rather staid image acquired over the years. The rest is now history, with Pontiac enjoying success after success…

The 1959 “Wide Track” range; the introduction of the Grand Prix personal luxury car in 1962; the 1964 GTO that started the muscle car craze; the 1967 Firebird; the 1969 Trans Am which continued until 2002; the Fiero in 1984 and of course the 2004 GTO…

More in depth history coming soon!