for the 18th century ottawa leader see pontiac ottawa leader . for other uses see pontiac disambiguation . pontiac former type division of general motors industry automotive fate general motors chapter 11 reorganization successor chevrolet buick gmc founded pontiac oakland county michigan united states 1926 1926 defunct october 31 2010 ; 5 years ago october 31 2010 headquarters detroit michigan u.s. key people semon bunkie knudsen john z. delorean products automobiles parent general motors website www.pontiac.com pontiac was a brand of automobiles manufactured and sold by general motors gm ; though production ended in 2010 pontiac remains a registered and active trademark of gm . 1 the pontiac automobile brand was established in 1926 as a companion make for gm s more expensive line of oakland automobiles . 2 the pontiac cars overtook its oakland parent in popularity and supplanted the oakland brand entirely by 1933 . pontiac became a companion make for chevrolet . pontiac was sold in the united states canada and mexico by gm . pontiac was advertised as the performance division of general motors for many years while specializing in mainstream vehicles . 3 pontiac was relatively more popular in canada where for much of its history it was marketed as a low priced vehicle . in late 2008 and early 2009 amid financial problems and restructuring efforts gm announced it would discontinue manufacturing and marketing vehicles under the pontiac brand by the end of 2010 and focus on four core brands in north america chevrolet buick cadillac and gmc . the last pontiac badged cars were built in december of 2009 with one final vehicle built in january 2010 . franchise agreements for pontiac dealers expired october 31 2010 . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 pontiac 1926 1942 1.2 pontiac 1946 1954 1.3 pontiac 1955 1960 1.4 pontiac 1961 1970 1.5 pontiac 1970 1982 1.6 pontiac 1982 1988 1.7 pontiac 1989 1997 1.8 pontiac 1997 2004 1.9 pontiac 2005 2010 2 style trademarks and logo 3 canadian export models 4 engines 4.1 carburetors 5 models 6 evolution of pontiac models 7 see also 8 notes 9 references 10 external links 10.1 further reading history edit pontiac 1926 1942 edit 1928 pontiac 1936 pontiac master six coupe the pontiac brand was introduced by general motors in 1926 as the companion marque to gm s oakland division and shared the gm a platform . it was named after the famous ottawa chief who had also given his name to the city of pontiac michigan where the car was produced . 5 5 within months of its introduction pontiac was outselling oakland which was essentially a 1920s chevrolet with a six cylinder engine installed . 6 body styles offered included a sedan with both two and four doors landau coupe with the sport phaeton sport landau sedan sport cabriolet and sport roadster . as a result of pontiac s rising sales versus oakland s declining sales pontiac became the only companion marque to survive its parent with oakland ceasing production in 1932 . it was also manufactured from knock down kits at gm s short lived japanese factory at osaka assembly in osaka japan from 1927 1941 . 7 postcard showing a pontiac dealer in oklahoma ca 1930 1945 pontiac produced cars offering 40 hp 30 kw ; 41 ps 186.7 cu in 3.1 l 3.25 x3 .75 in 82.5 x95mm l head straight 6 cylinder engines in the pontiac chief of 1927 ; its stroke was the shortest of any american car in the industry at the time . the chief sold 39 000 units within six months of its appearance at the 1926 new york auto salon hitting 76 742 at twelve months . the next year it became the top selling six in the u.s. ranking seventh in overall sales . 8 by 1933 it had moved up to producing the least expensive cars available with straight eight cylinder inline eight engines . this was done by using many components from the 6 cylinder chevrolet master such as the body but installing a large chrome strip on the top and center of the front hood pontiac called the silver streak . in the late 1930s pontiac used the so called torpedo body of the buick for one of its models just prior to its being used by chevrolet . this body style brought some attention to the marque . an unusual feature of the torpedo body exhibition car was that with push of a button the front half of the car body would open showing the engine and the car s front seat interior . 9 in 1937 the eight cylinder had a 122 inch 3 099 mm wheelbase while the six cylinder had a 117 inch 2 972 mm wheelbase . 10 in 1940 pontiac introduced a new vehicle called the pontiac torpedo and two years later on 2 february 1942 a pontiac was the last civilian automobile manufactured in the united states during world war ii as all automobile factories converted to military production . 11 for an extended period of time prewar through the early 1950s the pontiac was a quiet solid car but not especially powerful . it came with a flathead side valve straight eight . straight 8s were slightly less expensive to produce than the increasingly popular v8s but they were also heavier and longer . additionally the long crankshaft suffered from excessive flex restricting straight 8s to a relatively low compression ratio with a modest redline . however in this application inexpensive yet very quiet flatheads were not a liability . citation needed pontiac 1946 1954 edit 1948 pontiac silver streak convertible coupe from 1946 to 1948 all pontiac models were essentially 1942 models with minor changes . the hydra matic automatic transmission was introduced in 1948 and helped pontiac sales grow even though their cars torpedoes and streamliners were quickly becoming out of date . the first all new pontiac models appeared in 1949 . they incorporated styling cues such as lower body lines and rear fenders that were integrated in the rear end styling of the car . along with new styling came a new model . continuing the native american theme of pontiac the chieftain line was introduced to replace the torpedo . these were built on the gm b body platform and featured different styling than the more conservative streamliner . in 1950 the catalina pillarless hardtop coupe was introduced as a halo model much like the chevrolet bel air of the same year . in 1952 pontiac discontinued the streamliner and replaced it with additional models in the chieftain line built on the gm a body platform . this single model line continued until 1954 when the star chief was added . the star chief was created by adding an 11 inch 280 mm extension to the a body platform creating a 124 inch 3 100 mm wheelbase . the 1953 models were the first to have one piece windshields instead of the normal two piece units . while the 1953 and 1954 models were heavily re worked versions of the 1949 52 chieftain models they were engineered for the v8 engine that was supposed to be introduced on the 1953 models however buick division complained to corporate that the introduction might take sales away because buick was introducing its new nailhead v 8 in 1953 . the corporation held pontiac back until 1955 . pontiac 1955 1960 edit pontiac star chief 1955 1956 canadian pontiac pathfinder sedan delivery . 1 383 built not available in the u.s. completely new bodies and chassis were introduced for 1955 . a new 173 hp 129 kw ; 175 ps overhead valve v8 engine was introduced . see engines section below . sales increased . with the introduction of this v8 the six cylinder engines were discontinued ; a six cylinder engine would not return to the full size pontiac line until the gm corporate downsizing of 1977 . an overhead cam six cylinder engine was used in the tempest model line starting in 1966 as well as on the firebird . it was the first popular priced mass produced engine in america utilizing an overhead camshaft configuration . 12 in 1956 when 42 year old semon bunkie knudsen became general manager of pontiac along new heads of engineering e. m. estes and john delorean knudsen immediately began reworking the brand s image . one of the first steps involved the removal of the famous trademark silver streaks from the hood and deck lid of the 1957 models just weeks before the 1957s were introduced . another step was introducing the first bonneville a limited edition star chief convertible that showcased pontiac s first fuel injected engine . approximately 630 bonnevilles were built for 1957 each with a retail price of nearly 5 800 . while new car buyers could buy a cadillac for that price the bonneville raised new interest in what pontiac now called america s no. 1 road car . 1959 bonneville from the rear showing double rear fins the bonneville a sub series of the star chief introduced with the 1957 models then became its own line . these were built on the 122 inch 3 100 mm wheelbase of the a body platform . a 1958 tri power pontiac bonneville was the pace car for that year s indianapolis 500 . also 1958 was the last year pontiac motor division would bear the indian motif throughout the vehicle . the exception would be the indian head high beam indicator light in the instrument cluster . with the 1959 model year pontiac came out with its arrowhead emblem with the star design in the middle . the arrowhead design ran all the way up the hood from between the split grille and on starchief models had eight chrome stars from the emblem design bolted to both sides of the vehicle as chrome trim . knudsen saw to it that the car received a completely reworked chassis body and interior styling . quad headlamps as well as a longer lower body were some of the styling changes . the chieftain line was renamed catalina ; star chief was downgraded to replace the discontinued super chief series and for the first time did not have a two door hardtop only a two door sedan along with a four door hardtop and four door sedan in addition there was no star chief wagon . the bonneville was now the top of the line coming in three body styles of two door hardtop four door vista and four door wagon . the star chief s four door vista hardtop was also shared by the bonneville . catalina models included a two door hardtop two door sedan four door sedan four door hardtop vista and two wagons one a six passenger and one a nine passenger wagon . bonneville and star chief were built on a 124 inch 3 100 mm wheelbase with the exception of the bonneville wagon and all catalina models and bonneville wagon that rode on a 122 inch wheelbase . catalina was also seven inches shorter than bonneville and star chief and weighed one hundred to two hundred pounds less than its long wheelbase counterparts . all 1959 pontiac engines were equipped with a 389 cubic inch engine with horsepower ratings from 215hp economy engine to a conservative rated 345 hp tri power carbureted engine . all automatics were four speed super hydra matics or as hydramatic division who designed and built them called them controlled coupling hydramatic . a special note here is that oldsmobile used this same transmission and called it jetaway hydramatic and cadillac also used this transmission and cadillac called it 315 or p 315 hydramatic . a three speed column mounted stick shift was standard on all pontiacs . this coincided with major body styling changes across all models that introduced increased glass area twin v shaped fins