Down Memory Lane in a Pontiac

The tone of the commercial is ultracool, the hype is – as hype goes – understated, except perhaps for that tiger bit at the end. Little did we know in ‘66 that cool was about to expire, overplayed by Sean Connery and then done in by a counterculture that came not to praise it, or anything, but to bury everything in its way.

Well, long live cool. But I digress.

The occasion for this trip down memory lane is, of course, the news that General Motors will kill the Pontiac marque next year. The news came as no particular surprise, but like all good things that you know must come to an end but for which end you are in no way prepared, it’s another little shock to the system. GM will be a little smaller, car buyers will have one less choice, and another little dab of rue will color our memories. Pontiac will join Plymouth and DeSoto and Studebaker and Nash and Hudson and all the other once-proud names that are now just fading memories.

Back up a couple of years from that commercial to 1964, turn on the mind’s radio, and there is a catchy little surf-sound tune (improbably by a Nashville group) called “Little GTO.”

Little GTO
You’re really lookin’ fine.
Three deuces and a four-speed,
And a 389.

If you can’t quite make out what Ronny & the Daytonas were singing about, there’s a nice little site that provides an explanation.

As it happens, my little town sponsored a “Shelbyfest” this past weekend. Several blocks were closed to traffic so that car-lovers, gawkers, and idlers such as myself could amble past 200 or more hotted-up Mustangs and Cobras (how that Sunbeam Tiger got in there remains a mystery). I’ve never been much interested in muscle cars, but I did catch myself beginning to drool a bit over a couple of vintage Mustangs. Muscle cars were a paradoxical blend of hot and cool, a paradox that found its perfect expression in one very famous movie scene. Yes, that’s a Shelby he’s driving.

My own dream car is a ’56 Thunderbird convertible, possibly the ultimate in non-hot cool. There I am in my natty cap; the top is down and Brubeck is on the radio; in short, I’m in one of those “What kind of man reads Playboy?” ads. Reads it, mind you. But I appear to have digressed again.

So, Pontiac! Ave atque vale, as Tennyson might have written, had he been with us in this hour.

He was kind of cool, too.