Maybe you haven't heard of Jim Wangers, but he was the marketing force behind the Pontiac brand in the 1960s and '70s -- back when Pontiac was cool -- and is credited with the wild success of the original GTO.
A couple days after GM killed Pontiac, David Zenlea, an editor at Automobile, interviewed Wangers, now 83 and retired, but still active in the Pontiac owners community. Not surprisingly, he had more interesting things to say than just about anyone else who has been pressed for funeral soundbytes. It's a short interview and well worth the 2 minutes it takes to read (yes, even if you're put off by the blazer he's wearing in this famous photo).
Snippet: "One of the worst things that happened was when they came out with the new GTO. It was so badly handled, packaged, and marketed. They changed so many things, they failed to jump on what it really meant to be a GTO...
"Then they had the crazy idea of changing the names.
"If there was ever a domestic manufacturer that ever had a really good set of names it was Pontiac - Bonneville, Grand Prix, Trans Am! And then all these little boys in men's jobs come along, and come up with insanely stupid 'G' names."
firstwagon says:
03:23 PM, 05/ 1/09
Was this guy cool in his day?
The cars of his day were great but now all I see is a guy in a blue blazer with a turtle neck sweater and one of the worst rugs I have ever seen.
Just like recent Pontiacs, he doesn't represent todays world.
Bet he was interesting to talk to back in the 60's though.
Sometimes it's best to keep the past in the past.
chilisv says:
03:56 PM, 05/ 1/09
His idea of a good model name is as good as his idea to buy mail order hair. Pontiac always had jokes for model names; GTO, Grand Prix, Bonneville, what did those names have to do with the cars they were affixed to?
cwc1 says:
05:53 PM, 05/ 1/09
I think he's missing what happened with the great names of the past. They became tarnished when the products to which they were attached became mediocre and somewhat dull. Similar things have been done to other automakers' nameplates, which leads them to come up with new names to start over again.
I'm not saying it's a great strategy, since it doesn't address the underlying cause of the problem, but domestic automakers have used this name engineering for decades.
ahightower says:
12:21 PM, 05/ 4/09
Holy horrible hairpiece, Batman!
desmolicious says:
02:34 PM, 05/ 4/09
That's his chamois ahightower. This guy needs it handy at any time to touch up a GTO if need be.
He's that much an enthusiast.
avrat1959 says:
05:15 PM, 05/16/11
Hey....forget the "rug" And when you're in you're 80's you might be wearing one too. For those of you who are too young or don't remember.....This is the guy that started the "Muscle Car" ERA along with John Deleoran and Bill Collins. The 64 GTO started the whole thing. Points to Ponder.
avrat1959 says:
05:25 PM, 05/16/11
This guy's forgotten more stuff about cars than you'll ever learn
avrat1959 says:
05:38 PM, 05/16/11
To firstwagon........Not only whas this guy interesting to talk to in the 60's , but he was running some AWESOME Pontiacs late 50's early 60's which were cleaning everybody's clock........
avrat1959 says:
06:03 PM, 05/16/11
To Chillisvz.....Do your homework........GTO was named "after the FERRARI GTO",which Pontiac's version in 1964 ran an 13.0 Q/M at 115 mph whith a slightly modified motor..... Grand Prix was named after a road course.....and Bonneville was named after the still famous BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS, where people did their speed tests//Including a few records of top speed by CRAIG BREEDLOVE.......