Pontiac built the Aztec but not these cars

In 1999 Pontiac introduced the world to the Aztec crossover. The release was greeted with the kind of reaction one might have if they found out that their first cousin had just announced that they were in training to become a “Methamphetamine Sommelier”. The reaction wasn’t great when you consider that this was the same Pontiac that when given the Corvair in 1960 with the idea that they would produce a variant, decided to produce the Tempest.

For those of you who hear the word Pontiac Tempest and think “GTO” remember that car was introduced in 1964 and was not anything like what the Tempest started life as. When the Pontiac engineers saw the air-cooled, flat-six, rear-engined Corvair their initial reaction was “Nope. Not having any of that”. So what did they do? They put a 4-cylinder engine in the front and a live-axel rear end out the back. Of course, that wasn’t just any 4-cylinder engine or just and live-axel rear end. The engine was a 389 V8 cut in half length-wise and the rear end featured a rear-mounted transaxle seen previously in a 1951 La Sabre concept car.

What we’re saying here is that Pontiac had a dubious history when left to their own devices. Then again they had also produced the GTO and the Trans Am, so maybe they were on to something with this Aztec. To appreciate the Aztec we need to look at the cars they chose not to make over the years.

Banshee (XP-833)

The whole Banshee lineup is bonkers. From the beginning, the first one was a Gen3 Corvette four years before the Gen3 Corvette premiered with, arguably, a better-looking front end and with taillights so cool they used them on the Firebird. The best of the Banshees was XP-798 which is best described as a four-door Corvette. Because if the Corvette needed anything it was two more doors.

Bonneville Special

The Bonneville Special was a nod to European sports car styling, featuring a plexiglass canopy and gull-wing windows on a fiberglass body. With an enclosed exterior spare tire cover and top-to-bottom tail fins the rear end resembled a rocket, which was meant to evoke the, at the time, fascination with all things related to Space.

Interestingly, this car was to be powered by an in-line straight 8 engine called the “Special-8”. The versions of the engine in the Bonneville Special had a special long-duration cam and 4 Carter YH-side draft carbs that produced a reported 300 bhp. Of course, most cars were transitioning to V-8 engines, so maybe the guys at Pontiac were showing the “shot themselves in the foot” kind of thinking that would reach its pinnacle in the Aztec a half-century later.

Club de Mer

In 1956 after what I assume was a thorough beat-down by the Corvette design team for the wholesale theft of their design for the Bonneville Special, Pontiac released the Club de Mer. Still influenced by all things Space Age, the de Mer (French for “of the Sea”- a harbinger of failure if there ever was one. Name one positive thing the French have ever given the world and remember French Fries are from Belgium)

The innovative trans-axel transmission used in the Tempest was introduced in this car. Sitting in motion the idea that if a Pontiac engineer had a wacky idea then it would be held on to until it could be used when no one was looking. The engine in the car was a hopped-up version of the new 287 cubic-inch OHV V8 that produced 300 bhp. Again a harbinger of Pontiac engineer’s obsession with not leaving good enough alone when it came to engines and performance.

Admittedly, this car is the one I rue them not producing in number the most. Just think where this country would be today if a generation could have gone to the local auto dealership and bought their very own Batmobile.

Madame-X

Also known as The Phantom, the Madame-X was built as a retirement gift to himself by GM Director of Styling Bill Mitchell. Only one was ever produced. I’m including it here because it was built using a Grand Prix chassis as the base.

Upon seeing it at the GM proving ground executive vice president of product planning, Howard Kehrl had it removed immediately. Mr. Kehrl was clearly unaware of the Pontiac ethos.

Strato Streak

On the surface, the 1954 Strato Streak seemed like a normal car. It was based on the Star Chief, but that is where the normalcy ended. This car was designed as a 4-door, fiberglass car. Each car probably used as much fiberglass as three Corvettes. Being designed without a center B-pillar meant the doors could be mounted in a way that allowed them to be opened from the center outwards. It was the four captain chairs that greeted the passengers when those glorious doors were opened that was the true innovation.

The mechanism that kept the back doors from opening unless the car was completely stopped and in neutral hinted at the kinds of left-field thinking Pontiac engineers would make their trademark in the coming years.

Rageous

Debuting in 1997 there is not much written about the Rageous. Probably for the best. How much needs to be said about a 4-door, late 90s Trans Am. With a name like “Rageous” I am a bit sad it wasn’t painted in neon colors and covered in asymmetric stripes.

Trans Sport

For a design released in 1986, the Trans Sport (in 1986 you could put those two words beside each other and it not be controversial) was way ahead of its time. It was six inches shorter than the then-popular Chrysler Voyager. Instead of a sliding door in the back, it features a gullwing door. Predicting the future, the roof was mostly glass with the headliner being only 36 inches (17 kilometers) at its widest. In another nod to the future, the Trans Sport had an asymmetrical body design as the driver’s side after the driver’s door was a large glass panel. An interesting safety innovation was the inclusion of amber “deceleration” lamps out the back.

As you can see, each and every one of these concept cars were better than the Aztec in every way and Pontiac chose not to make any of them. It is my firm belief that the world would have been a much better pace if Pontiac had chosen to produce even one of these cars during their history. But fret not dear reader, while the Pontiac name has died its ethos of building weird shit lives on, if the picture below is to be believed.