General Motors Articles

1968 Pontiac Tempest GTO Convertible An all-new body shell greeted GTO fans in the model's fifth year of production. While the "coke bottle" shape was itself all new, the steel-reinforced "Endura" rubber front bumper that was standard on the GTOs gave this series a distinctive appearance well beyond the Tempest from which it was derived... Read More
1924 Buick four-door Touring Buick styling was all new for 1924, including a new radiator shell design obviously cribbed from Packard. Though the new styling was somewhat more angular than the Packard, still, Packard overtones carried throughout the lines of the various body styles and made for an altogether pleasing appearance on both the four- and six-cylinder cars... Read More
1949 Buick Roadmaster Riviera For 1949, Buick's body design was completely new, but still definitely recognizable as nothing but a Buick. The toothy grille up front was toothier than ever, taillamps were uniquely shaped and 1949 was the first year for the new fender "Ventiports" or "portholes," of which the Special and Super had three on each front fender while the top-of-the-line... Read More
1930 - 1931 Cadillac V-16 Sedans Cadillac's most dramatic challenge to Packard for American luxury car leadership came with the introduction in 1930 of the powerful and unprecedented V-16 models. Previously known for their excellent V-8 engines, Cadillac wanted to leapfrog Packard and other prestige marques, not with a V-12 (which Packard had developed as far back as 1915) but with an extravagant... Read More
1979 Cadillac Fleetwood Seville Brougham 1979 Now wait a minute," you might be saying to yourself, "Cadillac never built a station wagon!" And you're right - sort of. In what could be viewed as a return to the days when Cadillac offered a variety of custom bodies through coachbuilders like Fleetwood, Murphy, Ghia, Pinin Farina... Read More
1965 Oldsmobile Starfire Convertible The Starfire nameplate first appeared on an Oldsmobile in 1953 when two-seat and four-seat dream convertibles hit the GM show circuit and were the subject of a great deal of publicity. Styled in the Harley Earl tradition of jet fighter-inspired looks, this car was actually named after a jet fighter plane-the Lockheed F-94B Starfire which saw a great deal of combat in the then-hot Korean War... Read More
1938 Buick Y-Job It isn't too often that an automaker's concept/show cars are as functional as they are flashy. More often than not, they're little more than cobbled together showpieces without a functioning drivetrain. The intent is to wow the crowds at the various auto shows, highlight new styling, design and construction concepts, and present what the design team thinks the future may hold in a tangible form... Read More
1961 Buick LeSabre Convertible For 1961 Buicks lost their tailfins and gained a sharp new profile with a spear-shaped front fender line and long, horizontal side accents. Mechanically, the cars remained essentially unchanged from previous years with the workhorse 250 bhp V-8 powering the LeSabre series... Read More
One Lucky Man Jerry Logar is among the very few men who can boast simultaneous love affairs for over 36 years. He is fortunate enough to have the same wife and the same car as he did in 1966. We attribute luck, care, and the right alignment of the planets. Here’s the story... Read More
1977 - 1978 Pontiac Type K Sports Wagon It isn’t too hard to spot the lineage of this unusual station wagon. Referred to within Pontiac as the Type K, this attractively styled wagon, based on the F-body platform Firebird/Trans Am of 1970-81, nearly made it into production. What killed the idea, though, was not the public’s reaction... Read More
1957 Buick Super Riviera Two-Door Hardtop For 1957, the entire Buick lineup of Special, Century, Super and Roadmaster models all wore new body styling. Like the other GM cars, this was to be a single-year body shell, superseded in 1958 by the heavily chromed and highly flamboyant new styling... Read More
1957 Pontiac Transcontinental I have owned this 1957 Transcontinental since 1978. At that time we stripped it and restored it to the original blue and white, the way Pontiac made it. Other interests and lifestyle put the car into storage for over 22 years. After coming home from the Buffalo Convention, I decided to build... Read More
1937 - 1938 LaSalle V-8 Coupe The LaSalle debuted in late 1927 as a lower-priced companion car to the Cadillac. This was part of an overall strategy at General Motors during the late '20s to fill niches in the market with alternate marques sold through existing dealerships. Oakland had Pontiac, which eventually... Read More
1972 Oldmobile 4-4-2 Hurst Olds Pace Car Unlike all previous cars chosen to pace the Indianapolis 500, the 1972 Hurst Oldsmobile had the unique distinction of being the first pace car sponsored by an independent company and not by an automobile manufacturer. Hurst-an aftermarket tuning company well known... Read More
1970 - 1981 Pontiac Firebird The second generation Pontiac Firebirds are popular collector cars that are relatively easy to find in good condition. Built on GM's F-body platform that it shared with the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac designers were allowed to style the second generation Firebird with different sheet meta... Read More
Gran Turismo And on the seventh day, God and John Z. DeLorean created the GTO. Is it blasphemous to compare a mere automobile with a religious experience? I suggest that you reserve your judgment until after you have driven one. We've all heard the stories of the clandestine activities... Read More
1999 Pontiac Trans Am WS6 By now, most everyone has seen the Pontiac Trans Am "Beast" commercial where an all black Pontiac Trans Am Ram Air comes to a stop behind an unsuspecting "other car". When the light turns green, all that's left of the other vehicle are bits and pieces, as the Trans Am... Read More
Taking It Personally In May 1963, Reid Carroll walked into Grihalva Buick and drove out with a new Riviera. It was a surprise birthday present for his wife, Lee. Smooth move, Reid. "When Reid picked me up from work that night," Lee remembers, "I said ‘Where's my car?' ‘This is your car,' he said. ‘I bought it... Read More
A Flair For The Dramatic From the mid-1950s through the early 1960s, automotive styling took us on a wild ride. The practicality of the early 1950s was left in the dust and the race was on for longer, lower, bigger, faster, and more stylish cars. As the low-priced cars became more powerful and luxurious, expensive cars... Read More
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