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Pontiac
Route 66 Factoid
Jan. 31, 2005
1926 was the year that Route 66 emerged as an official highway designation when the American Association of State Highway Officials created a system of numbered U.S. highways to carry traffic throughout the nation, replacing names such as the Lincoln Highway, Ozark Trail and the Pontiac Trail and Canada to Gulf Highway among others.
This was also the year that General Motors introduced the Pontiac automobile. Basically, it was a smaller car built by GM's long-defunct Oakland division, which was positioned in the middle priced range with sister divisions Oldsmobile and Buick, each steps up from the low-priced Chevrolet but well below the luxurious Cadillac.
The 1926 Pontiac was basically a step-up car in the General Motors hieracracy, the first step above the inexpensive Chevy but still below the level of GM's more prestigious nameplates. The original Pontiac used a larger variation of the Chevrolet body, which was smaller than the standard Oakland, and powered by a flathead six-cylinder engine (versus the Chevy's four-cylinder and the Oakland's straight eight). Priced only a few dollars above the Chevy but well below most Oakland models, the Pontiac was a huge success fron the start giving long-suffering Oakland dealers a turnaround after years of declining sales.
By 1932, the Great Depression had done in the Oakland and nearly sent Buick down the tube with it. For 1933 as the Great Depression bottomed out and Franklin Roosevelt took over the White House to put into motion government work programs for the unemployed such as the Works Progress Administration that constructed public buildings as well as highways (including many paving projects on Route 66), the Pontiac effectively became GM's step-up car from the low-priced Chevrolet (which was now powered by a six-cylinder engine). Pontiac, in turn, moved a bit upmarket by introducing a slightly larger automobile with an eight-cylinder engine (of the L-head variety) but still remained a just a step above the Chevy and well below the costlier Oldsmobile and Buick.
In 1937, as the new concrete dried up on the last unpaved stretch of Route 66, the new 1938 Pontiac debuted with the first all-steel top for a production automobile along with the first column-shift transmission replacing the time honored floor-mounted selector to permit more interior space for a third front passenger. From the start, Pontiac's were identified by Indian-head logos but in 1935 another idenitifying symbol that would become as synomous with Pontiac until the late 1950s as the split-grille styling is today - chrome plated silver streaks on the hood.
While Route 66 had less traffic and 35 MPH speed limits during World War II when gasoline and tires were rationed, Pontiac and other General Motors divisions switched their plants from building cars and trucks to war material - in Pontiac's case, it was ammunition such as high speed bullets that came off the assembly lines for a few years to aid the U.S. and its allies in the war effort in Europe and Asia.
By late 1945, World War II had ended following the Japanese surrender. Pontiac went back to building new automobiles while speed limits on Route 66 were raised as gasoline and tires returned to the marketplace, paving the way for hoardes of travelers to take vacations from back east to California and other points to the west, and just in time for Bobby Troup to invite the drivers of new 1946 Pontiacs through their radios to "Get Your Kicks on Route 66.
By 1948, that 2,400 mile or so trek down Route 66 became easier in a new Pontiac with the introduction the Hydra-Matic transmission as an option that had originated in Oldsmobiles in 1940 and Cadillacs the following year before the war shut it all down. Within a few short years, the automatic transmission would become such a popular option, leaving the old-fashioned stick shift in the dust.
For 1953 as many older sections of Route 66 were being realigned including the Kingman-Topock segment in Arizona and the all-new Turner Turnpike bypassed the entire route between Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Pontiac introduced a restyled automobile featuring the same six and eight cylinder engines as in past years with new comfort options including GM's Fridgdaire air conditioning, power steering and power windows/seats to further improve driver and passenger comfort for those increasing long trips, which got even more luxurious in 1954 with the introduction of the larger Star Chief series that not only included plush interior trims but also a longer wheelbase for a smoother ride and a larger trunk than the less-expensive Chieftain just right for those cross-country journeys.
And horsepower wasn't left out of the equation. The all-new 1955 Pontiac came with new styling features including wrap-around windshields and rear windows. Under the hood the old flathead six and eight cylinder were replaced by a new modern overhead valve V8 of as much as 200 horsepower - well above the 145 horses of the 1954 straight eight. And just in time for the advent of the new Interstate highway system that was created by an act of Congress in 1956 to provide for a 42,000-mile system of superhighways that would ultimately replace Route 66 and other major U.S. highways over the next few years.
As many cities along Route 66 saw the coming Interstate bypasses as the eventual death knell for their economies, the Pontiac Motor Division was facing a similar crisis by 1956 and 1957 despite the introduction of attractive cars with modern styling and powerful V8 engines. The trouble was that Pontiac had an identity crisis as it's Indian heads and Silver Streaks had become increasingly old fashioned, while Chevrolet's image was greatly improved thanks to the new styling and V8 engine for 1955, and Olds and Buick offered more exciting styling and performance for just a few dollars more. Just as rumors of interstates were running wild in cities along Route 66 about the bypasses that would leave them in the dust, rumors ran rampant in Detroit that GM would put Pontiac out to pasture due to sagging sales much like the many Detroit nameplates that bit the dust in the Depression of the 1930s and soon again in the late 50s as Nash, Hudson, Packard and later Chrysler's DeSoto would go by the wayside.
Just as cities in Western Oklahoma along Route 66 lobbied for and won a plan to four-lane their local sections of U.S. 66 to fend off bypassing by I-40 for as long as possible to connect with the rural I-40 alignments at either end of town - as well as to keep traffic coming through after the bypasses were completed; Pontiac Motor Division also pulled off a plan to improve its image and sales by removing the Silver Streaks from the hoods of the 1957 models, and developing a racing/performance program along with powerful V8 engine options, including one with fuel injection (that was short-lived) and three two-barrel carburetors. Soon Pontiac became one of Detroit's hot performers along with sister division Chevy, while Oldsmobile and Buick shifted their emphasis from hot performance to bigger and more lavish cars that qualified as "poor man's Cadillacs."
By 1959 as portions of Route 66 were being designated over newly completed sections of interstate highway such as I-55 in Illinois, 44 in Missouri, 40 in Oklahoma and New Mexico and I-15 between Barstow and San Bernardino, Calif., Pontiac introduced an all new design featuring sleek styling - not in gobs of chrome, high-flying fins and dagmar bumpers - but clean styling emphasizing rooflines featuring acres of glass for fishbowl like visibility, wide track wheels for improved ride and handling over the expansion joints of old U.S. 66 and the new I-40 alike, along with distinctive split grille styling that soon became a Pontiac trademark. The 1959 Pontiac was also powered by a big 389 cubic-inch V8 engine that was offered in several variations from a no-cost economy two-barrel edition that sipped regular gas at a rate of as much as 21 MPG on those journeys from Santa Rosa past Clines Corners to Albuquerque, or an optional Tri Power (three two-barrel carburetors) version that churned out 330 horsepower to blaze right through the Mojave desert between Needles and Barstow in short order - even with the Circl-L-Aire air conditioner running full blast and Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife" coming through the Verba-Phonic rear speaker of the Wonderbar radio. And six-way power seats to provide the driver with additional comfort behind the wheel while Wide-Tracking along mile-after-mile of Route 66.
Mark Potter