Pontiac Gto - 1965 on 2040-cars

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Looking Back At Oprah's Free-Car Giveaway 10 Years Later

Molly Vielweber's Pontiac G6 appears unremarkable at first glance. It wears forest green paint, rolls on five-spoke aluminum wheels, and it has a sizeable scrape in the driver's side door, the scar of a decade's worth of hard use. You wouldn't notice it parked at a big box store or cruising on the highway. Pontiac made hundreds of thousands of G6s in the 2000s, and a lot are still on the road. It's unremarkable in every way except for the front license plate, which reads, "Oprah 6." But this is not just any G6. This car is a part of television history. Vielweber won her G6 10 years ago at a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show, when Oprah kicked off her 19th season in dramatic fashion by giving all 276 members of the studio audience a free car. It was an unprecedented stunt that changed lives, generated controversy and ultimately failed to provide enough of a marketing lift for Pontiac, which would be shuttered just over five years later. September 13 marks the 10-year anniversary of the memorable event, which caught everyone, including audience members, by surprise. In a masterful display of showmanship, Oprah dialed up the suspense to match the enormity – and cost – of the event. First she gave away 11 cars, which would have been a landmark TV promotion by itself. But then she coyly announced: "I've got a little twist." Models circulated throughout the audience carrying silver platters loaded with white boxes wrapped in red ribbon. One contained a set of keys, Oprah implied, for another audience member to win the final car. "Do not open it. Do not shake it," she commanded the crowd. Finally, with the suspense built to a fevered pitch, everyone opened their box. They all had keys. "You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!" Oprah exclaimed. "Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car!" This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Everybody did get a car. But not everyone kept it. William Toebe attended the show with his wife, Jillaine, and he immediately thought of the tax implications, which stretched to $6,000 or more for some audience members. It was a tough reality for many in the audience that day, some of which had been selected based on their need for a new car. "That responsible part of me stepped forward and wondered 'where am I going to get the money to pay the taxes?'" he recalled.

Sci-fi movie Jinn features car designer, Firebird-bodied Camaro

If you're an automotive engineer being tormented by an immortal being made of fire, then wouldn't you think it best to have a custom coupe called the FireBreather for your getaway car? That's the FireBreather in the image above, adorned by the red wings that once fronted the Pontiac Firebird, running away from a black cloud of evil in a trailer for the movie Jinn.
The Jinn is eternal evil, always waiting for the chance to make things float across rooms before going on homicidal urban rampages. The FireBreather is a Gen-V Chevrolet Camaro - from the V6 to the ZL1 - that's been through Classic Design Concepts' extensive list of exterior and interior modifications, including entirely new front and rear fascias and side skirts, sway bars and springs, Pirelli P Zeroes and an available Edelbrock supercharger.
The movie - FireBreathing chase scenes and all - was shot in Monroe, Michigan. You can watch the trailer below, but since the FireBreather only get a couple of seconds on screen, you can find out more about it on Street Legal TV and its official site.

BMX rider flips for wrecked Detroit football stadium

Detroit is littered with derelict ruins. Abandoned automotive assembly plants, sure – but also former sports venues, like Tiger Stadium in Corktown, Roesink Stadium in Hamtramck, and the Silverdome in Pontiac. BMX rider Tyler Fernengel remembers going to see the Lions and Pistons play at the Silverdome in his youth, and competed there in Supercross as a boy. The stadium hasn't been used in years, but now, with his career just picking up, Tyler has returned to film this video – riding through its halls, jumping its stairwells and flipping over its grandstands and field. It's a fitting tribute to a once-great venue of suburban Michigan. Check out the footage in this latest clip from Red Bull. News Source: Red Bull via YouTube Pontiac Videos Detroit viral video Michigan bmx