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Junkyard Gem: 2009 Pontiac G3

Things weren't looking so rosy for Pontiac Division in late 2008, as The General had troubles of its own that culminated in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June of 2009. Meanwhile, the Solstice and G8 had failed to revive Pontiac's youthful "excitement" image. Naturally, this seemed like the ideal time to put Pontiac badges and a new grille on the Chevrolet Aveo (itself a rebadged Daewoo Kalos) and call it the G3 (in the United States) or the G3 Wave (in Canada). Sales were not brisk, to put it mildly, and the 2009-only G3 has become one of the rarest modern Pontiacs in the junkyard world. The announcement of Pontiac's demise came in the spring of 2009, with the very last Pontiac-badged vehicle built being either a G3 or a Vibe (since those cars were really Daewoos and Toyotas, respectively, the true final Pontiac was the 2010 G6). The Aveo itself disappeared after the 2011 model year, replaced by an updated Kalos design known here as the Chevrolet Sonic. As a result of the GM bankruptcy, termination of the Pontiac brand, a nasty worldwide recession, and the preference of American vehicle shoppers for trucks or at least truck-shaped cars, few knew the G3 existed and fewer still thought to buy one. This is only the second G3 I've managed to find in a car graveyard, and I've been searching diligently.  So, it's a Junkyard Gem in the historical sense, not in the sense of being the kind of car you'd want to take to your 20th high school reunion. That said, it has power windows, air conditioning, and a CD player— pretty nice stuff for a dirt-cheap econobox from a decade back. And look! An AUX jack for your iPod or early-model smartphone. I drove dozens of cheap rental cars for my job with the 24 Hours of Lemons Traveling Circus during the late 2000s, and very few had this feature; until about 2013 or so, you had to travel with your own CDs or one of those horrible wireless FM modulators if you wanted to listen to anything other than the radio in a non-high-roller rental car. Under the hood, a 106-horse Daewoo Ecotec displacing 1.6 liters. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. If there were any television commercials for the G3, I guarantee that they weren't as fun as this one— set in the California high desert, of course— for the SKDM Kalos.

Burt Reynolds' vehicles up for auction at Barrett-Jackson

Burt Reynolds' influence on car culture cannot be overstated. Be it "Smokey and the Bandit" or "Cannonball Run," his films inspired a generation of car enthusiasts. He died a few weeks back from cardiac arrest at age 82. This weekend, four vehicles from Reynolds' personal collection — three Pontiacs and a Chevy — will go up for auction at Barrett-Jackson in Las Vegas. It seems Reynolds had plans to sell the cars before he passed. He even filmed a short teaser for the auction and planned to attend the event himself. Three of the cars are Pontiac Trans Ams. Two are re-creations of the cars he drove in "Bandit" and the film "Hooper." Both are 1978 models. The third Trans Am is from 1984 and was used to promote Reynolds' USFL team, the Tampa Bay Bandits. The fourth vehicle is a 1978 Chevy R30 pickup truck. It's styled like the truck he drove in "Cannonball Run." None of the vehicles were actually used in the movies. But they were registered in his name, making them far more legitimate than some other movie-inspired clones. It's unclear how many Bandit Trans Ams Reynolds has owned over the years. Another car connected to him sold for $450,000 back in 2014. His death is sure to drive the price of these new cars even higher. Related Video: Image Credit: Barrett-Jackson Celebrities Chevrolet Pontiac Auctions Truck Coupe pontiac trans am burt reynolds

A case for Pontiac's return

Sadly, many brands have disappeared off of the automotive landscape over the decades. Many people have imagined over the years of restarting defunct automotive brands. A few of those dreamers even made prototypes to shop around and to established connections with investors. But, alas poor Yorick, however valiant an effort, many brands are shuttered for good, rarely to be heard of again except in historical tales or maybe seen in car shows. So, what do you do when you win the lottery? Not just any lottery... In fact, it is a lottery that takes care of you and your loved ones for life? You and your family don't have to work, ever. You can give to charity, pay other people to do those projects that you've been putting off, and so on and so on. But, you're still a Car Nut right? There begins the conundrum. Do you buy and fix cars, new premium cars, old muscle cars, or classics, or maybe, just maybe, do you buy the rights to an old departed automotive brand and bring it back to life. Hmm. Which brand? The problem with the old Pontiac was that it was an additional badge engineered vehicle in the portfolio of GM. The meant the brand was diluted by competition from its own parent company, in addition to the competition outside the camp. So, if it were to come back, it would have to be different. Yet, it would still need to keep true to its roots at the same time in order to wake up its armies of existing fans. Even those that aren't fans of Pontiac cannot deny that Pontiac has a long heritage of legendary vehicles. So do Packard, and Studebaker, and others. So, why would a lottery winner choose Pontiac as the marque to bring back? That's easy! Pontiac's long heritage is closely tied to performance vehicles that made many of a teenager drool. Even more important though is that Pontiac is still fresh on people's minds. The brand itself is only recently departed. So, Boomers, Generation X, and Millenials all would all be able to identify with it as opposed to brand names that disappeared multiple decades ago and that now have a more limited appeal. The return of Pontiac couldn't just be another launch of a badge engineered vehicle. It would have to be performance oriented, yes. But, it would have to be unique in some way, a niche brand. What niche though? Look at the automotive landscape now and you see that Tesla is the one out there grabbing at the wide open electric niche with success.