We’ve visited a few GM dealers recently and noticed we have yet to see some Pontiacs in the showroom. Let’s deal with that omission and check out a few Pontiac dealers from the brand’s better days.
The following images are a mixed lot, with snapshots, postcards, and a couple of high school yearbook ads. Dealer name and location have been indicated when available. We start with the opening image above, from Carbone Pontiac, in Utica NY.
Mike Salta Pontiac, Sacramento CA.
Townsend Pontiac – Cadillac, Easley SC.
Townsend Pontiac – Cadillac, Easley SC.
Coast Pontiac, Fullerton CA.
Ace Wilson’s Pontiac, Royal Oak MI.
Star Pontiac, Chicago IL.
Townsend Pontiac – Cadillac, Easley SC.
Union Park Pontiac, Wilmington, DE.
dealers had so much more control over signage back then. All I remember since the 80s is the corporate GM signs with the dealership name underneath the brand. Cookie cutter, just like the cars they were selling lol.
The photo of Salta Pontiac in Sacremento CA. was taken at the right time! I spot not one, but 2 `59 Bonneville cvts. on the used-car front line. I’d love to have either one! Maybe someone who bought that dark colored `60 Falcon at the curb end up horribly disappointed and wants to trade for a Pontiac with a REAL engine!
Once more, a great set of images!
Oakley Pontiac-Buick was located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma – the building is vacant now, but still standing. StreetView is below, and you can still barely make out the “Oakley” lettering above the garage door. Incidentally, though this building is fairly plain, Bartlesville is a city with some great architecture.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/qfRihTz9NZLv1QJa8
I’ll echo Eric703. Another terrific post, Rich. Lotsa fun. Thanks!
The Chicago dealers looks to be an empty lot at present. Like most, probably moved to the suburbs in the 70’s or 80’s.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8957208,-87.6868854,3a,75y,313.88h,82.52t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6T37bqP6IJbtSdJFW3U39g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
I have a couple pretty evocative ones to add as well:
Milner Pontiac, Tulsa OK
Fenner Pontiac in Maryland was where my Dad’s 66 LeMans came from. Mom was genetically incapable of mastering the art of a Corvair’s manual transmission– the flaw lay in consistent failure to get into the next higher gear in a timely manner– so a change was made.
We do not have photos.
But this led to a lifetime policy of “no cars with a manual because Mom might need to move/drive it.” Mom can probably count on one hand the number of times that was ever an issue. As for me, first car bought without parental supervision (and wasn’t a handed down model replaced by newer and better as well as ripe for the issues late-70s and 80s GM cars came down with as the odometer reached the 70s and 80s) was a manual. “I’ll learn or I’ll walk”
Where in MD?
Silver Springs I think.
Silver Spring
/pedant
Also Mike Salta Pontiac, but Long Beach, CA
YES! That Salta location was in business back in the 40s after WWII!
Boomershine Pontiac, Atlanta GA
I love those Pontiacs from the sixties. As a kid growing up during that decade, Pontiacs seemed like the car to have. Especially the GTO.
Love seeing those old Pontiac logos – especially the neon. They were pretty well obsolete by the 60’s & 70’s. Dealers had to pay for their promotional signage. the result was many of those old signs were on dealership display far longer than Pontiac actually used them in corporate publicity.
Nice images, all .
-Nate
The one at “Genara Pontiac” is the one I want!!
Hope someone with local knowledge can tell us why the “bikes” are hanging up in that “Utica, NY” pic. ((lead in pic))
I was wondering too, but I’ll wager a guess that it was a premium or giveaway…..a new bike for the kid, free with every new car purchase.
Ah, Royal Oak Pontiac!
Living near Detroit Dragway in the late 60s, it was a treat to watch the Pontiac GTOs tear up the quarter mile.
Ford’s ‘Total Performance’ machines gave the GOAT serious competition in the mid 60s.
I recall all the NHRA drivers who made their debute at DD, even saw Shirley Muldowney take lots of trophies before she went to fuelies.
SUNDAY…SUNDAY NIGHT…….at Detroit Dragway!!!!…. screamed WKNR
Wasn’t Royal Pontiac the place that prepped all of Pontiac’s press cars during the Estes/DeLorean/Wangers era? By prepped, I mean tuned them to the nth degree, often quietly tweaking them with non-stock pieces.
I like the bicycle at Carbone Pontiac, circa 1969
Money no object, the two Royal Bobcats and the Union ’61. My folks tried to buy a ’61 Ventura 2 door hardtop off the Capitol Chevrolet OK Used Cars lot in the mid ’60s in Austin, Texas, shortly after they were married. They were about to take delivery when the stealership decided more fees and $$ were in order, and a test drive revealed the car had some major issues. I think they and my uncle had to threaten them with legal action to get their money back….
Then in late ’68 when the ’69s were fixing to debut, my grandma bought a ’68 Tempest 4 door sedan from the Pontiac agency in her hometown, King Pontiac GMC in Gonzales, Texas. It was retired drivers ed car, white with a teal blue top and interior. She drove it the rest of her life; I rode in it for many trips to and from her house to mine as a kid. I have never seen another one in that color combo! King was in a small building adjacent to a Texaco station, I think the showroom held one or two cars. They alternated with the Chevy dealer for the high school drivers ed cars, and in 1970 a gold and white LeMans 4 door sedan came home with us, to be our faithful family car for the next twelve years. That car had the GTO gauge cluster, and it thought it was a Goat. Strong runner, even with a 2 bbl. 350.
I would love to have any of those gorgeous neon signs…..hope they went to good homes when the dealers closed or redecorated.
There’s a great, running Pontiac Dealer Database on FB :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1473353926734598
Wish I could find a decent picture of Hine Pontiac in Mission Valley San Diego. Their motto was “Make Mine Hine in the early 70’s.
Does anyone know of Napoleon Pontiac in Tarentum, Pa ? Must of been around awhile.
Great poncho pics, loved them all…!!!
As the old saying goes……”Those were the days!”
There was also a Star Pontiac in Staten Island N. Y. Does anyone remember that one.