Why did GM decide to kill Pontiac instead of Buick?

The Pontiac brand seems to have lost its way and its identity these past few years. We all remember the exciting years of Pontiac’s history, starting in the late 50’s with Pontiac’s participation in auto racing and the introduction of the Bonneville in 1957. Their reputation as the “excitement” brand of GM was never more justified than during the introduction of the GTO in 1964. Amazing innovation that catalyzed the baby boomer generation to want this new type of automobile, a “Muscle Car!” It was too cool for words, only the music of the times could capture its spirit. Every other carmaker tried to copy it.

Only a few short years later in 1967, Pontiac offered the Firebird. But it was an “also ran”, eclipsed by its Chevrolet counterpart, the Camaro. Pontiac’s other models began to suffer from lack of individuality as well. To be fair, GM was doing it (and continues to do it) across the whole lineup, trying to sell the same car, SUV or truck as a Chevrolet, a Buick, an Oldsmobile, Pontiac or Cadillac. Rebadging the same car or truck with different trim levels. As the muscle car era reached its zenith, Pontiac had already given up the edge of being the innovator. Even Buick produced a better muscle car in the GNX.

A big part of GM’s problems has been their reluctance to develop new things. Perhaps the best example of that is their approach to engines. The rest of the world long ago recognized that dual overhead cams and four valves per cylinder were necessary to compete. Performance improvement in terms of horsepower, torque and fuel efficiency were very quickly realized with these modifications. GM can’t seem to get there. They are still making the 3.8 liter V6 pushrod engine more than 30 years after it was introduced. Their flagship V8, the 350, is not significantly different than its original ancestor, the 265 V8 introduced in 1955. And their sales continue to suffer as a result of these and other failures to keep up. They can’t seem to make a cheaper, less expensive car that doesn’t look and feel cheap.

Recently, Pontiac tried to reintroduce the GTO. That is actually a bit of an overstatement. Pontiac did the worst marketing job I have ever witnessed for introducing a new car. The car itself is quite a performer, even with the latest version of the 1967 era 350 cubic inch V8 engine. It is quick, powerful, and nimble. But it is almost invisible. There is nothing about it that is visually or viscerally exciting. GTO’s of the past had a street presence, even the Firebird TransAm finally became distinctive, almost gaudy. Other than the most subtle of hood scoops, it is hard to distinguish a new GTO from any other anonymous honda-esque coupe out there. When they were introduced, I tried to find one at my local dealer. He told me the only way to see one was to special order it. It seemed to me that Pontiac dealers actually were trying to not sell GTO’s or any other sport vehicles. They were instead marketing sport-y vehicles: boxes on wheels with plastic cladding panels and styling features reminiscent of pre-teenaged boys’ crayon drawings. Witness the Pontiac Aztec. Now to be fair, Pontiac was actually selling quite a few of these vehicles. They actually outsold Buick (and Oldsmobile). But Buick never stopped seeking and developing its identity. They have developed a loyal following of the over-60 crowd in this country and a prestige market in the Orient. Buick might sell half the cars of Pontiac, but they make twice the profit. And that was the deciding factor: profitability. The only way Pontiac (and Chevrolet) can sell cars is to underprice them almost to nonprofitability. Chevy’s truck and SUV sales are the only reason (in my opinion) that the brand will survive.

So good bye Pontiac. We have been missing you for way longer than you have been dying.

Scientific Experiments!!

On a recent business trip, I happened to have an unusual cocktail, a Tangerine Margarita. It was in a bar named "The Tangerine Bar" located just across the street from Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. (Thank you very much to the staff at the Tangerine Bar. They were all quite nice, attentive, and made our evening there quite pleasant.) The drink was quite tasty, almost dangerous in that it tasted like more... a lot more! After I got home, I searched for some recipes, but when I tried some of the ones on the Internet, I was less than impressed. So I ordered a bottle of Tangerine-flavored tequila from our local purveyor of spirits. The brand name was Margaritaville, so how could I go wrong? Parrot-heads unite!

Well, the quality of the tequila will always be evident, and so it was here. The drink I prepared with this stuff was quite metallic-tasting. I remixed it with Cuervo Gold and Cointreau, and the results were much better, but still lacked that special tart tangerine flavor I remembered. So we took a trip to Whole Foods and bought a half-gallon of Tangerine Juice.

The results were very good indeed. The taste of the drink was quite nice, and very close to what I remembered from my trip. Here's the recipe:

2 oz Cuervo Gold Tequila

1 oz Cointreau Orange Liqueur

3 oz Tangerine Juice

1/2 oz Lime Juice

Mix well with ice, or blend with ice for a slushy drink.

Serve in a glass with lightly salted rim and lots of cracked ice.

Be careful, though. They taste like you might want another fairly quickly.

Some pictures of the new house in TX

Here are a couple shots representative of the new house. The view in the back yard, the kitchen, and a shot from the street. Come on over to visit, it's a comfortable home!

Lincoln's Legacy

Our new president has extolled the virtues of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, pointing out that without Lincoln, he, Barack Obama, could never have become president. That may be true in part, but he leaves out a most critical piece of the story. Lincoln was assassinated during a time when the congress and senate were still arguing about what to do after the Civil War ended. There were some in power at the time who wanted to punish the South and not allow them full statehood along with the autonomy that implies, and even some who didn’t think slavery should have been abolished.

It was Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, who worked to insure that Lincoln’s legacy wasn’t lost in the transition. The congress tired to impeach him over the disagreement about what would happen, but failed to convict by one vote. I think Andrew Johnson is the most undervalued president in our history. It was his effort that kept our country headed in the right directions of unification and freedom for all.

We are settling in to our new home

We continue to get settled in to the new house in Sugar Land, TX. And it is not without adventure and excitement.

Starting with the swimming pool. We spoke with three different pool maintenance companies, and settled on one who spoke with knowledge and experience. Before he started showing up though, I was experimenting with the valves on the pool pump, filter, and heater system. I was interested in learning how they work, and whether the pool-cleaning device (a Polaris 360, if you are interested) was working right. I managed not to get the valves put back just they way they were, and noticed the next day that the Polaris device was moving quite a bit more rapidly than before, and was generating a lot more thrust from its jets. I noticed this because the sweeper was regularly tying its hose in knots, which I had to untangle and set the cleaner free again. And the hose was starting to fail in several places due to the higher than desired pressure. The pool maintenance company has it adjusted more properly now.

Our master bath was carpeted when we bought the home. We both agreed a tile floor was more desirable, so we shopped, found a store and agreed on an installed price. That evening after we returned to the house, I wondered what was under the carpet. Tile, of course, but not at all what we wanted, so I advised the tile store that in addition to removing carpeting, a layer of tile would have to come up also. After a couple false alarms, the installers showed up and worked in earnest, generating copious quantities of dust and debris as they chiseled up the old tile. They cut the new tile with a hand held die grinder near the front door, generating more dust, and proceeded to get everything done but the grout in one day. When they pulled up the toilet in the master bath, another problem surfaced. The toilet base was cracked, but that was not the worst, the toilet had been glued to the carpet, and cemented into the floor. There was no mount flange either. So I had to buy a new toilet and call a plumber to make it right. The plumber came that evening, and worked 3 ½ hours to get everything done. The new toilet sits a bit higher, more comfortable for us older folk. The next morning, the installers finished the grout, and the master bath looks quite good. Our master bath was just like the US economy; all it needed was a financial stimulus package 50% larger than what we thought was needed.

The next project will be the kitchen sink. The current one is too shallow, and the faucet set leaks a bit. We will replace them with a stainless, single bowl that is at least 8” deep and a faucet set with a high rise spigot for ease of pot-filling. We’ll see how this project works out.

Progress on the move

Our furniture arrived at the new house yesterday. My lovely wife supervised the movers as they unloaded and put things throughout the house. There are a lot of boxes to unpack, and furniture locations are close, but not final. The movers set up the beds, and it was good to sleep in our own bed last night. The next few days will be occupied with unpacking, putting away, and hauling the empty containers and packing material to the garage for pick up later. We will keep the wooden crates made for the TV, our antique clock, and our framed papyrus art work. The cable company will be here Friday to get us hooked up for TV, phone and internet. The dogs seem to be taking it all in stride.

Something nice actually in the news...

This morning CNN.com presented a nice story.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/23/cookie.factory.reopens/index.html

The gist of it is that (evil) Archway closed a cookie factory in Ohio earlier this year, and laid off the 300 workers. Another snack food company, Lance, bought the factory at an auction and is rehiring the workers previously laid off. As if that wasn't enough, Lance gave each of the 300 workers a prepaid Visa card worth $1500 just before Christmas, even though not all of them had been rehired yet. Lance said they wanted the town and the workers to know who they were. No doubt left that Lance are the good guys.

I get very discouraged by all of the bad news, reports of horrible things perpetrated by people onto each other, and most of all by an apparent trend to keep all of us in a state of fear over what might happen next. Yes, its a tough world out there. And bad things happen. But lots of good things happen, too. Most of the time its just one person being kind or considerate of another. But sometimes, its worthy of notice. Thanks to Lance Snack Foods for going above and beyond, for restoring hope, joy, but most importantly, self-worth in a population of previously laid-off workers.