Celebrating Pontiac’s 100th Anniversary (Tim Dye)

Automotive History Live marks Pontiac’s 100th anniversary with Tim Dye tracing the brand from Edward Murphy’s 1893 Pontiac Buggy Company to the 1907 Oakland Motor Car Company and GM’s purchase after Murphy’s 1909 death. He covers Oakland’s 1924 quick-drying paint and early four-wheel brakes, GM’s “car for every purse and purpose,” and Pontiac’s 1926 debut at $825, record 76,742 first-year sales, and rapid expansion into the "Daylight Plant." Dye highlights key eras including the end of Oakland in 1931, wartime production, and Pontiac’s performance transformation under Bunkie Knudsen, Pete Estes, and John DeLorean—racing wins, Wide Track, Tempest innovations, the GTO, OHC six, Firebird, and the Endura bumper—plus influential advertising and design. He recounts Pontiac’s final years, the last Pontiac built (a white 2009 G6), and how he tracked it down, alongside museum and convention milestones. ===== (Oo---x---oO) ===== 00:00 Buggy Company Origins 02:14 Chief Pontiac Namesake 03:16 Oakland Becomes Automaker 04:54 1924 Innovations Tour 06:11 GM Ladder and Pontiac Launch 08:30 First Pontiac Stories 10:49 Myths and Promoters 14:03 "Daylight Plant" Expansion 14:37 Depression and Oakland Ends 15:41 War Work and Reinvention 17:45 Wide Track and Tempest Tech 20:39 Racing Dominance to GTO 23:39 The DeLorean Era Innovations 27:36 Design Ads and Leadership 30:10 World Tour and Final Home Plant 31:37 Last Pontiac Hunt 33:44 Museum and Centennial Wrap 34:42 Sponsors and Closing Credits ==================== The Motoring Podcast Network : Years of racing, wrenching and Motorsports experience brings together a top notch collection of knowledge, stories and information. #everyonehasastory #gtmbreakfix - motoringpodcast.net More Information: Visit Our Website Become a VIP at: Patreon Online Magazine: Gran Touring Follow us on Social: Instagram This episode is part of our AUTOMOTIVE HISTORY LIVE! SERIES and is sponsored in part by: The Studebaker National Museum and The Society of Automotive Historians (SAH) and was recorded in front of a live studio audience.