As anyone with a younger sibling can tell you, imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery – it’s the quickest way to piss someone off. Case in point? Have a look at this Pontiac Solstice worked up to look like a Ferrari F430. Talk about tuning gone wrong. The owner has managed turn a decent car bad with phony badges and graphics. Is this the worst supercar tribute we’ve seen? Absolutely not, but it does represent a distressing trend – Solstice tribute cars. Is Pontiac’s drop-head destined to follow in the Fiero’s footsteps? Looks that way. Hop over to the gallery for a couple of other shots of the car. [Source: 0-60]

Think earth tones are so yesterday? Love expensive cars, drugs and low-priced women? You just might be J.C. France – heir to the NASCAR throne — or you may just be a fan of Miami Vice. In honor of Mr. France’s recent street racing/crack cocaine/hooker escapade, RoundAbout episode #5 is officially the Miami Vice episode. We cover everything from the height of ‘80s-fabulous Pontiac Stinger Concept to the possibility of a drop-top Panamera. Though the likes of Swine Flu and Canadian Thanksgiving thinned the crew’s ranks this week, we’ve still got a great show. Hop over to the site or look up the ‘cast on iTunes or Zune Marketplace. [Source: RoundAbout]

Following the ebb and flow of perspective auto projects is a full time job. More often than not I wind up picking up the pieces of my broken hope after a manufacturer walks away from an awesome idea. This, sirs, is likely one of those situations. You see, I was lucky enough to get a week with the ’09 Solstice Coupe GXP, and while the ergonomics were derived straight from the Tower of London, the turbo 2.0-liter four-pot, notchy five-speed transmission and limited slip rear made for my kind of lovely. The car just needed one more generation to be really good. Now it looks like the DeLorean Motor Company is interested in picking up the car to create a new product. As you can tell from the sketches, this doesn’t seem to be a fully-baked idea, but oh the possibilities if it came to life. [Source: Jalopnik]

In an announcement today, GM said that it would no longer continue a joint venture with Toyota at the Nummi Plant (New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.) located in Fremont, California. Under current production orders, the facility produces the Pontiac Vibe as well as the Toyota Corolla and Tacoma. Since GM is killing Pontiac, the partnership is not a viable one for the automaker, especially as the company traverses the fields of bankruptcy and seeks to shed as many burdensome assets as possible. A Toyota spokesman cited Toyota’s disappointment upon hearing the news as Toyota is currently operating in the red for the first time since the company was founded over 70 years ago. This decision marks the end of a near quarter century long partnership between GM and Pontiac. Geo Prizm, we hardly knew yee! Or is that knew thee? [Source: AP]

Not really sure this doesn’t qualify as a Through the Grapevine type of post as it comes right from the mouth of Fritz Henderson, Obama’s GM’s CEO, but here goes: If someone walked up to the RenCen with a briefcase full of cash, GM would sell them the rights and the factory to the sporty twins. Even though Pontiac is going to way of the dodo and Saturn is (probably) being sold to someone (maybe), the duo of roadsters might live on apart from GM, kinda like what Dodge is trying to do with the Viper. Here’s Fritz’s quote:

“If someone were to approach with a proposal that made good sense for our people, we’d be open to it.”

Hmmmmm. Jump.

The 800 pound gorilla (or is that 900 hundred pound?) in the room is this: it’s a shame the Solstice and Sky aren’t better cars. Both are beautiful in their own right (the Solstice being the voluptuous Monroe type classic roadster and the Sky looks like it might have been in Season IV of Robotech), and sport a killer engine (the turbo’d EcoTec is better than you think). But aside from that, deep dippings into GM’s bankruptcy-inducing parts bin has made both cars — how to put this — much less than ideal. Never mind the logistically ignorant packaging issues, the transmission, steering and interior all blow. And how.

The one real upshot the pair has however, is the fact that both are build on a shortened version of the Corvette’s chassis. And as the aftermarket has shown, LS engines do fit. I know you’re thinking what I’m thinking: LS9 powered Solstice Coupes. I’d buy that for a $1. What if the same brilliant folks then bought Viper. V10 Sky roadster? Dare to dream, kids. [Source: Autoweek]

So much for dying with dignity. ACS — the legendary shop behind cars like the Buick GNX — has gone hog wild and crafted an all new Pontiac Trans-Am. Uh… yeah. As you can see, ACS’s car is little more than a Camaro with a pig-ugly front end and some scoops. But hey, Trans-Ams of yore were never really anything more than rebodied Camaros. Are they plans to put this car into production? Naw. It’s really just an exercise. In what I’m not totally sure. But there you have it screaming chicken fans — one more beat down before the horse dies. Two more images after the jump. [Source: Dub]

I suppose the rear-end’s OK.

Can’t say the same for the side. Or front. Shudder.

This week’s installment of Muscle Car of the Week is a somber one. The recent demise of Pontiac got me thinking as to what final tribute I could pay to the “exciting” GM brand. To pay one last tribute to the newly deceased brand I give you a look at a car that still said “performance” when the word was considered blasphemy by every other manufacturer, the 1977 Pontiac Can Am.

By 1977 the muscle cars that people came to love in the late 1960s/early 1970s had all died. It was a rough time in terms of performance offerings as every potent power plant had been either dropped completely or turned into a low compression paper weight that lazily sauntered around at moderate speeds. Yes, once mighty engines such as the Ford 428 Cobra Jet, Chevrolet 454 LS6 and MOPAR 426 Hemi were all dead and gone. Where was a young man with some coin in his pocket going to turn if he wanted a new car that still made enough power to give him a little shot of adrenaline when he mashed the accelerator?

The answer was Pontiac. After smashing through the performance market with the 1977 Pontiac Trans Am, the GM sub-division brought one more car to the table that was still powered by a big block V8. Named after the Canadian-American Racing Series, the Can Am featured all the necessary components to be called a muscle car. A 6.6 L V8 was backed by a heavy duty TH-400 auto transmission that went out to a 3.73 rear gear. Dual exhaust, rally wheel package and Cameo White paint with special stripes and spoiler package rounded out the Can Am. And just look what’s popping out of the hood. That 6.6 L V8 that powered the Can Am was the same one that got the Trans Am down the highway and was rated at 185 hp (net) and 310 lb ft of torque. Although these numbers are not fantastic they were better than anything else American out there (even the Corvette, which for 1977 had 180 hp and 210 lb-ft). The Can Am’s torque made for a broad and enjoyable power band.

Although only slated to produce 5,000 units in 1977, production was cut short at 1100 (1337, depending on your sources). The reason was because the factory mold that made the unique spoiler was damaged and GM brass decided it was not worth fixing seeing as the Can Am was in direct competition with the Pontiac Grand Prix that year. So, the Can Am only lived for one year and only roughly 20% of slated production numbers were ever built and many will say that the Can Am is not a true muscle car. I will tell those people that in a time when no Domestic car achieved power comparable to it, the Can Am was the king of the hill when it came to full-size factory performance. Thanks to angelfire.com for some little details.

And finally: Fare-thee-well Pontiac, you gave us quite a bit of performance over the years.

Yeah, Saturn. Remember Saturn? You know, them ubiquitous half-plastic “import fighters” GM made in the 90s that never died, but never ran very well either. Well, they are still around, though instead of fighting them damn blasted imports, they are imports. Weird, huh? And people were all up in arms about a decade back when — after pumping untold billions of dollars into Saturn and creating a new brand out of whole clotch — the General went ahead and executed the storied, slow selling brand Oldsmobile. Fast forward to today. Er, last week, when GM announced that the storied, slow selling brand Pontiac will be dead in a year’s time. But what about the not so storied and equally slow-selling Saturn? Is GM gonna put it out to pasture like beloved Pontiac? Nope — they’re selling Saturn instead. To whom? Dunno. Maybe Telesto. Maybe Fiat. Official word from GM below the jump. Hey, maybe you. [Source: Motor Authority]

General Motors is proceeding to the next step with respect to the sale of Saturn. A number of potential buyers have surfaced and expressed interest in the Saturn brand and retailer network. GM will be reviewing expressions of interest from the potential buyers and will look to secure an agreement with a specific buyer later this year. S.J. Girsky&Co. has been retained by GM as advisor for this transaction. Saturn will continue to keep its retailers updated on its progress throughout this process.

After reading the rumors of what could happen to my favorite brand of General Motors a chill went down my spine. Now that those rumors have been confirmed as true I cannot help but feel a bit of sadness over the loss of Pontiac. The division of GM that has been has supposed to be about performance for as long as most people can remember will no longer churn out cars. Hit the somber jump for a look back at what Pontiac gave us as automotive enthusiasts.

Pontiac won me over a many years ago when I learned about the introduction of what many consider to be the first true muscle car, the 1964 Pontiac GTO. The little GM brand skirted the engine displacement rules and shoved a big block under the hood of a mid-sized Tempest and a high horsepower stop light monster was born. I loved watching the GTO transform from its sleeper beginnings to the loud colors and brash bodywork of the 1970 GTO Judge. Which by the way had a 455 cid motor making 500 lb-ft of torque.

Even as the 1960s drew to a close, Pontiac kept cranking out big displacement cars like the 1968 Firebird which complemented and competed with its brother, the Camaro. Early in the 1970s when muscle cars began to die off, Pontiac kept their displacements skyward and produced torque monsters such as the 1971 Trans Am High Output. By the mid 1970s the brand was still a pioneer of performance with the likes of the 1977 Trans Am (one of my personal favorites and star of the film Smokey and the Bandit).

Taking a trip back in time before the GTO revealed a whole new world (excuse the Alladin reference) to me in the form of the Super Duty Pontiacs of the early 1960s that tore up the drag strip right off the showroom floor. The Super Duty movement peaked in 1963 with the addition of a few Swiss Cheese Catalina’s that were put on weight-reducing diets of epic proportions.

After the stint of nothingness that was the 1980s (save for the 6000 STE AWD and the lovable Fierro), Pontiac came back with a vengeance in the mid-1990s with the re-vamped Trans Am powered by LS goodness, including Corvette beaters like the WS6 Ram Air Firehawk. Once those died out Pontiac turned to the ugly duckling but massively potent GTO. Then sporty new G8 sedan (especially in its M5-killing GXP trim) and Solstice (one of the best looking cars out there imo). Alas, this was not enough to save the brand, but in parting words I say: Rest In Peace Pontiac, you gave us so much.

Let’s be frank — no one’s crying in their Cheerios about the death of the Pontiac G6, G5, G3 or Vibe. Design junkies are upset over the demise of the gorgeous Solstice and the even more gorgeous and perhaps still upcoming Solstice Coupe. Whereas the power mad among us are bummed about the G8, the rebadged Holden Commodore that was in fact the best American car I drove last year. Because really, cars this good deserve to live. And it looks as thought hte LAPD feels the same way I do. Jump it.

The Panther platform Ford Crown Victoria is older than many of you reading this sentence. First introduced in 1978 and endlessley refined over the years, the Panther’s more than thirty years of duty is coming to an end in 2011. And while taxi cabs can switch to minivans (or whatever), cops need big, potent, rear-wheel drive sedans. Sedans like the G8. And why not? They’re already federalized, fast as heel and chock full of great handling. Plus, Holden already dressed one up as an LAPD black and white and stuck it in front of their Australian headquarters.

The deal is reportedly for as many as 40,000 Commodores to come over — badged as Chevys — at some undetermined point in the future. That large number isn’t just for Chief Bratton’s force. Nine other police jurisdictions are interested in the potent Holden. And that’s just in the US. Canada, Britain and certain Middle Eastern countries have all express interest. I for one cannot wait until these start showing up cheap at auction. [Source: Motory Authority]