Here’s a question for you. What’s more inspiring to Pontiac enthusiasts? Our beloved Division’s exceptional ’60s marketing campaign or Detroit’s Woodward Ave?
One of Pontiac’s most famous advertisements was also its most controversial. Hobbyists remember it well.
Pontiac—by way of its late ‘50s transformation under the leadership of Bunkie Knudsen and then carried on by Pete Estes and John DeLorean—possessed an image of performance, excitement, and youthful appeal during the ‘60s. Its Super Duty engines dominated racetracks and their H.O. counterparts were fierce street competitors. Then came such notables as the full size 2+2, intermediate GTO, and the Firebird 400, which caused Pontiac’s popularity to skyrocket with performance enthusiasts and hipsters. Pontiac’s advertising agency—McManus, John, & Adams, who employed Jim Wangers as its representative for Pontiac—created copy aimed at reaffirming that image to consumers.
The original image (shown here) was retouched slightly for the advertisement. What differences can you find?
Back then, Detroit’s Woodward Ave was a hotbed of cruising and racing activity. Stoplight competitors included owners (young and old) piloting their preferred marque’s hottest performance car, racers in barely-legal street cars looking to hone their skills between weekend battles at the drag strip, and even factory engineers testing their employers’ latest experimental engines and/or packages. It was made famous by automotive magazines of the day.
Pontiac, Michigan is located on the northern end of Woodward Ave. GM’s Pontiac Motor Division was also located within that city. One can only imagine the sheer number of Pontiac performance cars that traveled Woodward Ave by day and raced at night. As if the two didn’t already seem synonymous, Pontiac cemented that image with its famous 1968 advertisement, which placed its performance flagship GTO on Woodward Ave with a caption that read, “You know the rest of the story.” It was ingenious!
Jeff Denison wrote this excellent article for the May 2000 issue of Pontiac Enthusiast magazine about the infamous advertisement.
Anyone familiar with Woodward Ave immediately understood it intent. As retired GM Designer and Pontiac enthusiast, Jeff Denison explained in the May 2000 issue of Pontiac Enthusiast magazine, the advertisement immediately drew opposition from towns along Woodward Avenue. It suggested that Pontiac endorsed street racing and GM wanted no part of that. Amidst the controversy, Pontiac elected to pull the advertisement from circulation not long after its release.
The infamous Woodard Ave advertisement—whether because it captures PMD during its glory or is attractive because of its controversy—is beloved by Pontiac faithful. So much so that even today hobbyists attempt to recreate it with their prized Pontiacs while visiting the Detroit area or attending the annual Woodward Ave Dream Cruise that pays homage to days of past.
It’s quite obvious what this newspaper photographer was attempting to insinuate and possibly replicate when setting up this image of Pontiac’s new 1987 Trans Am GTA. Do you recall what Detroit area newspaper it ran in?
Like many of you, I have always enjoyed that famous Pontiac advertisement. I recently came across a photograph of a then-new ‘87 Trans Am GTA in my collection taken by someone that obviously also remembered it fondly. Snapped on April 14, 1987 by a Detroit-based photographer who is listed solely as “Robinson,” I believe it appeared as part of automotive test drive in the May 6, 1987 printing of a local area newspaper. While the GTA in the image faces the opposite direction of the GTO in Pontiac’s original 1968 advertisement, and its focal length was much shorter, the inspiration seems unmistakable.
Do you have any memories of Pontiacs on Woodward Ave?
How about the original GTO advertisement on Woodward?
And do you recall where the image of the ’87 GTA was originally published?