Debunking The JUICIEST Car Myth Out There Right Now! 

Bring back Pontiac with V8s! Bring back Holden while you’re at it. Gm has been such a buzz kill for years now. They can’t get all their performance credibility just from the corvette…

I suppose if GM were to have a car division Pontiac would be a good idea.

Car and Driver is probably trying to get some of their '70s-'90s magic back, when they were the edgiest, funniest, most well written car magazine in the land. They haven't had that in decades, I see this ad as an homage to both Pontiac and to the way it was in vintage magazine land.

The way they responded to you sounds to me like the classic way companies will say “you’re onto us, but we can’t tell you what we’re planning yet.”

My take: Print magazine sales are slowly dying. Car & Driver probably couldn't sell that back page ad for this issue--the car makers aren't doing well and probably balked at the ad price. So, Car & Driver put a fake ad on the back page to "juice" magazine rack sales and get people talking about the magazine again. Some years back, a specialty magazine that I read ceased publication. I knew that they were in trouble when the ads on the inside front and inside back covers were for the magazine itself for several monthly issues. This looks like a similar type desperation move by the magazine.

A modern Pontiac G8 (a CT5 without the luxury stuff and a V8. Maybe a hybrid drivetrain) would be amazing.

If you'd get the government out of the auto-making business, and get the environazis corralled, Pontiac would be the most interesting division within GM.

Try Z-folding that page. I bet Car & Driver is invoking Mad Magazine. Maybe the bird turns into Alfred E. Neuman.

This makes total sense if you're GM. GMC is your truck division. ChEVy is your EV car division. Hummer is your EV truck division. Pontiac is your performance car division. Buick is your SUV division. Cadillac is your luxury division.

Wouldn't it be legally risky for Car and Driver to use the intellectual property of Pontiac (name, emblem) on a fake advertisement that might lead to real world expenses for GM responding to customer inquiries and other unforseen consequences?

Just when I thought Pontiac had the best cars out of all the GM manufacturers, GM discontinued them. That G8 was amazing. It’d be cool if GM brought them back as the purely “car” division of GM.

Just to make a correction, when listing the brands killed off in the terms of the bailout, it wasn't Oldsmobile since they phased it out a few years earlier prior, the one you missed was SAAB.

I think there is absolutely a market for a new American muscle car. Only two American sports cars are left: the Mustang and the Corvette, and the Corvette at 70k to 90k is out of reach for the average person, which really only leaves one option for most people, the Mustang. I think it would be a brilliant move to revive Pontiac and bring back a modern Firebird! :)

Your magazine friend apparently didn’t tell you the back inside cover is expensive, the 3rd most expensive ad in the book, and if it goes unsold, that means Car and Driver has to run something else there. Their choices are: bonus another advertiser the space, which is bad because that advertiser will ask for it and all their ads at discount and never pay rate card again and C&D loses more money over time. Or, run a self-promo ad, which still loses C&D money because all self-promo ads, whether print, tv or radio, are unsold space that has to be filled with something else, at a loss and lowers the value of your book to other advertisers. Or, you can make a fake touchstone ad making an outrageous claim that will get people talking about the ad, the book and the possibility your fake ad is not fake after all , and maybe sell a few more copies than you would have otherwise. Which choice you think C&D made???

V8 demand is one truth but the bigger question is the price point to get huge sales numbers required to revive an abondand brand

Man I sure hope GM brings back the Trans Am with a 70's style shaker hood!

Pontiac was the very soul of an otherwise pretty boring corporation. It was too cool for school and stepped on corporate toes with the GTO. I doubt it could ever be the same but I personally never walked on a GM dealer's lot after Pontiac's demise. But I still have my memories of my GTOs and how they made you feel.

Considering Fords commitment to the V8 this could be a consideration. Worth noting is the ad has no TM or C symbols to be found anywhere.

I would love to see Pontiac return. However I think it is more then likely a Car and Driver promotional stunt to drive some excitement back into the printed magazine world. I use to subscribe to 5 or 6 car and truck magazines at a time. But now days I am way more likely to research and follow my favorite cars and trucks on RU-vid channels like TFL. Enjoyed the video guys, keep up the great work!

Episode…..wow, I’ve not heard of that term for a paper magazine 😂. I think “Issue” is what you’re looking for there…😅

GM: PONTIAC IS BACK!!!!! Journalists and general public: Pontiac is back?? GM: Nah, we never said that

I hope GM brings Pontiac back and gives them some room.

Obviously this is intended to create hype with the hopes of making a Pontiac come back viable. I think that someone at GM collaborated with Car & Driver to come up with the idea for the ad and secured permissions for the use of GM copyrighted materials but left the ad officially in the hands of Car & Driver to avoid backlash for a fake ad in the event that it doesn't create enough hype to make the comeback viable.

I was 18 I had a 76 trans am. 3 years old that car Bring me into the car world. I did exhaust intake carb and headers so many memories with that car. I miss it tell today.

Had a 70 firebird esprit and a 78 ta both with 400cid. Man I miss them 😪

How truly bizarre. An ad in a car magazine for a dead GM brand not created by GM. I don't get it. Why would Car and Driver create the ad and take away an expensive ad placement from an advertiser? Something doesn't add up.

Car and Driver does do joke stuff sometimes. Joke articles used to be pretty common for them. Chevrolet Beretta vs. Beretta 9mm. Ford Mustang vs. P-51 Mustang. I think they did some fake ad before, but I can't remember what they were. So, I mean, it could be just a joke. But you might be right and GM is testing the water. You know there are some loopholes in the laws where small volume manufacturers can get away with building crazy stuff. I think that as EVs slowly take over, car companies will start small spin-off companies to re-play their greatest hits.

My first car was a 1997 Grand Prix with the 3800 V6. Loved that car. It had over 240,000 miles when it finally gave up the ghost. I always enjoyed the quirkiness of Pontiac back in the 90s and 00s.

I had no idea magazines still existed.

I'm thinking this is just a ploy from car and driver to drive up physical magazine sales which I'm sure have been on a decline for a while. Heck, I was tempted to pick up an issue just for the buzz from the ad.

It probably is fake, because GM can't produce ads that good. I'm a Ford guy and that ad gave me chills.

How do you get people to talk about an old school magazine in an internet world? This very well could be a stunt from Car and Driver because look at how many people are talking about them now.

They never made a good argument on why they should cancel Pontiac or for other brands to trim down the amount of dealers. They said it was to save money but I remember seeing a dealer back then asking how but saves money. The dealer pays all the bills at the dealership not Pontiac or Plymouth.

Am I missing something here? It literally says on the bottom of the ad "DISCLAIMER: Do you need to be told that this advertisement is fake and not to be taken seriously? Our lawyers think you do."

My fantasy about Pontiac would be if they came back and made a newer version of the Pontiac Sunfire, but something that looks closer to the body style that they used in the '95-'97 coupe models. It was such a good looking car

Sorry to burst your bubble but I got into contact with Tony Quiroga the chief editor at C&D. The Pontiac ad is sadly really well made satire. Apologies to everyone. I’m as disappointed as everyone else. Maybe GM asked C&D to make the satire, but who knows. I personally want to see Pontiac make a return

GM has alot going on, the camaro isn't dead, the el Camino is coming back, and there's a big name coming back into there line up. Keep your eyes open! There's a reason that set companies are making cheap cars!

There are some GM-cars I'd like to see returning: Fleetwood, Coupe de Ville, Eldorado, Riviera, Monte Carlo... We have some few sporty cars, mounts of stupid trucks and SUVs. But what's very missing is comfort and luxury!

I want a retro styled Pontiac Firebird and Oldsmobile 442, Toronado, and Cutlass.

As the owner of three fourth gen Firebirds, i sincerely hope Pontiac returns. Who would pay for a fake ad? It has to be real.

I remember seeing those Firebirds as a kid and thinking, dang those are awesome! Would love to see them back! Thanks for the stream TFL.. Can't wait to see what happens! Really miss the Pontiac name!!

Going Full EV for Cadillac is such a big mistake its going to sink GM if they continue to follow down this path. Most US city infrastructure is not equipped to handle full EV, Now hybrid vehicles that is a good Idea. I Would love to see a Pontiac come back.

With the way this is buzzing, it would be so cool if GM went to the drawing board and retorted with an actual ad - signaling a commitment to bring Pontiac back

I agree with your Magazine Source, First there are atleast 3 Trademark Violations in that ad for it to be "Car And Driver completely behind this ad". They aren't going to Violate Trademark Laws and potentially pay 100's of thousands of Dollars in Fines just to fill a full page ad in a PRIME Advertising Space just to "Get people talking and to sell Magazines, that's cutting off there nose to spit their face. Second I know several people who work for GM, including 1 that is the Director of Production at an Assembly Plant and there has been "Whispers and Rumors" for the last 2-3 years of Pontiac or Oldsmobile or BOTH coming back as the Car ONLY division. I'm 10000% convinced that GM ran this ad to test the waters and see what the public thinks about a brand return.

I'd love to see Pontiac back, bring back the GTO, Firebird, Fiero, Aztek and whatever else tbh, so yeah

The HUMMER is back as a GM model, not a brand

I haven’t seen the articles, but this doesn’t surprise me. one thing you need to remember is that General Motors licensed or sold the name Pontiac and TA and logos to the company TranaAm World Wide, that was making the re-created trans from Camaro bodies, and have since moved on to the Chevelle SS recreations. This would mean a very complicated and expensive legal situation for GM to re-introduce those product lines. I think maybe contacting Trans Am worldwide and getting their take might be beneficial.

In the ad it states "our lawyers think..." Who's lawyer? GM or C&D? Also, the reply from GM stated it was all C&D and they didn't have anything to do with the fake ad. They can technically say it was a "fake" ad because that's what's stated in the ad, but GM did not technically say they were Not bringing Pontiac back. It's like asking a politician if their son or daughter is involved with organized crime and they reply, "The allegations are utterly absurd or ridiculous." They didn't say, "No, they're not."

Kase and Tommy are the best duo on these channels

I’ve been saying that about the Aztek since the Nissan Juke & Jeep Cherokee 😂😂

If Chevy, Buick, and Cadillac are all heading Electric, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, ETC would be great to have 2-3 cheaper gas models of other models.

As a Pontiac owner....I'm all for bring back Pontiac! Solstice (affordable Miata/GR86 fighter), Trans-Am (focused sports car), GTO/Grand Prix (2-Door, 4-Door a la Dodge charger) line-up.

Mary Bara is gauging the reaction to the ad. So far the reaction has been overwhelming. A Firebird Trans Am return would break sales records. I'm sure GM is aware of this.

There is a company that makes custom cars and the Firebird is one of them. It is very expensive.

Sells a crap ton of in-print magazines - I can see C&D saying: "Worth it...." That said if there were to be a Pontiac returning I'd be in line to buy one and I've not owned a GM product for 30 years now....

Boy I feel old. They keep referring to the latest issue of Car& Driver as an episode. You could see why magazines are dying. People their age don’t read them.

Id love for Pontiac to return. My first new car was a sunfire and that was a blast to drive and more comfortable than the Chevy equivalent. I just wish they stayed around so i could have upgraded to a GTO. Never cared that it was a rebadged Holden. GtO again just looked like a fun car.

You mention that you actually like the Aztek. Well, As funny as it may sound, My ultra low mile Pontiac Aztek was featured in POCI Smoke Signal’s magazine back in 2017. It has been mentioned on VinWiki, and also featured on Original Motor Car. I own a nice collection of Firebirds…who would think that I would get my claim to fame from a Pontiac Aztek.. or as I call it “The Edsel of Pontiac”

I read this magazine on an airplane last week, and boy let me tell you, when I reached that last page, my jaw hit the floor. I could hardly contain my excitement. No way this ad is actually fake, GM is definitely feeling out the market and generating some early interest. Money well spent on that ad.

I work at a GM dealership parts desk, my colleagues and I always say they need to bring Pontiac back for the fun and/or cheap stuff. Even other customers of ours would love to see Pontiac make a come back. I would KILL for a new Vibe or Sunfire type car myself.

Would love a Pontiac GTO! 69 and 70 GTOs are my dream car!!

GM has to be doing something because after this current Nascar season there won't be any GM cars... 🤔🤷‍♂️

This would be so cool to have Pontiac come back with a new GTO. Let the Aussies design it. Their Holden brand had some great designs.

Hmmm, C&D puts out an ad that generates massive clicks, more clicks = more advertising dollars. The cost is C&D credibility. Yeah, that sounds about right.

What I would do if I ran GM: 86 Chevy trucks and make GMC the dedicated truck/SUV brand. All engines would be built by Pontiac or make Pontiac like an AMG performance house like it originally was. Throw Buick in the trash and have Oldsmobile replace the Buick brand. And I’d remove redundancy from car lineups. We don’t need 3 brands of the same car. If you want three row crossover (traverse) make it a dedicated GMC and the blazer could be an Oldsmobile branded whatever.

I think GM should just call all their dealerships "GMC" dealerships, and sell everything they've got at each dealership, including cars branded with legacy GM names. For example, why shouldn't GMC be able to sell a car called a Pontiac Trans Am at its GMC dealerships? Or an Oldsmobile 442?

I think this was supposed to be an April fool's joke in car and driver, and something terrible happened and it went into the wrong issue.

This ad is absolutely genius & I hope it's not just a stunt. I for once am a fan of the Pontiac brand as a whole (& yes I'm a Knight Rider's kid). The last years of Pontiac were a bit underwhelming to be fair but the nostalgia is all the rage in the automotive world these days (I'm seeing a lot of Pontiac YT content these days, old and recent). So who knows. A 3rd gen Trans Am retro futuristic incarnation with electric or hybrid (groan...) motor & cyberpunk flavor would imo be a killer.

I've seen a bunch of posts about this on Facebook, and as a lover and owner of two Pontiac Trans Ams, I knew this was all BS. I never paid any attention to those Facebook posts and this is the first video I've watched addressing this crap. If GM were to actually bring back Pontiac and the Firebird lineup, I can almost guarantee the designers would screw it up and it would more than likely be a failure, much like the Camaro. Outside of the Corvette, GM brands aren't exactly in tune with what people actually want and their designers kinda suck.

We need an 80s retro 3rd gen inspired Trans Am asap! Make it with a V8 base model or optional V8 hybrid like the Corvette E-Ray.

Car and Driver magazine and Pontiac had intertwined history. PMD had the right amount of edge and sometimes controversy, and effectively kicked off the great musclecar era. The C&D issue comparing the 64 Pontiac GTO to the Ferrari GTO really fired up the magazine as did other issues like the big multicar 1969 comparison test featuring the Judge as well as the classic test of the 73 SD-455 TA. This new ad smacks of the same corporate teasing as done in recent years by Mopar for the Demon and Ford for the Shelbys and Darkhorse Mustangs. It's hard to ignore the enthusiasm these days for 50-60 year old Pontiacs. So maybe somebody is up to something. Car makers don't joke or prank a whole lot.

I wonder if Pontiac is going to comeback as an OEM for Nascar since Chevy discontinued the Camaro and doesn't have a vehicle to replace it. Switching from Chevy to Pontiac with a car that's closely related to what they have may be an easy switch

I would love to see a new Firebird, Catalina or Bonneville, I seriously doubt we will see any new build production Pontiacs in the near term or far term future. I miss the Pontiac brand.

GM could have banked on the recent revival trend of bringing back the classics (Hornet, Supra, Bronco, etc.). When EV's took off, they could've easily announced a new Saturn EV/Hybrid cuz that's what that brand was all about. Being economical, and different (and they even looked weird/unique which is an apparent staple of new EVs). Pontiac being resurrected would have been perfect right around the time the c8 was announced, considering they had a previous rear engine car, the Fiero, which could have been an affordable/entry level ports coupe alternative to the c8, to rival the likes of the brz, nissan z, and more. The Grand prix or bonneville could have been a challenger to the Charger, and the Trans Am's return could have been an alternative to the Camaro, opposing the challenger and Mustang. So many missed opportunities. It'd be cool to see Pontiac to actually return as a performance division again, tho. I'm getting tired of all the different trim level c8's being announced. Give us something new.

“Hey bandit, me an Fred gotta question” “Well whaddya you a Fred want?” “How come we doin this??” “Well why not?!” “Welllll, they said it couldn’t be done.” “Well that’s the reason son!” “That’s good wit Fred. We clear”

I'm fixing to get into my 1988 Pontiav Fiero Gt and drive to work. Seriously. Still love that car!! They really did build excitement!!

This was done by the C&D editorial staff to generate sales of the print mag. That's all - the writing is all editorial - no advertising messaging.

Tommy looks like he had a rough night.

If I understand correctly 2 brothers in Tallahassee Fla purchased the rights to the name and/or trademark Trans Am. They build new cars by converting Camaros and it is a very sharp modern high performance car. A much better looking car than the Camaro. If Pontiac came back I assume they could still offer a Firebird. I don't believe it will happen anyway.

C&D wouldn't waste a whole back page ad on a joke.

I can assure you that GM would never joke about caffeine and four loko. They are too big to have fun with this. There are likely 5 committees in their marketing org that need to review every word of each ad and they’d call out the reference to the caffeinated lemonade due to it killing a person or two. Car and driver is a more fun brand, and is leaning into it here because they have a more narrow demographic that isn’t as easily offended.

Bring back the Pontiac Solstice/ Saturn Sky and sell it as a Firebird. Regulations are killing muscle cars and sports cars; but we can still have fun lightweight roadsters to compete with the Miata.

Literally texted my son two days ago: “Some articles are saying that's put there just in case GM decides not to bring Pontiac back, but they're testing the waters to see if people are interested. 2026 would be Pontiac's 100th anniversary.”

"That Engine and Horsepower Number is not that far off the C8 E-Ray. Which is a 670hp V8 Hybrid... Hmmm ???"

As someone who has worked at many auto ad agencies from 1996 to 2015, I know the legalities that real ads have. This is fake! The Pontiac Arrow Head (the red pointed triangle like logo) would be present and a GM Motorcars or some small printed tag line would be there. Good job though, the fonts are correct that Pontiac would use. It appeared to me incomplete without that.

GM (literally): We have nothing to do with this fake ad. We even called it fake in our response. People who don't work at GM: I don't believe them. Car & Driver: Well, THAT certainly boosted our lagging print media sales...

Wow! I would LOVE to have another pontiac! I had an old pontiac 6000 from the eighties, then got my dads hand me down Bonnevilles-89 and 92 series SSE's.

I'm guessing it's something like Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars: a pre-arranged stunt that looks real enough that people get into debates over whether it's fake or not, and is designed to do exactly that: get people talking about something and bump up the interest.

this ad really pissed me off

Pontiac did not leave us the gm bought Pontiac and killed the Trans Am because they could not compete with the Camaro, with the TA out selling the Camaro 2/1! Much like Disney and Star Wars!

I'd love to see Ford bring back the Mercury division. Bring back 3 unique cars: Cougar, a 2 seat V8 sports car, Monterey a 4 door family sedan/station wagon with a turbo charge V6 and Marquis, a personal luxury car.

GM needs to focus on improving their existing brands instead of trying to bring back a dead one.

Welcome back Pontiac! GM will be well served to bring back the Firebird only. Don't do what Dodge is trying with the Hornet. No one wants it!!!

When they killed Oldsmobile, I wish they would’ve brought Holden here to the United States. They were building stuff we wanted, but they did not do it. It took him a long time to do something about the GTO/and the G8 not to mention it also live the life as the Chevrolet SS . General Motors did not give a damn about their customers. They still don’t give a damn about their customers and now it’s 2024 they still don’t give a damn about their customers. I’m a GM man, but I will never buy a new General Motors product ever again. In Pontiac, they’ll never bring it back again. And it breaks my heart I own two Pontiac Fiero’s and three Pontiac Trans Am. I still love these cars.

This begs the question... Did Trans Am Depot/Trans Am Worldwide sell back the rights to the Trans Am name they bought back when they began rebuilding 5th then 6th Gen Camaros into Trans Am clones?

You obviously don't know anything about Buick; they released plenty of fire breathers.

The bandit is back and it’s time to bring back the fun on the road. Enough boring suv. I can’t wait for the bird to come back.

There's a company in Florida that takes Camaros and turns them into Firebirds. They even add T tops. It's super expensive though.

Moving forward, the only V8 muscle car left is the Mustang... GM would be stupid not to bring back The Fire Chicken... The Corvette is now a supercar killer, not muscle...

If GM had no part in this ad, then why did C&D do it?