Chief Pontiac was born before 1725 in the Detroit or Toledo area, but details are vague. In 1763, he led at attack against Detrot, which was a fort at that time. He failed to destroy the city, but some have argued that Mayor Coleman A. Young went a lot further in completing that job more than 200 years later. Chief Pontiac was one of the Native American leaders who led an organized fight against colonial encroachment by the British. See the Wikipedia entry o
n Pontiac's Rebellion.
Due to the persistence of his name, Pontiac is the most famous of the Odawa (Ottawa) Indians, at least by name. His name is also spelled "Bwandiac" or "Obwandiyag" . For a while, Pontiac cars had Indian Chief Head hood ornaments, and there were models like "Super Chief". Now, like most automotic marques, the Pontiac symbol looks like a Star Trek emblem. In fact, the Pontiac one looks like a red Classic Star Trek command badge, upside down.
From Cars Directory:
"A Native American Headdress was used as a logo until 1956. The current Pontiac logo was originally meant to represent a Native American arrow-head. An alternate slang term for the marque among performance enthusiasts includes Poncho. Another slang term used in the early stages of brand was "Indian" due the subject matter of its logo."
As of 1988, they stopped building Pontiac cars in Pontiac, after 60 years of building them there (Contrary to what you might guess, they never built Cadillacs in Cadillac, Michigan.)
The company managed to avoid the contoversy over stereotypical use of Native American-related emblems, and the current arrow logo is abstract enough that it's hard to tell it is supposed to be an Indian arrow. In fact, I thought it was some sort of flame before I researched this post. For a long time after this, Pontiac names tended instead to reflect auto races and race-car locations, such as the GTO, Grand Am, Trans-Am, and the Bonneville (pictured here). My first car was a Pontiac Phoenix, and name that denoted destruction by fire rather than Native Americans or auto racing.
This is likely more than any of you have previously know about the origin of the Pontiac name. Any Pontiac car memories?
n Pontiac's Rebellion.Due to the persistence of his name, Pontiac is the most famous of the Odawa (Ottawa) Indians, at least by name. His name is also spelled "Bwandiac" or "Obwandiyag" . For a while, Pontiac cars had Indian Chief Head hood ornaments, and there were models like "Super Chief". Now, like most automotic marques, the Pontiac symbol looks like a Star Trek emblem. In fact, the Pontiac one looks like a red Classic Star Trek command badge, upside down.
From Cars Directory:
"A Native American Headdress was used as a logo until 1956. The current Pontiac logo was originally meant to represent a Native American arrow-head. An alternate slang term for the marque among performance enthusiasts includes Poncho. Another slang term used in the early stages of brand was "Indian" due the subject matter of its logo."
As of 1988, they stopped building Pontiac cars in Pontiac, after 60 years of building them there (Contrary to what you might guess, they never built Cadillacs in Cadillac, Michigan.)
The company managed to avoid the contoversy over stereotypical use of Native American-related emblems, and the current arrow logo is abstract enough that it's hard to tell it is supposed to be an Indian arrow. In fact, I thought it was some sort of flame before I researched this post. For a long time after this, Pontiac names tended instead to reflect auto races and race-car locations, such as the GTO, Grand Am, Trans-Am, and the Bonneville (pictured here). My first car was a Pontiac Phoenix, and name that denoted destruction by fire rather than Native Americans or auto racing.
This is likely more than any of you have previously know about the origin of the Pontiac name. Any Pontiac car memories?
6 comments:
great info for my mental notes. thank you sir.
i was blogging about detroit today...a lil less nicely though.
later, dude.
have a great one!
Pontiac car memories...I cannot seem to recall any...wait! I like the Bonneville, easily Pontiac's best car ever. Especially the 1978 version.
I knew some of the actual Indian history because where I went to school always focused a lot on Ohio and mid-west history. Good post
I drove a Pontiac G6 last year during my trip to North Carolina. The funny part was it had an Ohio license plate with an 18 county sticker (Cuyahoga County, where I live).
I was also up in Pontiac a few years ago to go to the old Pontiac Silverdome.
DC: Thanks for coming by and commenting. I tried to read your Kwame post at your blog, but my system seized up as your page loaded. A shame; I have a lot of things to say about him.
Evil-E: And Chief Pontiac might have been from Ohio...
AlienCG: the G6? From Indians ("Super Chief") to racing ("Trans Am")... and now the names are like Apple computer microprocessors, aren't they? ("G6"). I drove a Vibe last year, and quite liked it.
had no idea thought the arrow was the basis of it
seems more suiting now i know the difference
i m in a firebird from 83
nice work
my boy friend is restoring a 1938 pontiac it's a 2 dr. any1 has any idears of the details and would share them or point me in the rite dir. would be greatly appreciated and when we take her to car shows we'll include ur name and info u had given us!!! thanks much
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