Last revised: 26-1-2009

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Pontiac: the 1966 (export) model range

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1966 Pontiac Catalina Ventura coupe

The Pontiac division of world's largest car conglomerate General Motors celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1966. The 1960s proved to be very much the decade for Pontiac as far as American cars were concerned, with 1966 being one of its peak years for both styling and sales. 1966 Pontiacs were stylish and sporty and the models on offer boasted elegantly designed bodywork combined with powerful engines. The low-slung lines of the cars, the effective marketing and the fashionable "muscle-cars" propelled Pontiac to third place in the 1966 car production ranks in the U.S.A., behind only Ford and Chevrolet, with 830,778 units produced.
In 1966 Pontiac also tried to sell their cars in Europe, a very tough market for American cars since the 1950s. Division manager John Z. DeLorean, who liked European styling which he proved in the early 1980s with his self-named DMC-12 gull-winged sportscar, figured that what sold so well in the U.S.A. would appeal to European car buyers too. The Pontiac range which was available in Europe was an odd mix of American built mid-sized cars and full-size cars produced in Canada. The general idea behind that was that the specially trimmed Canadian Pontiacs were more in line with the less exuberant European taste.

This tour gives you an overview of the 1966 Pontiacs that were available in Europe and consists of scanned artwork from original Pontiac brochures from that year and recent photographs of 1966 Pontiacs. The research for the text was done with the kind assistance of Magister Max from Canada.

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