I've been a "Pontiac Guy" for almost 50 years. Second car I ever drove was my dad's '62 Star Chief. In 1963 (at age 17) I bought my first car, a 1958 Bonneville convertible, factory Tri-Power/automatic, leather interior, more chrome than you can imagine. Since then I've owned a '66 Bonneville 4-door (inherited from my father), a '66 Catalina coupe, factory 421 H.O. Tri-Power/4-speed, and my current '65 2+2. So I've got a serious spot in my heart for the marque.
Pontiac's performance reputation was critical in it's climb to America's #3 best seller in the mid-'60's. One sad aspect of Pontiac's history was the negative influence that Chevrolet exerted over their smaller cousin. Hard to believe, but back in the "Glory Days" GM's brands would compete with each other almost as aggressively as with Mopar & Ford. Because Chevy was such a huge part of corporate revenues, they could dictate to GM management the rules of that competition. Pontiac had to call Tempest's 331CI V-8 a 326 so as to appear less than Chevy's then-new 327. Pontiac had to discontinue it's famous Tri-Power set-up when GM banned multiple carburetors after 1966 (but the 427 Corvette's were exempt). What did we miss out on in muscle car development because of Chevy's jealous interference?
Many Pontiac enthusiasts would claim that the brand really died after the last Pontiac engine was produced in 1981. Not many people would include any cars manufactured after that time on their list of Top 5 Pontiac's. Now that the brand is no longer produced, any future resurgence of this great part of American car history is gone.
My list of the Top 5 (biased, of course, by my personal history):
1. 1963 "Swiss Cheese" Catalina - only 12 manufactured, only 9 known to exist
2. 1958 Bonneville - a nostalgia thing
3. 1965 Catalina 2+2 - a great combination of highway-gobbling Land Yacht, personal luxury, and great performance
4. 1964 GTO - the first muscle car, an absolute game changer
5. 1962 421 super Duty Catalina - double threat, dominating the drags & NASCAR simultaneously
For those interested in Pontiac history, I host a site at
http://www.Pontiac2plus2Registry.comJack Anderson