GOODBYE, WHEELS – AT 8:48 A.M. ET:  I don't think it's fair to say that this marks decline, for products come and go.  But it certainly, for those of us of a certain age, marks transition.  From The New York Times:

DETROIT — Pontiac, the brand that invented the muscle car under its flamboyant engineer John Z. DeLorean, helped Burt Reynolds elude Sheriff Justice in “Smokey and the Bandit” and taught baby boomers to salivate over horsepower, but produced mostly forgettable cars for their children, will endure a lonely death on Sunday after about 40 million in sales. 

It was 84 years old. The cause of death was in dispute. Fans said Pontiac’s wounds were self-inflicted, while General Motors blamed a terminal illness contracted during last year’s bankruptcy. Pontiac built its last car nearly a year ago, but the official end was set for Oct. 31, when G.M.’s agreements with Pontiac dealers expire.

“They were C.P.R.-ing a corpse for a long time,” said Larry Kummer, a retired graphic artist who has owned more than two dozen Pontiacs and runs the Web site PontiacRegistry.com.

COMMENT:  Ah, the memories.  A Pontiac was my parents' first family car after World War II.  You had to wait months to get one.  It was a big red coupe with huge whitewall tires, and it had that classic Pontiac wide stripe right down the center of the hood, and down the trunk.  Of course, my parents immediately took a picture of me behind the wheel, even though I barely made it up to window height. 

And General Motors promised that, if we were good, and saved, we could "move up" next time to an Oldsmobile.  I think we did, but only after a couple of romances with Chrysler products. 

In those days most people we knew kept cars no more than three years, and had to change the oil every thousand miles.  An average car cost about $1,400.  Cars today are far better, and far safer, and the air conditioning system costs more than $1,400.

I'll miss the Pontys, especially that red model that came out the war plants that were rushed into conversion to produce cars for the masses.  No power steering.  No power brakes.  A tube radio that took forever to warm up while "The Lone Ranger" began his gallop on ABC, and a clock that, like most car clocks of the time, never worked. 

Gas:  Maybe twenty cents a gallon.

October 30, 200