A Mullet Is Optional
July 12, 2010 5:45 PM   Subscribe

The 2010 Pontiac G8 Sport Truck: Return of the El Camino.

Be honest, did you ever have one? Did you ever want one?
posted by bwg (44 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: This appears not to be a thing. -- cortex



 
And just as ugly as ever.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 5:46 PM on July 12, 2010


It's a ute. Not a sport truck.
posted by awfurby at 5:47 PM on July 12, 2010 [3 favorites]


Business in the front, party in the back! I must have it.
posted by reenum at 5:48 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]


To be a little more specific - a utility vehicle.
posted by awfurby at 5:49 PM on July 12, 2010


Bajajajaja
posted by ChuqD at 5:50 PM on July 12, 2010 [2 favorites]


I thought Pontiac was done as of 2010. Why would they roll out a monstrosity for a single year. FAKE?
posted by Brodiggitty at 5:51 PM on July 12, 2010


Did you ever want one?
Not if it's going to be a Pontiac. What are they thinking?
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:51 PM on July 12, 2010


That article is 2 years old. Pontiac is dead, and I will support economic sanctions against Australia if they ever attempt to market utes in the US.
posted by schmod at 5:51 PM on July 12, 2010 [6 favorites]


Meanwhile, the Solstice is discontinued. Christ, GM. Have you no sense of decency?
posted by Garak at 5:52 PM on July 12, 2010


Strewth, what a beauty. But why stick that tired old badge on it; they ought to just sell it as a Holden.
Is Paul Hogan still under contract to Subaru?
posted by Flashman at 5:53 PM on July 12, 2010



I thought Pontiac was done as of 2010. Why would they roll out a monstrosity for a single year. FAKE?

Maybe. Pontiac's website has a goodbye on the front page. And there's no mention of the new cruck anywhere, so far as I can tell.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:53 PM on July 12, 2010


That article is 2 years old. Pontiac is dead....

Aha.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:54 PM on July 12, 2010


Flagged as bye bye, little GTO, wah wah, little GTO
posted by fixedgear at 5:56 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]


El Camino's were boss. I had a gearhead coworker during the summer after high school and he dropped some monstrously large engine in his El Camino. Boss.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 5:57 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]


How dare you play with my emotions like this? I will now be forced to retire to my bed and brood over what could have been.
posted by reenum at 5:58 PM on July 12, 2010


I guess all is not lost. The Ute may still be marketed in the US as a Chevy El Camino.

This article is from Jan. 2010.
posted by reenum at 6:02 PM on July 12, 2010


My parents had not just one, but two El Caminos. They were badass.
posted by mathowie at 6:06 PM on July 12, 2010


First!!!
posted by hortense at 6:09 PM on July 12, 2010


do not want!
posted by maortiz at 6:14 PM on July 12, 2010


love that they're having a naming contest... el pedernal?
posted by Lukenlogs at 6:17 PM on July 12, 2010




(I'm gonna bet that haltingproblemsolved's comment is the first time that Dictatortots lyrics have been referenced on MetaFilter.)
posted by BitterOldPunk at 6:24 PM on July 12, 2010


What is wrong with me that I find this concept attractive?

The Chevy badged one, at least. The 90's Pontiac hood never did it for me.
posted by cavalier at 6:28 PM on July 12, 2010


yeah, ain't gonna happen..

I had a subaru baja... wish I had kept it....
posted by HuronBob at 6:29 PM on July 12, 2010


Flagged as two-year-old-news-that-will-never-come-true.

Also flagged as I-would-seriously-buy-one-of-these-if-they-weren't-too-expensive-and-existed.
posted by paisley henosis at 6:35 PM on July 12, 2010


El Camino -- blazing down the road
El Camino -- ah, she's fast, never slow
El Camino -- conquest of the night
El Camino -- Aztec machine speeding to the light

posted by sourwookie at 6:40 PM on July 12, 2010


I wrecked the El Camino
Would have been DWI
So I just walked off and left it
Laying on its side
The troopers found it in the morning
And they said it's purely luck I wasn't killed
I probably ought to quit my drinking
But I don't believe I will

--James McMurtry
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:44 PM on July 12, 2010


When I was in high school (mid-to-late 80s), El Caminos were as uncool as could be to me and my friends. But now, I think they're pretty awesome. They're probably crappy rides - those that are still running - but I think they're kinda rakish. Also, the Rachero, especially 1970-71.

This vehicle, however, is ugly as hell. Needs moar El Camino and less lame. If you're going to call it an El Camino, design something Brock Samson would drive.
posted by dammitjim at 6:51 PM on July 12, 2010


It's the very worst thing I've ever seen. Take it away.
posted by contessa at 6:59 PM on July 12, 2010


An El Camino is a beautiful thing. That ain't no El Camino.

That's just a run-of-the-mill ute—one of the many hideous things on Australian roads that isn't a squished marsupial.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:00 PM on July 12, 2010


The G8 platform (Holden Commodore) is supposed to be bad ass. So if they do bring it out as a Chevy, I would probably like it. Depending on who in the design department gets ahold of it. Throw a (current) Camaro front end on it and it might be something.

But that Pontiac look is just awful. I swear, the last few years of Pontiac were like they were intentionally designing them to be awful.
posted by gjc at 7:01 PM on July 12, 2010


A high school pal of mine had one in the mid to late 80s, dammitjim, and we all thought is was more or less as rad as what's-his-name-that-guy-from-Shingletown's late '60s Camaro. A little less power, but a lot more oversteer. And plenty of room in the back for kegs and firewood.
posted by notyou at 7:03 PM on July 12, 2010


Will astroturf in the back be a factory option?
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 7:09 PM on July 12, 2010


Oh, that's just a ute, every 19 year old hoon's got one of those here. And America, if there's any justice in the world, each one will come with genuine Australian reactionary bumper stickers. Take your pick from any of the following messages approved by the Department of Ute Decoration:

- "Real Aussies Drive Utes" (I find comfort in testosterone yet secretly, I question my own masculinity)
- Frangipani (bought it for the missus)
- Bundaberg Rum (I'm from the country)
- Longhorn sticker (I'm from the country, but specifically, from a beef area)
- RM Williams (I'm a stockbroker, but I've got four hectares in Benalla)
- "Fuck off we're full" (I'm a fuckwit)
- Southern Cross (I'm a fuckwit, but I don't have the guts to display an actual racist slogan)

Our automobile culture monstrosities are TAKING OVER THE WORLD
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 7:14 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]


mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey: "Will astroturf in the back be a factory option?"

Only if Bill Clinton is ordering it.
posted by octothorpe at 7:17 PM on July 12, 2010


This is 2 years old...
posted by azarbayejani at 7:30 PM on July 12, 2010


Ford Ranchero.
posted by ovvl at 7:32 PM on July 12, 2010


I see you used the "psyche" tag, indicating that this either has something to do with psychology, or you're making a stunt post.
posted by hellojed at 7:37 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]


I was a little confused until I saw the article was dated 2008, before Pontiac ceased to exist.
posted by mrbill at 7:48 PM on July 12, 2010


I've always wanted an El Camino. This, not so much.
posted by unSane at 7:57 PM on July 12, 2010


Flagging this. This thread needs to go the way of Pontiac.
posted by schmod at 8:00 PM on July 12, 2010


It's much better looking than any of those oriental cube cars.
posted by rfs at 8:13 PM on July 12, 2010


Now if they could introduce the Sandman to the US I feel we could settle the score for years of shite TV.
posted by 6 short of a carton at 8:15 PM on July 12, 2010


I am proud to say that my first car was a 1970 Chevrolet El Camino, grey with black accents (like the Chevelle of that year), powered by a 350ci small-block V8 outfitted with Edelbrock Performance cylinder heads and four-barrel carburetor, custom headers, mated to a 700R4 four-speed automatic transmission and breathing out of a loud-as-hell Flowmaster exhaust. It got about 9 MPG, roared like you threw the T-Rex from Jurassic Park in a blender with a bag full of wrenches, and went and steered like the muscle car it was. The steering was...acceptable, as it had modern suspension bits put in on all four corners so it could negotiate corners and had a great ride, but it was still a land yacht and it didn't so much need a parking space as it needed a dry dock.

Still, it had charm and character to burn along with the copious amount of hydrocarbons it consumed. The slight feathering of the throttle needed to prime the engine to start, the dirty looks it gathered from the elderly and the self-declared Protectors of the Environment (I actually had someone leave a note on it once telling me that I was a bad person for driving it, I kept it in the glove compartment), and especially the throttle pedal stop for the second set of butterflies. About halfway down the pedal travel there was a sticking point before it opened the second set of butterfly valves for the carburetor, a kind of "Are you sure you want to do this, because past here things get loud" warning stop. Pass that, particularly when you move to pass on the freeway or leave a stop light, and there's a pause as the whole car seemed to gather itself together before the transmission kicked down a gear and the exhaust note went from the classic V8 burble to the out-and-out roar of a small block Chevrolet V8 let off the chain to burn hydrocarbons at a ferocity only equaled by the rate that the car would reach the intended velocity.

*sigh* I miss that car. Don't miss the fuel consumption, having to practically climb out of the window in parking structures, or how the wiring loom once burst into flames while I was driving it. But blasting down PCH with Bad Religion, Queens of the Stone Age or Monster Magnet blasting over the top of a V8 engine in a Honest-To-God muscle car is a unique experience.

As for the Holden Ute/Pontiac G8 ST, I think they sold maybe a few thousand of them. The G8 itself is a sadly neglected car, it really was the last hope for Pontiac as a performance brand, since the Commodore is rather well received as the VXR8 in Europe, and is of course popular in Australia. GM probably felt comfortable killing it off in favor of the Chevrolet Camaro, which not only shares the same basic chassis, but has a lot more brand cache in the US and is on a brand that GM hadn't slowly murdered by sticking it with the unwanted castoffs from the NUMMI plant (Pontiac Vibe) and soul-deadening excuses for transportation like the Pontiac G6. Of course, they then proceeded to set it up for "comfort" rather than performance and refuse to offer it with the really exciting engines, like the supercharged 560 HP LSA from the Cadillac CTS-V, not to mention making it significantly heavier than the Ford Mustang, which now has the awesome new 5.0L 412 HP Coyote V8 and now makes the power to challenge the Chevy LS3.

The Commodore/G8, of course, had none of these problems, which is why GM management (and, in reality, Product Manager Bob Lutz), in their infinite wisdom, shuffled it off on a dying brand to move practically zero units and die off when Pontiac went under. The G8 ST/Ute suffered the same fate, but it was destined to be a niche market low-volume seller from the beginning. Still, like so many things from the pre-crash GM, the only thing that the situation had in excess was wasted potential. Maybe if they had sold it with roo bars as a dealer-installed option, like in Australia.
posted by Punkey at 8:16 PM on July 12, 2010 [2 favorites]


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