The old folks will still have their Buicks.

For those of you who have spent the day nailed to a board in the basement may not have heard that GM is killing the Pontiac and keeping the Buick. Those of you who haven't been in a cone of silence will note with some sadness the passing of a sometimes cool automaker. I mean cars like the GTO, Firebird and the Bonneville, all classy.

Started in 1926, Pontiac didn't set anything on fire until the addition of designer John Zachary DeLorean (yes, the Back to the Future car guy) in 1959. Delorean was responsible for a number of innovative ideas including the "ropeshaft" drive shaft introduced in the 1960 Pontiac Tempest. The base engine for this car, a spunky 4 cylinder, was literally half of the current Pontiac 389 cubic inch V8. Tests proved that half the V8 ran just fine so tooling costs were cut since half the parts were already in production.

I for one will miss the Pontiac, but am slightly pleased that Buicks are still easy to spot on the highway.