posted
The following essay was written by our own BFBA Treasurer/Secretary, Patrick Ray. It was originally posted on Camaroz28.com where it was spotted by one of the editors of GM High-Tech Performance magazine. He was asked by GMHTP if they could publish his work in their magazine and he agreed. You can read his article in the September 2001 issue on page 24. I walked into Books-A-Million Friday afternoon to grab up the newest copy of GMHTP (March 2001). I was almost disappointed when I picked up the cover and saw “Game Over”. “Game Over? What’s that suppose to mean?” I asked myself. Who is GMHTP to say when it’s Game Over? As I began to flip through article after article of negative fact, not negative opinion, it began to hit me exactly how close we actually are to seeing the demise of the F-Body.
I finally found myself on page 38 glaring at a 2-page spread entitled, “By The Numbers” . Comparing the F-body and Mustang year after year, I realized just how low the sales numbers actually were in the scheme of things. I read F-Body owner after F-Body owner disappointed at the soon coming doomsday, I read Mustang driver after Mustang driver feeling the same way. I thought to myself, "At least the death of a car designed for the enthusiast, has not been forgotten by the enthusiast".
The article after ”By The Numbers” is entitled, ”Alternative Boost” . The article that falls directly after the talks of the demise of the F-Body is one that slaps onto a 1996 SS, a complete Turbo Technology kit. GMHTP continued to comment on how much development was required to make a Turbo kit work underneath the hood of a tight LT1 engine bay. They talked of how complete the kit is, everything you could possibly need found itself into a package deal. So there is was, the Turbonetics 60-1 Turbo, the F-Body's perfect compliment. It began to occur to me that while the car might die, the aftermarket will not. Following in the footsteps of Ford’s 5.0 Mustang and Buick’s Grand National, the F-Body will inevitably join the ranks of the go cheap, go fast Hot Rod.
I sat there for over an hour meticulously reading every square inch of the current Bi-Monthly issue of GMHTP. After a while, I picked up the Magazine, honestly feeling quite down on myself, and went to pay. The sun had since gone down, and the rain started to pour as I hit the remote unlock, then opened the door and slid into the cockpit of the Trans Am. I sat there for a second and gripped my Hot Wheels steering wheel cover, just thinking about nothing. As she had every time for the past 80,000 miles, Christina fired up strong on the first crank. We hit the main road and Christina began to drive, as I began to think about what it was to sit behind the steering wheel taking in all that the Pontiac Experience has to offer. I came to the conclusion that there are two ways to look at the death of the F-Body, the wrong way, and the real way.
The F-Body was not designed to appeal to 16-year-old squealing teenage girls who want a cute little car. The F-Body was not designed to haul home your brand new lawnmower from Home Depot. The F-Body was not designed to be as comfortable as a Camry, no; it was not designed like a Mustang. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Mustang. The Mustang owns a heritage that is like no other. It has a backing of its on enthusiasts, and it represents a common bond in more ways than just “RWD V8”. Setting that aside, the Mustang was not designed with performance 100% in mind. Does it perform? Yes, very well at that, but the main goal of the Mustang the past decade has been, “how many can we sell?” IMO, design has been compromised over function. Ford has done something right for business though, they’ve figured out how to appeal to the masses. They accomplished their goal. The way I see it, they accomplished their goal almost as well as GM accomplished theirs. GM’s goal was to build an enthusiasts car, a man’s man performance machine, and they have done so. GM has moved leaps and bounds past the Mustang project the past decade, leaving not only Ford, but everyone else in the dust. The Pontiac Experience is one that’s raw in nature. It’s a love it or hate it relationship, there is no in between. Cruising through downtown Auburn in the pouring rain, on a Friday night I remembered one of life’s little lessons, “Life is 10% what happens, and 90% how you react to it.” I realized that the low sales the past 2 years (76,000 total units, each year of ’99 and ’00, Camaro, Firebird, V6, V8,) mean that GM is doing its job. It’s appealing to the enthusiast. It takes a certain kind of driver to sit behind the wheel of an F-Body. We do not care about power seats, or lighted vanity mirrors. We feel comfortable in mile long dashes and hoods that sink below the windshield, in bulgy curves that fall along the body lines of the beloved beasts that we bond with on a daily basis. Complaints of visibility and function are all opinions of people who shouldn’t have ever attempted to set a foot inside the Pontiac Experience.
The Pontiac Experience is one that is reserved for an exclusive club of elitists. We have no room for giggly 16-year-old teenage girls and people who complain about the very essence that is the Pontiac Experience. Sinking into the leather seats, riding low, kissing every curve as I shifted gears, I realized the perfection of the enthusiast who slides behind the driver’s wheel as every control finds itself in perfect placement. The Pontiac Experience loves long doors and low seats; it craves a long dash that conceals 1/3 of a massive 350 power plant underneath itself. The Pontiac Experience lives for function over form. It’s not your momma’s Camry or you daddy’s Crown Vic, its raw and aggressive in its simplest form, yet one finds himself feeling sophisticated with the best of them behind the wheel. That’s what the Pontiac Experience is about. It’s reserved for the few who are worthy of it, and the few that can truly appreciate it for all that its worth. We should be thanking GM for what they have done for us. GM has spent the past decade pouring manpower and money into developing a car for the enthusiast. They have extensively labored to bring us a car, that if different in anyway, would no longer be reserved exclusively for the minority. How often do we see such a large effort to satisfy the requirements of such a small group of people?
No, I don’t believe that the F-Body is dead. The F-Body will never die because there are enthusiasts like us who will hold on to everything that the F-Body stands for. Weather or not the F-Body returns in 2005 is irrelevant. It’s unambiguous that we will keep the F-Body alive. GM may choose to no longer make them, but we are the ones who will ultimately decide to destroy them, or embrace the heritage. Its not open to debate, we are not being placed under fire; we alone keep the Pontiac Experience alive.
As mentioned in this month’s issue of GMHTP, as the last units are sold, the last of the machinery is disassembled, and the last of the warranties run out, the aftermarket will explode. The LS series of motors have been the greatest power plants to come out of GM in its history, and they aren’t dead yet. All I have to say about it is, “Watch out Mustang guys. We aren’t whipped and we aren’t even close to being finished yet. In fact, we’re just getting warmed up. So Get in, Sit Down, Shut Up, and Hold On. Mustang and Import enthusiasts alike, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
-------------------- '01 SS #1618 Pewter Vert M6 My Conveyance BFBA Posts: 465 | From: B'ham, AL | Registered: Sep 2000
| IP: Logged
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
