Pontiac Assembly was one of four General Motors assembly plants in Pontiac, Michigan located along Baldwin Avenue. It served as the home factory for GM's Pontiac Motor Division since it was built in 1927. It was across the street from the currently operational Pontiac Metal Center, which was the original location for the Oakland Motor Car Company, which Pontiac evolved out of.

History

The location that Oakland inhabited was the original site of Cartercar when GM bought the company in 1909 by William Durant. The plant ceased production of full-size Pontiacs after the 1980 model year, and was idled on August 6, 1982. Pontiac Assembly used VIN P and from 1965 until 1969 Buick vehicles at the nearby Pontiac Central Assembly VIN V factory. During World War Two, civilian automobile production was changed over to wartime support, with the last passenger car assembled in 1942. The factory produced mostly field guns like the Bofors 40mm mobile field gun for the Army, the

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models em ...

used on naval vessels, along with other items. At nearby

Pontiac West Assembly Pontiac West Assembly (also known as GMC Truck & Coach, GM Truck Validation Center and Pontiac Centerpoint Campus Validation Center) was a General Motors manufacturing facility located in Pontiac, Michigan. The manufacturing complex occupied an ir ...

, the GMC transit bus was built for wartime civilian use. The factory earned six Navy "E" flags and two Army-Navy pennants in recognition of its manufacturing efforts. Another production line was opened in 1983 to build the Fiero at Fisher Body plant #17. The old production line was reopened January 14, 1985 to build the GM "G" body

Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme The Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme is a mid-size car produced by Oldsmobile between 1966 and 1997. It was positioned as a premium offering at the top of the Cutlass range. It began as a trim package, developed its own roofline, and rose during the mi ...

and

Buick Regal The Buick Regal is a line of mid-size cars marketed by Buick since 1973. For nearly its entire production, the Regal has served as the premium mid-size/intermediate offering of the Buick product range. Introduced as a submodel of the Buick Centu ...

, as the

Lansing Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, makin ...

and

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

plants which built them had been converted to new front-wheel-drive car lines.

Chevrolet Monte Carlo The Chevrolet Monte Carlo is a two-door coupe that was manufactured and marketed by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. Deriving its name from the city in Monaco, the Monte Carlo was marketed as the first personal luxury car of the Chevr ...

production was added for 1987, and

Pontiac Grand Prix The Grand Prix is a line of automobiles produced by the Pontiac Division of General Motors from 1962 until 2002 for coupes and 1989–2008 for sedans. First introduced as a full-size performance coupe for the 1962 model year, the model varie ...

production returned in October 1987. Production ended when a

Buick Grand National The Buick Regal is a line of mid-size cars marketed by Buick since 1973. For nearly its entire production, the Regal has served as the premium mid-size/intermediate offering of the Buick product range. Introduced as a submodel of the Buick Centu ...

was completed on December 11, 1987. Fiero production ended on August 16, 1988, and the plant was permanently closed. Manufacturing operations were transferred to

Orion Assembly Orion Assembly is a General Motors vehicle assembly plant located in Orion Township, Michigan. The plant currently assembles the Chevrolet Bolt and Cruise AV. As of September 2019, the plant has approximately 1,032 salaried and hourly employee ...

Orion Township, Michigan Orion Charter Township ( ) is a charter township of Oakland County, Michigan, United States. The population was 39,816 as on July 1, 2019. The official motto of the township and village is "Where living is a vacation". "Lake Orion" is often used ...

. Engine block and cylinder heads were cast at

Saginaw Metal Casting Operations Saginaw Metal Casting Operations is an automobile engine foundry plant in Saginaw, Michigan. Opened under GM management in 1919, the factory produces engine blocks and cylinder heads for General Motors vehicles. The factory currently occupies 1.9 ...

, internal engine components were created at Bay City Powertrain and the engines were then assembled at

Tonawanda Engine Tonawanda Engine is a General Motors engine factory in Buffalo, New York. The plant consists of three facilities totaling and sits upon . The factory receives cast engine blocks from Defiance Foundry in Defiance, Ohio and Saginaw Metal Casting Op ...

and Romulus Engine.

Vehicles built

Oakland

Oakland Four The Oakland Model A was the first four-cylinder engine offered by the Oakland Motor Company in 1907 which became a division of General Motors in 1909. The Model A was developed and manufactured from former Oakland Motor Company sources while the ...

Oakland Six The Oakland Six was the first six-cylinder engine offered by the Oakland Motor Company in 1913 which became a division of General Motors in 1909. The Oakland Six was offered in many different model names that changed every year, along with severa ...

Pontiac

Six 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era * 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era * The month of June Science * Carbon, the element with atomic number 6 * 6 Hebe, an asteroid People ...

* 2+2 (1964–1970) * Bonneville (1957–1980) * Catalina (1959–1981) *

Chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...

(1950–1958) * Custom S (1969) * De-Lux (1937) *

Executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

(1967–1970) * Fiero (1984–1988) * Grand Am (1973–1975, 1978–1980) * Grand Prix (1962–2008) * Grand Safari (1971–1978) * Grand Ville (1971–1975) * Grande Parisienne (1966–1969, Canada) * GTO (1964–1974) * Laurentian (1955–1981, Canada) * LeMans (1962–1981) * Parisienne (1983–1986; 1958–1986, Canada) *

Pathfinder Pathfinder may refer to: Businesses * Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International * Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature Computing and information science * Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser * Pathfinder ( ...

(1955–1958, Canada) * Safari (1955–1980) * Star Chief (1954–1966) * Strato-Chief (1955–1970, Canada) * Streamliner (1941–1951) *

Super Chief The ''Super Chief'' was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The streamliner claimed to be "The Train of the Stars" because of the various celebrities it carried between Chicago, Ill ...

(1957–1958) *

Tempest Tempest is a synonym for a storm. '' The Tempest'' is a play by William Shakespeare. Tempest or The Tempest may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Films * ''The Tempest'' (1908 film), a British silent film * ''The Tempest'' (1911 film), a ...

(1961–1970) *

Torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

(1940–1948)

Aftermath

The Pontiac Metal Center currently provides material for dozens of Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac products: * Chevrolet: Sonic, Traverse, Express, Colorado, Silverado, Tahoe, Suburban and Corvette * Buick: Enclave * GMC: Acadia, Sierra, Savana, Yukon and Canyon * Cadillac: Escalade

References

General Motors factories Motor vehicle assembly plants in Michigan 1927 establishments in Michigan {{auto-factory-stub