In the depths of the automotive depression that was the 1970s, the Pontiac Trans Am towered like a giant among Lilliputians. A garishly dressed and badly coiffed giant perhaps, but a giant just the same. And the impression it made among that decade’s youth is one that, for some of them at least, hasn’t faded with time.

Photo Gallery: Run, Bandits, Run – Latest News, Reviews, and Features – Automobile Magazine

The 86th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb brought with it a large number of red flags and very few new records. The event was held on July 20, 2008 along the 12.42-mile, 156-turn course that ends at the mountain’s 14,110-foot summit.

Photo Gallery: 2008 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb – Latest News, Features, and Reviews – Automobile Magazine

More than twenty years after the death of Chevrolet‘s El Camino, General Motors is giving the U.S. market another shot at a car-based pickup. And it won’t get the El Camino badge.

Photo Gallery: 2010 Pontiac G8 Sport Truck – Latest News, Features, and Reviews – Automobile Magazine

This Pontiac G8 GT is a smoking deal. For under $30,000 you get a rear-wheel-drive sport sedan with a limited-slip differential that can blast to 60 mph in less than six seconds. The steering is quite good, and the G8 lays down smokey burnouts better than anything I’ve driven in ages. Our test car came with heated power front seats and leather, and it still cost just over $31,000.

Photo Gallery: 2008 Pontiac G8 GT – Pontiac Sport Sedan Review – Automobile Magazine

Pontiac‘s G8 sedan has been getting a lot of love from the automotive press, especially when you consider that it’s a rebadged version of a car that’s been in production since 2006. But most of the hype surrounding the Adelaide-made G8 has focused on the V-8-powered GT model. Indeed, that attention bias has been validated by the fact that three in five G8 buyers opt for the gutsier version. After all, what better way to enjoy a solid rear-wheel-drive platform than with a powerful eight-cylinder at the beck and call of your right foot?

Photo Gallery: 2009 Pontiac G8 V-6 – Pontiac Sport Sedan Review – Automobile Magazine

Even at idle, the bruising nature of this 389-cubic-inch V-8 makes itself evident and suggests that the 120-mph speedometer is overmatched, that the conservative number was part of a ruse. The only reason Pontiac‘s engineers – with John De Lorean as ringleader – got away with this GTO shenanigan at a time when corporate policy said cubic-inches-times-ten shouldn’t exceed the car’s weight, is because it wasn’t technically a new model, just an optional version of the Le Mans. Hee-hee! No corporate engineering committee approval required! There’s a way around every edict.

Photo Gallery: Pontiac GTO – Milestones in Speed – Automobile Magazine

Fifteen months ago, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner gave his engineers the green light to modify the Holden Commodore for the North American market. Fifteen minutes after I met Doug Houlihan, global vehicle chief engineer for the Pontiac G8, he told me that “the heart and soul of the G8 is its chassis.” And fifteen seconds after I climbed behind the wheel of a G8, I pitched it sideways on the skid pad, stood on the throttle, and churned out enough tire smoke to blot out the sun.

Photo Gallery: 2008 Pontiac G8 GT – The Down-Under Express – Latest News, Features, and Reviews – Automobile Magazine