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Selling it was a big mistake. The 1969 Pontiac GTO was Ben Fantin's first car: He delivered newspapers and wiped tables until he could plunk down $2,200 for a muscle car that instantly rendered him cool. On fat tires and mag wheels, he cruised through the 1970s making pit stops at burger joints and racing down Windsor's empty streets.

He sold the car when he got married but regretted the sale almost immediately. Decades later he bought the exact same model, even though he clocked a 33-year career at Ford. With its wooden steering wheel and rebuilt engine, the GTO sits in his garage like a shiny red present to be opened each spring, when he roars through town like he did at 21.

"Back then they were works of art," Mr. Fantin says. "They weren't the cookie-cutter type they are now."

But now even Pontiac's cookie-cutter days are gone.

This week marked Pontiac's demise: General Motors announced that it would eliminate the marquee brand, a phase-out to be completed by the end of next year, drawing to a close more than 80 years of storied history.

The news elicited groans from Pon-Pon fans young and old, who said they couldn't care less about whether resale value goes up or down. The end of Pontiac signals the end of part of their identity.

"My parents were GM people. My grandfather was a GM person. I grew up with Firebirds in the household," says Kristine Cayer, the 24-year-old president of the Ontario Pontiac Club. "I just believe in the brand."

The first Pontiac was sold in 1926, and the brand was immortalized in 1964 with the creation of the Pontiac GTO (short for Gran Turismo Omologato) one of the world's first muscle cars. The Firebird and Firebird Trans Am soon followed, and popular culture was quick to catch on. Ronny & the Daytonas enshrined the car in a hit song called GTO. The Monkees drove a red GTO convertible. Burt Reynolds make the Trans Ams an icon in Smokey and the Bandit.

"The first time I noticed a GTO was a red Monkeemobile," says John Bertino, a New Jersey contractor whose first car - which he still drives today - was a black GTO with black interior. "We used to go out with friends to drive-ins. It was my daily transport. It was a cool, classy car to drive."

The thing about Pontiacs, Mr. Bertino says, is that they were solid but not too expensive. They attracted guys who weren't afraid to get grease on their sleeves.

That much hasn't changed, he says. These days, fans of Pontiac classic cars are guys like himself, who developed their love of the brand in the 1970s. They meet almost weekly at car shows or car club events, shooting the breeze, going for drives, looking for parts.

"It's a nice group of people," he says. "I tell you what - Corvette people are a little bit snooty."

Mr. Bertino's father, John Sr., sees the type often at his car shop, Black Tie Classics, where he has rebuilt cars "bumper to bumper" for 50 years. He estimates he's sold 1,000 GTOs.

"People come in and say, 'I'm looking for a '66 GTO in hardtop in blue.' Or they want the black with a red interior. Because that's what they had years ago. I don't want to say they're reliving their childhood, but that's their fantasy car."

News that the brand is no more is "a real heartbreaker," he says.

GM has said it wanted to keep Pontiac as a niche brand with one or two models, but the company was facing intense government pressure to restructure. Efforts in recent years to revive Pontiac as a performance-oriented brand failed to work.

Younger Pontiac fans such as Ms. Cayer argue the company could have done more to build brand loyalty in younger generations. Even though some of her friends think she's a "crazy" throwback, she competes at car shows through the Ontario Pontiac Club, which she founded several years ago and now boasts 550 members young and old, she says. The fact is Pontiacs remain affordable, she says, and they can look sporty and are easy to modify.

Brian Gresko, a 32-year-old teacher from Richmond, B.C., ordered his Pontiac Solstice GXP as soon as it hit the market in 2006. He's not worried about resale value, he says: True Pontiac aficionados don't buy to make money, anyway.

"I buy a car because I enjoy driving it," Mr. Gresko says in an e-mail. "It's not an appliance like a toaster. If I wanted an appliance car I would have bought a flavourless Toyota."

Ms. Cayer plans to take her 2006 Sunfire, which she's customized, off the road soon and preserve it. Who knows? Maybe one day it will be a collectors' item.

Mr. Fantin, on the other hand, has his GTO on the market. His heart's not in it, but his wife wants her garage parking spot back. And she prefers their quieter, flashier 1994 Corvette.

He's had numerous calls, mostly with lowball counteroffers on his $35,000 asking price. He's in no rush. Come Victoria Day, he says, he'll be in the driver's seat.

An ode to Pontiac, posted by a fan online

The red arrowhead will never rest. A spirit like a Firebird flying in all its glory. Like a Solstice leaving only a glim of light.

The adrenaline like the checkered flag of a Grand Prix.

Dear to some like sweet Catalina. GTO, Trans Am, Fiero.80 years of performance, passion, the BMW M5 for me and you.

Pontiac, I bid you, ado.

RIP Pontiac.

The spirit will live on forever!

- Pontiac guy for Life.

 

GTO, by Ronny & the Daytonas

Little GTO, you're really lookin' fine

Three deuces and a four-speed and a 389

Listen to her tachin' up now, listen to her why-ee-eye-ine

C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO

You oughta see her on a road course or a quarter mile

This little modified Pon-Pon has got plenty of style

She beats the gassers and the rail jobs, really drives 'em why-ee-eye-ild

C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO

Associated Press