Pontiac P-1500 Sports Truck Rendering Looks Like a Firebird-Silverado Mix from the 1990s

While Pontiac was always known as the sporty division of GM, it never offered a pickup truck, not even when powerful utility vehicles like the Chevy 454 SS and Ford F-150 Lightning were becoming popular. But the idea of a Pontiac ute has been floating around for decades, and we’ve got a fresh rendering that’s so crisp you’d wish it was the real deal.

Digital artist jlord8 is known for making simple Photoshop mixes with a strong visual impact. He loves cars from the 80s and 90s, owning a 1986 Buick Regal T-type. In recent months, he’s been on a pickup streak, and the Pontiac brand naturally came up, since it’s cool, but never offered anything in this segment.

The rendering is a bright red machine with snowflake-style wheels, retro headlights, and a chin spoiler. All these elements clash with the body of what looks like a first-generation Chevy Silverado, perhaps an extended-cab model.

The way the headlights are shaped might make you think of some Firebird or Trans Am models. However, this design is actually taken directly from another car, the 5th-generation Pontiac Grand Prix. You need to look up something like a 1991 model in SE Coupe trim to get an exact match.

As a reminder, the 1987-1996 Grand Prix was a front-wheel-drive car based on the W-body platform, which it shared with the Buick Regal, Chevy Lumina, and Olds Cutlass Supreme. It was mostly equipped with V6 engines and made up to 210 horsepower. So it’s not the sportiest of Pontiacs, but the pointy nose of a Firebird from that era probably wouldn’t have worked on a pickup’s front end.

The Pontiac pickup, so close but no cigar

Yes, a Pontiac utility vehicle almost happened. The 1959 Chevrolet El Camino was based on the Impala/Brookwood and was quite popular. But not many people know this legendary vehicle had a sister in the 1960 Pontiac “EL Catalina”. It was only a prototype, which sold at auction for big money some three years ago. The front end looked like a normal Catalina sedan, but the rear was that of a ute, flanked by fancy fins.

It probably wouldn’t have been that difficult to put into mass production, but it also doesn’t strike you as a sporty pickup. For that, you need to check out the Pontiac G8 ST. It was shown in 2008 at the New York Auto Show, intended for sale. As the name suggests, this was a re-badged Australian model, the Holden Ute, which had the front end of a Commodore sedan, sold in America as the G8.

It probably would have sold even worse than the sedan. But even though Pontiac was closed down and never got to sell the G8 ST, you can buy them. A company called Left Hand Utes in Colorado imports RHD mods and converts them, using Chevy or Pontiac parts so the vehicles can be titled and registered.

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