Long-time Detroit public relations and marketing guru Jim Wangers passed in his sleep on April 27th, at the age of 96.
Jim Wangers left his mark on the automotive world with campaigns for Kaiser-Frazer, Pontiac, Chevrolet, AMC, and DeLorean before becoming owner of his own Chevrolet dealership.
Jim Wangers’ career took off in the early 1950s, when he proved to the auto-buying public the supercharged Kaiser flathead six was just as powerful as a typical V8. Wangers soon became a GM man, creating the advertising campaign “The Hot One” for Chevy, buttressed by 1955 NASCAR privateer wins in Chevrolets.
In 1958, while working for ad agency McManus, John, and Adams, Jim Wangers began to focus on the firm’s Pontiac account. It was at this time Wangers began benchmarking performance cars. He also helped get the Detroit Dragway under way, and convinced the National Hot Rod Association to hold their NHRA Nationals there. Wangers raced a 1960 Pontiac Catalina in NHRA Top Stock Eliminator class, snagging Pontiac a National drag racing title at the 1960 NHRA Nationals in Detroit, MI. That win would spur Wangers to push for more performance from other Pontiac models such as the Trans Am and GTO.
Jim Wangers convinced Pontiac to start offering Hurst shifters as an option in 1961. After John Z DeLorean, Russ Gee, and Bill Collins convinced Pontiac president Pete Estes to build the Pontiac Tempest GTO, Jim Wangers handled the new car’s promotion. Wangers had Car and Driver magazine do a comparison test of the Ferrari 250 GTO and the new Pontiac GTO. The new GTO stood up against the Ferrari better than expected, in no small part due to the hot 421 cubic-inch engine under the Pontiac’s hood that was quite a bit more powerful than the stock 389. The March 1964 issue of Car and Driver that carried the cover line, “Tempest GTO: 0-to-100 mph in 11.8 sec” may have helped sales, as well.
It was Jim Wangers’ idea to have a GTO giveaway in conjunction with Thom McAn shoe stores in 1966. The contest gave away 50 new Pontiac GTOs, one for every state. All 50 cars were to be finished in Tiger Gold with black vinyl tops, with the choice of either a four-barrel carb or Tri-Power (three two-barrels), with an automatic or four-speed transmission, and to be equipped with either a black or pearl white interior, Rally wheels, power brakes, power steering, and an AM radio. By the time the contest had come to an end, the model year was over. Contest winners were given vouchers for the value of the car to be applied to any new 1967 Pontiac.
A television show about a rock & roll band called The Monkees debuted in 1966. The show’s producers wanted a car for the band, and contacted Dean Jeffries of Model Products Corporation to assist with the design and build. Jeffries told then MPC CEO George Toteff about the project. Toteff was friends with Jim Wangers. Wangers convinced Toteff and Jeffries to use Pontiac GTOs for the Monkeemobile. Pontiac provided MPC with a pair of 1966 GTOs, with the understanding that MPC would have exclusive marketing rights to Monkeemobile model kits. MPC sold more than seven million Monkeemobile models.
Jim Wangers would go on to work on a variety of other automotive endeavors including the Pontiac GTO Judge, Trans Am, AMC Rebel, and DeLorean DMC-12, before leaving advertising to run a Chevrolet dealership of his own.
Comments
Have seen him several times over the years being interviewed. Hell of a a car guy and hell of a marketing genious. Godspeed. They don’t make them like him anymore.
My grandfather’s house was behind Pete Estes’s. We would go to his house for holidays and walk over to see what cars were at the Estes’s. There was a ruby red Grand Prix with a louvered hood and “supercharged” in chrome letters. But Pete’s son drove a light blue Tempest with 421 emblems. I wonder if that is the car mentioned in the story.
Those were the days! Cool story!
GTO was amazing back in the ’60s. If I had a spare trillion dollars sitting around I’d start a company building modern day versions of ’60s classic cars.
In the glorious heyday of General Motors. A golden era that will never be duplicated. When automobiles, steel and equipment were the greatest portion of the gross national product. Now health care is the greatest portion of the gross national product. America has sadly weakened.
It was also the glorious heyday of labor unions. The demise of both (U.S. manufacturing jobs and unions) run parallel to one another. I remember reading an article in a news magazine in, I think, 1976 about GM building a plant in Mexico to build the Nova. “That’s not gonna be good,” I thought to myself….
Peak sales year for the GTO was 1966, 96,946 units sold. Wangers helped make Pontiac very profitable.
Great Article, but the NHRA has held the official “Nationals” in Indianapolis from Day One of that event. However, there are regional “National” events at locations around the US
Working for GM (1966-2004) and building Firebirds and Ventura’s at the Van Nuys, Los Angeles Assembly Plant AND an avid Pontiac owner and restorer, I met Jim Wangers many times, at various car shows and yes even a a few drag strips that were located in Southern California at the time. Mr. Wangers was always known in GM circles as “Gentleman Jim”, one of kindest and knowledgeable man you’d ever care to meet. “Big Jim” (he was a always a fair sized man and very respected) also was instrumental in the restoration and “go to man” in the restoration of 1964 GTO…which eventually won many awards and thanks to “Big Jim” was absolutely factory correct along with many stories about how the GTO came to be, from Jim Wangers perspective. Jim Wangers also had a great sense of humor, one day while at a POCI meet in Ventura Harbor where Jim would end up being “The Star of The Show” with so many wonderful Pontiac owners there waiting to talk to him, Mr. Wangers saw my completed ’64 GTO being parked and came over to see me, leaving his table full of folks waiting for an autographed copy of his book he was promoting at the time, just to say “Howdy” and to do a walk around my completed newly restored GTO. He was checking things out when he was asked to pose for a picture in front of my ’64 GTO and so he asked me to join him in the photo secession while leaning up against the front end (grill) of my car, he said out loud enough for all to hear “I wonder if my @ss prints on your car will be worth money someday”! The crowd got a laugh out of this and for the rest of the car show day, Jim Wangers was asked to come over to various Pontiacs of all ages staged at the show and to “kindly put his @ss prints on their show cars” and of course he obliged being the cool guy he was, so along with pictures to be taken that day “Jim” got a kick out of being such a celebrity and be truly deserved it, a wonderful human being indeed.
I’ll always remember Jim Wangers as a truly warm and friendly AND very dedicated man to the auto industry, not just Pontiac’s but to other makes also (although his heart belongs to Pontiacs) through out the years. The GTO today would not be the car it is known to be today without “Big Jim Wangers” amazing touch to it’s incredible legend over the years.
Rest in Peace “Jim”…you’ll always be a part of my life over the years knowing you and calling you my friend. God Bless.
PS…I can’t believe no one had a picture to share with everyone in this article, a true mistake, as Jim was widely known and enjoyed his popularity as a “Pontiac Celebrity” for as long as I can remember. Too bad, “Big Jim” would have loved it.
Thanks! A wonderful story to pass along. GM desperately needs a Jim Wanger at its head today.
Mary Barra was featured on a CNBC segment this week to discuss GM’s future direction. Totally focused on AV, EV….BS. No mention of styling, performance, or the driving experience. These things still matter alot to many of us.
Wayne: The future is generic. High density mid rise apartment housing, electric cars and electric people mover busses, digital currency, online ordering of food, beverages, tangible goods and delivery by electric vehicles and drones. You should see the insane high density mid rise apartment complexes going up in Salt Lake City and the valley. Interstate 15 will be an all electric GPS controlled roadway in 50 years. Drone delivery of food, beverages and tangible goods to the high density apartment units. Wonder if the government will mandate velcro jackets?
So sad they let Pontiac die.
The truth is Pontiac died years ago. John Delorean and his engineers are who built Pontiac and who understood Pontiac. GM never knew what to do with it and Chevy hated Pontiac.
Once they killed the Pontiac V8 and the Pontiac only Fiero Pontiac was just a design exercise. The last of John’s engineers retired after the Fiero.
As for Jim. I knew him and knew the people who had to work with him. He was a decent guy to meet but he was a salesman. He not only sold Pontiac but he sold himself.
Jim had a bit of a shady side to him. While he no doubt did much for Pontiac he also took credit for many things he did not do. He could embellish his role well and
Really tick off those who really did the work.
There was a gap in later years of people from the prime time of Pontiac being around. This opened the door for Jim to take a bigger stake in what really happed.
It was bad enough I have heard engineer unload some real personal dirt. Yes it was that bad with some.
As for Jim he at least did meet with the public. To me he was a bit like George Barris and was a good promoter but just stepped over the line on taking a bit too much credit of others work.
FYI most of the great cars Pontiac did all came from Delorean and his engineers like Collins, Adams and others. They often broke rules and found success.
I often wonder where GM would be today had they not stopped John and his engineers and let them do the things they tried to do in the 60’s like DOHC, FI, Supercharging, Radial tires, 4 wheel disc brakes, aluminum frames, composite headlight and more.
These later cars were nothing but corporate platforms and the only changed the styling to tell them apart.
I have owned many Pontiacs and driven some of the greatest built and none were from the last 20 years of Pontiac. Even the GTO and G8 were just Chevy powered Holdens.
Sounds like Jim Wangers was Pontiac’s version of Carroll Shelby. Bob Lutz said the more he knew Shelby the less he trusted him. Anyhow, Jim served his role in the company. He’s probably at heaven’s gate talking Pontiacs with St. Peter.
C8.R. Great comment.
Should be enshrined in the Library of Automotive History, where ever that might be.
Maybe Barrett-Jackson and Mecum can JV and create one with part of their earnings.
Even the Beach Boys did a song about a GTO. I had a neighbor across the street when I was young, that had a white 1968 GTO with red interior, 4-speed and mag wheels. In those days it was a babe magnet!
That was Ronnie and the Daytonas…
Jan & Dean , the Beach Boys and Ronnie & the Daytonas all did Little GTO. Go to youtube
The song was called “Little GTO but was done by “Ronny Any the Daytonas” NOT the Beach Boys.
Yeah, I never could separate who did which “beach” music in the ’60’s, as there were several good bands.
Yeah, there was a guitarist named Dale Somethingorother who pretty much set the bar for surf tunes.
I recall the good old days when the market, not the government decided on what would be the car to buy. GM was once exciting and appealed to American youth in great numbers. Now the woke gm appeals to few. The GTO was an example of the great United States Industrial strength. Today’s gm is a picture of broke. We miss our country greatly. The sun is setting on a once great nation and being told what we’ll buy by big brother is the cancer that is killing the host.
Max: AMEN to your comment. BTW: Vent stack and sanitary sewer gas is 10X’s more polluting than natural gas stoves, furnaces, water heaters and IC vehicle engines.
How dismal your existence must be! I, on the other hand, think life here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. is pretty, pretty, pretty good. There are a bunch of folk who recently began figuring out they’ve been misled by an orange demagogue, and now they’re really, really mad at having been taken for such suckers, but we’ll all get over it. Eventually.
And there’s even more folks figuring out that they been misled by an ignorant and incompetent invalid with the nickname “Brandon” and we may never get over the mess he is making.
Max, please understand that “WOKE” stands for “World Of Knowledgeable Education”.
LSD was popular in the 1960’s too. I think you meant “World of Delusion and Fantasy”.
Thanks for clarifying. I thought “woke” meant Witless Obtuse Knuckleheaded Edicts.
You really Missed something Special if you did not get to hear Jim Wangers sing Little GTO In person. He sang it to all the crowd at his Birthday Party in Portland, Oregon at the GTOAA Convention hosted by The Goat Herder’s GTO Club of Oregon and again in Bellevue, Washington for the GTOAA Convention hosted by The Northwest GTO Legends Club. These were for his 80th and 90th Birthday celebrations. So honored to meet him at both.
American’s sure do miss the country our WW2 vets gave us.
Pontiac Motor Division RIP. A huge cash cow for GM when it was managed right. Goodwill and trade name priceless. No wonder the Asian automakers ate Detroit’s lunch.
Congressional sellouts and greed are why Imports got a foothold in the US Market. WTO killed the USA. It is all written in the history books and one would be blind if they cannot see what happened to a once great nation. America was brought to it’s knee’s one job at a time. Corporate greed at the expense of every sovereign nation on the planet.
Cr.8
You sure seemed to badmouth Jim a lot.
How about “manning” up and tell us your real name.
I drove several of Jim’s street cars and most of the engineers said that GM could not give an outsider (Jim) public credit for what he really offered..
When John Z went to Chevrolet he begged Jim to follow him. When Jim explained why he couldn’t, John made sure Jim was given a Chevy dealership in Milwaukee near his home town of Chicago.
Sounds to me like John Z. Knew what JW really contributed.
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