Photo: jlord8/Instagram
In 1983, Chrysler introduced the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager and started the minivan craze. GM responded in 1985 with the Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari, but it didn't launch a proper minivan until the Chevrolet Lumina APV arrived in 1989. The Chevy was quickly joined by the Pontiac Trans Sport and Oldsmobile Silhouette.
The Trans Sport was Pontiac's first-ever van and a rather strange marketing choice for the brand that was still portrayed as GM's performance division. But the minivan proved popular and remained in production until 2005. From 1999, it was renamed Montana after a high-selling trim level that Pontiac added to the Trans Sport lineup in 1997.
But what if Pontiac had introduced the Montana as a badge-engineered twin for the Chevrolet Astro in the 1980s? Well, rendering wiz "jlord8" just slapped a Pontiac face on the second-generation Astro, creating a van that General Motors never offered.
The rendering is pretty simple, with the front grille modified to adopt a V-shaped center shield with the "Pontiac" badge. But there are a couple of details setting the Montana apart from the Astro and the Safari.
There's a GTO Judge-style stripe running across the side, while the wheels are modernized versions of the muscle car's iconic honeycomb rollers. The van also seems to sit lower than a Chevy Astro, so it's mostly a sportier take on the popular hauler.
Is this a van that would have made sense in GM's lineup? Well, I would say yes. With Chevrolet making the bread-and-butter Astro and with GMC providing the slightly more upscale Safari, a Pontiac van would have been a cool sporty addition to the lineup. One that would provide performance-oriented visuals to people looking for something different.
But that never happened so this rendering is all you get. The Astro was discontinued in 2005, while the Montana remained in production as a minivan until 2004 and as an SUV until 2006.
But what if Pontiac had introduced the Montana as a badge-engineered twin for the Chevrolet Astro in the 1980s? Well, rendering wiz "jlord8" just slapped a Pontiac face on the second-generation Astro, creating a van that General Motors never offered.
The rendering is pretty simple, with the front grille modified to adopt a V-shaped center shield with the "Pontiac" badge. But there are a couple of details setting the Montana apart from the Astro and the Safari.
There's a GTO Judge-style stripe running across the side, while the wheels are modernized versions of the muscle car's iconic honeycomb rollers. The van also seems to sit lower than a Chevy Astro, so it's mostly a sportier take on the popular hauler.
Is this a van that would have made sense in GM's lineup? Well, I would say yes. With Chevrolet making the bread-and-butter Astro and with GMC providing the slightly more upscale Safari, a Pontiac van would have been a cool sporty addition to the lineup. One that would provide performance-oriented visuals to people looking for something different.
But that never happened so this rendering is all you get. The Astro was discontinued in 2005, while the Montana remained in production as a minivan until 2004 and as an SUV until 2006.
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