After attempts to sell Opels under the Buick flag in North America during the 1960s and 1970s proved disappointing, The General turned to his associates in Japan and South Korea during the 1980s (earlier, if you count the Isuzu-built Chevrolet LUV pickup). Suzuki Cultuses were sold as Chevrolet Sprints, Isuzu Geminis were sold as Chevrolet Spectrums, and the Daewoo LeMans (itself based on the Opel Kadett E) showed up with Pontiac LeMans badges. These cars were cheap and depreciated to about the worth of a single potato rather quickly, so they’ve been very rare in wrecking yards during the last 20 or so years. I spotted this extremely rare 1990s example in a Denver self-service yard a few months ago.
By 1991, GM had long since rolled up most of its rebadged Asian-built imports into the Geo brand, at least for the United States market (in Canada, the Spectrum became the Pontiac Sunburst, the Storm became the Asüna Sunfire, the Tracker became the Pontiac or Asüna Sunrunner, and the Metro became the Pontiac Firefly), but the LeMans stayed a Pontiac during its entire 1988-1993 American sales run. In Canada, the LeMans was sold as the Passport Optima, for reasons that must have made sense at the time. This ’91 just barely squeaked past 100,000 miles before getting scrapped.
Perhaps this car isn't a treasure in the traditional automotive sense, but I think it's a historical treasure, from an era of GM self-reinvention that produced some interesting business decisions. Sure, car buyers in 1991 would have been much better off with a new Toyota Tercel or Geo Prizm, and even Pontiac's own Sunbird LE sedan had a smaller price than the LeMans that year, but someone bought this car and now we can ponder its significance.
Imported, affordable driving excitement.
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