“Gonna save all my money

and buy a GTO

…Take it out to Pomona and let ’em know

That I’m the coolest thing around …

Wo wo, wo wo wo wo wo.”

Little GTO

by Ronny and the Daytonas, 1964

They were stylish cars that drove into history on power and hormones: V8s under the hoods and a grill or hood emblem of an Indian chief’s war feathers (and later an arrow head) slicing through the wind.

The favorites were “muscle cars,” Trans Ams and GTOs made famous by Hollywood and early rock ’n’ roll. Generations of young men dreamed of owning one and steering it into the high school parking lot, pipes rumbling.

And now the storied brand, Pontiac, is dead; an era over.

Which presents an immediate dilemma for the 70 or so members of the Little Rhody Pontiac Chapter.

The dealership — which for years has hosted the car club’s monthly meetings in its coffee lounge — has informed members they’ll have to move on down the road.

“It’s been a slow, sad demise,” Dan Perron, the club’s president, said Monday after learning that General Motors would end production of all Pontiac models by next year as part of its latest restructuring plan.

“It’s like a piece of history going down the drain, because I’ve had Pontiacs my entire life,” said Perron, 51, of North Kingstown. “I guess it’s just one of those things, but it’s kind of sad.”

The elimination of Pontiac models won’t hurt the handful of local dealers now selling them since Pontiac sales make up a small percentage of their business and all own other car franchises, said Al Cerrone, who has sold Pontiacs for the past eight years and other General Motors vehicles for 33 years.

Nor should the move mean any loss of jobs, Cerrone predicted. Five years ago when GM stopped producing Oldsmobiles, dealerships remained busy servicing and selling used Oldsmobiles for several years afterwards.

And Pontiac owners will have no trouble getting service, he said, since many Pontiac parts are used in other GM cars like Chevrolet.

Still, many Pontiac owners have had life-long loyalties to Pontiac. And though the brand’s future had been in doubt for months, many greeted Monday’s news with the eagerness of running out of gas.

“It’s sad, not because I own one, but because it’s traditional,” said Bob Verdone, 67, of Burrillville, who counts among his restored cars a 1968 GTO. “Pontiac was a classic. They had style. The early ones had more chrome than Chevys.”

Ironically, Verdone predicted that Pontiac’s demise might actually help Pontiac restorers. “If anything, that makes our cars worth more. You always tell [prospective buyers] that ‘Hey, they don’t make these anymore.’ Well now, they really don’t make them anymore.”

Paul Bourbeau, 49, of Monson, Mass., is a member of the local Pontiac club, president of the Pioneer Valley GTO Association and proprietor of Bourbeau’s Restorations, which does almost exclusively Pontiac restorations and repairs.

His love of the brand stretches back almost 40 years, with memories burned into his past like skids marks.

Like that night as an 18-year-old when he set off in a drag race through his hometown of Hampden, Mass., behind the wheel of a 1967 GTO.

“I had owned it since I was 15… That night, I hit a curb and the curb sent me tumbling and I rolled down a river bank. I had to kick my way out of the car.”

Back then Bourbeau said, “That’s what a lot of us did with them” — raced.

“I think they [Pontiac] are getting a raw deal. They were the third- or fourth-best selling brand in GM. I think it will be regretted. They had their own style, like the split grill, and you hate to see something like that go away.”

Still he understands GM must do something to become more competitive — and smarter — if it is to survive.

Bourbeau now owns five restored GTOs. Why?

“Because it’s my roots, it’s where I come from. And my wife will let me.”

tmooney@projo.com