Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #390326 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 348 pages

High Performance Pontiac - February 1999
Within the pages of Glory Days is an extraordinary account of an individual at the executive level who helped reshape the American automobile of the late '50s, '60s, and '70s as well as a look into GM's top management - its successes and failures . . . interesting reading for any automotive enthusiast."

The Shreveport Times, 11-29-98
If you read stories in The [Shreveport] Times, USA Today, or many national publications about GM, periodically you're gong to run into Wangers' name and quotes. The reason is simple: He is one of the most respected automotive marketing professionals in the country. If you are looking for a good read or . . . interested in either marketing or the automotive industry, this just might be your gift.

Northwest Motor Magazine, January 1999
This book has received the prestigious MOTO award presented by the International Automotive Media conference for the Automotive Book of the Year (1998). Perhaps never was a copywriter more born to write about the topic he ended up with than Wangers . . . This book is filled with fascinating portraits of a variety of personalities [and] fascinating trivia . . . It is filled with the wisdom of someone who knows the game better than most.

Customer Reviews

A Man and Car Culture
A fascinating read. I could not put this book down. A well-written insider perspective on the automobile industry and American car culture. In a nutshell, Mr. Wangers is a car marketing maven. The question is, did car culture influence Mr. Wangers or did Mr. Wangers influence car culture? Did Mr. Wangers influence mass American culture? This book "asks" many questions and raises interesting points. What are the constraints in designing, marketing and engineering an automobile? What role should the govenment take? On the one hand, Mr. Wangers is lightly critical of the federal government regarding emissions and safety issues. On the other hand, he views govt. regulation as a challenge that fosters creativity and engineering prowess. Certainly, the government saved the car industry by forcing it to develop emissions and safety devices. This is a well rounded book for the Sociologist, the historian, and anybody who might enjoy a great read on the automibile industry. Nicely illustrated. There was one glaring omission: Did Wangers maintain his relationship with John DeLorean during his Cocaine distribution trial?

good nastalgic info and pictures
I am a big pontiac fan, i own a 1966 GTO conv. with a 455, turbo 400, 4.56 gears, runs mid elevens and i drive it on the street. my wife has a 1976 formula 400 also. so i am big on performance and nastalgia also. the book was good dont get me wrong, butnot what i thought it would be! jim wangers is a pontiac and GTO legend to us poncho guys,i thought the entire book would be about pontiacs and their great performance of the sixties, instead i read a lot of negitive things about ponchos.even the pictures like the one of the swiss cheese catalina racing the ford, he said he lost that race, come on jim, your not supposed to say that, let us guys have a little glory please! and telling of losing street races. and half the book was about jim with jobs with chevy,ford and keiser. sorry jim i didnt buy this book to read about 1977 mustang cobra twos or advertising about pacer wagons! give me a break! you really dropped the ball on this one! maybe some day another old pontiac racer will come out with a book and talk about some good times and real performance of pontiacs!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting perspective but not the definitive on super duty
Mr Wanger's book is an interesting historical perspective on the development of the muscle car era at the Pontiac division. It seems to be a very complete history of the development of the GTO with details that can only be known by a industy insider.My only critisim is that that while he alludes to the real bad boy Super Duties in several places he never really spells out what they were "bad to the bone dual quad, 12to1 compression ratio 421's" These were truly Pontiac's finest hour. He also does not do justice to the great Malcom MacKeller whos genious was reponsible for the development of a whole series of camshafts used at Pontiac includ- ing the Super Duties. Wangers remembers lots of racing in the book and the cheating that often took place;he does not recount the night that after bragging that he had the fastest" GTO on Woodward " he ran a race against a 1962 white Catalina with a real 421 Super Duty not a consumer version with three two's. The outcome of that encounter very well could be be deeply reperessed as the Catalina led him by a football field at a 110 mph. This encounter happened in 1967 and it might be called Wolf in Sheep's Clothing or The Night Encouner with Super Duty #3 vin#16373. All in all I would recommend this book to anyone in Pontiac history but its not the last word on on the subject.