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 * 06-06-22
 * 6:00 am


THE WILD 1980S PONTIAC STINGER NAILED THE FUTURE OF CAR DESIGN


IT WAS JUST A CONCEPT, AND PONTIAC IS NOW DEFUNCT. BUT THE PONTIAC STINGER’S
IDEAS LIVE ON 30 YEARS LATER.

[Photo: General Motors LLC]
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

More Like This
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By Mark Wilson3 minute Read

Back in 1989, most cars were still boxy. To be premium was to add leather and
power windows. Sedans were king, and aspired to match the suits everyone still
wore to work. For adventure, you bought a sports car like the Pontiac Trans Am,
or perhaps a Jeep Wrangler. #Vanlife was not a thing.






[Photo: General Motors LLC]And then, from an impulse buried deep in societal
consciousness, an audacious concept emerged from General Motors. It was the
Pontiac Stinger, a sport utility vehicle designed for beach adventures.
Admittedly, I’d never seen the Stinger before its promo video was unearthed by
Digg last week, and the Pontiac brand has long been defunct. But now? I’m in
love. Despite never going into production, the Stinger predicted a whole sector
of the vehicle market to come, based around exploring and experience.



The Stinger was a two-door, four-seat car that was purpose-designed for beach
goers—something like a street legal dune buggy. Carbon fiber paneling housed an
open air, calf-height hole in the doors, revealing a bit of the driver’s skin
like a bikini. You could put a window in this panel for rainy days, but
Pontiac’s designers also mocked up a narrow “travel case and refreshment cooler”
that slipped right inside the hole. That skinny cooler popped right out to set
up with your picnic. Meanwhile, windows wrapped all the way over your head into
the t-top roof, and they were removable to create a convertible feel.



[Photo: General Motors LLC]Inside, the car was completely kitted out for sports
and leisure. The interior featured a slick integrated tool kit hidden inside the
dash paneling, a dust buster (yep! Dyson wasn’t making vacuums yet!), a garden
hose (which sounds hilarious, but would be handy for rinsing off beach gear),
and a matching stove and folding picnic bench that popped out of the back like a
spare tire. Wetsuit material bucket seats weren’t afraid to get wet, even though
they featured smart, electronic memory adjustments and drawer storage
underneath. Finally, the rear seats could pop up 15 inches, allowing the people
in the back to poke their heads out. It looks quite unsafe if the vehicle were
in motion. Also, fun.







[Photo: General Motors LLC]The Stinger was bold for 1989, and perhaps even
laughable. But it also presaged the modern era of adventure vehicles we have
today—an era that’s rich with experimentation, and still seems to be in its
infancy.





[Photo: General Motors LLC]Looking at the Stinger, I see a portrait of today’s
highly considered sport utility market, which bakes all sorts of small creature
comforts into cars for people who enjoy the outdoors. Ford’s  recently
redesigned Bronco crossover features a marine package, which coats the interior
to be so waterproof that you can literally hose the inside down to clean it. And
its Maverick, a mini pickup truck, has a bed designed for flexible, hackable
storage—it can hold a bike, surfboard, or a Home Depot run with equal comfort.





[Photo: General Motors LLC]You can even see hints of the Stinger in the
Cybertruck, which Tesla plans to sell with accessories like a tent kit and an
integrated grill system that plugs into its battery to let you cook breakfast.
Or examine the eBussy, which is like an Inspector Gadget car that you can kit
out to be a camping van or a pickup truck. These vehicles aren’t just selling an
illusion of freedom; they’re literally designed around, and can be customized
for, an active lifestyle. They want to go out and get dirty with you. Meanwhile,
the options General Motors has today are more typical crossovers with bike
racks. The exception is its Hummer EV, which starts at a daunting $100,000. It
features some decent camping accessories, including wheel well storage boxes, a
similar t-top roof to the Stinger, and four wheels capable of turning 10-degrees
to “crabwalk” around a tree stump or into a tight parking spot. And yet, as a
friend summed up so well, “can you imagine wearing a plaid shirt in a Hummer
EV?” (I can’t.)







[Photo: General Motors LLC]Meanwhile, the Pontiac Stinger is an adventurous,
come-as-you are machine. It was never released, of course. But let’s not allow
that to damper our spirits about the design. Do me a favor and picture this
little machine as a four-wheel-drive EV. It gets even more storage with a
“frunk” where the combustion engine would otherwise be—which would create the
perfect spot for a big fold-out solar panel to soak up some rays.



General Motors, you could do worse than bringing the Stinger back to life. It’s
rad.





ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Wilson is a senior writer at Fast Company who has written about design,
technology, and culture for almost 15 years. His work has appeared at Gizmodo,
Kotaku, PopMech, PopSci, Esquire, American Photo and Lucky Peach

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FAST COMPANY

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Help Center
fastco works


 * AWS


 * DELOITTE


 * DEPT


 * ELEVATE PRIZE


 * EY


 * IBM


 * KLARNA


 * VISA


 * FASTCO WORKS
   
   An award-winning team of journalists, designers, and videographers who tell
   brand stories through Fast Company's distinctive lens

FC Executive Board
collections


 * FAST GOVERNMENT
   
   The future of innovation and technology in government for the greater good


 * MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES
   
   Fast Company's annual ranking of businesses that are making an outsize impact


 * MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE
   
   Leaders who are shaping the future of business in creative ways


 * WORLD CHANGING IDEAS
   
   New workplaces, new food sources, new medicine--even an entirely new economic
   system


 * INNOVATION BY DESIGN
   
   Celebrating the best ideas in business

Newsletter
Events


 * INNOVATION FESTIVAL

Courses and LearningAdvertiseCurrent Issue
Current Issue
SUBSCRIBE
Follow us:

advertisement

advertisement

 * 06-06-22
 * 6:00 am


THE WILD 1980S PONTIAC STINGER NAILED THE FUTURE OF CAR DESIGN


IT WAS JUST A CONCEPT, AND PONTIAC IS NOW DEFUNCT. BUT THE PONTIAC STINGER’S
IDEAS LIVE ON 30 YEARS LATER.

[Photo: General Motors LLC]
 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

By Mark Wilson3 minute Read

Back in 1989, most cars were still boxy. To be premium was to add leather and
power windows. Sedans were king, and aspired to match the suits everyone still
wore to work. For adventure, you bought a sports car like the Pontiac Trans Am,
or perhaps a Jeep Wrangler. #Vanlife was not a thing.

advertisement

advertisement





[Photo: General Motors LLC]And then, from an impulse buried deep in societal
consciousness, an audacious concept emerged from General Motors. It was the
Pontiac Stinger, a sport utility vehicle designed for beach adventures.
Admittedly, I’d never seen the Stinger before its promo video was unearthed by
Digg last week, and the Pontiac brand has long been defunct. But now? I’m in
love. Despite never going into production, the Stinger predicted a whole sector
of the vehicle market to come, based around exploring and experience.



The Stinger was a two-door, four-seat car that was purpose-designed for beach
goers—something like a street legal dune buggy. Carbon fiber paneling housed an
open air, calf-height hole in the doors, revealing a bit of the driver’s skin
like a bikini. You could put a window in this panel for rainy days, but
Pontiac’s designers also mocked up a narrow “travel case and refreshment cooler”
that slipped right inside the hole. That skinny cooler popped right out to set
up with your picnic. Meanwhile, windows wrapped all the way over your head into
the t-top roof, and they were removable to create a convertible feel.



[Photo: General Motors LLC]Inside, the car was completely kitted out for sports
and leisure. The interior featured a slick integrated tool kit hidden inside the
dash paneling, a dust buster (yep! Dyson wasn’t making vacuums yet!), a garden
hose (which sounds hilarious, but would be handy for rinsing off beach gear),
and a matching stove and folding picnic bench that popped out of the back like a
spare tire. Wetsuit material bucket seats weren’t afraid to get wet, even though
they featured smart, electronic memory adjustments and drawer storage
underneath. Finally, the rear seats could pop up 15 inches, allowing the people
in the back to poke their heads out. It looks quite unsafe if the vehicle were
in motion. Also, fun.



advertisement




[Photo: General Motors LLC]The Stinger was bold for 1989, and perhaps even
laughable. But it also presaged the modern era of adventure vehicles we have
today—an era that’s rich with experimentation, and still seems to be in its
infancy.





[Photo: General Motors LLC]Looking at the Stinger, I see a portrait of today’s
highly considered sport utility market, which bakes all sorts of small creature
comforts into cars for people who enjoy the outdoors. Ford’s  recently
redesigned Bronco crossover features a marine package, which coats the interior
to be so waterproof that you can literally hose the inside down to clean it. And
its Maverick, a mini pickup truck, has a bed designed for flexible, hackable
storage—it can hold a bike, surfboard, or a Home Depot run with equal comfort.





[Photo: General Motors LLC]You can even see hints of the Stinger in the
Cybertruck, which Tesla plans to sell with accessories like a tent kit and an
integrated grill system that plugs into its battery to let you cook breakfast.
Or examine the eBussy, which is like an Inspector Gadget car that you can kit
out to be a camping van or a pickup truck. These vehicles aren’t just selling an
illusion of freedom; they’re literally designed around, and can be customized
for, an active lifestyle. They want to go out and get dirty with you. Meanwhile,
the options General Motors has today are more typical crossovers with bike
racks. The exception is its Hummer EV, which starts at a daunting $100,000. It
features some decent camping accessories, including wheel well storage boxes, a
similar t-top roof to the Stinger, and four wheels capable of turning 10-degrees
to “crabwalk” around a tree stump or into a tight parking spot. And yet, as a
friend summed up so well, “can you imagine wearing a plaid shirt in a Hummer
EV?” (I can’t.)



advertisement




[Photo: General Motors LLC]Meanwhile, the Pontiac Stinger is an adventurous,
come-as-you are machine. It was never released, of course. But let’s not allow
that to damper our spirits about the design. Do me a favor and picture this
little machine as a four-wheel-drive EV. It gets even more storage with a
“frunk” where the combustion engine would otherwise be—which would create the
perfect spot for a big fold-out solar panel to soak up some rays.



General Motors, you could do worse than bringing the Stinger back to life. It’s
rad.


advertisement

advertisement

advertisement

advertisement



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Wilson is a senior writer at Fast Company who has written about design,
technology, and culture for almost 15 years. His work has appeared at Gizmodo,
Kotaku, PopMech, PopSci, Esquire, American Photo and Lucky Peach

More




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How this CEO is changing the way we bake
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IMPACT

Impact


THIS STARTUP HELPS HOMEOWNERS GO SOLAR IN THE STATES WITH THE DIRTIEST ELECTRIC
GRIDS

Impact


SHOULD WE PROTECT NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE? FOR ITS ECONOMIC VALUE? BECAUSE IT
MAKES US HAPPY? YES

Impact


3 CHARTS THAT EXPLAIN THE U.S.’S NEW RECORDS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION


NEWS

News


AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IS UNDER THREAT. BUSINESS LEADERS MUST ACT TO ENSURE SAFE AND
FAIR ELECTIONS

News


HOW TO WATCH APPLE’S WWDC 2022 KEYNOTE TODAY: IOS 16 AND MORE EXPECTED

News


WHY RAPPER MACKLEMORE SAYS CREATING HIS GOLF APPAREL BRAND IS A LOT LIKE MAKING
MUSIC


CO.DESIGN

Co.Design


THIS GORGEOUS TABLE WAS MADE FROM FALLEN ASH TREES THAT WERE SALVAGED IN
BALTIMORE

Co.Design


DESIGNERS LOVE THESE BAGS MADE FROM TRUCK TARPS. NOW YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN

Co.Design


AFROFUTURIST SUN RA’S HUMBLE PHILADELPHIA HOME IS NOW A HISTORIC LANDMARK


WORK LIFE

Work Life


WHY A FLEXIBLE WORKPLACE SHOULDN’T MEAN WE IGNORE INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEE
EXPERIENCES

Work Life


HERE’S WHAT’S BEHIND THE NEW LABOR MOVEMENT

Work Life


COULD REDEFINING THE ENTRY-LEVEL WORKER BE THE ANSWER TO THE GREAT RESIGNATION?

 * Advertise
 * Privacy Policy
 * Terms
 * Notice of Collection
 * Do Not Sell My Data
 * Permissions
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