BY KELLY HANNON

Car collector Cody Long remembers when Pontiac was the most exciting name in automotive design.

"When I was a kid, the biggest deal in the world was waiting to see the new Pontiacs before they came out, before they unveiled them. We used to ride around the car lots to see if we could peek over the fences. This was the whole family!" said Long, who until recently ran an antique-car restoration shop in Aylett in King William County.

The magic that inspired such intense interest in Pontiac in the '50s, '60s and '70s seemed to slip away from the domestic automaker over the decades, Long said. "Now I can hardly tell one car from another," he said.

This past week, GM announced that the Pontiac brand would be retired by the end of 2010. As part of the company's government-mandated restructuring, GM will focus on four brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.

Long is sad to see it go.

"Why Pontiac? That's the first question I asked myself," Long said. "Pontiac to me has always put out a car that people wanted and looked forward to buying."

Virginia Commonwealth University economics professor George Hoffer was also surprised that Pontiac, and not another brand, was the one to go. "Despite everybody wanting to kill Pontiac, which they have, if you take out GMC trucks, which is nothing but a glorified Chevrolet, Pontiac is GM's No. 2 car/truck brand," said Hoffer, who has studied the domestic auto market for decades.

Hoffer thinks Pontiac was on the verge of a resurgence with a unique two-seater roadster, the Pontiac Solstice, and the sporty G8 sedan. Both cars had devoted followings, he said. "There's nothing close to it anywhere else," Hoffer said.

But there may be one economic benefit of the decision to shutter Pontiac. Classic Pontiacs from the brand's golden era will rise in value, said Marty Miller, co-owner of Classic Car Center of Fredericksburg.

"I think the cars become even more collectible because now they're part of a manufacturer that no longer exists," Miller said.

The first Pontiac was sold in 1926. The company offered a coupe and a sedan with a base price of $825. Top speed was 50 mph.

Pontiac was the middle brand between the entry-level Chevrolet and the luxury Cadillac, Hoffer said.