Jim Wangers has passed at the age of 96

Jim Wangers, the marketing genius forever connected to the Pontiac GTO, reportedly passed away in his sleep on April 27 at the age of 96.

After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Wangers went to work for Esquire magazine where he worked with future publishing mogul Hugh Hefner. Wangers said when Esquire moved its headquarters to New York, he turned down Hefner’s offer to work on a new magazine to be called Playboy and instead followed Esquire to its new office.

Wangers would instead make a name for himself in the automotive field. It began with a stint in advertising at Kaiser-Frazer followed by Chevrolet and then Plymouth. In 1958, he went to work at McManus, John & Adams where he worked on the Pontiac account, and that is where he would truly make his mark on automotive history. Pontiac was just a couple years into revitalizing its brand from being an “old man’s car” to a “young man’s car,” and Wangers recalled that he understood the relationship between performance and car sales. In 1960 he raced a new Pontiac at the NHRA Nationals where he was Top Stock Eliminator. While working on the Pontiac account, he also established a factory connection with Royal Pontiac in Michigan to build and test performance cars. He said the NHRA win further cemented his credentials with Pontiac and helped him influence such models as the GTO, the GTO Judge and Trans Ams.

Wangers left Pontiac in 1969, but continued to surround himself with cars. He opened a Chevrolet dealership in Milwaukee and then consulted other automakers, continuing his work in the industry into the 21st century. In 2009, he teamed up with Big Three Performance to build and create the Jim Wangers Signature Edition 1969 Judge GTO, an orange restomod based on Wangers’ favorite model year of GTO.

Wangers was a friend to the Old Cars staff and occasionally submitted letters to the magazine’s “Sound Your Horn” page. The staff will miss Wangers’ insight and friendship, and shares its condolences with his family and other friends.

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