Tour of "Mecca"

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to tour the plant where my Pontiac Solstice was built. This tour was a major event. General Motors does not open it's doors to the general public - what with all the secret processes and proprietary information.

Planning for the day started about 4 months ago and was very involved. I'm a member of a forum of owners that are very enthusiastic about this car and one of the things we've always wanted to do was return to the place where they were built and learn about the process and pay respect to the craftsmen who put our car together.

I guess you could say that I'm a bit fanatical when it comes to driving this car. It is so much fun to drive that sometimes it's hard to ever take the short way home. Any back road is a good detour. The more twists and turns, the better! This car was designed and built to hug the road in the tight turns and it is a pleasure to drive.

We had over 100 cars (both Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters) turn out for the tour. GM rolled out the red carpet and really went above and beyond in hosting our event. We were able to tour in groups of 6 or 7 which made for easy question and answer sessions. They plant manager was there and so were some corporate engineers. They gave presentations and had Q & A sessions with the group. Two tractor trailers with specialized racing versions of the cars were there as well. Prizes were raffled off with proceeds benefitting an area veterans group. GM even put together a goodie bag for each participant which included posters, key chains and a great book which details the history of the Solstice from concept to delivery.

I took my oldest son with me on the tour and he had a blast too. After lunch at the plant, about 25 of us took our cars on a run of the local "twisties". It was something to see, this line of beautiful cars rolling through the countryside. Lots of fun on the drive and great fellowship with folks who love their cars.

Hopefully we can make this an annual event!