Photo courtesy of GM

Now, more so than ever, our world is filled with change. While technology can save time and make almost any task easier, it can also be permanently altered or completely wiped out with the snap of a finger. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case with the GM Classic website, a perennial source for historical information on many of General Motors’ preeminent pre-2000 vehicles.

A few years ago, General Motors quietly launched GM Classic as a resource for all things pre-2000 for fans of the company’s most iconic brands. The idea was to build a community of enthusiasts by providing OEM-verified information on Chevrolet, Pontiac, GMC, Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac vehicles. In some cases, the site even interfaced with another prominent fan resource: GM Restoration Parts. 

Malls, Collections, and Stores

GM Classic was one of many corporate-backed ‘grassroots’ websites that popped up to celebrate the General’s century-plus of brands and accomplishments: a trend seemingly kicked off by GM Photo Store. Specializing in the archive and distribution of General Motors’ historic photographs, GM Photo Store was, at one time, prominently featured on all of the corporation’s ‘mall’ merchandise websites. That’s right, every brand had a separate ‘mall’ site where fans could go and buy an assortment of apparel and accessories. Today, threads can be attained from ‘collections’ on the Chevy, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac websites or at GM Company Store, where enthusiasts can also find cool merch for the overarching General Motors Corporation and its most popular discontinued marques.  

One site that has not wavered through all of General Motors’ name consolidations is GM Heritage. A celebration of all GM history, the heritage site is currently the closest asset the company has to GM Classic. In addition to a timeline of substantial corporate events and technological breakthroughs, GM Heritage offers historic model information, insight on choice historic properties, and summaries of notable cars in the company’s Heritage Collection. 

Consolidation Instead of Loss?

As for GM Classic, General Motors has yet to comment on why the website disappeared. Perhaps GM Classic duplicated too much of what the more established GM Heritage site offers, or perhaps GM Classic information will ultimately be incorporated into the GM Heritage site. That appears to be the case with GM Photo Store, as GM Company Store now lists a GM Photo Store section with “coming soon” text.

Photo courtesy of GM Heritage

While no one truly knows how this change will play out, we at Chevy Hardcore certainly hope the General will find somewhere to continue sharing all the information from GM Classic with diehard Chevy, Pontiac, GMC, Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac fans. With more and more OEMs orchestrating serious pushes into the restoration and aftermarket segments, it would be a real shame for GM to leave its most loyal fans out in the cold.