Jay Leno Drives America’s Lost Pontiac Sports Car With A Corvette V8
America has never been particularly good at building small, affordable roadsters. We can make muscle cars shake windows, pickup trucks tow buildings, and Corvettes embarrass European exotics, but the Mazda Miata formula has largely remained Japan’s territory.
For a brief moment in the 2000s, Pontiac tried to change that with a curvy two-seater developed inside a locked General Motors design studio. The brand disappeared soon afterward, leaving its little sports car feeling like a fascinating preview of an alternate future. In the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, the man who designed it returns with his personal example, except there is something much angrier hiding beneath that clamshell hood.
The Pontiac Solstice Was Born Inside A Secret GM Design Room
Long before Franz von Holzhausen designed the Tesla Model S, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck, he helped create the Pontiac Solstice. The project began after legendary GM executive Bob Lutz launched an internal competition to design an attractive, fun-to-drive American roadster costing around $20,000.
Von Holzhausen drew inspiration from the elegant sports cars he had seen at Monterey, including Jaguar E-Types and Chevrolet Cheetahs. His proposal won Lutz over, and GM went from sketches in September 2001 to a running metal prototype that Lutz drove onto an auto show stage in January 2002.
Development was so secretive that the team worked inside a locked room. Even GM’s marketing department was kept outside, while members of the Corvette team reportedly worried that Pontiac’s new two-seater might intrude on their territory. Keeping the price down required some creative parts-bin shopping. The Solstice borrowed its fog lights from the Pontiac GTO, rear reflectors from the GMC Envoy, and oversized door handles from several GM vehicles. Von Holzhausen originally wanted flush handles, but they were too expensive. Years later, he finally got them on the Tesla Model 3.
A Corvette V8 Turned This Solstice Into A Tiny Monster
The regular 2006 Solstice used a 2.4-liter four-cylinder producing 177 horsepower. That was enough to challenge the contemporary Miata, but von Holzhausen’s car received a much more persuasive argument from Mallett Performance.
Its original engine was replaced by a 6.0-liter LS2 V8 producing 400 hp, the same basic engine found in the C6 Chevrolet Corvette. Mallett also upgraded the radiator, suspension, brakes, and clutch, creating what Jay described as a “Miata on steroids.”
The conversion added approximately 150 lbs, yet the compact roadster still weighs around 2,800 lbs. Mallett maintained an approximate 53/47 weight distribution, giving the Solstice considerably more muscle without completely ruining the balance that made it entertaining.
Best of all, the installation looks factory-built. Von Holzhausen removed the Mallett badges, so there is almost nothing outside warning other drivers that this innocent Pontiac is carrying Corvette firepower. It even retains its original five-speed manual transmission, which is related to the gearbox used in the Chevrolet Colorado pickup.
The conversion reportedly cost around $20,000 on top of the price of the car. Mallett even provided a two-year, 24,000-mile warranty and properly integrated the engine electronics, meaning owners did not receive a dashboard filled with warning lights.
Even Tesla’s Designer Cannot Resist The Sound Of A V8
This particular Solstice carries an emotional story. Von Holzhausen and his wife had worked on the original car together before they were married, and she later owned a remarkably clean example. That car was lost in a California wildfire, prompting him to search for a suitable replacement. He eventually found this exceptionally clean Mallett conversion showing only around 5,000 miles. Von Holzhausen then fitted staggered 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels inspired by those used while designing the original Solstice, bringing the finished car closer to his early sketches.
Once Jay got behind the wheel, the history lesson quickly gave way to laughter and V8 noise. He praised the car’s power, balanced handling, docile behavior around town, and the fact that it never feels like a badly assembled engine-swapped project. Von Holzhausen has spent nearly 18 years helping lead Tesla’s design operation, but even one of the electric-car world’s most influential figures could not deny the appeal. “I’m a Tesla guy,” he admitted during the drive, “but the sound sounds pretty good.”
Pontiac sold roughly 64,000 Solstices before GM killed the brand following the financial crisis. This 400-hp Mallett version shows what America’s lost roadster could always have become: a lightweight Corvette alternative with Miata dimensions and a soundtrack no four-cylinder could hope to match.
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