The 1990-1996 Pontiac Trans Sport Export Version: GM's Coolest Minivan Wasn't Sold in the US!

Germany is the king of blobby crossovers... look at any BMW or Mercedes SUV. They are a joke compared to what they used to produce.

Did the American versions of this ever have headlight washers like I’m seeing on those euro ones? Also, that Peugeot diesel for example, was the engine put in there after it went to Europe or was it put in over here, or was the entire van assembled over there? I got one of these as a company vehicle briefly in the early 90s and hated it. It felt to me like sitting in the backseat driving. I am surprised that you did not the Renault Espace Which looks so much like this and was popular in Europe.

My parents bought a 93 apv in 97 and I thought it was the coolest van on the road at the time.

Loved how they integrated the Olds Silhouette into the film Get Shorty. It's the Cadillac of minivans!

I recall riding in a friends Transport van from Detroit to Dayton in the rear seats and I'll have to say that without a doubt those were about the most uncomfortable seats ever! I kept thinking about how much I'd rather be sitting in the bench seat in my 1975 Chevy Beauville van I had at that time!

I worked at Bill Lee Oldsmobile circa 1998/99. Cleaning these windshields on the interior was comically difficult. My feet would be on the top of the drivers head rest. No lie. Firebirds weren't much better. Love these dust busters. Thanks Adam!!

How does the aerodynamic drag change backwards (vs forward)?

i'm pretty sure you would get better fuel economy driving the highway in reverse, if geared correctly.

This is a badass design

I had a '94 Olds. Silhouette. Incredibly comfortable like riding in a cadillac, but underpowered. I can't umagine trying to drive one with a 4 cylinder engine. I has to put the pedal to the metal just to get it moving. I loved the way the dash proteuded forward like a mile. I think they were calling it "cab forward design". Sitting in the driver's seat it reminded me of the lost in space chariot vehicle.

Am i seeing a chevy bow tie logo an the front of the clay model and the red one after. It would explain the super sport badging on the clay model.

Probably sales failed in Europe because of lack of brand Awareness. Pontiac, Chevrolet,Oldsmobile are brand related to big American cars. Gm should have called it Opel/Vauxhall back then.

Quite interesting. I am always intrigued by the European or Australian versions of American cars. The same, but not the same.

What really gets me is the sealed beam headlights; being the USA market version had so-called 'Euro' lights.

Please note the lack of privacy glass on all vans shown. Euro regulation?

I didn't think about how big of a pita it would be to clean the windshield!

I heard that they had to put a warning sticker because people were hitting their heads on the doors with the weird slant

Maybe they changed the grille because there was no point of having the Pontiac grille design if the license plate would block the whole beauty of the design

GM used Silouette sheet metal and trim for the export vans because they had a surplus of parts. Oldsmobile could not sell them, heck, they could barely give them away!

Somehow i missed this one! Good thing this isnt TV i can watch anytime, dont know much about the export version. Edit* what a quad4! Wonder if it was the HO 180hp one

Also on the front was the euro-requisite headlight washer nozzles. I believe also that power sliding door made its debut on the GM vans of this era.

Chili Palmer Approved.

I want my heavy body cladding and fog lights!!!!!

This failed the crash test. Nothing designed to protect the occupants

If one could find the export version of the subframe and engine mounts (or reimport a parts Transport), you could make a really quick A or X body!

It’s not the styling. It’s the obvious subpar quality and mediocre chassis dynamics compared to European vans

It's definitely a slick piece of design, but it 'suffers' from the same issue as it's contemporary competitors; why-oh-why-oh-why does it only have three doors!?!?!? Surely one way streets weren't uncommon? I can't believe that the extra rear door would have impacted structural rigidity - or would it?

Those things were seriously unpleasant to drive. The dashboard stretched out for acres before you, the windscreen and hood were vast, the front end disappeared from view leaving intuition as your only guiding principle, and those pillars made for more blind spots than a house.
They looked interesting and were useful but functionally the styling was a mess.

I miss my very late '95 APV... wish they would make those again. My roof was completely fiberglass.

I’d guess that the much larger license plate bracket fit better on the Olds front end rather than the kidney grille

Chevy Astro: do I not exist?

Wow, Trans Sport has a completely different connotation now...

I saw a full spec white one in Spain. They were pretty popular.

Pontiac and the green men.

Had a '95 Olds with the 3.8 (U.S.) and really liked it. Very reliable. It did have its design quirks that showed there wasn't the deepest interest in making it very useful. With only a bit more interest in the designers, using Japanese thought, it would have been MUCH better.

Corvair Greenbrier was GM's First minivan Go find your Grandpa (Mic Drop)

Can't wait for the interview!

These were gone from the road so fast that they were already rare in the early 2000s.

Looked like a Star Fleet shuttle pod.

There was a Trans Sport for sale near by a couple years ago that I would see on my commute to work, I would think how cool would it be to own one of those but I couldn't pull the trigger. This must have been like the 90's version of the Cybertruck

Good video but you missed a few things. Bodies were not sheetmetal. They were plastic and fiberglass. If 95 there was a major front end face lift that incorporated Buick glass-lensed aero headlamps with replacable halogen bulbs. in '95 GM debuted the first power sliding side door. They also had air shocks in the rear with automatic level control and the air pump could be used to inflate items.

Dust Buster.

Dust Buster.

These was built in Tarrytown NY

Back in the 90's i actually glued Pontiac emblems on my actual Dustbuster vacuum cleaner 😁

Seen these in S Korea as well

It doesn't surprise me that it was available with a Quad 4 and 5 speed manual. These vans shared a lot of underpinnings with the W-cars and the early W-car Cutlass Supremes were available with that powertrain.

I worked at an Olds dealer at the beginning of my career as a tech, in the mid 1990s. The Silhouette was the first vehicle I ever saw with a factory VCR and screen. It was also the first minivan I saw available with dual sliding doors (most only had a door on the passenger side at the time), POWER sliding doors, and also a built in tire inflator that used the compressor for the rear air leveling shocks. Another piece of trivia; if you pay attention to the top rear of the front doors, you will notice the top rear corner swoops slightly rearward. There ended up being a highly visible warning sticker on the inside of the door alerting the occupants of the shape of the door, because it was pretty easy to catch your head with the top rear corner of the door when you closed the door from outside (I have done it, it hurts lol). I can't remember if it was a recall and the dealers added the sticker or if GM shipped them that way. Anyway, the Silhouettes with the 3800 were actually really nice vans, although they were complete rattle traps. There was a 50+ page service manual supplement for interior noise reduction on them.

Red lenses next to the reverse lamps could be rear fog lamps. Required at some point in the nineties, at least in Germany. Smaller engines also made sense due to car taxes defined by engine displacement.