(first posted 9/5/2018) Here at CC we’ve seen lots of American cars, especially muscular ones from the 60s and 70s, now prowling about Europe. But here’s one that made its way all the way to Australia: a 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix with the optional 428-ci high-output engine.
Unbelievably, it’s one I’ve seen in person before, in 2013 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The Mecum organization holds an auction there every May and I used to visit each one and photograph as many cars as I could. I don’t have a distinct memory of this Grand Prix, but this photo in my personal archive proves that I stood six feet from it at least once.
From my photos it’s clear that this car was probably someone’s fair-weather driver, but the dent in the passenger-side rear fender and the rust along the trunklid lip attest to a lack of any restoration.
The new owner’s name is Kym, and he emailed me recently after finding my photo of his car on Flickr and wondered if I had any information about it he didn’t already have. I couldn’t help him, unfortunately – I photographed hundreds upon hundreds of cars at the Mecum auctions, and my photographs contain everything I know about any of them.
Instead, Kym told me what he knows about his car’s story. He said that while Laurentians then Parisiennes were produced in Australia in the ‘60s (from Canadian CKD kits combined with some Australian content such as tires, glass, and upholstery), the Grand Prix was not. Due to firm right-hand drive requirements few, if any, were imported and converted. In recent years, the rules have relaxed and conditional registration of historic cars has become possible. Even so, the ’67 Grand Prix remains an unusual car in Australia with fewer than a dozen examples registered.
This Grand Prix was produced early in the model-year run, during the second week of September in 1966. Its production sequence number of 421 means that not only was this one of the first Grand Prixes produced, but one of the first Pontiacs of any kind manufactured at the Pontiac, Michigan, plant that year. The car was well optioned with the 428 HO engine (one of about 300 so equipped), THM 400, limited-slip differential, power steering and brakes, and the custom gauge cluster. It also came with a light under the hood, spinners on the hubcaps, whitewall tires, cornering lamps, and other nice touches. After it was completed at the factory, it was sent to Century Pontiac in Beaverton, Oregon.
As best as Kym can tell, the original owner kept this car until it went to Indianapolis to be sold at the Mecum auction. Bidding went to $13,000, but that wasn’t enough for the seller. It was offered at a later auction, but only after that dent was repaired and the front end and everything north of the beltline was repainted. It went on to be offered for sale at a couple of the usual online places, listed at $18,000. An Australian importer of classic cars purchased the Grand Prix, shipped it down under, and offered it for re-sale. That’s where Kym spotted it and, charmed by its unique and unusual options and its original and unmolested condition, bought it and took delivery in February 2015.
Kym says that the car was reasonably well maintained during its original ownership and probably saw little use during its later years. It arrived in Australia in generally good original condition, although the electrics were largely shot and had to be replaced. Kym also had to make sure the car would pass the stringent checks necessary for registration – no damage, no leaking fluids, no non-original equipment, and more. Kym did the repairs necessary to get the car registered and has enjoyed taking it on driving vacations around Australia. But he isn’t content yet: he plans to do a more thorough restoration, so the car will be better than new.
Photos of the car in Australia are copyrighted and used with permission of the owner.
Beautiful shots of a beautiful car, Kym. When I was living in Adelaide there was a fastback Pontiac parked to the left of Henley Beach Road just after the Torrens bridge before Military Road. To my recollection it was a 68 or 69; if you’re ever in that part of town (and it’s still there) it might be worth getting a shot of the two of them and sending it on to us at CC. Congrats on your purchase.
I never noticed that the grand prix didn’t have vent Windows in ’67 it looks much sleeker without them
I also don’t remember the “GP” on the glass by the mirror
Was that factory or an add on?
Good catch on the deletion of the vent windows. I always thought the 1968 Camaro and Firebird were the first cars that did away with them, but it seems that even before the 1967 Grand Prix, neither the 1966 Toronado or Riviera had vent windows.
Kym tells me that the GP etched in the glass was Pontiac’s subtle way of saying, “Look, no vent windows!” And yes, this was the first GM car without them.
The one-year-only 1967 GP convertible did have vent windows.
This is how I recall GM passenger car vent window deletion history:
1966: Toronado, Riviera
1967: GP coupe, Eldorado
1968: Firebird, Camaro, Corvette, Caprice coupe
1969: All others, except Nova/Ventura and intermediate four-doors and wagons through 1972
Add Corvair to the holdouts that still had vent windows in 1969.
However, the production numbers for that year (the Corvair’s last) were only about 6,000 – and largely hand-built in a corner of the Willow Run plant, at that – so it’s easily overlooked.
My father’s 1971 Buick Skylark (purchased in September) did have vent windows. I liked them because that car did not have air conditioning.
Interesting find for an interesting car.
“no non-original equipment”
That’s pretty strict. Especially for a country obsessed with doing burnouts until the tires catch fire.
hehehe. In South Australia, if you want to register your car via a club (at a vastly cheaper rate), the car needs to be pretty close to original. Kym’s running his with normal registration, which is extra kudos in my eyes.
I don’t think SA has special plates for their historic registration system, but I may be wrong.
I did hear about how original the car must be, even one of the original colours.
I wondered about that also-how strict the “no alteration” rule. Like, adding sway bars or swapping the PG for a TH-350, that kind of thing.
Its nothing, just try to get an Australian car complied in New Zealand, then you bump into strict, people have been burnt badly importing ‘restored’ cars from OZ due to the poor standard of workmanship.
That’s a lovely Grand Prix. In 1967 the regular Pontiacs had a strange-looking (to me, anyway) “split level headlights” arrangement, whereas the Grand Prix with its hidden headlights and deeper grill/bumper avoided the weird effect and looked a lot cleaner.
The styling of the ’67 GP front end is definitely a step in a different direction that just didn’t pan out. Could this have been a foretelling of what would come some 35 years later with the Pontiac Aztek?
One other notable thing about the ’67 GP is I believe it was the only time a Grand Prix convertible was offered. In fact, I can easily see where Chrysler got their inspiration for the 1969 fuselage cars, in particular, the 300.
I’m with you G. Poon; I was baffled and disappointed by the front-end treatment of the 67 Pontiacs after the spectacular 65 and 66 models. Only the Grand Prix avoided that look by using hidden horizontal quad lights and those “cat whisker” turn signal and parking lights.
I was always kind of mystified about GPs of this era. Earlier versions looked like regular Pontiacs with some detail changes and maybe a slightly different roofline. Later ones were, of course, completely their own thing. But these were different enough that they were plainly not regular Pontiacs, but not different enough to make it really worth the effort.
Another change I notice is that the 68 Pontiac wheelcovers that were on the car in Indiana have been replaced by the correct spinner covers. A really great car and I hope that Kym gets years of enjoyment out of it.
One question: Jim’s Indiana shots make the car look like the interior is white vinyl (which would have had a black dash). Kym’s shots make the car look like the interior is turquoise or blue. Is that just an illusion from reflections or such in Kym’s photos?
I see what you’re talking about, but I think it’s a function of the tint in the ‘Soft Ray’ glass.
Yeah, with the arrival of the Toronado in 1966, then the very attractive Eldorado in 1967, the full-size PLC field had suddenly gotten a lot more crowded. Delorean saw it coming and cleverly began moving the downmarket Grand Prix (which had previously always been just a tarted-up, standard full-size Pontiac) into the intermediate size class, making a big splash with the no-shared-sheetmetal, long nose, short deck 1969 version.
For the original PLC cars, the ’67-’68 was kind of a low point.
That’s a lotta car to love! Very nice indeed, and this is one of the few applications of rear wheel spats that really works well.
“Rear wheel spats.” Can someone please explain what that is? I’ve looked at the pics and haven’t any idea what DougD is referring to. The rear fender skirts? My idea of a “rear wheel spat” comes from a 2014-up Silverado pickup. I had never seen one before. They are a piece of hard plastic, resembling a short mudflap, mounted on the leading side of the rear fender well. It is an aerodynamic device intended, as far as I can tell, to direct airflow under the tire, rather than over it into the turbulence inducing fender well. If I was at the dealership, I’d take a pic, as I can’t find a decent example on google pics. That’s what my understanding of what a “rear fender spat” is. What is it on this Gran Prix?
“Spats” are fender skirts.
And it has 390 hp.
The Grad Prix has a much different front and rear end treatment than the regular line Pontiacs. I found this to help illustrate. This article helped me to see the difference more clearly than I had seen before.
Great article!
A lot of folks don’t realize the grand prix front loop bumper was unique to the GP. It was a little taller. This can be determined by looking at the corners. On the GP the bumper ends rise above the mid body full length highlight line,. while on the Bonnevilles, Catailinas, etal, It comes just to the highlight line, if not a hair below. This was done to give a clean unnotched (for the upper headlight) line across the front and to more easily accommodate the headlight doors. Rear bumpers were the same. Of course a unique roofline and taillight panel (with taillight design similar to that of the 67 GTO) Mom had a series of GPs through the 60s including a 67 in the medium metallic blue. Pontiac was giving the GP increasingly unique style bit by bit every year. I like the 67 More so than the 68 which suffered form a bloated hip look not helped by a “Halo” style vinyl roof cover with no real “shoulder” in the Cpillar rear fender area. But it was unigue and helped differentiate the GP until the very new direction 69 came to market. Mom had one of those, also in blue.
Lovely big Pontiac! I use to see a ‘67 GP almost daily 5-7 years ago near my north side Chicago neighborhood. While I like it’s looks, I still prefer the ‘63 & ‘64 GP.
Pontiac was an innovator in the 1960’s. The first plastic grilles were used on the ‘66 models and all full-size ‘67 Pontiacs introduced hidden windshield wipers. The ‘66 Toronado & Riviera introduced ventless side glass, as seen on this ‘67 GP. The one year only ‘67 GP convertible still had vent windows. I think GM liked to bring out cost saving items on expensive models in this era, like the ‘71 Eldorado’s fixed Opera Windows.
Dodge designers liked the 1967 GP’s front turn-single lights and used the idea on the ‘70 Monaco backup lights and the ‘69-‘70 Australian Chrysler Vailant Regal VF.
I am amazed at how these cars are scattered around the globe. Thank you for keeping us part of their history as these are the cars I grew up with. I have a 87 Firebird Formula 350 I ordered out of the factory in June of 1986 and took delivery in December 86. How do I get information on exact numbers of that model etc. Would really love to know that information.
Back in the day the boss at my part-time job during high school had a new 67 Grand Prix, burgundy with black vinyl top. Beautiful car inside and out, and ran pretty strong even with the standard 400 engine. It had the standard wheel covers shown in Jim’s photos – most GPs were so equipped at the time. This year indeed featured the only convertible GP, and a one owner of this model in the same burgundy color is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. 1967 was a great year for Pontiac and I liked them all.
Don’t forget, if you liked that front end you could get it in a Canadian Pontiac Grand Parisienne. Two or 4 dr.
http://www.oldcarbrochures.org/index.php/Canada/GM-Canada/Pontiac/1967-Pontiac-Broch
Wide track is best track. Never liked the look of full size cars on that narrow, almost compact car-like regular track. And worse yet, Detroit stuck to it for DECADES.
I remembered that Henry Hill drove a Gran Prix of this era in the movie “Goodfellas”; but it turns out it was a ‘68. While similar, the ‘68 appears quite different in many respects. I give the ‘67 a thumbs up for being more unique than the ‘68.
Nice car but the designer went to sleep on the rear quarters and left the back to the night cleaner so it comes off as tubby rather than sleek,
spats are retarded on anything since the 30s. Canadian CKD Ponchos showed up in NZ but due to some licensing snafu were assembled and sold via Domminion motors Not GMNZ so you had to go to the Austin,Morris people to buy a Pontiac and very few sold.
Beautiful! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a ’67 hardtop GP. I’ve seen a few convertibles, which are more common as collector cars, as is often the case when paradoxically today the rarer cars are more common and the common cars are rare. What I’m shocked by is the idea there are 10 67 Grand Prix in Australia. Really?!
I wonder which hubcaps are the correct ones? I’m guessing the 2013 ones.
Like most, I preferred the ’65 to ’66 full sized Pontiacs, arguably as one of GM’s best 2 dr hard-top designs of the 60’s. But those yrs, GM had to change its design after a few yrs just for the sake of changing, not always for the better.
My opinion off “no non-original” equipment comment should still allow a change from a PG trans to the THM350. A lot of these “Collector” car registrations say they allow for equipment that were original for that model of car of that yr., “period correct original factory options”, only certain upgrades for brakes (single to dual master cylinders) like for pre-1967 cars, current radial tires (as only bias ply were avail then), etc. ie: how those terms are interpreted.