Planned obsolescence is when a product is designed from its inception to become unfashionable or obsolete shortly after its launch. In the 1950s, American automakers embraced this mantra and made extensive annual changes to the appearance of their vehicles in an effort to keep their cars looking fresh and their sales high. By the 1970s, these changes were becoming less and less dramatic as domestic automakers expanded their lineups to include heretofore nonexistent subcompact, compact, intermediate and specialty models and thus found the costs of these regular changes too much to bear. Intriguingly, during the 1971-76 run of GM’s last truly big B-Bodies, the Pontiac received fairly significant visual changes almost every year. This was despite Pontiac generally having the poorest sales of GM’s four B-Body lines and also despite Buick and Oldsmobile’s annual changes being arguably less distinct. So, which year did Pontiac’s Grand Ville, Bonneville, Catalina and Grand Safari look the best?
The 1971 full-size Pontiacs were perhaps the most dramatic, with a protruding grille and a very bluff facade that somewhat echoed the successful Grand Prix personal luxury coupe.
For 1972, things seemed to be toned down a bit and there was a more obvious front bumper which seemed to presage the upcoming 5-mph bumper legislation.
Of course, the bumpers needed to be a lot bigger for 1973 but GM also decided to dramatically change the front end of the ’73 Pontiacs. The grille appeared to shrink somewhat, but the hood was more sculpted and the overall look was just as formal.
For 1974, the front was bluff once again although a little less busy.
While, in my opinion, the rest of GM’s B-Body coupe fleet was much uglier for 1974, the Pontiac coupes’ new roofline seemed to fit better with the Pontiac’s elegant, almost coke-bottle contours below the C-pillar. Then again, maybe this is Pontiac brochure artists handicraft at play: the 1974 Pontiac brochure manages to make every car in the lineup look stunning.
Handsome new rectangular headlights were the biggest visual change for 1975 Bonnevilles and Grand Villes, and there were also new taillights and an attractive new grille.
The Catalina was less changed visually, retaining circular headlights and similar taillights to the 1974 models.
For the last year of the big Pontiacs before their dramatic downsizing in 1977, there were few visual changes. The Grand Ville was dropped, replaced by a new Bonneville Brougham flagship. Sadly, the slow-selling convertible was also gone. While the ’77 B-Bodies would be much more efficient and yet crisply styled and pleasing to the eye, there would unfortunately be no hardtop sedan.
While I love the clean rooflines of the ’71-73 coupes and sedans and the ornate styling of every year’s wagon, my personal pick for favorite full-size Pontiac of this generation would undoubtedly be the 1975 Grand Ville convertible. Being a convertible, its styling was never muddled by new rooflines and the front clip of the upmarket Pontiacs this year was the most attractive of the generation. Also, full-size convertibles were in their death throes and this was one of the last and one of the most beautiful.
What’s your opinion?
I always admired Pontiac’s insistence on keep full instrumentation (sometimes optional, but at least available) in their cars.
Got to vote 1974–our family had a 74 Laurentian 4 door.
The sly styling for the sides of the ’72s work for me, but the front and rear ends honestly didn’t come together until 1975. There’s just something about the positioning of the headlights in relation to the unfinished looking grilles that gets me going in the wrong direction. As for the rear end, the massive taillights didn’t work until the bumper was extended, making them look a bit less recessed and more flush with the body. The added touch on some of the cars of extending the taillights into the rear blades also helped quite a bit in establishing some identity compared to the similar taillights of that era’s Caprice and its sister car the Impala. Although the interior suffered a little bit after a while by glassing in the gauges (in squares no less!) and removing the metal bevels for the center console, the overall car eventually got better styling by 1975.
+ 1
The rectangular headlights and squared taillights of 1975-76… Gave the cars a more serious and classy look, which they were sorely missing in the 1971-74 years.
I wouldn’t mind finding a 75 or 76 GranVille to restore. The other years?… Meh.
Would have to be the 1971s. That snout is classic. But they were just too damned HUGE. The 1972s looked like the 1971s had the points on the snout and the headlight bezels sanded off. ’71s looked better.
Growing up Pontiac in the 60s and 70s, our driveway was graced with Catalinas from 1966, 1968, 1971 then in 1973 my dad moved-on-up to Bonneville and then again in 1976. Out of all the cars to pick from, my favorite had to be the 1973 Bonneville RTS. I suspect it may have a lot to do with it being the first car I drove when I got my license. It was not fast but a spectacular cruiser for me and 3 or 4 of my close, personal friends.