(first posted 1/7/2017) Some people lust after split-window Stingrays, or ’64 Mustangs, or Ferrari 250 GTOs. Me? One of my dream classic cars, probably my first choice if I had to fill a dream garage, is a 1973-75 Pontiac Grand Am. Some people might find that a tad batty – a humble GM A-Body, really? – but I feel if anyone can understand my desire, it would have to be my fellow Curbsiders.
At a recent car show – All-American Day at Lakeside Raceway – I finally saw the object of my affection in the metal. But for one major cosmetic issue, the Grand Am was all I had hoped it would be.
That injection-moulded urethane fascia – so prominently featured in Grand Am advertisements – may have been impact-resistant but it wasn’t particularly durable in the long-term. And so, when that pointed prow wore away, the owner decided to replace it with the front clip of a humble LeMans. Sigh.
Although the doors didn’t close with a solid thunk, the interior otherwise appeared to have been rather well-made or, at the very least, well-restored. The African Crossfire Mahogany was blemish-free and the upholstery and dashtop were safely kept under cover. The interior of the Grand Am is, without a doubt, the finest interior ever seen in a Colonnade. I love the full console and its shifter, and the instrument panel angled towards the driver. Change the materials and round off some of the edges and it could be a dashboard from today.
The featured car has obviously been converted to right-hand drive, and the current owner told me this was done back in the 1980s by a previous owner. Interestingly, the current owner is a longtime Oldsmobile enthusiast who has owned numerous cars from the Rocket marque including a first-generation Toronado and a couple of Ninety-Eights. If I recall correctly, this is his first Pontiac.
Perhaps the majority opinion among enthusiasts is that these were uglier, more overwrought successors to the classic 1968-72 A-Bodies. They were certainly larger and heavier, but their adventurous styling is part of their unquestionable appeal to myself. The ’68-72 Chevelle, Cutlass, LeMans and Skylark had received visual modifications during their runs that served only to make them look either less attractive, more homogenous, or both. The Colonnades, in comparison, were visually varied from one another despite the use of common parts like their roofs.
The Grand Am was the most daringly styled of the new Colonnade cars thanks to its bulging fenders and swoopy rear deck – shared with the LeMans – and the distinctive prow coupled with a unique grille and extended fender caps. This new grand touring Pontiac aped the Europeans in some ways but certainly not in its exterior appearance. It was also decidedly un-European in its sheer size—coupes rode on a 112-inch wheelbase, sedans on a 116-inch wheelbase, while total length was 208.6 and 212.6 inches, respectively.
Underneath the dramatic sheetmetal was a stronger (and heavier, natch) perimeter frame with larger main rails, to improve side-impact protection. The bodyshells were designed to meet the latest rollover standards as well as rumored ones down the line, hence the eponymous pillared roofline style used by the Colonnades. The new GM A-Bodies were both larger and heavier than their predecessors and, in Grand Am trim, weighed around 4300 lbs.
Suspension componentry was borrowed from both the full-size B-Body and the F-Body pony cars. The suspension consisted of an all-coil setup with front double a-arms and a solid rear axle. There was no independent rear suspension as in many European sport/touring sedans but, to help sharpen the Grand Am’s handling, engineers installed harder bushings, firmer shock absorbers, larger stabilizer bars and wider wheels with GR70-15 radial tires. Although radial tires were first introduced to the Pontiac line in 1967, the ’73 Grand Am was the first application for which these were made standard fitment. Grand Am marketing featured the “Radial Tuned Suspension” name that Pontiac eventually disseminated throughout its lineup.
The Grand Am project was headed by Pontiac engineer Bill Collins, who had been inspired by BMWs he had driven. With the GTO’s performance a shadow of its former self – the name relegated to a $370 LeMans trim package for 1973 – and the muscle car segment atrophying thanks to rising insurance premiums, it was decided the Grand Am would emphasize handling over straight-line performance. Indeed, the Grand Am name signified Grand Prix luxury and Trans Am handling. However, earlier in development the Grand Am was named Europa and clay mock-ups were even built with GTO badging.
Unlike other domestic performance and luxury models, the Grand Am was engineered to have both superior handling characteristics and a comfortable ride. To afford greater suspension travel, the Grand Am’s ride height was raised by 0.3 inches.
Where the Grand Am was most European was inside, with its real wood trim, bucket seats, full console and driver-oriented instrument panel. Ironically, the Euro-inspired Grand Am used the same interior as the decidedly American Grand Prix, although it substituted a large, Mercedes-style steering wheel. The bucket seats adjusted for both backrest angle and lumbar support, something not common on American cars of the era, and provided good lateral support. Seats were available in either Morrokide or a cloth/corduroy upholstery. Plenty of sound deadening was included, resulting in a quiet cabin.
The Grand Am was a domestic intermediate with sporting intentions so, unsurprisingly, the only engines on offer were V8s. Pontiac’s 400 cubic-inch V8 was available with both a 2-barrel carb and a 4-barrel carb. With a single exhaust, the 2-bbl 400 produced 170 hp; with a dual exhaust, it produced 185 hp. Road Test recorded a 0-60 time of 10.4 seconds for the latter and combined fuel economy of 12.8 mpg.
The 4-bbl 400 had 230 hp, while the most powerful engine available was a 4-bbl Pontiac 455 with 250 hp and 370 ft-lbs. This was good for a 0-60 time of under 8 seconds. Only the 400 cubic-inch V8s were available with a four-speed manual, while both the 400 and the 455 came with a three-speed Turbo-Hydramatic auto.
There were two Grand Am variants built as prototypes but which never entered production. One was a Grand Am wagon, of which the lone prototype still survives today. The second was a Grand Am equipped with the hot Super Duty engine which ended up being offered only in the Firebird. The aborted SD Grand Am would have produced 320 hp and 390 ft-lbs, and some were even delivered to magazines for testing before the plan was cancelled.
Pontiac’s advertisements and brochures of the era were beautiful
As you can imagine, the unique Grand Am was praised by the automotive press for its attempt to bring European roadability to the domestic intermediate market. Consumer Guide said the Grand Am had no peer and was recommended over high-line intermediates from Pontiac and other domestic marques, earning Best Buy status. Road Test’s balanced 1975 take on the Grand Am highlighted some of the car’s issues, such as insufficient rear-seat room, hefty curb weight and a subpar seating position. However, they concluded “Pontiac has produced a genuine American GT car” instead of a pretender. Car & Driver, ever the enthusiasts of European engineering, had much to like about the Grand Am saying it “escapes being just another insipid intermediate with an imitation Mercedes grille.” Every media outlet had nice things to say about the Grand Am’s ride/handling balance and tasteful interior, as well as that nose.
In 1973, Pontiac sold almost exactly as many Grand Am sedans and coupes as they did the almost $1k cheaper Luxury LeMans: 34,445 coupes and 8,691 sedans, priced at $4264 and $4353 respectively. An extra $1k in MSRP was hardly chump change, even if the higher price included meaningful additions like variable-ratio power steering and power front disc brakes. But those sales figures paled in comparison to other Colonnades like Pontiac’s own Grand Prix, which sold more than three times as many units. One can’t forget the insurgent Oldsmobile Cutlass line, either. Oldsmobile had a conceptually similar Cutlass Salon touring sedan and coupe (for which 1973 sales breakdowns aren’t available) but their real star was the Cutlass Supreme, an enormous commercial success and soon the best-selling car in the US.
The muscle car market had deflated and the 1974 OPEC oil crisis stunted sales of big V8-engined vehicles almost as much as emissions regulations had stunted the performance of those very same cars. But there was still a market for oversized, V8-powered, 4000-pound intermediates like GM’s Colonnades. Pontiac engineers had shifted focus away from straight-line performance to all-round handling competence. Buyers, however, had shifted focus away from straight-line performance to cushy luxury. Those who still pined for a sporting drive were more inclined to purchase a Firebird, which resurged to popularity towards the end of the decade. Everyone else preferred the prestige of a Cutlass Supreme or a Grand Prix or a Monte Carlo.
Despite an extensive advertising campaign, the Grand Am’s sales continued to disappoint. In fact, they sunk by more than half for 1974 – down to 13,961 coupes and a measly 3,122 sedans. In contrast, the Grand Prix clocked almost 100,000 units and the Colonnades from Chevrolet and Oldsmobile were even more popular. Even the under-achieving Luxury LeMans outsold the Grand Am. Pontiac was having much less luck with its intermediate range than Chevrolet and Oldsmobile, and its flashy Grand Am sadly became the poster child for this. Clay models were made of a ’76 Grand Am which would, like the LeMans, feature rectangular headlights. Some of these models included a dramatically slanted front end and hidden headlights. None of them would see the light of day as the Grand Am was retired after 1975.
One could argue the Grand Am didn’t need to sell in huge numbers and that it served more as a halo vehicle for Pontiac’s intermediate line, lending an air of credibility to Pontiac’s claim of being the excitement division. Despite its European aspirations, the Grand Am was never going to steal many conquest sales from BMW and Mercedes-Benz despite costing half as much, but it did show the market that Pontiac could build a capable grand tourer. Besides, GM accountants had insisted the Grand Am share a lot with the LeMans and it was this commonality that prevented the Grand Am from becoming an unprofitable disaster.
While the Grand Am sold in small numbers, it was a flag-bearer for Pontiac and attempted to keep the flame of Pontiac’s 1960s success alive. It showed that Pontiac engineers understood what made European sport sedans so appealing and that they could create a car that, while hardly a facsimile of said Europeans, employed some of the lessons learned. American consumers could have it all—well, a comfortable ride, attractive looks and sharp handling, but perhaps not good fuel economy. Not yet.
The Grand Am was no quick-and-cheap application of a stabilizer bar, blackout trim and a vaguely foreign-sounding name to make a Euro-fighter. This was no Ford Granada ESS or Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport. The Grand Am was the ne plus ultra of the Colonnade cars, something that was distinctively American with a dash of something exotic and new. Daringly styled, dynamically poised – is it any wonder the Grand Am is a key member of my dream garage?
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1975 Pontiac LeMans Safari Wagon – The First Colonnade Wagon CC
Curbside Classic: 1973 Buick Century Regal – The Confident Colonnade?
Curbside Classic: 1977 Pontiac Grand LeMans – Retrograde Colonnade
Curbside Classic: 1976 Pontiac Grand Prix – Grand Size, Medium Prize
I remember these as being about the most talked-about car in the fall of ’72.
It must have been a real bear making that RHD conversion, what with the the radical asymmetry of that dash.
Too bad about the front clip, that’s what makes the car IMHO.
At one time there was a vendor selling replacements made of fiberglass.
But yes, after many years, the nose rots right off them.
It appears to me that the console wasn’t altered for the RHD conversion and still slopes toward the left.
Seen prowling around Melbourne…
And those honeycombs look familiar.
Never liked that generation of Monaro. Looked more two-door sedan than two-door coupe and I loathe taillights mounted in bumpers. I can’t think of a single example where that looked good other than the ’70-72 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.
Agree on the HJ+ but can’t agree on the HQ – better looking than any of the US spawn. A boss who hated my guts used to call my (non-vinyl) HQ LS a two-door Kingy.
Now, I know why I hate Australian cars, too weird looking.
Love, Australia, though. 😉
maaaaaaaaate!
That’s, Australian?
Looks like an Italian beauty, that was either designed by Pininfarina, Bertone or Ghia.
I stand corrected, Don. 😉
Btw, who makes that?
I can’t reach the steering wheel on them way down south cars…
Holden GTR-X. Destined for production, killed at the last minute. Fibreglass body based on Torana mechanicals. Styling mostly by Phil Zmood.
Is that one on Melbourne for sale? LMK Please
Thanks
Allard62@aol.com
I’m with ya, on that, Will.
It’s just something about black cars, that Pontiac does so right. 😛
That does look good. It’s interesting with the Collonades, if not for their timing they had arguably a better spread of styles they pulled off perfectly than the beloved 68-72s, but the muscle car ones due to their unleaded smog strangulation were either pretenders or emphasizing handling more than brute big block force. Without the baggage of knowing what power’s it and what the era represented, that black Grand Am looks way more muscular and badass than the 70-72 GTOs, the naca ducts in the hood compliment the design really well too.
While 98 percent of “the market” disagrees with me, I think the Pontiac and Buick offerings were the best looking of the “colonades”.At least until they were defaced with rectangluar headlights.
Even in retrospect, with the passage of time, it is hard for most to recall from the distant past the impact of the OPEC crisis of 1973/1974. For those who didn’t live through the shortages, the oil embargo and it’s effects would seem an unlikely fantasy. Because of the sudden contraction of oil imports to the US at the time, gasoline became equally difficult to find/buy and expensive when available. Large and intermediate car sales plummeted with disastrous effects on the domestic auto industry here in the industrial midwest, but a boon for those willing to buy.
A close relation of mine, a cousin, was able to purchase a Pontiac Grand Am for a song because of the massive discounting by the dealers to “move the metal” He loved that Grand Am, and to tell the truth, so did I when I had opportunity to see it and to drive it. So to this day, whenever I see anything about the Grand Am, smiles come to my face because of my fond driving memories. No question about it, a “Yank Tank”, but what a delightful “Yank Tank” it was.
Cheers, Yr Lyl Fthful Srvnt.
I don’t know how it was elsewhere in 73-74, but where I lived at the time, rationing of gas was a daily head ache. There were no self service gas stations, and the attendant would hang a sign out at the road that said “Odd” or “Even”. This sign referred to your licence plate number. If you tried to get gas on the “Even” day and your licence plate number was “Odd” you were out of luck. Even if you did wait in line for an hour, which wasn’t unusual. You were also limited to how much you could buy on your day too. What the attendant said was law. If you didn’t like it the cops were just a phone call away. This is why big car sales tanked in 1974. They just weren’t worth the agrivation.
There was also a patchwork of price controls and distribution regulations put into place that had the effect of making shortages worse in some places and nonexistent in others. In northern Indiana, the only changes we saw were reduced hours for many gas stations and some Sunday closures. I never saw a gas line. That situation returned in 1979, and it was around that time that President Carter deregulated oil prices and distribution.
Ditto here.
When the oil crisis hit, my father was commuting 50 miles each way to work in his recently purchased ’73 Ford Torino that got exactly 12 mpg with the “economical” 302.
There were never gas shortages in that area. He paid through the nose for fuel, but he could purchase all he wanted when he wanted.
This was in southern Illinois and southeast Missouri.
In Canada, there was no observable effect in either 1973 or 1979.
I remember that vividly. In the summer of 1979, the east coast of the US was a disaster of fuel lines. We were on a vacation in a rented Pace Arrow motorhome, and my father was in a constant state of heartburn hoping to find enough gas to get to the next station. As part of that vacation we went into upstate New York and crossed over into Canada at Niagara Falls. From the moment we crossed the border, fuel was in plentiful supply everywhere you wanted to go.
When we got back home and told my best friend about the east coast gas lines (like all the way down an interstate highway exit ramp and maybe a half mile before it) he said he saw two or three cars lined up for one pump one day, but that was it.
Not surprising. The gas shortages (at least the first one) was OPEC’s punishing the US for their support of Israel.
The longest “wait in line” for gas I remember was about “20-25 minutes”.
Thinking it was May/June of “74”.
During the “79” “redo”, remember my brother mentioning two 40 , or so, minutes waits while on a vacation ride to/from “O/C MD”.
That would a been late June.
Their “rather new”, Olds sedan had those “fixed” rear door windows too.
I think he took my infant niece away under a shade tree someplace. Sister in law “rode out the line”. Some memories just are not happy ones.
The great thing about these big engined cars is they usually still exist cheaply with low miles,because of the cost of fuel.
I have quite a collection of early 70’s gm ,including 73 El Camino,73 Buick Centurion convertible,73 Gran Prix,70 Le Mans and now a 73 Grand Am,
Highly optioned car,ac,tilt,rear defroster,power windows and doors,power moon roof.
Rare 400,4 speed,been sitting 20 years in a mild climate.
Will be worth some cash when I’m done with it..but I’ll never sell it!
They might bury me in it!
(Obviousness alert…). Love the car, loved the informative write-up! *This* is the King Collonade. What a shame about the (lack of the) Endura front nose cap – a beautiful and distinctive design. The ’73 model year was the best-looking for this series of LeMans, IMO. I never realized these shared their interior with the GP, but I do remember reading about genuine wood being used inside. Can you imagine that now in a mainstream midsizer like a GP was then? Great piece, Will – thank you.
The dash was from the Grand Prix (and also used in later Grand LeMans models IIRC) but the door panels were fairly standard Colonade panels whereas the GP got a completely different door panel and full-length armrest than other Colonades. This continued with the next generation GP as well.
The veneer was described as “African crossfire mahogany”.
That “descrip” caught my eye as well. Sounds like a “marketing name”.
I believe the dash was real wood only on the ’73 models, but the other parts remained real.
After the shock of the Colonnades replacing real pillarless hardtops hit me and reality set in, the Poncho Grand Am was the Colonnade coupe I would have bought – sans vinyl top, of course.
I first saw one of these up close at a mall in Sacramento in 1972 that featured Pontiac’s lineup for 1973, and really appreciated the styling and how distinctive they were in comparison to a Chevelle. The almost boat-tail rear end is what caught my fancy, as a classic boat-tail speedster is one of my all-time favorite cars.
Yes, I would happily drive one of these “mid-sized cars”. They were HUGE!
I remember what a big deal the automotive press was making about this car in the runup to the 1973 model year. At the time, my interests were elsewhere (big Lincolns and Chryslers) and I failed to grasp what this car was really about. I chalked it up to clever styling on a cookie-cutter GM A body. Time and experience now tell me that I was wrong.
I have become a fan of these. I will diverge from Joe Dennis here, because I always liked the rear treatment of the 74-75 so much better than the pointy butt of the 73, that I always thought looked wrong when mated with the oversized bumper. However, having experienced the drivability issues we had with a 74 Luxury LeMans, I could see where the 73s more relaxed emissions equipment would be a plus.
I really enjoyed this article, it brought back lots of memories. These were indeed very desirable and rare cars at the time. I dont think you mentioned this option, but my first car in 1978, at age 15, was a white, w/black vinyl top and interior, 1973 Lemans GT coupe. These were also pretty rare. It looked very much like the Grand Am except for the nose. It had a cool 3 dimensional, black and red, “GT” stripe down the side, rallye sport wheels, performance tires and the louvered rear side windows. The interior was very similar; with bucket seats, console, floor shifter and gauge package. Unfortunately, it lacked the cool, european steering wheel and real wood trim. (im pretty sure mine had fake wood) The cars looked very similar inside and out. Most people thought it was a GTO or Grand Am. I guess if I had known at the time that the Grand Am had such a better suspension and more sound deadening and quiet ride, I would have tried harder to find one, instead of settling for the GT. Oh well, it was such a cool car. I was still very thrilled to have it. And gladly worked 40 hours a week for $1.25 an hour to pay for it. After driving my 73, for a year, I test drove a white, 1976 Luxury Lemans coupe at a used car lot. I couldn’t believe what a difference the “radial tuned suspension” made. It was so quiet and smooth! I can only wonder if the 73 Grand Am would have been similar?
Will, I enjoyed this and your enthusiasm for this Grand Am is contagious.
There is a part of me that can’t help but speculate on whether the mixed, bipolar identity of the Pontiac A-body had some influence on its poor sales showing in comparison to its stablemates. None of the other A-bodies (at least that I can remember easily) had such diverse presentations all with the same label.
The only physical, exterior difference between a Grand Am and this was a header panel, fender skirts, and some vinyl. Sitting in the same showroom, what was the Pontiac aiming for?
All this said, I do really like this Grand Am and a ’73 with a 455 would be the one to have.
HaHaHa, perhaps I am bipolar too, because I like both the Grand Am and the Luxury LeMans. You are right, it is pretty amazing that they were able to go in two opposing directions at once on the same car, and to do it so credibly.
Or maybe not so credibly, as perhaps the shape of the car did not mate well with the mid 70s concept of luxury, which was more formal. Even so, I have always liked that intersection of sleek and luxurious that the LLM hit.
Little known fact, among the revisions made when the rear quarter panel was redesigned for 1974 was the elimination of the lip around the wheel opening so that the fender skirt would fit flush with the rest of the fender.
Now if they’d filled in the C-pillar window, it would have increased the Brougham Effect and given them a really distinctive car!
This was a Pontiac design studio rendering that was done by GM designer Bill Michalak that it was in my possession for a number of years and is now in the Pontiac design gallery of the Pontiac museum in Pontiac, Illinois.
I was very young when these came out in 1973, but remember reading the rave review that was published in, of all places, Automobile Quarterly (Vol. 12, No. 2) and thinking that if they liked it, it must be a hell of a car.
Count me in as a fan of the Colonnades, at least styling-wise. Credit must be given to GM for differentiating the styling between them so much.
Our family went out to California in the summer of ’74, and my Dad rented a “Pontiac LeMans or Equivalent” from, I want to say Avis, because Hertz rented Fords, but I was 14 and may not recall exactly. Hopefully, I don’t have some of this wrong, having just cited a perhaps fuzzy memory… but I remember the awesome car…
We picked up our rental Pontiac LeMans at the San Francisco International Airport and drove out to Walnut Creek where my aunt lived. The next morning the car would not start. My Dad called the rental car company, and they said, “Sorry for the inconvenience….” and that they’d be out with a replacement upgrade to make up for the trouble. A few hours later, one of these beauties pulled up in the driveway and they somehow got the LeMans started and took it away.
My Dad loved driving this car during our three week vacation out there. He raved about how well the car handled, especially when we drove up the coast to Eureka on some nice curvy roads along the coast. We also went to Yosemite and enjoyed the Grand Am’s road-ability on the highway, and its handling in the mountains.
Fond memories of a favorite trip every time I see one of these cars.
I for one LOVE the front prow of the ’73 – ’75 Grand Am, and feel that this was the best looking Colonnade, along with maybe the Chevelle Laguna S3. In both of those cases, GM gave us a car with style, despite the mandated 5mph Bumper Requirement of the times.
Even though I missed this era by a lot, I’ve always been a big fan of the Colonnades, especially the coupes. But growing up reading the Hot Rod and Popular Hot Rodding magazines, I was “instructed” to not like these because they weren’t muscle cars…. so I kept my obsession under wraps.
My two favorites are the 1973 Laguna and Chevelle SS, with the single headlight and the carryover quad taillights.
But, my favorite of all of them is a Pontiac. The 1977 Pontiac Can Am. That white/black paint with the gaudy orange stripes. The ducktail spoiler. Shaker hood. LOVE this car.
Love the 70’s Grand AMs. They sure were a rare site but every now and then a couple of examples show up at the Pontiac show in June. I once drove a really rare 1980 black and gold GA coupe when looking for a nice Summer DD/show car and was really impressed by it. The W72 spec 301 felt like it was making more than the advertised 155 HP. The handling was so far removed from the Granada’s, Fairmonts, T-birds and anything Chrysler was pumping out at the time like the Cordoba. Yes this car would handle the 10 mile Booneville gorge better than anything I ever drove before it. And that gorge is quite a twisty road! Even though this car had over 80K miles the guy still wanted 8500 beans for it and wouldn’t come down a penny much to my dismay. I ended up with two 1980 Grand Prix’s instead but that is another story.
That analog clock in the last advert showing the dashboard sure looks like a round peg in a rectangular hole, one seemingly designed for a digital clock.
Too bad Pontiac didn’t offer a convertible version
What the hell happened there?!?!?! – It looks like Jackie Gleason’s character’s car later on in the Smokey and the Bandit movie! (after a trip to the body shop, of course ;o)
Fantasy..just imagine the 74-75 Grand Am in the last photo with a shaker hood and SD455 (I know! they kinda sort of did it in ’77 w/ the Can AM!!)…The first colonade car that I saw was a two door luxury LeMans, and it took some getting used to. I have to admit that when the Grand Am came out, it was a looker!! 🙂
Nothing strange at all about having a Colonnade in your dream garage. The 73-77 coupes were a nice total package my favorite being the ’76 Cutlass, a very appealing car. Then you had the Monte Carlo which wasn’t my cup of tea but had lots of fans in the disco era.
The Grand Am made several magazine covers and I remember the writers talking about the European influence you mention. If the Cutlass and Monte Carlo weren’t around they would have sold a lot more Grand Ams. I agree with you that many Pontiac buyers into performance simply bought the Trans Am. The beautiful Grand Prix above it made things tough too.
The Grand Am paved the way for the 6000STE in the 80s. It did better because the rest of the GM A-bodies weren’t that attractive.
Never knew about the +0.3 in. higher ride height or that they made a 455SD prototype. Excellent job examining this forgotten car and your feelings about it.
I almost bought a new 4 door in 1973 but got too conservative and would up in a Cutlass. The Olds was just fine for me but I always regretted not getting the Grand Am. This was in summer, 1973 and I’ll bet the dealers were really discounting heavily then.
The original upside down canoe front end is hideous. Much prefer the 77 can am
Prefer, the 1978 Grand Am, over the Colonnade Grand Am.
A much more manageable size. 🙂
I do understand your desire, and admit that I was impressed by Pontiac’s effort at the time. They were trying to make the American counterpart to a BMW or Mercedes, but it would seem that buyers for the most part preferred the real thing. But I appreciated what they were trying to do, even if it missed in certain key respects, like space utilization.
I am with you. I have always wanted one of these and my friends always gave me sh@! about it. Someday I hope to have one.. black on black with a big block
Great article, William. I’ve seen three Colonades in Aus, two of them at Lakeside.
The 68-72s are much more common.
Are you still planning on going to the July 2nd All American Day?
When I was growing up, an older couple that attended the same church as my family had a Grand Am. It was a white 4-door with red interior, ’74 or ’75 as I remember the vertical taillights. They were quite uncommon by the late 80’s/early 90’s, so it stood out and I looked for it in the parking lot every Sunday. Not sure when it disappeared, sometime in the early/mid 90’s–not sure if it was sold or if the owners moved away. It always looked in great shape for a mid 70’s car so perhaps it’s still alive somewhere?
At any rate I’ve always been a fan of these cars, in no small part from the influence of that white one. And I think I actually prefer the sedan to the coupe–just not a huge fan of that louvered quarter window. Nice find, and wow it seems like it would have been a lot of work to convert to RHD! I’m assuming that GM must have seen fit to at least produce a RHD dashboard for retrofit, even if they didn’t actually build them that way originally?
The metal base of the dash would probably be cut apart and reassembled. Usually the instrument cluster and switches were kept intact and moved over.
The dash pad was typically a custom built one, and covered with vinyl.
Could have used a Holden steering box, or perhaps a factory RHD Impala one from the late 1960s, or the original box, with some fabricated brackets on the RH side.
Back in the day, there were conversions that used a torque tube across the firewall so you could keep the master cylinder on the left and mount the brake pedal on the right. There were also conversions that left the steering box on the left, but moved the column to the right. With sprockets and a chain linking them.
Since cars over 30 years old can remain LHD now, not many older cars are being converted. Mine isn’t
The Chapel conversion used chains and sprockets, cant say I ever liked that idea but the hard part is setting the suspension up for the opposite road crown some of those conversions were really well done some not so much, conversions for the NZ market were done away with and if you dont want to be able to see enough to overtake in traffic thats your lookout, carry a passenger or set up a camera instead.
I like it.
I remember seeing Colonnades in 1970s American cop dramas (didn’t Kojak have one?) and thinking that here was a still large but with good looking American car – distinctive, to my eyes at least stylish and without the giving the impression was bulk was the only virtue.
One question I have is about the RHD – for which markets(s) was the substantial effort of re-creating the dash in RHD done?
The wheels alone could sell it to me, though.
Nice find, William
Kojak’s Colonnade was a Buick Century.
In search of my 73 Grand Am. Was special order. Dark blue, no stripes, 455sd, low rear end Was sold in Wisconsin.
That one, a white beauty Grand Am is in Germany.
I still like coming to check out this page even though lots of my friends don’t write here anymore. Hi Paul though! Jason here from TBS. Just bought this ’75 Grand Am with power everything,power sunroof,cornering lights and more. Needs some love-paid 1,300 for it today. She’s gonna get resurrected.
a good read i have a 73 GA its a 4door with manual trans munci m21 i first saw this car when it was 100% original i found the owner in the store and talked his ear off at the time i had my 74 coupe that i bought from this contractor i worked for i kept trak of the 4speed car and finally was able to get it dirt cheep that’s because it was well lets just say no longer original it had the most awful white paint job it had rust but it ran drove and stoped. well after the meeting he took me out for coffee trying to sqeez me for as much money as he could but i already had the 500 buks ready to give which i knew he would take but it was fun hanging with him and watching him pick up girls at the coffee shop well when we got back to the car made the deal and it was mine there more but later thanks i need to tell you about the motor and about my coup
I used to think the front end of the early Grand Am was really ugly but it has grown on me in the last few years. I like the 1973 the best by a wide margin. I’m not a huge Colonnade fan but I like a few of them, this being one of them. The whole car has flowing, coherent styling. It wasn’t nearly as pretty as the ’64-’72 Tempest/LeMans/GTO but it was still a good looking car. I can’t help but to imagine what a 1972 Grand Am would have looked like.
Oh, if they had put the SD-455 engine in the Grand Am (and the GTO). I have a feeling the Grand Am would be much more revered today.
How many varieties of the basic Colonnade design did Pontiac market? Here is what I can think of off the top of my head, for 1973:
Base model LeMans
LeMans GT
GTO
Luxury LeMans
Grand Am
Grand Prix
Those are just coupes. Were there any sedan-only models?
And in 1977, Pontiac came out with the Can Am, which is one of those cars that I’m not “supposed” to like but I like a lot for some reason.
Am I missing any? And this is only Pontiacs that I am referencing. If you added the Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Buick models I bet you would come up with two dozen different variants of the same basic car. Somebody should write a master list of all the different Colonnades available over the years.
Is the front fisca still reproduced I am in dire need of one please if anyone can help me out I would appreciate it thanks contact mark Tucker at tuckerm76@live.com thanks
Interesting to see the amber rear signal lights where the reverse lights would be on an American market model. So were back-up lights not a legal requirement in Australia in 1973?
They were dual-function turn/reverse lights—like the American combination brake/turn light, but in amber, which was equally a legal colour as white for reversing lamps in Australia for many years. See my writeup and video here.
Very interesting! Always something new to learn on CC.
I’ve always thought these were good looking cars, I have a few small ones.
Yeah, I have three or four of the 1/64 scale Johnny Lightning’s from the last couple of years. Nice little models.
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This is a good looking car. Like the sporty character. Never seen a right hand drive one before, very cool.
The early Grand Ams without the impact bumpers had the purist styling. In my mind, the Can Am was the apex of this line, but I like any of the rear wheel drive models. Pontiac made this a volume model with FWD, but by that time it wasn’t anything special anymore. I lived through, and sat in, those odd and even gas lines. Years later in 1979 there was another gas crisis. I decided to take a cross country trip, but by motorcycle. Sat in a few gas lines that time too. Love these big old brawny cars with their distinctly American personalities. I’ve had several big Rivieras, so I don’t blame you for wanting one of these, but not as a daily driver.
They all had 5 mph front bumpers, but the ’73 had a 2.5 mph rear and a flatter trunk lid/fender line.
The most surprising thing about the Grand Am and Salon was they had 4 door models in the peak PLC years.
The ’73 Grand Am design made a STRONG impact on our opinionated little band of Art Center College of Design Transportation Design students when it broke cover. Several of the students who poo-poo’d any American automotive design work instantly denigrated the car. However, those of us with a, shall we say, open mind @ vehicle design were truly enamored of the car.
One of our best Trans instructors, Strother MacMinn, had a chance to drive one in our area of L.A. and was quite impressed by the handling, but not so much by the room for passengers versus the size of the car. Given Mac’s review it was hard to knowingly be negative about the car overall.
Personally the ’73 has always been my favorite; even though at the time due to student budget limit$ a ’73 VW Super Bug was our primary vehicle…..backed up by my ’56 Chevy 150, 2 dr. sedan with its ’66 327. 🙂 Watching for open gas stations became quite a “parlor game” at the time in L.A. if you didn’t want to end up pushing your car! DFO
This was a cool find. I really liked them as a kid…they seemed cool, particularly the “73 front clip, which imo lost its deign purity in “74+ but still an eye catcher.
As a few years passed, the one thing I could never get over was the mismatched front and rear bumpers…flush with the fenders in front and protruding in back. It seemed amateur. Why?
Pontiac had a bad habit of similar mismatches from the late 60’s with firebirds and gto’s. They fixed it on the ’74 Firebird and sales took off. I wish they had done the same with the Grand Am, though who knows if it would have done anything for sales.
In any case, the mismatch does allow me to sympathize with the owner’s decision to put a Lemans front clip on this…definitely not as cool, but at least the front and back belong together.
Used to see a maroon 1973 GA, with 4 on the floor, at local car shows. I think had 455, but mainly remember the stick.
The Colonnades were first penned in 1968, the height of GTO sales, and Grand Am was meant to be the “redesigned 1972” Goat. But, UAW strike of 1970 delayed everything after, and plans changed.
Fastback coupes were to be the volume models*. But, the A-Special formal coupes were unexpected huge hits. And Pontiac put skirts on what was meant to be swoopy design for Lux LeMans.
*1974 AMC Matador was meant to be competition to fastback Colonnades and Gran Torino/Montego sports roof, but buyers went for PLC’s.
I was a freshly licenced teen when paper ads appeared in magazines for these, I always wondered how the endura front lasted, Gas had just doubled in price so large thirsty cars dropped off the radar, I earned the equivalent of 3 gallons per hour prior to the price rise.
There were also preproduction mock ups of the Grand Am wearing Firebird badging, I seem to remember the story being that this was explored when F bodies sales were below expectations