Here’s something apropriately Eugenian, but lo! I found this car after work recently, and just had to go around the block and figure it out what it was. A week or so ago I was on a main road and slowing for a light when I glanced over and saw something ’70s-looking behind some anonymous modern vehicular appliance. It looked like it might have been a luxury car, but that day I had other fish to fry. So finally, I have satisfied my curiosity, and let me tell you, I was not expecting one of these elegant Pontiacs!
The 1969-72 Grand Prix breathed new life into the GP nameplate. Being based on the full-size Pontiac chassis since its introduction in 1962, in its last couple of years in that form, it lost just a bit of its presence. But that was totally corrected with the new A-body derived 1969 Grand Prix. It was, I daresay, the most attractive new car of the year.
Buyers responded as well, as sales jumped from 1968’s rather tepid 31,711 to a very healthy 112,486 units in 1969. Not bad, huh? They were lean and right with the times with their long-hood, short-deck coachwork, über-modern wraparound instrument panel, and huge option list. The Model J was the base model, with an upgraded “SJ” available with sportier overtones. The designations, of course, were a throwback to classic Duesenbergs.
In addition to the year’s longest hood, all ’69 GPs had Strato Bucket seats, center console with floor shift, hidden wipers, hidden radio antenna and a V8 engine as standard equipment. Base price was $3866.
1970 models were much the same, with the exception of vertical grille bars, updated taillights and a newly-available leather interior.But really, it was so attractive that there was no need for drastic changes.
A more formal “neoclassical” facelift appeared in 1971, and carried on in Bristol fashion until its Colonnade replacement arrived in ’73. Sales dropped to 65K in ’70 and 58K in ’71 (despite the revamped sheetmetal) but bumped up to over 91K in swan-song ’72.
And since we’re on the subject, I need to mention that I like Colonnades too. A lot of folks don’t and while they may not have quite the same bold lines as the 1969-72, I still think they’re very sharp–especially the ’73 with its smaller bumpers!
But what of this one? I still can’t figure out the color combination on this one. It is certainly bright, but I’m not sure if it is just supposed to be a special color or if the owner is aiming for some kind of street rod look. It was a pearl-effect paint and the blue was blended into the pink, not masked off. It does appear to be a very original car, beyond the coat of paint.
Oddly, the entire front valence was missing, though it is not apparent in the pictures. Maybe it has yet to be reinstalled? I don’t know, but this very brightly-hued GP made up for what was a rather dull, cloudy, rainy day.
To give you a better idea of the lovely lines of this car, here’s one with one of the computer’s filters. Nice and elegant, huh? I am thinking a two-tone would actually look quite nice on one of these, despite never being available on the 1969-72s. Perhaps a medium gray on top and dark green on the bottom? Hmm, that would be pretty nice…
But through it all, the beautiful lines of these cars, and the intricate details that just grab your attention, look fantastic–no matter the color!
It reminds me of the Blue Bunny “Bubble Gum Bars” I used to get from the ice cream truck as a kid. While we’re on this subject, I absolutely hate people who ruin cars with custom paint jobs. Where I go to school at Suffolk University, there are a lot of foreign exchange students who for one reason or another need to own $100,000 sports cars while living in the city of Boston for a year. I once saw this guy from one of my classes get into a new BMW M3, with a custom matte pink paint job. Looked like this one. Might as well have just sideswiped a wall with it.
Just what I was thinking. Multi coloured popsicle. I’ll take the car in the black and white photo..just something too garish about those particular colours chosen. Clearly this persons’ taste for colours was in their mouth, not in their eyes.
+1 a very atractive car despite the migraine inducing paint
A two-tone chocolate-and-caramel paint job would be particularly delicious.
This one makes me think of cotton candy. It’s at odds with the elegant styling of the car, like putting neon-framed Raybans on Michaelangelo’s David.
A travesty of justice…..and taste. But what a find, thanks for posting this, Tom.
A his-and-hers gone bad. Money cannot buy good taste. At least the interior hasn’t been treated to its own visual assault.
Never having seen them together, I had never realized the profound similarity of frontal appearance between the ’71-’72 and the Colonnade ’73.
Tom, knowing how much pictures can become somewhat muted between taking them and posting them, I can only imagine how much more painful this injustice was in person.
No kidding. A coat of black cherry paint would have looked so perfect. This? No idea of the intent!
My mates 60 Pontiac that got wrapped around a pole was glow pink Fluro pink know as the pink Panther naturally aint seen another that hue, probably what I like most about this one. Viva la different.
The CC effect maybe: I saw a ’71 or ’72 Grand Prix on the road yesterday for the first time in a very long time. It had a cheezy aftermarket grille on it, but despite that, the car had real road presence that all the other cars around it lacked. It made me sit up and say, yeah, those really were nice looking cars.
I know some find that generation of A Specials to be gaudy, but there’s something about the long hood/short deck, long dash-to-axle proportions that I liked then — and that I still find very appealing today.
Just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you should.
+1
+2
looks like a bad Hot Wheels car.
I also thought of Hot Wheels, especially the ones from the 80’s with that special paint that changed color when you put them under warm water.
I wonder if that GP changes color when it rains…
Maybe it goes to all pink when the secondary barrels open up….
Well played.
I didn’t think of it originally but the color-change hot wheels is pretty apt. I had a set of those..Fairmont Futura, CJ5, and police Monaco.
A friend in high school had one. I was very impressed with the sound and thrust when the secondaries on the Rochester Q-Jet opened. From that moment forward, I have been a fan of the Pontiac 389.
The 389 was replaced by the 400 in the Pontiac lineup in 1967. These GP’s came with a 400 or 428 ci engine.
Right you are….my mind has gotten foggy….that was a 400 that got my attention.
Well the owner obviously loves their Pontiac enough to keep it going 45 years after it rolled off the assembly line and they drove it from Iowa so good for them; the weather is less intense over here. I actually like the paint job because it is unique, I have only seen one car that looks like this, and the rims are just fine. Variety is the spice of life and perhaps the previous owner painted it this way.
Tom lives in the Quad City area which is bisected by the Iowa – Illinois state line. He found the car there.
So not as impressive, but still nice to see a 45 year old car still on the road even if the paint job is a bit out there.
For an area in which vehicles of this vintage were rusting by the time Nixon won re-election, I would be hesitant to state seeing this isn’t impressive.
In matters of taste ,
Everyone else is wrong .
-Nate
Although I could do without the wheels, the car looks awesome! 🙂
Thanks for this – I was always interested in these since they first came out – but a few small quibbles are in order:
The leather seat option was available in 1969 as well as ’70 (but not thereafter; probably few cars were sold that way). See pp. 16-17 of “1969 Pontiac Performance Brochure” and pp. 2-3 of “album_001” among the 1969 Pontiac material at oldcarbrochures.com; there’s also a separate large Grand Prix brochure (which I’ve had since ’69, and which I have to scan and send to them) showing the leather option.
Also, although not a GM offering per se, the 1970-72 Hurst SSJ package for the Grand Prix did include two-tone paint. This was a pricey car and fewer than 1000 were sold over the three model years.
I realized the leather was optional on ’69s after I read my ’69 brochure. Alas, it went to press before I could update. Thanks for the info!
If the theme of the day is “Think pink”, then here’s a pink/black third-gen Camaro restored and painted by a 17-year-old girl and her father in Florida, from the message boards at thirdgen.org. It’s half hot-rod, half Malibu Barbie’s car. This color scheme is not for me, but then I’m not a 17-year-old girl. For her, I think it’s great, even though she’ll probably outgrow it in a few years and ask herself “What was I thinking?”.
The pink/blue Grand Prix, however, I do NOT think is great. It probably should not even BE.
It looks stupid. In fact, those cars look stupid without a stupid paint job.
I wonder about those funky push-in door handles – unique to the model, but how do they work in everyday use?
You push in on the short end with your thumb, causing the whole handle to rotate slightly around a vertical pin so that the long end pops out; you then grab that with the rest of your hand and pull to unlatch.
I seem to remember those handles on Toronados from the early 70s as well.
After taking some amyl poppers and visiting some risqué nightclubs on the Sunset Strip John Z. DeLorean came up with the idea of some alternative lifestyle special editions….the results were mixed….at best.
The John Z. Bada Bing Limited Edition!
It just looks silly like that. And the door handles worked just fine. My 1969 SJ would have cackled if it saw this joke, then disappeared quickly into the horizon.
“You, dressed in pink and blue, just like a child.” – Joe Jackson, “Steppin’ Out”
The paintjob is still less uglifying to this beautiful design than the 71 nosejob.
I’m with you, Matt!
What, not a fan of the Bunkie Beak?