(first posted 7/21/2012) The Grand Prix had two grand moments in its long life. Needless to say, they came more towards the beginning then the end. The Colonnade era, as represented by this particularly fine example, was the transitional period, a time when it started to become just another GM mid-size personal luxury coupe. Having invented that genre did not mean the GP was destined to dominate it; that turned out to be its corporate cousin, the Olds Cutlass Supreme. Nobody would have guessed that in 1969. Or certainly not in 1963. But staying grand is not easy, as the Grand Prix soon found out.
Yes, the 1962 GP was a fine car, but it really was just a re-trimmed Catalina. Certainly desirable, but not yet quite grand.
It was the ’63, with its unique roof line and rear end that really put the GP on the map. It was one of the finest examples of the Mitchell-era “sheer look”, and offered unmatched exclusivity and status for its reasonable price. You want to impress a date in 1963? Talk your dad into buying one.
John DeLorean re-invented the GP for 1969, by using an extended mid-size chassis, and using that extra wheelbase for the longest hood this side of a Mark III. And by doing so, he unleashed the whole overwhelmingly-huge mid-sized personal luxury coupe era, which soon became the best selling format in the country. But the GP didn’t fully cash in on that gold rush.
It was the Olds Cutlass Supreme Coupe that stole the crown. And for those you you who weren’t around, we chronicled the rise (and fall) of the Cutlass in a very thorough fashion here.
The Cutlass’ rise started a couple of years earlier, but the 1973 Colonnade cars really cemented its dominance. The GP actually shed two inches of wheelbase. That, along with the considerable additional girth of the Colonnade cars, made the 1973 (above) and up GP look less unique, and certainly it lost that narrow and long look that was its calling cars during the 1969 – 1972 era. Now it looked like way too much like the rest of its bloated cousins.
Pontiac fiddled around with the GP’s front end during the Colonnade era, but once again, the single round headlight ’73 – 75 face was probably the best. This is the ’77 variation.
The GP tried to hold on to its boat tail, which was a dominant feature of the ’71 – ’72s. But the reality is that except for the the details of the front and rear, the overall look is way to corporate. The roof of these GM cars was essentially identical, as well as their basic proportions. Exclusive? Hardly. The GP would never be able to claim that again. The Medium Prix. And of course, things only got worse. The 1978 version garnered a Deadly Sin. Some of the later ones don’t even deserve the energy to give them anything.
Enough of the negative stuff. This is a grand example of the Colonnade era, and its owner knows it. I caught him at a stop sign and asked if he had a minute for some shots. Which allowed me to get the story of how he came to have it. Perhaps the most common way: inheritance. But that doesn’t explain why it’s in such stellar condition.
His dad bought it for his mom, and she decided it was too big for her! Well, she had a point there. So the GP went into the garage, and stayed there for much of its life.
Some 75,000 miles racked up in 37 years. And it shows. It looks more like 3 years old, if that. John has a gem.
This is an LJ version, which was a new trim package for 1976. Nicer interior trim, mostly. John’s dad like to think it stood for the first initials of his two kids.
The performance-oriented model was still the SJ. A 350 was the base engine for the GP, but this has the 185 hp 400 incher (6.6 L), which was also the standard engine in the SJ. A 200 hp 455 (7.4 L) was optional for all models. As was fuel economy.
John is torn between driving it and not. Currently, it’s his main ride, as his Buick is temporarily incapacitated. But he dreads getting a ding on it, which it’s avoided so far. Can’t blame him: both for driving it and for worrying about it. Life with a vintage car is rarely simple.
Just because we’ve never had the opportunity, here’s the back seat of one. They don’t exactly have a rep for being terribly roomy, but the Colonnades still had the comparable Fords beat in space utilization. Never mind the handling. GM’s homework in that department was paying off.
Even though the Cutlass Supreme took the spotlight, it’s not to imply that the GP of this era was a sales laggard; it sold some 228k in 1976, and even more in 1977, it’s last year before being shrunk. That’s a high water mark for the GP, a reflection of the popularity these big coupes of all sorts enjoyed at the time. Grand times, if not quite so grand cars. And this example takes the prize.
I’ve seen a lot of different kind of Grand Prixes, but never this particular model. Looks quite nice, actually, and I even like the interior, even though I normally dislike the interior of American cars of this vintage. A tachometer for a “non performance” trim level? That’s nice.
This one actually has a clock instead of a tachometer, but one was available, it does have the full gauge package, which is nice, along with the full leather interior, which you dont see on this vintage GP too much. I think it might have automatic climate control, sport steering wheel and full power options, its a well loaded up car. This is the way to have one of these if you want one, find a clean well cared for car like this and enjoy it.
Are you certain about the tachometer option? I’ve never seen one (and I’ve specifically looked for one on every Grand Prix of the era). So, if a tachometer was actually an option, they’re rare.
Regardless, the ’76 (and ’77) were the last of the truly ‘grand’ Grand Prix. I think the 455 (and maybe even the 400) might have been dropped from the lineup in ’77. 1977 was the year the GM really began the wholesale juggling of division engines. Even if a ‘400’ was lasted as a ’77 Grand Prix option, it might actually have been the Oldsmobile 403 that was installed in the engine bay.
If that’s the case, I would rank a ’76 Grand Prix with the 455 engine as the last, best Grand Prix.
Yep, a tach was available, but rare. I had a 79 with the clock where the tach should have been. 2 interesting points about that clock:1) it was big; and 2) it didnt work. Anyway, the owners manual showed both instruments as being available.
This one also has power windows! That wasn’t all that common on mid-level American cars until maybe the late 80s? Crank windows were a real pain if you were driving alone.
A third interesting point about that clock: in addition to the big round analog clock your car had where the tach could also be, there was also an optional digital clock (with the numbers on round rollers) which was rectangular and placed inside the woodgrain trimpiece in front of the passenger. And if you wanted, you could order both clocks in the same car! Car and Driver had one so equipped sometime in the ’78-’81 period, probably ’79, calling it “a Pontiac with time to spare”.
I had a 1976 GP in High School. Man I loved that car!
350 two barrel carb. 160hp if I’m not mistaken. That big front and rear bench seat with no center console or shifter sure paid off in spaids back in the day! I had the car repainted jet gloss black. I put on the ralley 2 steel rims all repainted black and silver. Super phat tires. 15″ rims LOL! So small by today’s standards. The clock worked for 15 minutes….maybe! I put in a monster Jenson audio system with the fabled Jenson tri-axil 6×9″ speakers in the rear deck. Man, those where the days…We had a lot of fun.
Know what’s crazy? I’ve got a ’75 model “J” but mine has an analog gauge meter with “economy” (in green) and “power” (in red) inside but I have yet to see another dash (hel let alone car) like that. Mine didnt come with a clock (except the little square one under the tap deck) that I am aware of.
Pontiac had to use Olds 403 and 350s in 1977 for California and High Altitude areas. The “49 state” cars were available with the 301, 350 and 400 Poncho mills.
200hp from 7.4ltrs. Must be near the power to weight ratio of a Beetle.
Now we get that from a Pug 1.6 turbo gas engine. Thats progress…
..
The 455 was last seen on a Grand Prix in 1976. The 400 continued right through the last Colonnade GP in 1977, when it became the top engine (in 49 states that is, in California where Pontiac V8s were not offered in 1977 and later years because they could not meet the state’s emission mandates, Oldsmobile V8s were substituted including the 350 and 403 cid). In 1977, the 400 (or 403) was the standard motor for the sporty SJ while the base Model J and luxurious Model LJ got the new Pontiac 301 standard (350 Olds in California) with the Pontiac 350 and 400 optional.
Thank you as I have a 76 Grand Prix that my father owned that has the 455 and full leather with only 9000 miles on it,and that is not a misprint,was garaged stored
I would probably want one of these, a Can Am, or a 1st gen Grand Am over a Cutlass salon in 73-77.
Certainly a well kept car, not a model Im farmiliar with but bloody nice Paul great find.
The black car identified as a ’75 is a ’77. I’m sure that the GP shared the 116″ sedan wheelbase only with the Monte Carlo – the Cutlass Supreme and Regal used the regular 112″ coupe platform.
Ooops; fixed.
Yikes; I spent 45 minutes editing this piece last night, but the version that’s up this morning is the un-improved version. Wonderful. I must have closed the lid on my laptop before it actually made the changes. 🙁
You’re right about the 112″ vs. 116″ WB, but there were actually two 116″ A-body chasses. The 116″ used for sedans and wagons was stretched behind the firewall; the 116″ used for the Monte Carlo and GP was stretched in front. Compare the last shot of the GP to this Grand Am…
…and this LeMans sedan.
Love it, much more dramatic than the Cutlass (I never understood why it was the most succesful colonnade coupe, to me was sort of bland-looking) and better interior than the Monte Carlo. I think american brands should have kept their heritage alive instead of building bad carbon copies of euro-jap cars…i hate the taurus for that…
The Cutlass Supreme (may have) ended up becoming more popular because it was the absolute middle of the middle–the mid-size car in GM’s third marque out of five.
These were all over in my youth. Our next door neighbor Mrs. Bordner (who had driven 3 different stick shift GTOs from about 1966 into the 70s) graduated into a couple of Grand Prix’ in the 70s, and I think one of them was a 76 like this. This front end treatment was always my favorite of the run, as it was very reminiscent of one of my favorite cars – the 1941 Continental.
I also worked with a guy who had married well and special ordered one of these. He always boasted that his car had the LJ body and the SJ chassis. All the luxury and all the sport. I was never well versed enough in these to pay attention to whether that was possible. Carmine?
This car is a beautiful example. This may be the nicest colonade coupe I have seen. By 1976, it was getting hard to find US cars with any interesting styling touches, particularly at Ford and GM. This GP still had a lot of sculpting and is to me a very visually interesting design. And I love the sport steering wheel. The owner has a keeper here.
If he is looking for advice, best to put it back into the garage for all but occasional use. Or else, some moron will come along and dent the door or back into one of those lovely flanks. Modern daily traffic warfare is for disposable cars with payment books or beaters. Not a beauty like this.
Well there really is no difference in the chassis of the car from an LJ to an SJ, so I imagine he must have meant some sort of “handling package” must have been spec’ed, the SJ was intended to be the “sportier” Grand Prix of this era.
The LJ was an option package available for the J and SJ in 75, it was only available for the SJ in 76 and then the LJ became it’s own model for 77.
Way more complicated than it needed to be.
Something like that, yeah. I always associated the SJ with sporty and the LJ with luxury.
I like it and have always thought the Grand Prix were more interesting than their corporate siblings. Cutlasses were fairly bland and Monte Carlos were overwrought. Now the owner of our featured car just needs some nice fresh raised white letter tires all the way around.
Dan! I saw the last photo and thought, spring for two more whitewalls! Raised letters are for hopped-up Novas or pickups. 🙂
I DETEST whitewalls on “rally” style wheels. This comes from growing up surrounded by Oldsmobiles with the factory steel rally wheels and whitewalls everywhere.
Naturally, I had white walls on my Rallye wheels! 🙂
Yikes! BEWARE OF PRINCIPAL. 🙂
I like whitewalls on rallys, Mopar “road wheels” and especially on Magnum 500s. And confirming my point about truck tires, look at the front of that GP. MICHELIN LTX, as in, light truck.
light truck
I once saw an early 60s Caddy with Pep Boys “Scrambler”s on it. 🙁
nah, it needs a set of Vogue Tyres
Vogue Tyres! Mayonaise and mustard!
Can’t say I love the exterior styling, but those seats look great and I give respect to the owner. It’s true that he should get a DD when he can, as a clean 40 year old car is a moron magnet. Also, despite its good condition, there are still a lot of 40 year old bits just itching to strand you. 🙂
“40 year old car”…Wow, reading those words is rather jarring.
It seems in the not too distant past my buddy in high school had the ’76 in white with the beige leather interior. This was 1977, quite a set of wheels for a high school kid.
It was my first experience in car pride…you could feel the eyes on you while driving it. The GP certainly stood out in the HS parking lot, for the most part populated with beaters.
I agree. Aren’t 40 year old cars from the 1930s? Not any more, I guess.
Saying it’s “40” is exaggerating a bit. Call someone born in 1976 “40 years old” and they’d yell “not yet! I’m 36!”
Actually they’d be 39.
But they were 36 in 2012!
I owned a ’79 Grand Prix and I have to disagree with the “deadly sin” moniker. Was it put on a diet and downsized making it less curvaceous than its predecessors? Definitely yes. It was the way of the world with everything in that era. No longer a “boy racer” with a gigantic engine but I believe stylish none the less. And even with the 301 and a 2bbl it still had enough oomph to get out of its own way which is not something one can say about many of the cars of the day including some “sports cars” back in high school that found that out much to their embarrassment when they tried to show me their stuff. Hah!
It was a clean and uncluttered look-unlike much of its competitors at the time. Monte Carlo-incredibly overwrought Baroque, Olds Cutlass-gawky & cheap looking large headlights, Chrysler Cordoba-super cheezy Baroque, Ford Thunderbird & Mercury Cougar-made the Monte Carlo look conservative, svelte and tasteful in comparison. The only real competition in the “personal luxury coupe” segment in the looks department and in a similar price range IMHO was the Buick Regal. And the Grand Prix had the nicest looking dash since the Avanti (with its aircraft style overhead controls)-a place for everything and everything in its place. I hate the cocoon pod dash trend of the last few decades with multi-function stalks and gauges within gauges. Are people that dopey that they can’t drive a car without every last control function and indicator within millimeters of the steering wheel? How did the world ever survive it for almost a century? Makes the cars of today look and feel closed in and cramped. And don’t get me started on the gigantic wide armrests and center consoles of today. Huge wastes of useable and much needed space for taller people.
I’d have a tough time calling the ’78 downsized GP a deadly sin too. My favorite is the ’78 as it has the “slat” taillights & beautiful silver gauges. I think the vinyl top ruins the sportiness of the ’78-’80 models and unfortunately most were so-equipped.
A 4-speed manual was available in 1979 but very few were built.
This is a great looking GP! Although I’ve had my ’76 Monte Carlo for 13 years, my first classic (well, my first car purposely bought as a classic) was a ’77 GP LJ. Great car. The 400 engine gave it a very different character from the Monte, along with the interior. It had the leather buckets and console like this car, and shared the dash, which is one of the best dashes ever on any car, if you ask me. By the way, the picture you labeled as a ’75 GP, is actually a ’77. The ’75 was the last year for the round headlights. Oh also, I’m pretty sure mine had a tach. These cars could be loaded with practically everything you can think of, including a CB radio, T tops, rally gauges (which included the tach), cornering lights, cruise control…
Mmmm. T-tops, cornering lamps, thats how I like my colonade GP’s.
Yeah, we figured out it had every factory option except those that were eliminated by choosing something else (for example, it didn’t have a tape deck because it had the factory AM-FM stereo with CB!) It was a cool car and I lucked into it cheap, but after about three years something had to go, and my green Monte Carlo was the one I kept.
Nice. I’ve never had a T-top or Sunroof equipped Colonnade before.
It was a little “boogie nights” for my tastes, but it was a neat feature. It even came with vinyl bags for the T-tops, and they fit in the trunk. It’s the closest I’ve come yet to owning a convertible.
Lovely GP LJ!
Certainly much better than my 3.8 liter, ’86 GP Brougham with a PADDED vinnyl riff. Oh. The Pain.
Such a wonderfully well preserved example. It would be a shame not to enjoy it.
I’d agree that the colonnade Grand Prix looked more bloated, but I’d argue that a big part of that is the 5mph bumpers. I wish Pontiac had followed AMC’s lead and used free-standing bumpers rather than the battering rams on the 1974-77s.
I don’t think that the colonnade Grand Prix was less exclusive than what came before. The nameplate had always shared a roofline with other GM cars. For 1976 the Grand Prix continued to be GM’s most expensive mid-sized personal coupe; it had a longer wheelbase than the Cutlass coupe and completely distinct sheetmetal.
The Cutlass sold better because it wasn’t intended to be an exclusive, top-of-the-line coupe. Its sheetmetal was shared with the Cutlass sedan and wagon. And for 1976 the Cutlass coupes were restyled in such a way that they even shared door sheetmetal with mid-sized Buicks.
We have gained so much by benefit of hindsight, but at the time it was difficult not to like these cars, in part because they were so popular and thus we saw them all the time. In the early ’80s at my summer job, my boss had one of these, same year but in a very nice red (looking at a brochure from that year, I’m going to say it was Firethorn) with tan landau top and tan interior. He lived near me so sometimes I caught a ride home with him, and even then, several years after its heyday, I remember thinking how much I liked the car.
My parents had a 1976 Grand Prix LJ. Firethorn w/Tan Landau top & Tan Leather bucket seats. Beautiful car. IMO, I think the 76’s look the best.The waterfall grill flanked by the ‘new’ rectangle headlights. Looked much better than the wide-eyed 73-75’s.
My parents always tell the story of how they special ordered the car, and the dealership tried to convince them ‘NOT’ to order their car that way. The salesman just ‘knew’ that when it came in, my parents would not want it. They tried to convince them to order it with a white top and interior.
Unfortunately, my parents sold the car in the mid 80’s … 60k miles w/no rust due to being stored in the winters. It was my dad’s pride and joy, but having 3 growing boys in the back seat wasn’t working (we got a powder-blue LTD wagon instead). He so missed that car… he would drive us past the new owners’ home to ‘visit’ the car occasionally.
That’s a beauty, and well equipped including power seats. I think the ’76 has the best look in front you can get with the rectangular lights.
At first I thought that he had figured out a way to play the music on his smartphone through the factory radio, but on second thought I think the phone is just plugged into a lighter socket partially hidden from view by the steering wheel spoke.
I learned to drive on this car’s middle class cousin, a ’76 LeMans Sport Coupe. Yep, that was my high school’s drivers ed car. With bucket seats and a console, to boot. I was the first student to drive it the day it was dropped off by the dealer. That was pretty impressive and a bit scary, to be behind the wheel of a BRAND NEW CAR maybe the third or fourth time I was ever on the road at all. I remember the LeMans as a comfortable and predictable car with no bad surprises for a beginning driver.
Some notes on wheelbases/bodies:
From 1968 to 1977, regular A-body coupes had a 112 inch wheelbase, while sedans were 116 inches.
The 1970-77 Monte Carlo used a special version of the A-body — in fact, I’ve seen it referred to as the “A-Special” — which used the 116 inch sedan wheelbase, longer than the regular coupes.
The 1969-72 Grand Prix took this one step further and used an A-body platform with the wheelbase stretched two inches longer than anything else, to 118 inches. This wheelbase was unique to the Grand Prix and was not shared with any other GM product. (I’ve seen statements that GM actually considered this be a different body called the G-body, but even if that were the case, it was clearly a derivative of the A-body.) When the A-bodies were restyled in 1973, the Grand Prix stopped using this unique longer wheelbase and began sharing the “A-Special” body on the 116 inch wheelbase with the Monte Carlo.
In the pre-1978 era, the Oldsmobile and Buick midsize personal luxury coupes did not use the “A-Special” body, but just used the regular A-body coupe with the 112 inch wheelbase. They were distinguished from the regular A-body coupes through different front & rear styling, different rooflines, etc., but the underlying basic body was exactly the same.
When the A-bodies were downsized in 1978, the coupes and sedans consolidated onto a single wheelbase (including the “A-Special” coupes), which was 108 inches. At this point Oldsmobile and Buick also began using the A-Special body for their personal luxury coupes.
Yes the early personal luxury coupes were designated the A special by GM, I don’t think the G body designation was used until the downsized versions appeared and they dropped the A special designation.
Thanks, I knew about the A-body special and wanted to mention it here, but couldn’t find the right source to quote. I’ve had Cutlass coupes as well as the GP/Monte A-body Special –I’ve heard that term too — and the GP and Monte were definitely longer. Although you certainly couldn’t tell by the back seat! I think the extra length was in the hood and trunk. The Cutlass and Regal definitely had stubbier rear decks.
Just to reiterate, that’s one of the big differences between a LeMans coupe and a GP — the 4-inch longer wheelbase on the GP. Same for the Malibu coupe vs. Monte Carlo.
That is a beautiful car. I am torn as to whether whitewalls or raised white letter tires would look better (but at the very least they should all match LOL) Leather is very rare in those cars – I think it looks fantastic as does the sport steering wheel. I love the LJ model, but would not be opposed to having a nice SJ or even base model if it had some factory options. I have seen these with tachs which is another rare option. Believe it or not, my friend’s aunt had a 1982 Bonneville Brougham Model G, (basically a rebadged LeMans) that shared the beautiful dash with the Grand Prix’s of the day. I couldn’t believe how loaded that car was – it even had a tachometer where the clock normally was supposed to be on those cars! I remember it having an old school digital clock above the glove box. It had been ordered by the Pontiac dealership’s son for his mother to drive and she thought it was too small LOL so it became available to purchase and my friend’s aunt bought it.
This car is heavily optioned..the leather, delay wipers, steering wheel, & semi-auto a/c are quite rare. The only options I don’t see are the tach (or fuel economy gauge), roof option, cornering lamps, and door courtesy lamps. It has either the U69 AM/FM or the U58 AM/FM stereo but you’d think it would have been ordered radioless or with the UM2 AM/FM 8-track.
The option combos on these cars make them all theoretically rare. I’m amazed at the condition of this thing. The seats although comfy, didn’t fare well nor did that steering wheel. The dashes on the ’73-7 GPs were awful about cracking & I’ve only come across one non-cracked piece since I started stripping these at the scrapyards.
I always found it odd that the Cutlass was the top seller when the GP and Monte had so much more character.
The GPs (and Can-Am) interior was my favorite of all the 73-77 cars.
I can’t help but think the slightly smaller size of the Cutlass helped it out. Of course, the Regal was the same size, but I don’t think it even sold as well as the GP, so maybe that theory only goes so far. Olds was just at its height of popularity in the mid-70s. A few years ago I went to the GM Heritage Center near Detroit — well worth a visit — and they had the 1 millionth 1977 Olds on display, a ’77 Cutlass Supreme in Firethorn red. Not the 1 millionth Olds made since the beginning, mind you, but the 1 millionth built that year! An incredible achievement that I don’t think any brand comes close to today.
One other reason Cutlass was big seller is the name was a whole line of mid sized cars, like Chevelle, LeMans, Torino, Montego. The Supreme was top of the line. MC/GP were sold as separate models.
So, altogether, Cutlass line was #1 for 1976, including sedans and wagons.
beautiful car! i did the best road trip of my life in a ’72 grand prix. it was the summer of ’82 and my buddy and i drove it from phoenix to denver to portland to sf and back to phoenix. we actually got over 25 mpg out the v8 at one point by taking off the ac belt and doing every hyper-miling trick we could think of…
god rest your soul, mr. delorean…
With respect to the first photo, how many thousands of similar portraits do you suppose have been taken in front of the Vinsetta Garage?
It’s a restaurant now, but still has most of its old exterior appearance.
Paul, that is a great find and a wonderful article. It is always a delight to come here to see what car is brought to light. And you have a very knowledgable bunch of folks who chime in every day with their thoughts on the car of the day…….. This is the year GP my sister bought brand new in 1976. It was a gold metallic color with the gold vinyl top. 400 cubic inch motor and single digit fuel economy! (The only drawback of 1976 Grand Prix ownership!) Before she bought it I tried to convince her on the merits of the Trans Am but common sense prevailed!
I respectfully disagree on your comments regarding this design; this was the best of the Colonade cars in my humble opinion, with a beautiful waterfall grill that rivals the best of the earlier GP front ends. And that leather interior was a pleasure to sit in. The dash layout on the 76 rivals that of it’s Trans Am sibling……….Pontiac had a flair for dash design that the other divisions could not touch……
I’ve said it before; I miss Pontiac. And I still cannot believe the people at GM thought nothing of axing a company with the tradition and the special cars that came from Pontiac.
Stunning example. The 76 was the best looking out of the series, it certainly embodies the best of the “neo-classic” designs GM had going on with the personal luxury coupes. I still remember the jeweller’s wife down the street driving a brand new one. I never understood why the personal luxury concept fell out of favour of (retch) SUV’s.
Give me the ’63, then the ’76. I was too young to buy the ’63, but I could have easily afforded the ’76. Back then, I remember ads touting them specially equipped at $ 5,100. A sweet car, although if anything like the LeMans, they probably rusted out horribly. Even a 10 year survivor would be rare. I never did see many on the road, even when new. Don’t know when I last saw one.
1976 was the days of $ 7,500 Cadillac Calais and New Yorker’s. I’m sure the dressed to the max Grand Prix cost close to $ 7,000. A bit more money bought a land yacht. A dressed to the max cheaper car could cost almost as much as the best.
My father used to always say, “Buy the strip down version of the best car.” No longer applies in today’s world, but back then, sound advice.
I’ll never forget the first 63 GP in midnight blue that appeared in my small midwestern town when I was a kid – stunning car, still my favorite though I thought the 67 was a great looking car as well. Years later a friend and I were upgraded to a 74 GP by Hertz at SFO when our reserved compact was not available. Trying to find parking in SF for that barge was a life long lesson in not mixing urban life with cars of this size. I do remember that the combination of electric blue metallic paint and white vinyl interior – very popular at the time – attracted favorable attention from valet parkers.
“John DeLorean re-invented the GP for 1969, by using an extended mid-size chassis… he unleashed the whole overwhelmingly-huge mid-sized personal luxury coupe era, which soon became the best selling format in the country. But the GP didn’t fully cash in on that gold rush….It was the Olds Cutlass Supreme Coupe that stole the crown….Even though the Cutlass Supreme took the spotlight, it’s not to imply that the GP of this era was a sales laggard; it sold some 228k in 1976, and even more in 1977, it’s last year before being shrunk. That’s a high water mark for the GP, a reflection of the popularity these big coupes of all sorts enjoyed at the time.”
The 1962-68 B-body Grand Prix was marketed more-or-less as a full-size personal luxury coupe, somewhat akin to cars like the Thunderbird and Riveria, which was really the only kind of personal luxury coupe around at the time. Like the others, the Grand Prix was the crown jewel of Pontiac’s lineup. Although it wasn’t the largest Pontiac, it was near the top of the Pontiac scale in terms of luxury and price, and as such wasn’t expected to sell in huge numbers. Even when it moved to the stretched midsize chassis in 1969, the Grand Prix continued to follow this concept. Though derived from GM’s standard midsize design, Its 118 inch wheelbase was close to full-sized; at worst, it was kind of somewhere in between midsize and fullsize.
The 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo was really the car that laid the blueprint for a new kind of personal-luxury coupe, the midsize personal luxury coupe. While more expensive than the typical midsize car, they were not as exclusive, luxurious or expensive as full-size personal luxury coupes had historically been. As a result, they came to sell in far greater numbers than their full-size counterparts.
By 1973-75, the Grand Prix was using the exact same body as the Monte Carlo, but it was still largely clinging to the full-size personal luxury coupe concept. In this era, the Grand Prix was probably Pontiac’s most expensive model aside from the Grand Ville. This is why its sales remained relatively low compared to a lot of midsize personal luxury coupes.
For 1976, Pontiac apparently decided that it made more sense to aim the Grand Prix at the heart of the booming midsize personal luxury segment rather than market it as a pseudo full-size personal luxury coupe. The Grand Prix was deconteted and dropped significantly in price. Undoubtedly driven in part by consumers delighted that they could afford a car with a nameplate with such a reputation for being exclusive, sales boomed. Ford would do the same with the Thunderbird the following year, with the same results; one could argue that Chrysler had also done something similar when it introduced the Cordoba in 1975, although there hadn’t previously been a directly equivalent full-size model.
This is right on — I would add that part of the MC’s success was in creating a unique ‘personal’ look while sharing much of its sheet metal and chassis components with its intermediate brethren, which allowed a much lower price.
In terms of size, I’d compare the 118-in A-special GP to the Olds and Buick wagons of this time, which were based on the A-body, but on a longer (121-inch) wheelbase.
While there were a few years when the Monte Carlo used the Lumina doghouse (essentially making it nothing more than a Lumina coupe), for most of its existance, the MC had exclusive, dedicated sheetmetal separate from the Chevelle/Malibu 2-doors that were in production at the same time.
Up through 1975 the Grand Prix was positioned as a top-of-the-line personal coupe because Pontiac — unlike Buick and Oldsmobile — didn’t offer a variant of the Riviera/Toronado platform.
As such, the Grand Prix did offer higher-quality trim and a fancier dash than a Monte Carlo. However, that’s where the major differences ended. Both shared the notchback coupe body style also used by the Cutlass and Century, but the wheelbase was stretched four inches ahead of the A-pillar. Both also had unique sheetmetal.
When it comes to hardware, the Cutlass and Century notchback coupes were the ones with the lower production costs. Between 1973 and 1975 they shared the same sheetmetal as their sister sedans and wagons.
The lack of substantive differences between the Monte Carlo and the Grand Prix helps explain why the latter could drop its base price by $600 in 1976, right smack in the middle of Monte Carlo territory.
I suspect that the runaway success of the 1975 Cordoba — which was priced above the Monte Carlo but below the Grand Prix — was the decisive factor in pushing Pontiac to decontent the base Grand Prix for 1976.
And the Cordoba was originally conceived as a MC-fighting Plymouth before being up-contented as a Chrysler. The middle was where the magic was.
In DeLorean’s book On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors, by the mid 1960s, he had become convinced that the standard Pontiac had become too large. He tried to sell a plan for the full size Pontiac (and Chevrolet) that would be built off of an extended intermediate chassis. The only thing that came from this push was the 69 GP. I think that he had a good idea, and an entire series of Chevys and Pontiacs of roughly this size would have been a hit, certainly after the 1973 “energy crisis”. As usual, DeLorean had a good idea – why did a big Chevy need to be the same size as a Buick LeSabre? And also, as usual, the GM upper management stuck to what it had been doing, particularly since Chevrolet would never agree to building a car smaller than the competitive Ford.
Yeah, but the old-school GM execs had a point about sticking with big, full-size Chevys the same size as the rest of the GM divisions, and it can summed up in one word: Newberg.
Newberg was the Chrysler president who insisted on the disasterous 1962 downsizing of the Dodge/Plymouth full-size cars. Although there were many factors to this debacle (not least of which was the cars’ goofy styling caused by the last minute decision), the fact remains that Chrysler nearly bought the farm when ‘they’ downsized their full-size cars. This fact wasn’t lost on GM execs and they weren’t about to fall prey to the same lunacy, despite whatever DeLorean claimed to the contrary.
In fact, it was likely ‘crazy talk’ like advocating the downsizing of Chevy’s full-size line which may have helped lead to DeLorean’s eventual ouster from GM.
“I think … an entire series of Chevys and Pontiacs of roughly this size would have been a hit, certainly after the 1973 “energy crisis”.”
Umm, yes in fact GM did do this,[downsized big cars] for the 1977 model year and they were a hit!
DeLorean was never really ousted from GM like Iaccoca was from Ford, he quit in 1974.
Wow, that’s a nice car!!!
While I am at a point in my life where a car like this would make no sense for me to own, I sure do appreciate it for what it is 🙂
Here’s my “baby” 1973 Grand Prix SJ. I can’t believe this is the only decent pic I have. When I was sixteen & moved to Jasper, AL to be/work with my father, I would ride with him every morning across town & we would eat at Hardee’s. We would pass by this house in town where a black ’76 TransAm & black ’73 GP SJ sat in a carport. This started in ’88.
I drooled over the GP ignoring the T/A (never cared for the ’76 T/A). An older gentleman lived there & those were his everyday drivers. I never had any money so I knew that car would always be nothing more than a “dream” but for years I’d ride by his house to check on the car anyway.
Fast forward around ten years.. I moved to Birmingham & finally got a “real job”. I told my best car-buddy to let me know if he ever saw a ’73 Grand Prix for sale. Well, by chance I had just accumulated around $1,500 thanks to one of my rare E-bay selling sprees & one day, he called me up & said there’s one of those “round headlight” GPs for sale at one of the tote-your-note car lots back in Jasper.
I leave work early (of course!) & head back to town & see this ’73 Grand Prix SJ at the second or third lot in town. It looked an awful lot like the one I saw under that carport & I was excited. In the glove box were the original car papers with that man’s name & address — it was indeed the same vehicle. The man recently traded in both the ’76 T/A and the ’73 SJ to the local Ford dealer for a new Lincoln. I don’t know where the T/A went but the Ford dealer quickly disposed of the GP & it ended up at this lot.
Well, everything fell into place & I drove my car home that day for $1,100…there was no happier fool in Alabama. Many ups & downs have happened but I managed to keep the thing & although the original paint is faded & the car does really need freshening up.
I really like optioned out cars but this one wasn’t ordered with much: Rally II wheels, UM2 AM/FM 8-track stereo, A/C, misc exterior moldings, bumper guards, bumper rub strips & black Cordova top are about it. It has cheap black carpet in it which I found odd but it made sense when I found remnants of the build sheet under the passenger’s bucket seat. “Red carpet” — weird! The car is black with black vinyl top, black vinyl bucket seat interior…but it originally came with red carpet…exactly like the HPP car pictured above. I’ll put the red carpet back in it. My guess is that the original owner did not like the red carpet & had it changed out when the car was fairly new.
Oh…and the car drives like a dream…it’s freakishly fast with its 455! One time I had it nailed while I was in traffic & while I was changing lanes, the 1-2 shift actually broke the rear end loose for just a second, skipping the rear of the car to one side about a foot or so. I felt like Billy Badass that day!
Anyway, I’ll bloviate about my other poor ’73 GP in another posting:it’s the real reason I love these cars.
Here’s the rear view. Some will disagree but I never liked the rear of the ’74-’77 models with the gargantuan bumper & license plate positioning. The ’73 is the cat’s meow to me although locating uncracked front & rear valance panels is just about impossible. Thank goodness mine aren’t damaged.
BTW, although the tach was available in the ’73 Grand Am, it was not available in the Grand Prix until ’74. When the tach was ordered, the clock moved to the console just below the radio. The clocks are harder to find than the tachs, since many tach-equipped ’77 models had ETR stereos (with integrated clocks).
Mine will probably get a tach someday since I’ve captured several of these clusters over the years but not until the huge clock stops ticking.
I like all these ’73-’77 GPs, but absolutely, I agree the ’73 is the most special with the small bumper rear end. Also, the ’73s (maybe ’74 and ’75 too, but not later) had real wood on the dash instead of the usual ’70s vinyl applique.
I think ’74 was the last year. Pontiac labeled it “African Crossfire Mahogany” & it is indeed beautiful. Unfortunately the stuff delaminates & both my gauge surround & console insert are a little worse for wear. The original owner installed a very small machine screw in the dash bezel to keep the overlay from flopping over & breaking off.
I wish I knew of some way to reproduce this stuff since it’s so unique but I haven’t a clue how to do it. I scored some very nice gauge bezels but they are ’75-’77 units & the woodgrain has a very plasticy-clock-radioish look.
I considered using that engine-turned stuff that the ’70-’81 Trans Am dash bezels had since I have extra door panels, bezels, & console doors but the Grand Prix script on the door panels has a gold finish.
More useless info: early ’73s had a “better” emission control setup, slightly different ‘SJ’ fender emblems & their UM2 stereos had a blue stereo indicator instead of the more common orange. My black car is a December ’72 build so it has the earlier stuff.
So I was seventeenish or so & had a ’73 GS455 (long story) & heard this guy had a ’70’s Buick Regal with some other junk cars. I head down there & see something green in the weeds.
Did you ever see a car for the first time & just fall in love? I never saw a more beautiful object in my life as this junk Verdant Green ’73 Grand Prix. I spent my life savings ($125) to acquire that car, delivered to my dad’s property. I knew very little about cars but my goal was to fix that thing.
There was this older black gentleman in town who could make keys so I saved up & learned how to do it while watching him take the steering column apart in my Grand Prix. That in itself was a great memory as he showed me exactly how to do it & we sat in my car & just talked about stuff after he was finished. I love talking to older men & listening to their stories about life.
Anyway, my dad hated the car, always referring to it as a “pile of shit” and my psycho stepmother frequently damaged for fun so the car further deteriorated. Despite its condition, I never got rid of it & its shell still sits in a field with its silver second cousin you see below. Hopefully no scrapper stole it. You can see some of of the many Fieros in the background if you look closely enough.
All I knew how to do at the time was take stuff apart so I removed all the white interior THANK GOODNESS & put it away (somewhere) so it’s not sun-baked. Anybody with common sense would have scrapped the car but I can’t do it.
This car was ordered with nearly every conceivable option & was my favorite color combination: Verdant green, white interior, white vinyl top. It has power driver bucket seat, windows, locks, & trunklid, Automatic climate control, cornering lamps, door courtesy lamps, rear defogger, visor mirrors on both sides, sport mirrors, tilt, cruise, AM/FM 8-track, Rally II wheels, sport steering wheel, all exterior moldings, bumper options, & the gold paint stripe. It did not have the gauge package, roof option, posi rear end, nor the 455.
Realistically it’ll never get fixed…and I considered combining it with my black SJ since I don’t like black anyway….but finding the “red carpet” blurb on the black car build sheet changed that.
To middle class buyers, Oldsmobile was more prestigous name, and they flocked to Cutlasses. When GM put Chevy motors in Oldses, it was a big no-no! Olds was seen as a luxury company and Chevy was ‘cheap, cheap’. This was one of GM’s deadly sins, even if it saved money.
The Grand Prix had gotten many former GTO owners in the 70’s. Adding a bench seat model in 76 got LeMans or Catalina buyers to go ‘Hey, I can get a sporty GP for same $’
The downsized G bodies were not ‘deadly sins’, but one of GM last great cars. After all, the Buick Grand National was one of them.
I love these. As some above have opined, I think out of the Colonnade era midsize GM PLC’s, this was the most unique looking. I agree that they aren’t quite as classy as the ’63 (what is?), or as high-luxury looking as the ’69, but they were still lookers. Compared to the brick-like Cutlass and the slightly boring Regal, they were brash. Monte Carlos tied for best looking during some of the years. Now, I agree that they were all a bit bloated looking, and I won’t even talk about interiors.
I’m not a fan of the single-headlight “neo-classical” touch, but that’s okay.
After missing out on a ’76 Can Am, I ended up with a ’75 Hurst/Olds for several years. Outside of the H/O differences, I thought the ’76 and up colonnade coupes lost alot of character from the earlier round light versions. Always did like the ’76 GP, though.
Still looking for a stock photo of a white 76 SJ, red interior, to post on my fb nostalgia sites, without t’s or vinyl top. Mine from McNamara Pontiac, new, in Orlando; low perf. 400, and yes, at least in base SJ configuration, a clock in place of a tach. Build quality so lame that the plastic w/wood-grain applique straps to pull to close the huge doors came off after the warranty. The console had a slope so it would not hold a drink; many years before cupholders. A few years earlier, these SJs were the bomb with the 455 for kids from Miami Beach at UF. Vivid recall of wild times on the sands of Daytona, Spring Break 72. The 4 bbl. would make a gigantic lo-lead fuel air sucking noise when the Jimmy Carter 55 mph speed limit could be reasonably violated. Passed down to my younger brother, a frosh at Univ. of FL, whose buds quickly dubbed her the White Whale. Claim to fame is when my brother and funster tried to outrun a cop in Palm Beach, and the SJ wound up in gradeschooler Paris Hilton’s front yard. Yup.
“Jimmy Carter 55 mph speed limit”? The 55-mph national limit was imposed by an act of Congress signed by President Nixon on 2 January 1974. Some individual states had already reduced the limit to 55 by then.
IMHO, and again, it MY opinion, the 50th Anniversary Edition Grand Prix 1976, was the best looking special edition car GM ever made! now I have to research why they only make 4807 of these editions. There are still some out there, I’ve been wanting one since I was 14, and I’ll have one sooner or later. Golden paint, a white opera roof, white pin stripes, many options including the 455 which I hope to get, or get one and put a motor like that in there. They just do not make the bubble looking cars like these Grand Prix’s anymore
I had one for 26 years. Just bought it back, for pure nostalgia. It has sport instrumentation (with tach), sport steering wheel, but lacks white side trim. Needs some restoration…
I live in Switzerland, and I never saw another GA here.
I liked the photos. I liked the 1977 best. I think it was the front end that did it for me. I also like the 1976 also. The 1977 sold very well also. I like the ones from the 1981-1987 era too. This car has indeed had an interesting history. There have been some interesting styling changes along the way. I think the last Pontiac Grand Prix was trying to recapture some of this models cues in some ways.
1976 Pontiac Grand Prix:
Guess I’m the odd one but hated the front end if the 76’s the most. Loved the ’77s and even the older round headlight models (especially loved the ’75 tail lights). Never understood the bland Cutlass over the Montes and GPs either. Even my mother opted for the Monte in her 40s. Those GP floor shifter cables commonly broke. I remember shifting a ’76 by turning the steering column with both hands.
Nice GP wIth an interior that really appeals to me with the exception of the back seat. It doesn’t look as well thought out as the front seats. Perhaps that’s where they cut costs.
To me the last Grand Prix that appealed to me was the 1970 model. As we all know after 1971 the domestic market was entering the dark ages.
Bittersweet seeing these images and reading your words Paul. The Grand Prix and 76-77 Cutlass Supreme were among the most attractive and impressive cars of my lifetime. The words Grand and Supreme apply perfectly.
Never liked the ’73-77 Monte Carlo; it was impressive but not attractive. Likewise the ’69 Grand Prix, which is a favorite, does not have a very impressive interior. But that red car’s interior, holy smokes!
I prefer the 76-77 Cutlass Supreme over the Colonnade GP but it’s close. The peak in the front and rear bumpers added too much visual mass, especially in back. The straight across bumper on the Cutlass leans things up and was the right move at the right time.
The vision of guys like Delorean and Mitchell came through loud and clear. Talk about understanding your customer, they created what the customer ended up wanting. You had the presence of a Jaguar XJS for the price of an Accord EX. No wonder in ’77, on the 2-doors alone, they sold close to 1,000,000 cars. Add in the Regal and Monte Carlo and it’s what 1.5M? 🙁
That said I don’t know what they were thinking on the 4-doors, ugly as hell. Maybe those were compromised to make the 2-door better?
4 door mid size cars were afterthoughts back then, a compromise for needing the room.
The 64-72 cars for sure look like afterthoughts, the 73-77 sedans have a whole different roof and are a lot less closed-in feeling, they are almost like a fishbowl in comparison. (I own a 4 door 77 Chevelle, usually the only 4 door in shows that I put it in)
After the 70, i like the 76 best. But would rather have a 77-79 tbird any day.
This is probably my favorite Grand Prix ever, while I prefer the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme of the same model year. I would easily take a Grand Prix in nice condition if the opportunity presented itself. I actually saw one a really well taken care of example at a car show that was white with a red interior and had a 8,000 dollar asking price. Too bad I was broke and there was no garage space at my house.
Still Grand. The Pontiac Grand Prix of the Colonnade era did not share its front clip and rear end with lesser midsize Pontiacs. The Olds Cutlass did. The Cutlass put on makeup. The Grand Prix put on a classy new outfit.
One more thought…I can’t research it here, but wasn’t the Cutlass Supreme CHEAPER?
A basic Cutlass Supreme would be cheaper than this optioned-up Grand Prix LJ, yes. And another draw of the Cutlass Supreme was that you could get it as a sedan or wagon as well as the flagship coupe, unlike the Grand Prix–there was a Cutlass Supreme for everyone.
Give me a ’63 Grand Prix(2nd). To me it’s timeless understated style has it all over the later ones and especially the ones built after ’69. Not to mention they were also quicker than a lot of the later ones. Just like I prefer the ’64 GTO(1st) above the rest. For some reason I always have liked the first or sometimes second year editions of various cars or their new body styles the best. ’55 Chevrolet(1st), ’65 Chevrolet(1st), ’59 Rambler(2nd), ’64 1\2 Mustang(1st), ’62 Fairlane(1st), ’64 Chevelle(1st), ’67 Valiant & Darts(1st although there is little actual difference between ’67-’69) and ’65 Chrysler(1st). Cars I really like stopped at 1970. Flame suit on.
Enjoyed my 1962 GP back in 1967till it was T boned in Portland while my younger brother was driving it. Now the LJ was a 1975 model designation as the one in my current collection. Norm
I’m guessing this was repainted without the vinyl roof. I don’t think many opera window coupes were sold that way.
I liked the interiors on these. Some had real wood veneer applique on the dash, console and door-trim. I knew a lady that had a white ’77 with gorgeous red upholstery. As for the exterior, I used to call it ‘The Batmobile!’
Happy Motoring, Mark
I bought a used 1976 Grand Prix SO with the 350 cubic inch engine 2bl 400 turbo trans. I have had many cars over the years and besides my current 2009 Cadillac Escalade my 76 GO was my favorite car. As for interior room my girlfriend at the time can a test to It’s roominess. The only problem I had was the car constantly flooded out after pushing down on the gas to pass someone or even pulling away from a traffic light.
I can pinpoint one of the most attractive styling ‘gimmicks’ of the colonnade Grand Prix, and it’s that dip towards the back end of the doors. I’m a sucker for that look (I think it made its first appearance on fifties’ British sports cars like the Jaguar XK series).
While not a particular fan of the GM colonnades, the ’73-’77 Grand Prix was a winner, even making a solid transition to quad rectangular headlights with a much better side-by-side, horizontal configuration, as opposed to the ungainly stacked, vertical type as used on PLCs like the Monte Carlo and Cordoba.
Seeing this I can’t help wondering why the Olds Cutlass Supreme was so popular; to my eyes this is a more individual-looking (and therefore attractive) car than the somewhat generic Olds. The hood coming to a point and the grille wrapping over the top makes it more interesting – but Pontiac had sure lost the wide-track thing, hadn’t they? And they lost their way even further with the coarse-looking ’77 front.
That back-story though – I can understand the car being seen as too big, but fancy being able to just store it all this time. Surely most folk would have traded it for something felt to be more suitable? I’m sure glad they didn’t, but kept it in such good condition.
I thought the Grand Prix was positioned more in the Monte Carlo competition, and the Cutlass more as a Le Mans challenger. In any event, this Grand Prix is a nice looking car, if not kind of overdone. Overstyled. What have you. I would name it the best looking Pontiac of the colonnade family. Is it the best looking Pontiac ever? I still say that was the 1957.
That’s an unusual choice. I’d go for the 62 or maybe a 1967 Grand Parisienne.
As distinct as it made the ’63 GP, I’ll never understand why GM didn’t use that roofline on all the ’63-4 A-body 2 door hardtops. The regular one with its’ convertible-uptop look (why mimic an ugly tent?) was so dowdy and frumpy I suspect it was designed to sell post sedans and 4-door hardtops.
On a related but more germane to the main car here note, Pontiac made the least use of the best Colonnade coupe roofline, the semi-fastback with big triangular quarter windows, but on the other hand seems to have done the best job grafting square headlights onto them, twice, with both the GP and the LeMans. They even did a decent job with them on the ’75-6 Bonneville with its’ 1971-era round lined basic shell.