(first posted 2/22/2013) The year is 1977: Jimmy Carter’s inauguration is followed closely by the introduction of brother Billy Carter’s eponymous beer. The musical stars align in a bid to provide supermarkets and TimeLife™ with an endless supply of goose-down-soft “rock”; meanwhile, Elvis expires at Graceland. In Detroit, the Renaissance Center springs forth from the downtown waterfront, signaling a new era. GM wasn’t ready to make the transition just yet; while making great strides in the market with its “downsized” full-size cars, the General still had one foot firmly planted in the early ’70s with its “Colonnade” mid-sizers.
Image Courtesy of paintref.com
In 1977, GM had an unprecedented mission: to actually downsize its full-size cars. Their efforts paid off in the form of new full-size bodies from every division, and the silhouettes of each remained a huge presence on American roads throughout the 1980s. The chances are quite good that you’ve either owned (or spent considerable seat time in) a “downsized” GM. For me, it was my family’s ’79 Impala Coupe, which was followed by an ’85 Caprice Classic that my father still refers to as the greatest car he’s ever owned. A sea change was certainly afoot among the Detroit Three…but what of the left-behinds?
GM’s intermediates were forced to endure another year of the Colonnade body style first introduced in 1973. Although generally derided as overgrown mid-sizes, the Colonnade series of vehicles did manage to produce some good looking rides. Pontiac, still hanging on to its ’60s Wide-Track heritage of sport and luxury, managed to produce some of the better-looking cars of the era, even though they were still saddled with B-pillars and Federally-mandated bumpers.
In particular, the ’73 Pontiac LeMans and its later brethren were able to manage what is arguably the best rear-end styling treatment of all the Colonnades; their graceful, “brush-tip” integration of the 2 1/2-mph rear bumper (5 mph rear bumpers arrived in ’74) flows nicely into the fender and door sheet metal and looks particularly good in profile.
While the look was definitely successful in coupe form, the sedans were another story. Their steeply sloped rear trunk, combined with the extra length of the sedan greenhouse, makes for a somewhat awkward outline, and no amount of Landau goodness can mask the fact that there’s just too much glass in the upper half of this Colonnade sedan.
Nonetheless, the Pontiac overlords did what they could for ’77 as they participated in GM’s crash diet, which finally hit the mid-sized cars in 1978. Our feature car is a 1977 Pontiac Grand LeMans, in ’70s-tastic Buckskin Poly with a Light Buckskin vinyl roof. As a Grand LeMans, it sits at the top of Pontiac’s mid-sized lineup, followed closely by the LeMans Sport Coupe and the plain ol’ LeMans.
Image Courtesy of paintref.com
So what did ponying up for the “Grand” get you in a Pontiac mid-sized car? Not a whole heck of a lot, really. You could get “seats richly upholstered in cloth or Morrokide”, along with “thick, cut-pile carpet” underfoot…a “Grand Prix-like” instrument panel…and that was about it. Wait, there was one more thing:
…a lovely octagonal stand-up hood ornament, done up in the classic style of monogrammed bath towels. Grand MansLe? Either way, it was a bonafide symbol that the owner had arrived on schedule to the Brougham party, likely with Hall and Oates playing at a tasteful volume through the (optional) AM/FM/CB radio in the dash.
You’d need those soothing sounds to drown out the choking noise coming from under the hood, as the Grand LeMans was a prominent victim of the emissions era. Starting out with the base Buick-sourced 3.8-liter 231 V6, the Grand LeMans was also available with the ill-fated Pontiac 301, as well as a couple of old standbys: the Pontiac 350 & 400 cu in V8s, each sporting a four-barrel carb and putting less than 200 hp to the ground—two once-mighty engines now reduced to hose-adorned wannabe gas misers. Like 99.9% of ’77 LeManses, our feature vehicle is equipped with the venerable Turbo Hydramatic, though technically a three-on-the-tree was available.
Note the prominent ship’s prow and slight point in the middle of the grille…this understated vestige of Pontiac’s once-iconic design language would hang around for quite a few more years. This is also a prime example of GM’s approach to 5-mph bumpers—a huge hunk of rust-prone steel, pre-drilled with slots for the jack. Our feature car has a dainty set of rubber nudgers in case it needs to do The Bump with a lesser vehicle, and nicely integrated turn signals reside between them.
A Grand LeMans also got you this tasteful light bar across the trunk, though the inside “lights” were simply reflectors. And again, we’re reminded of Chris Rock’s screed on planned obsolescence: “They got metal on the space shuttle that can go around the moon and withstand temperatures up to 20,000 degrees. You mean to tell me you don’t think they can make an Eldorado where the [flippin’] bumper don’t fall off?” Luckily, this Poncho hasn’t quite reached that point.
So there we have it, the final postscript to the Colonnade era at GM. The Bicentennial Hangover of 1977 would give way to a brief period of optimism before Jimmy Carter (possibly under the influence of Billy Beer) introduced America to a new energy crisis and the great “malaise” era in 1979. During that brief respite, GM would finally shed its attachment to the Colonnade cars while introducing an all-new series of mid-size platforms. I, for one, still raise a glass of beer to the Colonnades…and to paraphrase Billy Carter, I’ve tasted a lot.
The 70s, I miss them.
Good music, lousy cars.
I was a kid, and even then, I shared many of the sentiments expressed above—too thirsty, slow, and space-INEFFICIENT.
Yet they had a certain charm.
These cars came out in fall 1972, the height of post-war American affluence, and they reflected it.
In many ways America is a better place now, in many ways it is worse. But the sense of optimism that was dashed during the energy crisis never really came back.
For a while on my drive to work I saw a version of this type of car permanently parked in front of a Walgreens. What was the name of the chevy version of this car?
Would be interesting if Cadillac offered a Series 62 or Calais off the ’73 – ’77 Colonnade intermediates. 4 and 2 doors would have been quite the seller plus gets the buyer into the Cadillac family. This would have made a better entry level Cadillac than the “Calais” of 1965 – 1976 off the full sized body.
Like them or dislike them, the Colonnade’s were very popular cars and good sellers for GM. To me, the main thing wrong with these cars was their emission chocked lack of power for most of their lives. I think the ’73 models had stronger engines.
I like the 73 models, whether Lemans, Century or Cutlass. The rear view of all 3 makes me think how much nicer they would have been with small front bumpers. If I had the time and money, I would put a delicate bumper, frenched in at the sides on any of the three. The big square bumpers, which of course were required front and rear starting in 74, just didn’t work at all for me with the flowing lines of the Colonnades.
This 73 Olds could use a small bumper, but it shows how the lines of the car comes to life without the big battering ram on the front.
https://engineswapdepot.com/?p=12780
So true. It seems to me the ’73 Cutlass front bumper, while definitely not form fitting, was not as bad as many others. But the back end of the Cutlass in ’73 was just really attractive to me.
I rode in several colonades in my youth, but only drove two. Allow me to tell what I remember about them.
I had a friend with a ’73 Cutlass about 30 years ago. It was a soft, cushy, very comfortable cruiser. Had high miles but ran great. I don’t remember the engine size, (400?) but it had that great 4bbl growl. Cornered pretty awful, but it was all worn out suspension-wise.
Contrast it to the ’77 Monte Carlo I had a bit later.Had about 70,000 miles when I got it, and was in very good shape. Dark green with rallye wheels from (I think) a Corvette.
I believe it had the upgraded suspension. It had Goodyear STs, and could corner really tight. Surprisingly flat on a quick corner. It had a 350 2bbl and wasn’t at all in the same league power-wise as that Cutlass. It had positraction but couldn’t make much use of it with that engine, plus it seemed to have a numerically-low differential. But at least is was very smooth.
The MC’s seats and interior were vastly inferior as well.
Two colonades; two very different-feeling cars.
But both special in their own ways. The drivetrain and interior of the Olds and the suspension
/wheels/tires of the Monte would have been great.
With the Pontiac body, which is to me vastly better-looking. Those were the most rare around here, or at least it seemed like it. I’ve never been in a Pontiac colonade but I have a feeling it would be my favorite of all.of them.
Well, I was about to send this comment out when I suddenly remembered that in 1986, when I was 16, my future stepmother had a beater ’76 LeMans sedan. I remember not liking it much. Crappy bench seat and cheapo interior. Maybe it was a stripper-model. Dented and rusty and an ugly pale yellow.
So never mind about that.
All good points.
“…no amount of Landau goodness can mask the fact that there’s just too much glass in the upper half of this Colonnade sedan…”
I disagree. To me, the Colonnade sedans look airy with their large glass area, quite unlike the buttoned-up, high beltline look of crossovers today, though that’s nothing like the gunslit windows on late Camaros.
Clean up the B pillar and they look better, The original treatment visually cut the greenhouse in half.
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