(first posted 12/5/2012) Is it the goal of CC to document every make, model and generation of car? I don’t know, but if it is, I’m going to need some help, because there are a whole lot of cars out there that I’m just not qualified to say much about. Unless it’s just some generalized (and possibly inappropriate) slurs, which tend to come easy to me for certain cars, especially of more recent vintage. The odds of that probably go up a bit further if it was made by GM. Yes, there are two other cars in this picture I’d rather be thinking about. But we’ve done them, so now it’s homework assignment time: write an 800 word essay on a purplish 1995 (that’s a wild guess) Pontiac Grand Prix. Uh oh.
If you’ve been around here for a while, and heard about my studious ways in high school, you should already know what I’m going to come up with:
Nothing.
I never did any homework in school. Except about twice, when I actually got genuinely enthused about a particular subject for a paper. In all those years, I can think of just two: “The Life of Henry Ford” (1968), and “Why Marijuana Should Be Legalized” (1967). The second one raised an eyebrow from Sister Dolores, my eight grade teacher.
So you think I can raise any enthusiasm about this so-called Grand Prix?
If this were the assignment, it would be a different story. And if the model behind it wasn’t so…ah…mature, the story might actually be inspired. But I haven’t found one on the street, and you know what a purist I am.
So we’re stuck with this pretender to the that name. OK, I can tell you this much: the 1963 Pontiac had a face that created a design revolution in Detroit, and everyone rushed to copy it. This GP has a face blatantly copied from a Mercury Sable. Does it get any more pathetic than that? Is there more to know about this car worth knowing?
True confession: the dog ate my homework. No, actually, it’s worse than that: I’m pretending to write about a car I’ve never sat in. And that goes for the whole family of GM’s W-Body cars: Regals, Cutlass Supremes, Luminas, Centuries, Intrigues, Impala, Monte Carlos, LaCrosse, (I’m reading this off from my wikipedia crib notes). Never set my butt in any of them, at least not that I have any memory of. There, I feel better for having said that (guess my Catholic upbringing wasn’t a total failure).
It’s not that I actively shunned these cars; well, sort of. But around the time these were really enjoying their golden years, I mostly dropped out of the new car scene, at least for a while, having found other things that held my attention better then cars like this. The very first W-Body coupes that came out in 1988 were such snoozers, I decided to take a hiatus on new GM cars until the the whole W-Body era was finished. That turned out to be a lot longer than I thought. Call me Rip van W-Body. Did I miss anything?
I just remembered: I have done one other W-Body CC. And it turned out even sparser than this one, until I got some help from my friends. So if you’re a fan of Ws, my apologies. Bring on the love in the comments.
Only one possible regret: by not doing my homework, I can’t rightfully argue it’s a GM Deadly Sin. (Update: I did a DS on a Lumina here, and I actually did some homework on that one). But then as far as I know, it might well be a GM’s Greatest Hit. Maybe homework wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Anybody got some W-Body notes I can copy? I hear there’s a test today.
That whole Car looks licensed upon the the Aerodynamic Mercury Sable, but with Separate from the headlight Turn Signals and No Strecthy two-piece stop-lights. The Interior is a whole different story for a Messy one.
I have a lot of experience with W-bodies. My wife had several Cutlass Supremes as a company car (also was the family car) from a 1991 through 1997. We bought the 91 and 97 off lease and they each went well over 200,000 miles. My in-laws had a 2001 Buick Century and my sons each had a 2002 Grand Prix. All of these had the 3100 cc V6 which gave good service, good mileage and good power. The main issue with the engine was the intake manifold gasket, which guaranteed a $900 repair somewhere between 50000 and 100000 miles. At least the intake gasket failure on the 3100 didn’t lead to engine failure like it often did on the 3.5 or 3.8 GM V6’s.
I also had a 1998 Olds 88 and a 2006 Impala with the 3800/3900 V6s. Al these cars gave good service.
Various models did have some distinct weakness – the early 90s Cutlass Supremes had problems with the rear brake calipers, that was fixed on the later versions. The Grand Prixs were always eating up front wheel bearings. The 06 Impala had software that featured “low power mode”. Other than intake manifold gaskets, the only major repair I had on any of these was a transmission rebuild on the Impala at just under 200000 miles.
The W-bodies were on the top of my list throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s.
I think this entry finally has me on Paul’s page about what the Deadly Sin series is about. GM made some whopper errors over the decades that really stand out, and those are obvious wiffs (Vega, X Cars), but perhaps the W really symbolizes the deep mediocrity of so many of GM’s efforts after the utter disasters of the early / mid ’80s.
While other companies had bad stumbles, they frequently had some real highlights. GM struggled with some sort of criticism and shrinking market share with just about every major new passenger car introduction from 1978 through the early 2000s. The only real highlights of the W were the two generations of Impala that were on it. Much like the A Cars before it, some W’s finally got generally consistent respect when they were in their second decade. That’s a terrible way to develop a platform.
I had a 1995 4 door Oldsmobile cutless supreme with the 3.1 v6 I got in 1999. It had 85 k miles on it i drove it till i purchased. my first new truck. Later in 2007 I purchased my 1997 4 door Oldsmobile cutless supreme with only 8k miles. Yes that is correct only 8k miles never driven in snow or rain. I kept that car for 8 yrs and 112k miles.
I always liked these in “performance” coupe form, at least visually. Thought the coupe design lent itself well to the more aggressive styling cues and the BBS-style wheels that were all the rage back then. With the Twin Dual Cam 3.4 under the hood, they actually had performance to back up the looks. Until the head gaskets went, anyway. Never did drive one, or any W-body variant, just some passenger time in a Regal GS sedan which seemed nice enough to my 14 year old self.
Half-baked about sums it up. The coupe GP was an attractive pastry but the insides just weren’t fully done.
The main problem I see with these is that they weren’t distinctive. Although the original GP was based on common architecture, the clean sides and different-but-still-attractive roofline made it stand apart from the herd. Once all cars went to sides free of excessive ornamentation, it would have been harder to make this one stand out.
Generally, car manufacturers often seem to have this problem when replacing a distinctive but popular design. There must be awful pressure on the have an equivalent in next year’s range, and the new model often comes out lacking the visual snap and flair that made the old one a hit. First example that comes to mind is the Toyota RAV4 – everyone knows what the original looked like, but could you pick the new one in a pack of similar-sized SUVs? Yeah, I always wanted to be a car designer. Nowadays, I’m glad I’m not.
And I won’t get started on the concept of having the name of a once-halo model apply to a whole range.
What’s truly HEARTBREAKING is how the company who once turned out such timeless classics at the ’63 shown above…could, just 25 years later, turn out the Grand Prix seen above.
The two subsequent redesigns – 1997 and 2004 – show more of what could’ve been – should’ve been all along. I think they actually made 4-door cars cool.
Sadly, they were still W-cars, or GM-10 if you prefer, underneath.
Can you imagine the General building such mediocrity in, say, 1938? Or 1950? Neither can I.
What year was this photo taken in because I see a 1976-77 Oldsmobile Cutlass 4 door in the background?
I’ve thought the 1988-96 Pontiac Grand Prix’s were alright, I wish they were offered with the durable Buick 3.8 Liter V6 instead of the 3.4 Liter V6 as the optional engine like the Buick Regal did I also liked the 1997+ Grand Prix’s better than this generation.
TBH, I preferred the H Body cars over the W body cars by a lot
+1
I liked these cars as a kid, and they still look pretty decent today compared to some other GM offerings of the era. I didn’t realize they were made until 1996…the lightbar was pretty passe by then. It is funny someone above likened this to the Mercury Sable, because among the original drawings for the Taurus / Sable twins was an almost perfect clone of the Grand Prix front end. Someone at Pontiac must have made a few visits to Ford…
Ponticrap was so doomed by then. The awful plastic era was in full swing laughingly trying to be a BMW competitor! What sane individual would even consider a Ponticrap over a faultless Bimmer?! Those Grand Prix’ and most other GM vehicles of that era disappeared off the roads in short order. Well, it’s junk like that that got more and more people into high quality, ultra reliable, Asian and German cars.
Faultless? Ultra reliable? German? Oh, that’s a good one. Really, give me a minute to compose myself.
I like German cars. I really do. However just about everyone who has owned one in my family or circle of friends has had nothing but trouble, and ended up wiser, lighter of wallet, and driving something Asian or even in a few cases American. I’m sure they’re incredible when new, but out of the price range of us commoners, and used ones don’t know the word reliable.
I happened to read this while visiting my son at Tripler Army Medical Center where he is doing an internship. While he was working, I borrowed his car to do a bit of sightseeing. It’s a closely related model to the Grand Prix. These things really are pathetic cars. I tried to make myself useful doing a couple minor repairs on the car while I was here. Thought I could fix the window regulators for example. No dice. The interior of the doors had rusted enough there was no metal left for the window guides to attach to. Best to drive the car with the windows up. Luckily one thing GM did right was air conditioning. This one will still freeze you out of the car – that is if it doesn’t overheat. My son’s car has the dreaded lower intake gasket leak that plagued the GM 3.1, 3.4 & 3.8 engines used in various versions of this car. My son is one of the lucky ones. He has to keep adding water, but doesn’t need to buy antifreeze due to the climate. He also has to keep adding oil. Why is he lucky? At least the coolant is not mixing with the oil as it did on so many of these engines. A darn shame really. These were fairly stout & reliable engines until GM redesigned the intake gaskets and started using Dexcool. In a place like Hawai’i where performance really doesn’t matter, this old car still has that comfortable GM dramamine ride. Another nice feature of the car is that it is pretty well theft proof no matter where you park it. You can even leave the keys in it with the engine running. It will still be there when you get back. Hopefully this car will last my son through his internship – but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Pontiac became GM’s, we build excrement division, when they built the craptastic Fiero ending with the stinking Aztec.
For 1959, BOP shared the same windshield and greenhouses across their car lines- along with the Buick front door. The W bodies might have done the same for a better effect. Pontiac I believe had the best looking coupe roof, Buick the best looking sedan roof. Sharing these two greenhouses across the line might have caused some of the brands to rethink their front ends, among other trickle down effects.
Over ten years later, this GP is still sitting there. I shot it a few weeks back; might post an update.
To me this thing screams “committee car”, I can see elements from the Grand Am, the Mercury Sable, I think some elements from the Sunbird in the front end. Overall it’s about as exciting as the Chevrolet Malibu which was so bland it was generic. And don’t get me started on the interior-the dash board with those horrible looking air vents, the bloated steering wheel-it’s awful. I’ve heard the old line that committees never do anything really terrible or really exciting; it’s almost as if they were trying to create a vehicle that would have something have broad appeal and totally dropped the ball.
Light-bar grilles making a comeback thanks to cheap LEDs.
Paul: So if you hated school, didn’t pay attention, and never did your homework–how did you ever learn to be a writer? (And a builder, and all the other things you’ve done?) To me this suggests that school as it is traditionally conducted is a waste of time. Perhaps you learned on your own–which is easier for kids now because of the internet.
Or maybe school and those teachers were more beneficial to you than you realize?
I mostly learned (and still do) on my own, once past elementary school. There were some classes I liked in HS, but not many.
I read a lot…and did back then too. I’d hook school, take the bus to the giant main Pratt library in downtown Baltimore, and read…old magazines, mostly. Popular Mechanix; that sort of thing. Old cars and other things fascinated me.
I’ve always liked the full size GP, to a point. Some, like the ’68, looked too much like the other full size Ponchos. Earlier ones had that certain “less is more” look. Stylish without being overbearing.
The ’70 SJ was the one I have always wanted but so far has always gotten away. When you pulled up in one, you arrived.
To me had the ’95 and its siblings not looked like the other GM vehicle of the era, it might have had the slightest glimmer of hope.
To each his own
If that’s your photo, it is very nicely composed and shot at an interesting angle.
I was never a Pontiac fan, never will be. My disdain of the mid seventies’ Le Mans has been written of on these pages before. The huge largesse of the 76 Grand Prix. Is it Grand Prix or Gran Prix? I never knew. Then there was the Grand Am, another GM branding exercise. The Bonneville my buddy had which rusted out prematurely on his beloved Gun Metal gray paint. The next door neighbour who had one of these 1990s and it was in the shop more than in his driveway, all the while when he could get around in his Civic every day. The Bonneville another neighbour had and the spring sticking out of the passenger seat. Another time when a chap drove through a cemetery in his Catalina knocking down gravestones while the car careened out of control.
They just never clicked with me to say the least.
I have a 95 grand prix sedan in white, and can confirm it is a forgettable vehicle. The red lights are cool at night, and it handles decent for a sedan but other than that its just a cheap steamer to get you from A to B. nothing to write home about