As ungainly and corporate-GM as they are, the Colonnade cars easy to distinguish in any form, with uncommonly resplendent proportions and an unmistakable greenhouse. In Grand LeMans form, this particular Pontiac coupe is a nice representation of the body in a more standard configuration, justifying its well-preserved state despite a less-than-sizzling reputation as a collector’s item.
Its rear end styling was also better at emphasizing the curvaceousness of the basic shape, compared to the more popular A-body variants, making this slow-seller when new one of the more rare versions of surviving Colonnades today (though maybe this isn’t the case in Canada, where AGuyInVancouver shot this).
Big coupes were where it was at in those days and it was hard to top GM’s intermediates when it came to gravitas; that’s easy to forget for those of us raised in the post-Taurus/Accord era. As generic American cars of the seventies, there were more boring shapes out there.
When it came to the standard A-body, the Cutlass Supreme was vastly more popular, suggesting this nominally-deluxe Grand LeMans (nee Luxury LeMans) was somehow lacking. I can’t imagine why, given how much this car shared with the more popular–and expensive–extended wheelbase A-special Grand Prix. If space efficiency didn’t matter, and if personal luxury was the watchword, this interior should’ve been what most consumers wanted. I’ll leave it to you guys to explain the LeMans’s relative lack of success.
I think the Colonnade LeMans looked the least conventional of the 1973 A-bodies. Those curvaceous fenders were/are an acquired taste. The Olds and Buick, with their interpretation of the sculpted body sides, looked more luxurious, stylish and baroque, than the Pontiacs IMO. But also more conventional. The Grand Prix styling worked, in a more traditional way. Whereas the LeMans styling was more controversial and almost unusual looking. Primarily because of that fender treatment. I’d say it’s styling was more polarizing.
Interesting about this one, is that the grille looks very Olds like. The parking lights look like the Olds logo and the vertical waterfall design, has an Oldsmobile quality.
I think if Pontiac toned down the fender scallops, especially the lower body scallops, it would have cleaned up the appearance considerably. As well as giving the trailing edge of the rear fenders stronger definition and less dropoff. As well as less deep fender top curves. The styling may not have been so futuristic, but it would have complimented the Malibu much better, and still looked like a step up. Without undermining the unique Cutlass or Regal styling. The symmetrical side scallop neither looked sporty or luxurious. But more 1950s sci-fi inspired. Here’s an interpretation…
The Century/Regal was born with quite curvaceous sheet metal as was the Cutlass. Both were smoothed out in their 1976 restyle, while the Lemans and Chevelle/Malibu soldiered on without much change to their side sheetmetal.
While the contmeporary Monte Carlo is often thought of as the most extreme example of Bill Mitchell’s fascination with the classic car era, it’s really the LeMans, with it’s more prominent pseudo pontoon fenders, that derserves that honour.
I think you are absolutely correct in what would have been the right move for Pontiac, and your rendering is spot on.
But, I’m in the tiny minority that really likes the skirted silver coupe in the 1975 ad. But, I’ll agree with the majority that the 1975 front was not the best of the several that were on this car.
Nice; a real improvement.
What’s the difference? Nevermind, I see. And it looks A LOT better Pontiac’s way. My polarity is that this is one of the best looking cars, along with the 1973-77 Monte Carlo, that GM ever built.
I actually prefer it with the scalloping intact. Gives it something of a wasp-waisted look, but I don’t think that’s all bad. Personally I love the tail styling of these cars but I’m underwhelmed by the nose treatment. It does look almost Oldsmobile-ish.
The semi-vertical taillights are very cool, that’s their best feature!
I don’t like the Grand LeMans grille on the CC car, but the regular one in the ad is OK. I’ve been Googling these cars and I think the one I like best is the ’74 grille with the horizontal bars:
Wider than stock Rally IIs and tires filled out to the fenders helps too.
That looks a million times better! I never saw too many Colonnade LeMans in person so I wasn’t fully aware that they looked this weird. Those bulging sides are truly bizarre and I’m not really sure what they were going for there, but the hips are classic 60s Pontiac and the coupe body makes for a nice profile. Deleting some of that symmetry fixes everything that was wrong with it!
The character is ripped out of it, looks as plain as a base Chevelle. Just my 2 cents.
Why do some car bloggers complain of plain looking cars, and then complain of anything unique?
Sensational work. I love it- both the quality and the design.
A slimmed down front bumper would set this baby off.
Thank you for your efforts.
Chris
The best looking of all the Colonnades were the Pontiacs. Sorry to see they still have not reached cult collector status as the 68-72 GM intermediates. They really have aged well.
That’s a good thing, that keeps them affordable, I’m really tired of people that think their marginal quality bondo box 69 GTO with non-numbers matching 400 from a 73 Catalina is worth “$35,000-serious inquiries only, no time wasters”
Every time I see “serious inquires-no time wasters” I feel like showing up to look at the car dressed like Bozo the clown with a rubber chicken and a bag full of monopoly money.
+1000
LOVE IT! If you do this, please get some picks and share them with us!!!
I equally hate “how much do you want for that” when you are not even selling it. I had this just the other week. Pulled up in a classic Merc outside a coffee shop. Some guy with a (much) younger lady on his arm shouts out “oi”; I turn around and then in awful (Australian) accent “what do you want for that? (actually he said “whaddya want for ‘at). I was offended with the superior attitude so I responded “one quarter of a million dollars”. The response was qucik “it ain’t worth that”. My reply “you did not ask what it was worth, you asked what I wanted for it. I want quarter of a million, cash – have you got that?”. On that note we parted ways. The girlfriend he was out to impress rolled her eyes in a manner that suggested she had witnessed such exchanges before. She could do a lot better!!!
You said it…..we need to get that on video: Jackass meets Craigslist?
What gets me is sellers bragging about their colonnade’s leather interior when it’s obviously vinyl. Which of them even offered a leather interior?
My wee 70 Volvo 1800e covers the bases with leather front seat upholstery, and leatherette(vinyl) rear!?
Thank you.
Its the overall shape, the personal luxury coupe styling themes, ersatz junior Eldorado/Toronado/Riviera looks of the Grand Prix, Cutlass Supreme, Regal coupe and Monte Carlo really hit the sweet spot with consumers.
I don’t think the basic LeMans looks “right” in it’s standard forms, its the front ends in my opinion, the rubber nosed 73-75 Grand Am looks tons better, using the same body as the LeMans, and the later “Sheriff Justice” 4 headlight versions look better too.
Same with the Chevelle, doesn’t look that great in the basic version, looks a lot better in the upper line Laguna versions.
Agree with your take on what was selling then. However, I liked these. The Poncho colonnade was sleek in a way that few cars were inthe 70s. The tail end is one of my favorite automotive butts of the decade.
That is one seriously ugly car!
IMO, the Pontiac has the best dashboard of all the GM intermediates of this era; but also the ugliest exterior.
I never knew until now that when the ’73-’74 Luxury LeMans became the ’75 Grand LeMans, Pontiac gave it the Grand Prix dashboard and console. (We had a ’74 coupe, which came with the standard and much plainer LeMans dash.)
Sorry, I should have indicated that the Grand Prix dash was also shared by the 1973-75 Grand Am, so no big stretch to put it in a LeMans too. It makes you wonder why they didn’t just adopt the dash across the whole Pontiac colonnade line in the first place; why the needless extra LeMans dashboard design? The GP dash looks fine without a console, as the later years with bench seats showed.
Certainly not my type, but it is a nice example for the folks that are fans of the vehicles from this era.
Floor shift, FTW. Although that basic shifter may have been re-purposed in my Celebrity for the floor shift TH125. It was the same black nob with a giant button with the bowtie to press to work your way through the gears.
It’s always nice to see a car of this age in such good condition. However, I have never like these.
The front end is a combination Malibu with an Olds grille and a Grand Prix inspired hood.
Half the taillights point to the sky. Also the car looks like it’s more aerodynamic going backwards than forward.
The fender skirts on the car in the ad are truly painful to look at. Also the scallops on the side almost look like eyebrows on the side of the car.
When seeing these as a child, I always wondered how Pontiac was able to sell such a beast. Maybe this was a bit harsh, but that’s how this car has presented itself to me for a very long time.
+1 on all counts.
IMO, it actually manages to look less attractive than a Gran Torino with skirts. I think if the scalloped fenders didn’t look so symmetrical (front and back) in profile, it might have helped. That is, de-emphasizing the front fender scallop, and creating more of a Coke bottle side profile.
Silver is so common today. But the color combination here, is pretty decent by 70s standards.
+2 I was a bit shocked when they arrived…garish.
Wrong.
Dude, opinions are like gall bladders – everybody has one. If you don’t like what is being said you are free to go elsewhere. Telling people they are wrong (I’ve read your comments elsewhere) simply because you don’t agree does not leave one with a good impression of your behavior.
I don’t have a gall bladder
I don’t either, but this was more polite than my initial thought on body parts. 🙂 Perhaps this analogy also gives a nod to those who don’t have an opinion either way.
Then you are not allowed an opinion. 🙂
The line I liked was “opinions are like (fundamental orifices), everybody has one and everybody else’s stinks!”
There lots of potentials with the Colonnade GM, one guy used a basic 1975 LeMans to create a “Phantom” 1975 GTO 😉 http://ultimategto.com/cgi-bin/showcar.cgi?type=lot&pic=/pasture/75judge2
Probably the main reason the LeMans was the slowest selling Colonnade is that everyone in the market for a GM midsize in the 70s went for the Cutlass or the Chevelle/Malibu. Pontiacs were hot in the 60s-early 70s when horsepower was the watchword. But as crushed velour became more popular than crushing the 1/4 mile, that muscle market shrank like a tired balloon. And those who still preferred Poncho performance all bought TransAms (a lot of them at that). I bet a lot of under 25 types who grew up shredding their rear tires in a GTO saw the sign of the times when it came time to trade up in the mid 70s… and tooled over to Oldsmobile, which was the logical next step in GMs cradle to grave model lifecycle. Cutlass styling just hit the mark for so many people in the malaise era, but don’t forget- that nameplate remained number 2 or 3 all the way into the mid 80s.
And today both are gone.
That and the Chevy Monte Carlo, which sold in huge numbers.
Pontiac’s styling went completely sour in the early 1970s, as this car shows.
I still do not understand how Pontiac went from such youthful athletic styling in the late 1960s to these overstyled baroque messes within just a few years. The relatively clean lines of the Cutlass seem much more ‘sporty’ than this thing.
My guess is John DeLorean’s departure derailed Pontiac from it’s “wide track”. I can’t imagine he would have green lighted this crap.
Or Grand Prix, Pontiac sold tons of Colonnade Grand Prixs, its almost as if the lower end cars(Chevelle/LeMans) were deliberately dumpy looking to sell more of the expensive personal luxury colonnades.
I had a ’73 LeMans, bought new by my grandmother. I always thought the deeply sculpted fenders were a bit over the top. Mine was a 4-door, 6-window sedan. With the pontoon fenders, I told my friends it was the re-embodiment of the ’48 Tucker!
For me, after the successful ’68-’72 GM intermediates, the Colonnades were a big letdown. Heavy, gluttonous, and slow, they just remind me of an automotive leisure suit with barge bumpers.
That said, this is a nice example, and I’m glad it’s survived. I do see what some appreciate about this design.
Reality is the carry over 72’s struggled against the all new Gran Torinos and Montegos. Car mags like MT called them ‘old and dated’. When the 73’s came in, they sold like hotcakes.
It wasn’t the collector car market view in fall 1972, just yet.
The across the board regression single headlights from the previous generation’s quads did all of the Colonnades in for me. I’ll gladly admit it made sense on the neoclassical Monte Carlo, Grand Prix or even Chevelle since that was an already established that look, but on the entire range, especially on the “performance” division they just look cheap.
Have seen, and driven these things for over 40 years, I still can’t understand how the design of these cars came about, and how something so basically ugly could have been approved for production. It was, to me, like some kind of teleportation to another universe occurred, where the great looking ’72 GM cars were replaced with cars that ranged from bad to horrible. They seemed familiar inside, to a point, but outside they just looked…wrong. Ford was even worse in a way during this period, and it’s bad styling period lasted much longer, IMO.
Interesting, i;ve always felt the colonnades looked much sleeher than the ’68-’72s which I find really chunky.
I quite like the ’73-’75 GrandAm coupe, especially the interior.
Those were indeed some of the ugliest cars GM produced – ever. And the federal bumpers ruined any chance of redemption (as someone said already, one can just about stomach the Grand Am and the Laguna, the rest….)
…and when they tried to update it they made it even worse; the squared-off front simply does not belong on the rounded rest of the car – a bit like a bad customizing job. This curbside classic is somewhere in Israel, unloved and neglected even with a collector’s vehicle status (pic: M. Divayev).
I understand your point, but I find the ’76-’77 nose job much more cohesive than the ’75 in the article. You’re right though, it has nothing to do with the neoclassic body of the car.
If I had to buy a Pontiac colonnade coupe and only a Pontiac colonnade coupe – this would be the one.
Silver over a red interior is one of the very best contrasting color selections on any car.
The vinyl is to me much more desirable than a similar cloth surface.
And the clean fastback roofline is not garnished/interrupted with some silly full or half vinyl top.
These were all over the cheap car lots when I was in high school and feeling the tidal waves of carfever wash over me, yet I never even sat in one. Monte Carlos? Yes. Gran Torino Sportsroofs? Hella yes! Collonade-era LeMans? Meh. I had better looking alternatives to futilely lust after.
Nice example of that style car. I have always found the coupes of that style to be good looking. The sedans of that era are a different story.
Wow, its JPC’s Mom’s car day. Mom bought a 74 Luxury LeMans sedan (with fender skirts but sans vinyl roof) because the Olds dealer couldn’t get any more Cutlasses. The car reminded me a bit of a 61 Olds. I liked the styling better than the other colonnade sedans, probably because of its flowing lines. This 75 broughamed up the front a bit. Not that common of a car when new.
Ours had sway bars front and rear and cornered very flat. The Uniroyal bias plys made a lot of noise when I had the car out by myself.
The weird sculpted fenders (and skirts) look so much better on the 4-door!
I remember reading years ago that it was thought that GM used inferior metal in the Pontiac A body’s, and therefore they experienced severe body rot. As a kid in the 80’s I recall that what few of these I did see traveling around here in Michigan had horribly rusted out rear quarters. So the fact that this northern example is in such lovely condition makes this quite a find!
My favorite year of my favorite Colonade! In my favorite color! IT’S MY LUCKY DAY!
I don’t remember seeing many of the Pontiacs when they were new, but the ones with skirts are beautiful. I remember my parents bitching about the small trunk in the 76 Cutlass S sedan they bought…there was a tire strike, and none of the new 76’s had spare tires (the dealer called months later when they finally arrived) and the trunk looked decent sized with no tire back there, but once the spare went in, there was not a whole lot of room.
IIRC, the trunk in the Pontiac was even shallower than in the others because of the slopier tail end. As I remember it, full grocery sacks were a challenge unless they were really far forward. And the spare indeed ate up a lot of room. The trunk in my 71 Scamp was every bit as usable, if not moreso, than in my mother’s LeMans sedan.
To me the rarest find of the colonnades would be a Century or Regal. I haven’t seen one in the flesh for years.
The fastback Colonnades were designed during ‘Muscle Mania’, and were meant to be used for new GTO’s and 455SD motors. 1972 was the original target model year, without 5mph bumpers, too. The “Grand LeMans” was just another “Malibu Classic”.
The A special bodies ended up more popular, with formal roofs, and lux for the masses. Boomers moved away from ‘muscle’ and into lux or F bodies.
When at Community College, a classmate got a new-used ’75 GLM in 1980, and he said then, “Never heard of these cars before”.
strangely the 4 door version of these reminds me of the rear of the latest Jag XJ. Or is it the other way round?
These are good cars, and drive super nice. They were well above their peers in many areas. I own a ’73 GTO, ’73 Grand Am, the ’76 police sedan pictured, and a ’77 Can Am. The styling was so extreme that it is a love/hate deal.
Looking for a 1975 lemans sports coupe.