1978 Pontiac Grand Am image from the web.
It was 1990 and the growing joys and demands of family and work left me little time to pursue any automotive adventures. In the meantime, the ’87 Plymouth Voyager was a competent vehicle and versatile family hauler.
However, the ‘78 Grand Am I had bought for commuting had to be babied since there was no prospect of buying a replacement if it failed. All it had to do was get me back and forth to work and I had no desire or intention at the time to work on vehicles. Besides, the shift to electronic ignition, fuel injection, disc brakes, and front-wheel drive on our family fleet meant my experience was out of date and I would be facing a steep learning curve to tackle any issues involving those systems.
My career in manufacturing was demanding and the needs of child rearing were pressing and time-consuming. In addition to changing cars when our youngest daughter was born, we moved to a new house. I no longer had to cut firewood to avoid running electric heat since our new home was heated with natural gas.
One winter day on the way home from work the Grand Am would not warm up but did not overheat. I checked the water hoses and radiator and realized the thermostat was stuck open. While I could tolerate the cold, I needed heat to defrost the windshield.
1978 Pontiac Grand Am image from the brochure.
I got a thermostat replacement and an adjustable end wrench at a parts store at the mall. GM V8 engines were in my wheelhouse and I quickly had the thermostat changed, however, the coolant system bled as the snow fell around and on me. A few weeks later the transmission was sluggish shifting out of low gear. I drained and replaced the fluid and the pan filter. That fixed the issue for about a week and then the transmission refused to shift out of low at all, so I drove the 22 miles each way to work in low gear for a month.
The transmission shop guessed that some sludge or particles had been dislodged during the fluid change and gotten stuck in the shift valve body. I saw no option but to live with the problem; I certainly was not going to try to rebuild the shift valve or replace the transmission on a 12-year-old car. I had learned my lesson early about throwing good money after bad.
Suddenly, one day the transmission shifted like it was new. As the annual inspection was coming up, I took it into the shop to see what it would need to get renewed. Once up on the lift, I could see the front end was severely rusted and the car would never pass inspection. On the last possible day, I drove it to the auto wrecker and sold it for a penny a pound.
1980s Chrysler LeBaron image from the Cohort by Davo_
I carpooled for a few days until my wife and I could go car shopping. The dealer we had bought the Voyager from had been easy to deal with so we started there. New was out of reach so we looked at late models used with warranty remaining. We ended up with a 1988 Chrysler LeBaron four-door sedan, white with red velour upholstery. It was the ultimate K car, with every option except sunroof.
It was comfortable but not enjoyable and the four-cylinder front wheel drive layout was reliable but not inspiring. The LeBaron was not a car I wanted, but one I needed and could afford. I had no major issues during the time we owned it, and looking back it was a better car than I realized at the time. The only vivid memory I have was lending it to my secretary who spilled a bottle of patchouli oil on the front carpet. Not sure why she had an open bottle of patchouli oil in the car, but the odor remained strong until the day I sold it.
Related CC reading:
Cohort Capsule: 1978 Pontiac Grand Am – Neither “Grand” Nor “Am”
I have never encountered anyone with just a hint of patchouli oil about them.
Consider yourself lucky it was patchouli, not musk.
Oh my God, anything but patchouli. I’d take cat urine. I’m surprised you didn’t sell it the next day.
+1. Patchouli smells like dirt and mold to me.
I always liked the looks of the Grand Am of this era. I know they aren’t great performers given the era but still the designers tried to make it look exciting, and it fit the styling theme of Pontiac better than other models of that period.
I have always found it to be the best looking by far of all the new GM intermediates introduced for the 1978 model year.
For some reason, these Grand Ams have just drained from my memory. Before seeing this article, I couldn’t have told you what a ’78 Grand Am actually was. I guess it wasn’t too memorable.
That feeling of nursing an older car that’s just one major repair from being scrapped is a mighty sinking feeling. After that experience even a dull LeBaron would be a relief.
And I haven’t thought of patchouli in decades. I’d never heard of the stuff before I was at college, and it was popular among some girls there. I considered the smell to be wretched – if my car smelled of that, I think I’d go crazy.
My brain seemed to shut down in regards to cars right around 1975. I can’t really recall any American car until 1985 and that one was the Mustang GT. However, my brain is really good with pegging Hondas at that time, along with Mazda, being the only two I was involved with on a personal basis.
More to refresh your memory. A good friend bought this Grand Am new in 1978 as a factory order car. Lots of reliability problems when new but gradually the dealer rebuilt it into a good car:-). Another friend bought a new white one with blue lower trim at the same time. It was somewhat more reliable. Both were four-door sedans, unlike the subject car. Given how few of this model were produced (7767 coupes and 2841 sedans for 1978), they seemed to sell reasonably well here in SoCal.
I like the four-door sedan. A “Murican car” of a reasonable size. Extra kudos for those rims. Ship the mine in midnightblue with blue velours, please.
For some reason I cannot possibly remember, an ammonia thermometer broke in my brother’s car 40 years ago. He kept the car for (almost new at the time) for like 8 more years. Being the car I used the most, I bécame accustomed to take a towel to diminish the chance of haviing my pants and sweaters absorb the smell.. When he sold the car, 11 years old , 120k miles and very poorly maintained, you could still feel a whiff.
I think I can recall patchouli oil from college, now I’m going to have to visit an herbal shop to find a whiff to confirm…somehow I’m getting a strong 1980’s Stevie Nicks vibe here and thinking of a few young ladies in particular that were a fan of the oil along with beaded shoulder bags and lots (LOTS) of hair.
The GrandAm sure got overtaken by the mid-1980s-1990s models as far as instant association with the name to this day, at least for me. So did the LeBaron for that matter, making me always instantly think of the sort of the more swoopy convertible that seemed to not fit that name at all.
Woooo…the patchouli scent. I like it, but usually only when I’m in the kind of shop that sells incense. Why *did* your secretary have an open bottle of patchouli in the car? Did she smoke in the LeBaron and try to apply patchouli to cover it up?
It’s interesting that in 1990, a 12 year old car would be approaching (or already be at) a mostly used up state, but a 2012 model today might still be looking and running alright depending on what it is.
I remember liking these Grand Ams for being something unique – a downsized A-body with a little extra (patchouli) spice. “Good money after bad” – a lesson many car people have to learn firsthand. Great read.
Two things come to mind. My friend drove one of these everywhere at a high enough speed that the speedo stopped working and I seem to remember the back windows did not roll down.
And on the subject of inadvertent car smells. I was proudly transporting a crock pot of my infamous six gun, flaming, double-toilet chili to a chili cook off when a car ran a red light in front of me. I jammed on the brakes with the predictable result the crock pot tipped over. I eventually had to pull the carpet out and take it to the car wash to get rid of the aroma. And from then on I only transport chili in the box of the truck.
If ever there was a need for patchouli, that was it. Could have fixed you right up.
I had this exact car in this color, although mine had Rally wheels instead of the honeycomb. Bought new, build quality was terrible. Back to the dealer numerous times. Attractive interior won me over, especially the dash with full gages. Performance of the 301 4 bbl. was adequate. Was fairly reliable over the ten years I owned it, although at 100,000 miles things began to fail quickly. Ten years earlier I had lusted after new GTO’s, and when I could finally afford one, this was the closest I could get.
Harry, your story about the Grand Am showcases a time in car ownership – at least in my experience – where problems start and then for a while it seems that it’s just one problem after another. I believe that the trick is to see if you can (or should…some people are better at this calculus than others) get past that and on to the place of ownership where you’ve dealt with the spate of issues and are now in the less-troublesome period. Of course a lot of that has to do with your requirements for the vehicle. And if you need strong reliability, you quite naturally will tend toward selling/trading and moving on.
Patchouli…having spent more time than not in a college town and/or among the evergreen hippie contingent, it’s a fact of life.
After reading the entire article, I’m still not exactly sure what the point was. Mm kay… 😄
The Cars Of A Lifetime (COAL) series is intended for writers to share ownership experiences from their firsthand experience. In that sense, these articles don’t necessarily follow the structure of introduction, body, and conclusion.
Are you trying to sale the car or trade I have a 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix with some minor issues I would be willing to trade.
Ah, yes, patchouli oil. The smell of this, turpentine and cigarettes are olifactory triggers to my days in art school, when the trustafarians convinced themselves they didn’t need to wash so often, and dreadlocks were a legitimate styling option. Me, I stuck with soap and avoided picking up a smoking habit, although all the secondhand smoke probably took 10 years off my life. Good times.