In the early 1970s, Road Test Magazine covered a nice cross section of cars, including an emphasis on “ordinary” sedans, coupes and economy cars that wouldn’t usually have been seen in some of the more sports-car-oriented automotive titles. With the arrival of the reworked GM B- and C-body cars for 1971, Road Test took the opportunity to sample quite a few different models from the various divisions, including this top-of-the-line Pontiac sedan. It was the era when GM still paid attention to delivering differentiation between their brands, and Road Test noted that the Grand Ville did indeed demonstrate benefits that were unique to Pontiac.
The editors were correct in predicting that the 1972 models would not be significantly changed–the biggest difference would be the new, larger front bumper (getting ready for the Feds!) and reworked grill styling. They were also right to note that Pontiac’s styling was very unique, with the bold, pointed front grille continuing the brand’s aggressive character in front-end designs. As for the visual heft of the car, I’d argue that it wasn’t the track width that made this car look obese… plenty of highly-styled sheet metal draped over a huge platform took care of that. At least there were some legitimate benefits inherent with the wide track that helped the biggest Pontiac continue its tradition of offering better-than-average handling for such a large car.
Oddly, the testers made no comment on the unusual new name for the flagship sedan: Grand Ville translates into “big town,” which seems rather dull compared to the evocative names derived from racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats or carefree living on the sunny shores of Catalina Island. Perhaps the name was an unfortunate harbinger of the tough times to come for Pontiac, as performance imagery fell out of favor during the 1970s and the brand started to lose its way.
Apologies for the blurriness on the edge of the page above, it was hard to get this issue to lie flat on the scanner without damaging the binding. The text on the upper left image reads as follows: “The Grand Ville has its own roof, shared by no other Pontiac. Both two- and four-door hardtops have equal legroom as a result.” This C-body roofline on the Grand Ville was actually unique to Pontiac among all the B-body cars. It’s interesting to note that the Grand Ville and Bonneville shared the same 126 inch wheelbase (the Catalina had a 123.5 inch span), but had different rooflines, with the Bonneville sticking to the B-body roofline shared with other GM divisions. For 1973, all the big Pontiacs (except wagons) would commonize on a 124 inch wheelbase, shared with their B-body cousins at Buick and Oldsmobile, though the Grand Ville would continue to use the unique C-body roofline.
These cars truly were horrific gas guzzlers, though mileage would suffer even more as the decade progressed and additional Federal regulations took their toll.
It’s entertaining to imagine this Pontiac barreling along at 100 mph on a Nevada highway, back in the days before limits and regulations so significantly changed the automotive landscape.
16.2 cubic feet of trunk capacity seems shockingly small for such a gargantuan car, though Road Test seemed satisfied with the available cargo room. They did call out the high lift-over height for the trunk as problematic.
The editors seemed to like the new big Pontiac, and felt it was very suitable for family car duty, with some wide-track flair thrown in for good measure. The $5,945 as-tested price for this Grand Ville would adjust to $34,928 in today’s dollars, placing this car at the low end of the near-luxury category, or high end of the family sedan segment, a logical pricing strategy for the premium Pontiac within GM’s hierarchy. While the Grand Ville may not have had quite the flash and glamour of some of its 1960s Bonneville predecessors, it was still well done for a very large car, and a fitting last hurrah for the biggest Pontiac before those attributes would permanently fall out of favor.
I used to see these when I was a boy in the late 70s and into the 80s. Some Pontiacs of the 70s look more attractive than others. Except for the Firebird and Firebird Trans Am, most Pontiacs I’ve seen just look hideous throughout the 70s, until 1979-80, when GM decided to downsize their cars. This is perhaps the better looking Pontiac of the 70s.
I sort of have to agree. Too strong character lines, akward proportions, and propensity for Bunkie beaks made Pontiacs look like some kid had beaten up a toy car and used pliers to pull them back into an approximation of what they should have been. I can’t remember who was lead stylist during this time, but I honestly think that they should’ve been grabbed by the collar, taken to the balcony overlooking the Pontiac building, and smashed over the head with a picture of a 1962 Catalina. This Grand Ville is a travesty. It looks like it was born with extreme anencephaly. The 1974 and ’75 facelifts fixed most of what was wrong with it, but what in the blue tinged hell were the designers thinking placing the headlights that high up and that close together?
You sure don’t like the styling, Jon!
I can’t say I care for it either, but I wouldn’t bash the stylist over the head with a pic of that ’62. I’d apply it a different way. I’d just clamp his head so he couldn’t move it, prop his eyelids open so he couldn’t even blink, and make him look at that ’62 Catalina 24/7 until he came to his senses.
1971. The year U.S. automakers started to phone it in & pack on the bloat.
Ah the Grand Ville. A car name plate that whose only distinction was that Jimmy Hoffa was driving a 1974 Grand Ville before he disappeared back in 1975.
The Grand Ville also had some great screen time in The Seven-Ups. Unfortunately, the otherwise excellent chase scene was completely ruined when the soundtrack from Bullitt was used instead of the sounds of the actual cars. It would have been comical if it weren’t so sad since both cars in Bullitt were 4-speed manuals, and the Pontiacs used in The Seven-Ups were automatics.
Thankfully, the makers of The Blues Brothers used the actual sounds of the big Dodge Monaco in that classic chase.
I love that chase scene. It is one of the all time greats, even with the screwed-up soundtrack. I agree it would have been just about perfect if they had actually used the right engine noises for the cars–I’d imagine the deep throating roaring of the Pontiac 455 4V at full throttle would have been impressive.
Watch that Seven-ups chase scene while listening to Detroit Breakdown by the J Geils Band. It syncs up well and is a worthy substitute for a soundtrack
A fun read for a guy who spent a lot of time in cars of this era. I love how the author finds cruise control as useless.
I will attest that Pontiac’s variable ratio power steering was an excellent unit, providing much faster steering (and with a lot more road feel) than the competition.
The Grand Ville was always far and away the most attractive of these big Pontiacs. I had never understood the C body roof on a B body thing until fairly recently.
I find the same problem following other drivers over forty years later.
They can’t be bothered with the distraction of driving while on their phones.
It could be interesting to see if the 1971 Canadian Pontiac Laurentian and Parisienne still got Chevy engines?
Slightly off-topic, here a vintage road test of a Pontiac’s relative, the 1971 Oldsmobile Delta 88.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI9lhA9dlEw
And I spotted a couple of cool well preserved 1971 full-size Pontiacs at http://www.classicpontiacs.com/seventies/b-bodies/1971/index.html
Yes, some Canadian market Pontiacs still got Chevrolet engines in 1971. For the Canadian market they offered a 250-1bbl six, 350-2bbl (Chev and Pontiac), 400-2bbl (Chev), 400-4bbl (Pontiac), and 455 in 2 & 4bbl forms (both Pontiac). Pontiac offered a long list of models in Canada for 1971. There was the Laurentian, Catalina, Parisienne Brougham, Bonneville and Grand Ville. Wagons were Laurentian, Safari and Grand Safari. After the 1977 redesign, Canadian full-size Pontiacs returned to Chevrolet engines.
Only the Laurentian (except wagons) could come with the 250 six, but most other models had the full line of V8’s available. The Bonneville, the Grand Ville and the Grand Safari were limited to Pontiac only engines, specifically the 455. Catalina convertibles when equipped with a 350-2bbl were only available with a Pontiac sourced engine.
Wonder if there was any difference in the resale value of one with a Chevy 350 vs. one with a Pontiac 350?
People in Canada used to brag if they had the “blue block” (Pontiac) engine. In retrospect, this was only because of the relative rarity compared to Chevy engines at the time. IMHO, as far as 350s went, you were better off with a Chevy, as the 350 Pontiacs had a reputation as a bit of a boat anchor. They have little value to Pontiac guys today, while 400-455s (not to mention 421s and 428s) are gold.
It’s funny how everyone has their opinions. The writer feels that the cruise control is useless due to other traffic.
I used to think cruise was very useful as I was on enough quiet highways that it worked out quite well. 30 years later, those highways are generally busier and I don’t use cruise much at all.
The 16.2 cubic foot rating for the trunk surprises me a bit. I owned one of these, and thought it was closer to 20 cubic feet. There is a lot of space under the package shelf and around the spare on these cars, I wonder how that is being counted here.
The concern about reaching window cranks on the opposite side of the car and power windows is another quirk of the writer. It was never exactly easy to manually roll down windows on the opposite side, and was generally of very little concern if you had air conditioning.
I thought the best thing about power windows in these cars was the ease of taking advantage of that hardtop style. Driving one of these with all the windows down was the coolest thing about a hardtop.
GM’s (perhaps Cadillac’s) adaptive cruise control works very well on busier highways. I had mine set to 70 MPH as I cruised into Denver about a year ago and did not disengage until traffic started to come to a standstill in the downtown area (I25). I probably reduced the set speed to about 60 as traffic density increased and speed limits came down.
In my Denver recent driving experience (there twice last month and going through southbound next week), cruise is not needed and can’t be used because of the sheer volume of traffic – sometimes Los Angeles like.
Generally it is disengaged as far north as the Mulberry exit at Fort Collins and not engaged again until after passing the World Arena on the far south side of Colorado Springs.
Now back in the ’70s a Grand Ville could have been driven all around I-225, I-70, “the Valley Highway” and “the Boulder Turnpike” on cruise. The freeways through Denver and the front range are just too crowded in 2015 for me to consider using cruise until out of the area.
You do understand what adaptive cruise control is?
Now I’m old enough to be the crabby writer rejecting the newfangled thing.
I thought about adaptive, it must take some getting used to. I would be in a nervous sweat trusting it in traffic.
Most of my road trips involve moderatly heavy towing. I’d be extra nervous with adaptive under those cirumstances.
It is easy to come up behind a truck going a bit slower than I am, and the adaptive cruise settles in behind the truck (several car lengths back, which is adjustable) which I don’t notice for a while, until I look at the speedometer and see that I am going 62 instead of 70. But if you are coming up behind a truck and others are passing you, you can just wait till they get by and then get into the passing lane. Coming up behind a truck going several MPH slower results in the adaptive cruise applying brakes to slow down.
If the sensors in front of the car get too much ice on them, so they don’t sense, the cruise control is shut down with a message that it is temporarily not available.
Hmm, the car length thing makes it seem more friendly to me. I’m not a tailgater, especially with a heavy trailer!
OTOH, having it slow down like that seems to defeat the main reason I use cruise. I have such a relaxed driving style that I can find myself several miles under the speed limit. If I need to make time, I set the cruise to keep me moving along.
Can your adaptive be over ridden and used the old way?
No it only works as an adaptive type. I have learned to get into the passing lane as I come up behind slower vehicles. If someone passes you (obviously going faster) and pulls in right in front of you, the system does not panic but gradually lets the car in front get farther away.
The adaptive system in my Jeep Grand Cherokee also works well. I use it frequently driving around Chicago, which in terms of heavy traffic is like a frozen Los Angeles. The Fiat Chrysler system allows regular cruise, which I never use, as well as the adaptive. As you note with your Cadillac, the Jeep’s sensors do get mucked up with snow/ice/winter filth and the system then won’t operate until you clean it off. Though I abhor the notion of “driverless cars” the adaptive systems do allow for smoother operation and are quite convenient.
I have never found cruise control to be of any use. I tried using it on a few of the cars I have owned and have never liked it. I much rather to be in complete control of my car. To me a car with no power anything and a V8 engine and a manual or automatic transmission is the perfect car. Of course you haven’t been able to buy a car like that for the last 25-35 years.
I don’t use the cruise control in normal day to day driving of less than 25 or so miles. On long trips I find it very useful as I would probably be sailing along at 100+ MPH otherwise.
The most convincing evidence that buyers had a completely different mindset in that era can be found under the Base Price of Car: $1.39 per pound!
This detailed article on the 71 Grand Ville, with it’s six magazine pages puts to shame the lazy, skimpy 1-2 page reviews we get nowadays.
Nice read. If you’re so inclined, I’d be interested in seeing the article on the Ambassador.
Eric: I have this issue. Road Test was a great magazine. Too bad we’re subjected to “thumb nail” reviews promoted as full road tests these days. With pretentious sludge for filler.
The Ambassador review was one of my favorites.
Road Test came to a sad end judging by the final issues. I’ve never been able to find out the story as to why it failed, but I think their “all in” strategy as a house organ for Mazda and the rotary as well as the ads they started taking for the Mark IV Vapor Injector were dubious management decisions.
After refusing advertising for years, this may have hurt their credibility and signaled their decline.
The concept of testing mainstream cars that the masses actually purchased was a good idea then and it still is.
Too bad we rarely see tests for anything other than performance and premium versions, to the point that if it doesn’t have leather and a sunroof, a car is considered “stripped” by the mob. But with 84 month loans who cares, right ?
47.5′ turning radius. Good grief.
Turning radius is a big deal sometimes; I remain impressed by the 2004 Sienna, which is a breeze to park. OTOH, we were disappointed by that of a rented Windstar, as we were unable to complete a simple U-turn somewhere in Lancaster County PA because of that. Very embarrassing.
Just the other day, I saw a monster Ford pickup climb a curb because of its large turning circle.
Having owned a ’72 Grandville and now having an F-150 Supercrew, I’d have to call the F-150 the more difficult to drive in tight spaces. The F-150 has 19″ additional wheelbase compared to the Grandville. Wheelbase has been more difficult to account for than the overhang on the Pontiac.
I take it your F-150 has the 6.5′ bed?
That’s become a vital requirement for me, the turning radius. The Onion is 35′. I can whip the thing into spots like I was folding it into the space. A nice feature that I’ve grown to appreciate. Next car it will be “on the list”. Much better than on the SL1.
Glad you enjoyed. I can definitely scan in and post the Ambassador test too, so please stay tuned.
Thanks. Love the blasts from the past you’ve been sharing.
Had two of these 4 door ’71 GrandVilles, except mine were $400 & $500 beaters in the early ’80s. While both gave good service, I did have to replace a cracked head and install a used transmission on the 2nd one.
The 455 4bbl engines certainly did like their fuel!
One of the more unique grille treatments to ever appear on a B-body of this generation. It’s unusual, more than a little baroque, but in the end I do like it.
Perhaps the most famous Grand Ville, from the movie “The Seven-Ups”:
The suspension doesn’t seem to control the camber angle very well….
At least they were filming a real high speed chase without cranking up the cameras. Famous stunt driver Bill Hickman at the helm…
I forgot about those windshield antennæ. Like Ford’s windshield-mounted rear-view mirrors, it seemed a useless innovation which mostly served to increase windshield replacement cost (as in certain locales where road gravel is common). Perhaps the best antenna is a simple, non-telescoping type which can be detached for car washes.
And GM’s concealed wipers were another trivial idea of dubious value, serving as a nice leaf trap.
I had a couple of those windshield antennas, they both worked good enough for me on both AM and FM Stereo stations. I did like that they were protected from car wash and vandalism damage.
I did replace one windshield, used a place the was always super competitive on price – and it may have been used. The job turned out great and was pretty cheap.
The concealed wipers never bothered me. Leaf issues happen even with today’s semi-concealed designs. It seemed like I had less trouble with the wipers being frozen to the windshield than I do now, and brushing snow up and out of the opening wasn’t a big deal. These also were protected from any issues with automatic car washes.
Yes, modern designs capture leaves w/o concealing the wipers, and add lots of exposed black plastic, ready for UV decay. And my Civic has a concealed antenna + a windshield mirror, so maybe Ford & GM have the last laugh here.
I did like Cadillac’s C-body wipers which parked off the glass when not in use, which must’ve improved longevity.
Another feature that puzzled me was the power decklid.
Power decklid (trunk?) was probably a hand down from the gross excesses of the Eldorado Brougham. I remember the power pull down trunks too, you just brought the lid down to latch and then the pull down would pull the trunk tight. Seems pointless, but did mean that the trunk lid did not need to be slammed shut.
The power decklid was pretty useless. I never owned one, but I recall owners being very sensitive about not slamming the lid – at the risk of breaking the stupid thing.
I’ll bet a few kids got their fingers caught in those things. That makes me cringe a little!
Hateful device was on my parent’s 88 Coupe DeVille.
The dumbest thing about the power pull down trunk is that if you open the trunk with a dead battery, the trunk will not latch until it has power. Truly one of the dumbest options ever.
I am not sure, but I think on the 59 Cadillac’s the power decklid would open and close the lid fully, not just tighten it down. My SRX had this on the tailgate although I usually just did it by hand.
f you ordered a car with radio delete, those cheap @$$holes also deleted the windshield antenna. Thus, if you wanted an aftermarket radio, you had to install a mast antenna, or get the AM radio and eat the cost of it. How much money could they have saved by making a small percentage of units without the antenna wires?
I always heard the Grand Ville name as either an extension of Bonneville or perhaps a (poor?) attempt to encroach on Cadillac’s turf….as a sort of bastardization of Coupe or Sedan de Ville.
That roof treatment is one of those things most folks probably saw, but it never really registered as distinctive to Pontiac. Was it used on the Chevy Caprice? That seems like a logical market slot for it.
Had a co-worker in the early 80s who had a Grand Ville convertible, it replaced a mid or late 60s GTO or 442 that had been stolen on 3 separate occasions. Each time it was recovered it was stripped. No one wanted to steal that G-V convertible.
I’m petty sure the roof was the same as the Buick Electra. I’ve never been quite sure if the roof on the Olds 98 was exactly the same as the Buick – sometimes I think I see a difference in the C pillar.
But the idea that it used a C body roof made sense, the wheelbase on this “super B” body was maybe an inch shorter than the C. The Caprice hardtop used the Pontiac Catalina hardtop roofline – with a soft curve in the side glass at the C pillar.
Amazing the trouble manufacturers used to go through to rank the prestige of their cars by wheelbase. Then, they’d go mess it up anyway with wagons sometimes on either longer or shorter wheelbases.
The Grandville name always seemed like a lazy spin off from the Bonneville – my hunch is that they thought that the “Executive” mid trim name sounded incredibly stiff and square (because it was!), and were more worried about that than coming up with a new top car name.
With big Pontiac sales generally suffering during this time period, they obviously thought better of the lazy and meaningless (to english speaking ears) Grandville name. Bonneville was such a great name, and one of the very few names I’ve ever seen get a promotion back to its top car status – espeically with no break in the use of the name.
I’ve always assumed that the etymology of Grand Ville was GRAND (already used by Pontiac in “Grand Prix”) + BonneVILLE. As in, if a Bonneville is good, a Grand Ville must be even better.
I think we can say with a high degree of certainty that it wasn’t because “grand ville” means “big town” in French, especially as Pontiac’s use of the name “Bonneville” wasn’t consciously French to begin with.
I’d imagine you’re right about the derivation of the name Grand Ville. Pontiac has done a few other mash-ups of their model names as well, the most famous being Grand Am (Grand Prix + Trans Am). They also tried to play off of Firebird with Sunbird, and later Sunfire.
Given how easy it was to do a translation for Grand Ville, and how mundane the meaning, I still think Pontiac could have worked harder to find a better name. Just keeping Bonneville as the top dog might have made the most sense.
In ’71 and ’72, Pontiac fielded 4 different full size model brands: Catalina, Catalina Brougham, Bonneville, Grand Ville. I’d say it was one too many (competing GM divisions just had 3). Perhaps more emphasis could have been placed on Catalina Brougham–which had identical interior trim to the Bonneville, just on the shorter wheelbase–as the “middle” model in the full size line, leaving Bonneville in its traditional top-of-the-line role.
When I first saw a Grand Ville, I thought that Pontiac was ”given” a ”C” body. They had in the 30s or 40s been ”allowed” such a luxury! But actual grafting of the “C” roof on the “B” is a more interesting choice.
I just recently learned that Pontiac briefly used the C-body in that era — for two years in 1940 and 1941, to be exact. Pontiac was also using the A- and B-bodies at the time, so their lineup spanned three of the four GM body types then in existence, all except the long-wheelbase D-body.
By the early ’50s, Pontiac had been reduced to just a single body (initially the A, then the B after the A was merged into the B in 1959).
And it’s odd that for a while Oldsmobile was ”denied” a ”C” body (for a couple of years the 98 used a “B” body) GM had some weird assignments! It would seem that the ”B” and the ”J” were the only bodies use by all five of the Major GM marque s Chevy never used a ”C” and the ”D” was only used by Buick and Cadillac. Whew, studyimg GM platforms should be a degree somwhere!
What
a
beast.
The front end actually looks too much and the toned down fully horizontal bumper and grill version improve the look.
Cars had a 12,000 mile warranty back then? I know they weren’t built to last as long, only had 5-digit odometers, and were considered “used up” by 100,000 miles, but for some reason that just seems terrible. As if the company had no faith in their product to think it would fall apart after ONE year. That must’ve changed sometime in the 1980s, with all the K-car ads trumpeting the 7 year/70k warranty (which is actually pretty decent even by 2015 standards).
The thought of a 12,000 mile warranty on a $34,000 (adjusted) sedan makes me laugh almost as much as the 7.6 MPG rating. What a different world.
It’s also interesting how the author mentions that certain parts were designed to be easily replaceable (i.e. the light bulbs in the instrument cluster). New car reviews today hardly even acknowledge that cars are a mechanical machine or that they will ever need anything replaced or repaired. They are written with the tone and assumption that the first owners won’t do their own work or ever have anything break (which is actually pretty true, in many cases). It’s almost like the whole perspective on “what a car is” was completely different back then.
Japanese cars, at least not long after that, had 6-digit odometers, despite Japan’s onerous domestic vehicle inspections which discourages long-term ownership.
12/12 was basically the industry standard for the 60s through the 80s and into the 90s on some makes at least for bumper to bumper type coverage. Chrysler offered some longer warranties on their power trains during the 60s, but it wasn’t until the 80s when automakers offered longer terms regularly on their cars, mostly on the power trains at first. GM went to a 3/36 on all but Cadillacs for MY1989 bumper to bumper whereas before they had been offering 12/12 bumper to bumper and 5/50 on power trains. 3-4 year bumper to bumper has become something of a standard on most cars even now with some offering longer warranties for original owners only. Also, bear in mind, that owners often traded in cars after about 3 years so you might only go 2 years without warranty coverage. With yearly mileage typically only averaging about 10,000 original owners typically did not experience wear out. The biggest culprit in those days to age was environmental damage, primarily rust, which in northern climates could render a car essentially “dead” in 5 years.
The all-new 1961 Lincoln Continental came with a 24 month/24,000 mile warranty – a really big deal at the time.
12K was considered long then, and many upper middle class buyers traded every 2-3 years. Leasing was rare.
Actually, 90 day/4,000 mile warranties were not uncommon prior to approximately 1960.
When was the last time I saw $/lb. and not sure what use that figure is…
When I hear $/lb, I think meat, not cars.
I can’t imagine a sedan with a 47.5 foot turning radius. Holy cats!
A 72′ Ford LTD with a 2bbl. 400 was about a second slower than the 455 Pontiac and got MUCH better gas mileage even though the Ford outweighed it.
Same goes for the 72′ Caprice with a 2bbl. 400 though the Ford was still faster and got only slightly better gas mileage.
Thanks for posting that page; it reminds me of what abysmal gas mileage those pre-downsized barges got.
Gas-station attendant to driver: “D’ya mind switchin’ off sir? She’s gainin’ on me.” [Punch cartoon from the ’30s]
The LTD is actually quicker to 75 mph, and is quicker through the quarter mile than the 455 Pontiac. The Poncho is slightly quicker to 60 MPH and does have a higher 1/4 mile trap speed. I am surprised at how poorly this 455 Pontiac ran, on paper it should be much faster than that 400 Ford, but it’s not.
In our family we wound up having several 400 Fords 74′ LTD, 79′ F150 and F250.
The Ford 400’s compared to many of the other weakish V8’s of the era was one of the better ones. They usually felt faster, would smoke the tires, and generally felt like they moved out well.
I drove a lot of my friends mid 70’s cars that were horrible dogs compared to grandma’s 74′ LTD and my dad’s 79′ SuperCab, both with the 400.
Both those things jumped when you touched the gas.
The 79′ SuperCab would smoke the tires WHILE it was spark knocking, which it did a lot of and they were famous for.
Granny’s 74’……. Never heard it ping once.
SHORT LIST OF D O G S … 75′ Grand Prix with a 400, S L O W, 76′ Cordoba with a 400, terrible, a beautiful maroon 76′ Olds 98 with a 455, i bet that Olds took 17 seconds to hit 60, it was painful. There were a few more.
My buddy with the slowest Gran Prix ever’s dad had a 25th Aniv. Vette, just beautiful. It felt weak as hell and actually felt slow, MUCH slower than my mom’s 72′ Maverick 2 door with a 302 though it probably wasn’t.
That little Maverick was a blast.
My grandma’s 77′ LTD with a 460 4bbl was also very weak but i found out later it had a 2.26 rear axle in it so i can cut it some slack. But it was well known the 400’s had more torque and were usually quicker than the low compression 460’s.
That car went ALL OVER the USA over a 15 year period and 160000 miles and it was still like new. One fuel filter clog, and one water pump right before she sold it were the ONLY mechanical failures ever… That’s it.
It got 13.2 mpg, always, in town, on the road, hills, plains, headwind, tailwind, whatever… 13.2 mpg.
Some of these variances were due to hit and miss factory tuning, incorrectly set factory timing and a bewildering choice of axle ratio options. And lets not forget around 1973 on up chocking emissions devices that sapped power.
Regarding that 1976 Olds 98 with the 455 remember that those types of cars felt much slower than they actually were and there was much more power than stock hiding right under the hood. In actuality an example we drove back in the 80’s clocked a 12 second 0-60 time which I agree is pretty slow considering the 455 cubic inches under hood. The car we drove, which was our friends mothers car back when we were in high school during the later 80’s, had it’s restrictive bead converter replaced and that alone made a big difference in power and response. We did a tune up, bumped up the base timing and rebuilt her carburetor in shop class and that dropped more than 2 seconds off the 0-60 time and she was thrilled. It also got better but by no means good fuel economy.
We did the same thing for another student who brought in his dads 1977 Grand Prix with a 301 2BBL V8. At best it was a 16 second 0-60 car but ran smooth enough. We rebuilt the weird un-punched quad carburetor, adjusted timing, gave her a tune up, eliminated the stupid spark delay which let it dial up a full 32 degrees of timing advance and the difference was shocking. His dad thought it felt like a 350 2BBL. Much of this credit goes to our shop teacher who was a crack mechanic that could improve the performance of almost anything back in the day and would actually take the time to re-jet carburetors for more power and knew all the little tricks to get better top end performance out of these factory smog engines.
Towards the end of the article, they mention no pillared sedan available, which they say “depriciates less” than a hardtop sedan. Author recommends getting a Bonneville 4 door pillared sedan, with a 2bbl 455 to “save fuel”.
The Grand Ville did represent Pontiac moving from performance and ‘youth’ of the 60’s. This car overlapped Olds and Buick, and even Caprice. The name was too much of a copy of DeVille.
Bringing back Bonneville to the top at least brought back some identity to big Pontiacs, and lasted until 2000’s.
Great car. Quiet, easy rider.
Early 50s Cadillac Series 61 was a “B” and a few pre-War (off the top my head I think Series 61 also perhaps Non Special Series 60. I can’t remember all of them!) The 71-78 ElDorado wore a modified “B” but being FWD, doesn’t really count.
A high school buddy’s Dad had one of these that he drove like a maniac until his Dad made sure he got his own car. A beast is the correct term for it all right.
Was never a big fan of this generation full size car though if I Iived in that era and was in the market for a big full size car this would be an option certainly. I would much prefer a 1977-79 Bonneville Brougham with the rally or snow flake alloy wheels, suspension upgrade with rear sway bar and a nice running Olds 350 rocket under the hood or Buick 350. One such car is currently for sale locally and is in very nice shape. If only I had the space right now.
I owned a ’71 Grandville and a ’73-twice. The ’71 was okay but the ’73 had a towing package on it and if you think a ’72 Ford LTD with a 400 in it was going to roast the ’73 I had-think again. I had that car going around 130 or 140. Speedo pegged at 120 and it just kept going! One of the funnest big cars I had. I miss it terribly. It is in Iowa I think. A Florentine Red and White 2 door that needs some work. I like the 70’s Pontiacs not only because of the engines they had,but that production numbers weren’t quite as high as their counterparts. I’m looking at the nice ’73 Catalina 4 door at the moment with the 400 in it. Only downfall with the 400 is that they have a issue with getting a flat cam. I currently drive a 1976 Caprice Landau and occasionally drive a ’72 Imperial-both cars are great in their own right.
My dad bought a 73 Bonneville brand new. I still have the original window sticker! As I recall, it was just under $5900. It was Ascot silver, with a black vinyl top, 4 door sedan, with a lot of extras including the 455-4. I drove it when I got my license, and it moved pretty good. I don’t know if it had the tow package, but on the circular speedo, 0 was at 7 o’clock, and 120 was at 5 o’clock. I got it to 6 o’clock when it was in need of a tune-up. Wish I had it now…
When I was sixteen I had a friend whose mother had one of these same year. She couldn’t drive, so I would drive us down to Atlanta and we would prowl around. I loved the size and power of that car. I would set the tilt wheel and power seat very low and we would cruise Peachtree street. With that stereo sound bouncing around the interior, heavenly!
When I was pumping gas at a NJ Texaco station in the early 1980’s, a co-worker/friend of mine had a 1971-73 (?) light brown convertible with a black top, a brown interior and rallye wheels. He was a real character. I have to say that the rallye wheels look so much better than the standard hubcaps and give the car a nice muscle-car era sporting look. The 455 had a very nice rumble to it as well. Does anyone know what Pontiac changed to lower the compression ratio for the 455 motor in 1971 compared to 1970? Was it different heads, a head gasket, pistons or something else?
This was my first car in 1977. Mine was gold with cream colored real leather seats, 455 V8, loaded and power everything. I took it out on the freeway and got it almost to the highest speed on the speedometer. I did it a handful of times. Nice ride. Made me spoiled for life.