1986 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2 - Bueller? Bueller?

I've wondered for the dark side of forty-years now why, in the 1980's, General Motors' late, sometimes great but more oftentimes just mediocre Pontiac division, never came with a performance version of their venerable Grand Prix. Chevrolet did with their Monte Carlo SS, Oldsmobile with their Hurst\Olds Cutlass\442 and Buick did with their Regal Sport Coupe\Grand National\GNX. After all, save for some minor suspension tuning and engines, they were essentially the same (G-body) cars underneath. Pontiac being GM's "excitement" division and all, you'd think a Pontiac version of an '80's interpretation of a 1960's muscle car, which is what they were, would be the hottest performing if not most flamboyantly and extravagantly styled of them all. Nope. Never happened. Closest we got to one was for model-year 1986 when Pontiac surprised us all with these bizarre things they called, "Grand Prix 2+2". 

What a site for sore eyes, right? Of course, I'm kidding. I'm sure there are fans of the aesthetics of these things out there, probably NASCAR fans, I'm not one of them. I don't care much for the Chevrolet Monte Carlo "Aerocoupe" either but put a grease gun to my head, I'd take the Monte Carlo. And only if I got a deal on one that was too good to pass on. 

There were just 1,118 Grand Prix 2+2's for 1986, 1,225 if you count the 107 of them that didn't get the janky rear window like this delicate, rare flower. Pontiac shipped GP's slated for the 2+2 treatment to an aftermarket company that installed the fastback window and modified the trunk opening; not only is the trunk lid tiny, but the rear seat doesn't fold down although the trunk is the same size as on a regular GP. Legend has it Pontiac shipped more GP's than that company had aero-windows so, voila. A smattering of GP 2+2's with no fastback. This I like in a "It Came From the '80's" kinda way. The Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS' aero-window was similar looking but it was different enough that the two were not interchangeable. 

Rather than just stop production like Pontiac did in 1977 when the mold broke for the rear spoiler for the Can Am, they just popped out 2+2's without the glass until the orders were done. Then, nothing for 1987. Chevrolet pushed on with their "Aerocoupe" into 1987 and while there was a 1988 Monte Carlo, they were leftover 1987's, there was no "Aerocoupe". 

Why Pontiac bothered with these things in the first place was because of homologation regulations for NASCAR Winston Cup racing. Ford was kicking GM's tailpipe in the '80's with their slippery Thunderbird so to counter, both Chevrolet and Pontiac baked up a rear window to improve drag. Apparently, it works quite well at speed. Around town you'd never know it but get one of these north of 80, 90 and 100-mph, if they could go that fast, the downforce on the rear end provided by the rear windshield does wonder for stability. 

Homologation, in NASCAR-ese, means what you raced on Sunday, you had to make available to the buying public, at least in theory, on Monday. Depending on what year you're referring to, those minimum number of cars fluctuated. These days, no one cares about homologation because since 2008, all NASCAR cars have been the same as footballs, baseballs, hockey pucks and basketballs are the same; it's all about the driver as it, frankly, should be. NASCAR cars are still referred to as "stock cars", but there's nothing "stock" about them. Not that there was back in the 1980's aside from a body "style". And the Pontiac and Chevrolet aero's were definitely a body style. 

Was GM concerned that a hopped-up Grand Prix would ape sales of the Monte Carlo SS, Oldsmobile Hurst-Olds\442 and Buick Grand National? Was it due to government mandated corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) concerns? For certain the Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Buick triumvirate were certainly not miserly on gas. All of the above? Bueller? 

The "Grand Prix 2+2" name plate was a combination of two hallowed Pontiac monikers; at least they had the good sense not to call this a "Grand Prix GTO". 

Pontiac festooned "2+2" to a series of de-trimmed, sport-tinged Catalina's from 1964-1967 (above is a '64) so seeing that the Catalina and Grand Prix had much in common, there was some semblance of historical precedence set prior. Yes, for most of the 1960's, a Pontiac Grand Prix and 2+2 were full-size cars. Pontiac didn't find their Grand Prix mojo until it went mid-size with it starting in 1969. Chevrolet followed suit in 1970 with their first Monte Carlo and the personal luxury car boom was launched. 

All 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2's came with the then current version of Chevrolet's 165-horsepower, "LG4", 5.0-liter V-8. Through its 200-R4, four-speed automatic transmission and limited slip, 3:08:1 rear axle, you could get 0-60 in around 10-seconds, quarter mile in under 18; hardly fast even by the standards of the mid-'80's. Pontiac's Y99 suspension tuning was part of the package that also included a brace of luxury accoutrements including power windows, locks, buckets, console\floor-shifter, air conditioning, cruise control and tilting steering column with a steering wheel out of a Fiero GT. Heh? I know. All told, these cars stickered more than $2,000 more than a comparable Chevrolet Monte Carlo Aerocoupe. Not surprisingly, dealers couldn't give them away. 

Had these been stuffed with at least the Monte Carlo's 180-horse V-8 or, heaven forbid, a tuned port injection 5.0- or 5.7-liter engine or Buick's turbo V-6, all would probably have been forgiven. Well mostly. As these were or are in the case of my $19,000 Facebook Marketplace find here, they're all but forgotten 1980's-foot notes. Shoot, they might as well be the automotive equivalent of Kajagoogoo.