Thursday, March 7, 2024

1988 Pontiac Grand Am - Hollywood Had it All Wrong


Funny how Hollywood paints a picture of '80's cars as everyone driving a DeLorean. In reality, back in the '80's it seemed everyone was driving a Pontiac Grand Am like this 1988. 


If the insurance premiums on a Pontiac Firebird were too rich for you and you still wanted to make a fashion statement, and you somehow had the means to afford a new car, there was a good chance you drove a Pontiac Grand Am. These things were everywhere. Now a days they're as hard to find as a Members Only jackets, Guess Jeans and Milli Vanilli. 


These were the third cars Pontiac called Grand Am and they were by far and away the best-selling ones up to that point. They replaced the Pontiac version of the infamous Chevrolet Celebrity that was known as the Pontiac Phoenix. 


Somewhat curiously, although planned as four-door sedans from the get-go, when these first debuted in 1985, they were only available as two-door coupes like our '88 here; they came with the four-door versions starting in 1986. 


These cars shared their chassis and running gear with the Oldsmobile Calais, Buick Skylark and Somerset. Chevrolet's Beretta and Corsica rode on a similar chassis. 


The Grand Am was a staple of GM's long gone Pontiac division through model-year 2005. Pontiac replaced it for 2006 with a model they called the G6, G6 denoting the sixth generation of the Grand Am. 



















No comments:

Post a Comment