I don't know what's worse on this 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix, the two-tone paint scheme or $35,000 asking price. Do people actually drop that kind of money on these cars? It's for sale somewhere down in Florida so perhaps they're looking for a retiree with cash to burn.
Might be that I'm a tad jealous that my 1977 Corvette, even in showroom condition, wouldn't be worth thirty-five grand. Might not be worth half the asking price of this creme-brulee horror. Then again doesn't mean the seller will get anywhere near $35,000 for it - NADA "high-retail" is $22,500 so I don't know what they're smoking. Twenty-two-five is all the money as well for this too; this is not in concours condition either. Ad for it doesn't even mention the mileage. Then again, having money doesn't mean you're necessarily smart. Someone may see this and want it at no matter the cost. That person, newsflash, would not be me.
Despite the asking price, shame this car is painted this way and, yes, it came from the factory like this. I love 1969-1977 Pontiac Grand Prix' although I'm partial, like most old car boys and girls to the 1969-73's, particularly the 1969-72's "first-generation" of the intermediate sized Grand Prix'.
I emphasize intermediate Grand Prix because the O.G. Grand Prix was a full-size car, actually a version of the then current full-size, B-body Pontiac that also underpinned the Pontiac Catalina. Pontiac sliced and diced the G.P. through 1968 morphing it from a handsome and chiseled two-door to verbose, over styled generic blob. There was even a complete reboot of it for '65 on GM's fabulous new full-size chassis although the styling was evolutionary from '64 to '65. You wanted revolutionary, you waited for 1967; that's when Pontiac lost its Grand Prix groove.
They got it back, big time, in 1969 when they rolled out a comely new model based on an elongated two-door chassis of the class-of-1968 GM A-body intermediate and, voila, a legend was born. A delightful update came for 1971 before the whole thing got rebooted for 1973 when the Grand Prix became part of what is referred to as GM's Colonnade's.
Many people don't care for the 1973-1977 "Colonnade's", so named because they had a center column or post, even on the coupes. The hardtop began its hard fade out in 1973; I happen to be fan of the '73's with their big, square jaw-like front bumper and delicate rear end bumpers. I wouldn't kick a '74-'77 Grand Prix in most any color (save for this one) if one happened to appear magically in my garage. My dumb luck, my sweet wife would surprise me with one and it would be a two-tone monstrosity like this thing.
The Grand Prix (and Chevrolet Monte Carlo) were different from the other GM coupes of the vintage in that they rode on the four-door, 116-inch wheelbase version of the GM intermediate chassis as opposed to the two-door, 112-inch-long wheelbase version.
Those four inches make a difference? Not really. For styling purposes only, all the extra length was ahead of the fire wall allowing stylists to create what was referred to as a heroically long hood. If you've ever driven one of these things you know that hood is like sitting behind a four by eight sheet of plywood. You either get it, like I do, or you run away screaming straight to your Toyota dealer for something you could actually maneuver in a tight parking lot.
Car spotters know that 1973 through 1975 Grand Prix' feature round headlights, which I prefer, the '76 and '77's have rectangular ones. They're fine, I guess unless you look at a round headlight Grand Prix next to one with the rectangular ones. Your opinion may vary, see dealer for details.
A saving grace on this car is it has the Pontiac 400 cubic inch V-8 engine and not the Pontiac 350 or the 301 V-8 engines. Although making just 180-horsepower, it did make some 320-pounds of torque which is important to motivate such a heavy car properly. Wouldn't say these are fast cars, though. Gas guzzlers? Oh, most definitely. Fast? No. The big motor enough to offset the asking price and two-tone paint scheme. Oh, hell no.
Another bonus is it has bucket seats, console shifter and "Hurst" T-Tops; Hurst got into making more than just transmission shifters for a cup of coffee or two in the late '70's and early '80's and supplied GM with them. Breaker, breaker, it's got a CB radio too. For those who think CB radios in 1970's defined the era, they didn't. They were unusual then which makes them all the more unusual now. I think they look cumbersome, after-market and out of place. Again, that's just me.
Along with all GM intermediates starting in 1978, Pontiac jumped the shark with the Grand Prix and never, as opposed to 1969 with the "smaller" Grand Prix' debut, got its groove back.
No comments:
Post a Comment