pictures by Triborough
This makes the first appearance here of one of the final-year big GPs, before it was reconstituted in 1969 as a mid-plus sized coupe (CC here). That rather brilliant move by John DeLorean solved the GP’s decline into irrelevancy, and sales almost quadrupled. The GP was one of the pioneers of the big sporty-luxury coupe market, and as such, it was fitting to see it re-define the class a second time, especially so since this last (big) year GP was looking a bit lost.
DeLorean had growing doubts about the relevancy of ever-bigger full-size American cars, and that obviously applied to the coupe version more than the sedans and wagons. He was of course right on the money, as the mid-sized personal coupes, typified by the Cutlass Supreme, would soon dominate the sales charts for two decades. Cars like this GP just weren’t inspiring either the stylists or the buying public.
The world had changed drastically and quickly in the mere five years since the superb ’63 GP first graced the streets. And the results weren’t exactly always pretty.
Within a few short years, the GP lost any sense of stylistic leadership, and it appeared that the designers were just re-arranging details one more time for a new model year. Well, they obviously knew a fresh one was on the way by this time. It looks like their main efforts went into trying hard to make it look like the smaller A-Body LeMans.
True Paul,not so grand but a whole lot nicer looking than the 68 T bird.The concealed headlamps do it for me,I love them.I’d have a Le Mans with a 6 or small block V8 over this Grand Prix.(Was the OHC 6 still around in 68?)
’69 was the last year for the OHC six.
Prefer the earlier models but thats just me.
+1 the 63 illustrated is so elegant
Agreed, the magic was largely gone by 1968. That styling is very interesting, it looks like they were consciously trying to bridge the gap from the full size platform to the mid size one with the LeMans-ish details on this car.
I have never been a categorical vinyl roof hater, but from the beginning, I could never stand those “halo” vinyl roofs that left a band of color all the way around between the glass and the vinyl. It looks like a victim of vinyl shrinkage. I say give me a full vinyl roof or none at all.
+1 on vinyl roofs JP,those half vinyl roofs look like a bad hairpiece.This one’s not quite as bad though but would look better if it went all the way to the glass.
Agreed. Looks like a badly-fitting toupee, with two much skin showing around it. (Update: I see someone’s beat me to it)
Agreed Paul. Now — your take on the carriage roofs on Lincolns, Buicks, etc…..
😀
I’m pretty much against vinyl roofs and everything that they stand for…. One thing in favor of the halo-style on this Grand Prix is that they don’t seem to create as much rust trouble as the conventional style.
Yeah, the vinyl looks like a bad hair-piece on this thing. I still think It’s a nice looking car (aren’t most Ponchos?) but not anywhere nearly as crisp and original as It’s predecessor.
Man, a little bit of rake would do the feature car wonders. As it sits, the natural lines of the car really give it that “dragging ass” look. In my opinion, those mega-Cragars aren’t doing it any favors, either. Needs more rubber and less rim to look right.
I do dig the beak, though. Ditch the vinyl, paint it something dark, add steel wheels with dog dishes…now it’s tuff.
Would a Pontiac have worn dog dish hubcaps though?
If you didn’t get any wheel options it would have.
Whoa, Carmine. No way! The GP came standard with deluxe wheel discs. I expect better from you, Mr..GM 🙂
And that goes for the Bonneville and Executive too. Probably just the Catalina came with dog dishes std.
Did they? I never bothered to check, To me its 8 lugs go the f**k home…I would have assumed that dog dishes would have been one of those standard things that you never ever saw….among all the other wheel options, there would have been regular wheelcovers, wire wheel covers, Rally II’s and course, the 8 lugs, my favorites.
Dog dishes might have been a credit delete option on cars that came standard with full covers.
The Grand Prix’s that came with disc brakes in ’67 and ’68 used a unique offset wheel and had unique wheelcovers with Disc Brake Identification. My ’67 had the discs (Front only) and replacing the wheels was a pain since standars rims would not clear the calipers.
I’ve never actually seen a real one so I had to go looking. From hubcaps.com:
I’ve seen those wheel covers on a 67 GP and a 67 Bonneville.
You’d find the same thing on all the more senior GM models; well, all across Detroit, for that matter. Std. dog dishes were relegated to the lower-end models/brands. Even the caprice and LTD came std. with unique full wheel covers.
Only the Broughams, regular LTDs came with dog-dishes.
Not in 1965, as per the snip from the brochure.
Std on the 67 LTD too:
Full wheel covers standard on my aunt’s 66 LTD as well.
Okay point taken. Once the Brougham came out, the regular LTD was pushed down a peg and dog-dishes were standard. Full covers were always on Ford’s top line, whatever they were called.
Dog dishes were standard on the ’72 LTD. Not sure when the LTD wheel trim was de-contented. The range is a little narrower though (1967- 1972). Now you all got me curious.
The 1969 LTD was decontented a good bit from previous years. That year an optional “Brougham” package was offered to restore the goodies previously standard (wood grained steering wheel, pedal trim, sail panel lamps, plusher cloth seats, and a few others)
Dad had a 1969 LTD without the brougham package. The ubiquitous lime green with black vinyl roof. Checked the old window sticker that was saved – full wheel covers were an option.
Hey CPJ, thanks for finding out! 🙂
Funny though that cars like LeSabres and Delta 88’s still had base dog dishes though, even though they were a rung up on the division ladder.
Yes. You could get the base wheels on any model of Pontiac. But Why????
You guys are harping on the 68 as being not so Grand and than you want to add to the blandness grandless with poverty wheels. I agree on the even cheaper 17″ TorqueThrust wanabees on this car. This is one trend that I wish that it would go away. Those wheels don’t even look good on a 5 YO car let alone a 45 YO one. And I can’t even imagine what this model would look like with out the vinyl toupe’.
BTW one of my ex-coworkers still owns a 68 GP. Complete with the factory installed 428 with Muncie 4 gear. I guess Pontiac was still building some excitment back than.
I was admiring the crappy body work on our subject car. Looks like a ton of plastic mud in the lower front fender and rear quarters. If I squint real hard I can see the sand scratches.
Amazing really. Bad enough for any Pontiac but as Carmine said in a comment further down, a Grand Prix was an upscale car but still could be had with dog dish hubcaps, it just does not make sense. I presume few would have escaped the factory that way in reality, or would have had full dress covers applied at a dealership to make them more saleable.
All the senior Pontiacs (GP, Bonneville, Executive) came with full wheel discs std.
I’d rather skip vinyl roofs altogether, especially considering how badly they age and allow the sheet metal underneath to rust.
I the light yellow color of this one, but always thought the ’63-’66 GPs looked much nicer. I especially don’t like the “gash” on the lower rear quarter panels in front of the rear wheels on all ’67-’68 Pontiacs — after nearly 50 years, I still can’t figure out what the stylists were trying to achieve with this detail. It doesn’t mirror the kick-up in the beltline, for example.
Good call on the kick-up. Seems like an arbitrary attempt at differentiation. As Paul said, by now they were just rearranging details.
Agree. Too much Buick, from the cowl back, and deadly everywhere behind the doors. I think it was the 67 Buick B-C bodies that started the droopy back end disease, and the pandemic ultimately ruined just about everything from GM, through the colonnade series.
Henry Hill would be happy seeing this one.
That was my first thought, as well. Perfect mob car.
Yeah, in Good Guys, they carried a (mostly) dead body in the trunk of a Grand Prix.
Goodfellas…
Looks more like a Benny Hill car to me 🙂
Although the cars I’m about to mention came after the 68 Grand Prix, this car looks like the bastard child of a 69 Chevelle and a 72 Thunderbird.
Wide-track turned into lard-ass.
One of the few brochures I have is for the 67 GP, I just love the 67 front ends. I do concur with Gem that the 1963 is soooo sleek.
Nice car but the rims look realy stupid 🙁
Its kinda cool now, just because. But, if I were shopping collector Grand Prixs, this would be about the bottom of the list – but ahead of any W body versions.
Even without the paint over bad bodywork on the subject car, these just aren’t the greatest. Kind of a messed up Bonneville, which I still quite liked for 1968.
In better form…………
I think there is just too much lounge lizard vibe to some of the big “personal luxury” cars of this era. The buyer has too much hair, gold chains, too much polyester. A sign of the times.
Even as much as I like the Continental Mark III, I get the lizard vibe from it sometimes. The subject car is a lot like the 1970 Riviera, another car I want to love, but can’t get too excited about…….
Open wheel wells on the 1970 Rivieras do help the attitude. I would say these are really to early to be full lounge lizard gold chain cars that was more mid 70’s, but I’ll admit that the ties and the lapels were starting to get wide.
Remember that these were still upscale cars, they weren’t cheap and they weren’t aimed at kids. They had a pretty conservative clientele overall. The styling on these sort of joins the bridge between the crisper mid 60’s cars and the fuselage early 70’s cars. I might be one of the few here that does like the 68 GP, I think the 69-72 cars are prettier, but I don’t hate the 1968’s, I think there is a sort of cool “big GTO” vibe to the Grand Prix. Its interesting to note that the body on the 1968 Grand Prix is still totally unique to the GP.
I always though the open headlights on the 70 Riviera made it look to much like a Skylark though, not my favorite Rivieras, I wouldn’t turn one down if it was a real sweetheart of a deal.
Here’s a Riviera with the open wheel wells.
I know it doesn’t have the cachet of the first body, but I think the 66 Riv is the best looking.
That does change the car for the better. And I usually like full low skirts. The retro bit of trim on the picture I posted, combined with the skirts may be just a bit too much.
I forgot about the mini-skirt versions. Similar to the ’78 and up Town Car……….
I suddenly feel the need to polish some gold chains and blow-dry my chest hair, having owned both a GP and Riviera. I actually liked the skirts on the ’70 I missed an opportunity to get one exactly like the one in the picture, but a few weeks later was able to get the ’69 that I had. I never cared for the original GPs thinking they just looked too much like the Bonnevilles and Catalinas, until they became separate entities. Always thought they were the best looking of the GM mid-personal coupes.
I would say these are more houndstooth sportcoat and turtleneck cars than full gold chain & chest hair mobiles. Or maybe a nice suit…..
Had it been a few years later they would have been these guys
(click on the pic)
A relative of mine ordered one of these GP’s in Merdoro green/white top, buckets, console, fender skirts, and hood mounted tach, while stationed in Newfoundland. It was one of the cars that I learned to drive in. I remember that the tach never worked, even after being sent back more than once for repair!! But it was a beauty! 🙂
Hood tachs are cool looking, but being out on the hood, subject to heat, moisture, vibration and hood “slamings” are just not nice things for any instrument.
I agree that the 1968 GP and 1970 Riviera are the poster children for the malaise that struck GM’s designers as they phoned in the last year of design before a major change. I’d lump the 1970 Toronado into the same boat as well. Just hard to love any of these, especially relative to their predecessors (or successors, in the case of the GP).
I totally agree with this statement. They used the same bodies as the previous year, but emerged far less attractive. To me, the last Riv that looked great was the ’69 (although I do like the ’79-’85 and ’95-’99 models), and the last really nice Grand Prix was the ’67. I see the appeal in the ’69-’72 versions, but they’re just not my taste.
To me, that 63 black coupe is hands down the best looking GPever.
“Superb” is the word for the 63 Grand Prix. I’ll never forget the first one I saw in my small midwestern town – in midnight blue. Just stunning with the chromeless sculpted sides and concave rear window – and the rich interiors were as classy as anything around at the time. I think the 67 is also a fine looking car. The 68 – no.
Agreed. The ’63 GP, especially in dark colors is the very definition of class.
This ’68 Grand Prix is a considerable restyle compared to the ’67. Much more than just a facelift between model years on the same body. Note that the entire rear quarter panel has been restyled. The car no longer has a separate belt line, but mimics the monococque roof and body a’la Toronado where the roof and rear quartet meet seamlessly. This monococque design is one reason stylists favored a halo vinyl roof- with no beltline to define where the vinyl ends, stylist were able to emphasize the continuous look of the sheet metal by revealing some of it via the halo. I would suspect the stylists hated that consumers ruined their flowing lines by demanding the vinyl top option.
I find it interesting that CC’rs also point out the ’70 Riv an Toro as being failed designs. They, too, were significant restyles for just one year. Very little sheetmetal carried over on any of these cars. They were all 1 year only looks.
Yes, the ’68 has unique rear quarters, rear bumper, and trunk lid – although I wonder who thought the expense would be worthwhile for what would have been a one-year-only design, even if the ’69 had continued as a full-size car. From the windshield forward, however, it’s the same as any full-size ’68 Pontiac, other than the headlamp doors and grille texture. The ’67 GP, by contrast, had a unique front bumper (slightly taller to accommodate the hiding horizontal headlamps) and a different full-width fiberglass piece above the bumper, with the slitted turn signals where the upper headlamps would have been.
(Pennsylvania law at the time regarded these as partially blocked turn signals and hence illegal; to comply, our local Pontiac dealer filled in the slits with some black goop and installed the same turn signals below the bumper that the other full-size Pontiacs had. Anyone else hear of or witness this?)
Even the ’70 Riv and Toro shared glass with their predecessors, whereas none of the side or rear glass of the ’67 or ’68 GP was shared with any other GM car of the same year (unless the ’68 door glass was a match for the Caprice coupe with optional “Astro ventilation” that eliminated vent windows).
I live in Pittsburgh. My ’67 was sold new in Florida and retained the turn signal/parking lights above the bumper. I was at a show with the car and a gentleman saw my car with the parking lights on and remarked that :That isn’t a Pennsylvania car” I told him that i knew that and wondered why he did. He told me he worked in the Pittsburgh Zone office for Pontiac in the ’60s and that the ’67 Grand Prix was a huge headache because the lights would not pass PA inspection. What they did was remove the lenses and painted them black and then installed Catalina signal units in the front valance panel under the bumper.
A Pennsylvania spec ’67 Grand Prix
1968 Lincolns sold in Pennsylvania had to have the ribbed taillights replaced…
I grew up in Pittsburgh and never knew about the ’67 GP parking lights not passing PA inspection. I remember very well when these cars came out, but they weren’t a common sight in my working class neighborhood.
Saw the Wisconsin collector plates on this one; it was shot on Milwaukee’s East Side. She’s got some pretty lumpy bodywork.
I agree with everyone on the ’63. There was one on a used car lot near my house when I was young. It was not very old at the time, and I used to drool at it regularly.
I grew up with Pontiacs. My mother loved her GPs Had a new onw every other year. 63, 65, 67, 69, then 73,and 76. she dislaiked the look of the 78s so went to Buick Regal in 78 but returned to GPs in 81 (A brougham, no less) and 87. That was her last car. she did not want the FWD editions of 88 and later, Kept that 87 for years, until she stopped driving. One note, every one of her cars was in a shade of Blue. From robin’s egg (the 78 Regal), to midnight. (the 63, 69, and 87.) Dad meanwhile dealt with comparable (though not as frequently purchased) Bonnevilles and Lesabres. He bought form the same salesman from 1959 until 1991, when he purchased his last new car. a 91 Lesabre. Now sitting in my driveway.
I always thought the 67 and 68 GP’s were an attempt to be the gentleman’s Goat with it’s near look alike GTO appearence. But the 69 GP changed everything, didn’t it? One of the greatest looking cars IMO, to have come out of the 60’s.
The 69, that is. Not this!
I had a ’67 Grand Prix convertible in the 1990s. The ’67 was much better proportioned than the ’68 and from the rear looked like a big GTO.
Front view with the cool parking lights/turn signals above the bumper. Unless the car was sold new in Pennsylvania which required that the standard lights be blacked out and Catalina units installed under the bumper.
Schweet. We had similar problems in oz with lensware on some CKD US full size. I think it’s only recently that import t-birds did not have to deactivate the sequential rear lights.
I have heard that the reason American T-birds didn’t have the sequential signals in ’64 was that Pennsylvania would not permit them and didn’t until after the ’64s were introduced. The ’65s all have them along with the ’67 and up Cougars and Shelby Mustangs.
I don’t know if the story is true but, Pennsylvania was a big car market.
I still have my ’66 T-Bird Convertible. I used to have some of the Vintage Thunderbird Club magazines that showed 60s T-Birds that had been converted to RHD. The workmanship of making all the chrome plated trim on the dash go right instead of left was amazing.
Nice car, Mark.
I was a sucker for those hidden headlamps though.
no hate here, I think its a cool car at the end of its style cycle. Certainly its not the out of the park classic that the 63, 69 or even the 73 GP is, but its a good looking car in its own right and definitely a late-1960s Pontiac.
But In 1968, the GP didn’t have a chance sales-wise against the new GM A-Bodies or Mopar B-Bodies. What a great year for a to be car shopping! Im 39 with a decent job and a house and 3 kids which would have put me in the GP’s target demographic in 1968 and I would have gone for a new Charger or GTX, or maybe a decked out 442 if it had to be a GM product and I wanted something fast and cool but more grown up than a GTO or Road Runner.
I don’t get the ’68-bashfest. This design is just stunning to me — especially the front end. The optional vinyl top, nasty color & wheelz…..mm, not so much.
Give me a ’67 or ’68 with the spinner wheelcovers, and no vinyl top or “Mayfair Maize” and I’ll be a happy camper.
I don’t get the ’63 humpage. A Bonneville can be equipped the same way…making the earlier GPs not that big-a-deal. Whateva.
The ’63 GP had a completely unique upper body/roof, and was trimmed quite a bit differently from the Bonneville, making it look at least as unique as the later ones. 1963 Bonneville below.
Paul, The Grand Prix was also based on the B-Body Catalina so it was 4-5″ shorter than a Bonneville. The GP was also notable for unique grilles and taillights and the restrained use of chrome trim on the sides compared to the Bonneville.
The Grand Prix rear glass was shared with the Olds Starfire from ’64-’66
They still look a whole lot alike! 🙂 It must just be personal taste — the Bonneville is “me” in the early years I guess. Nice color combo on that one.
By that time, many Pontiacs, especially the largest ones, were just over-styled Chevys.
This Grand Prix? Nope. Just give me a nice, sweet Chevelle sports coupe. 250 Powerglide, of course. Yeah – I mean that, too!
Wha’ ? Overstyled Chevys? Even though full-size Pontiacs had better drivetrains? The full-size Pontiac automatic was a THM three-speed as early as ’65, whereas Chevy still made full-size cars with two-speed automatics as late as ’70. I suppose it’s possible to regard the THM as inferior to the Powerglide, but to me it’s a big “does not compute.”
Not to mention 105 more cubic inches from the base V8 and better styling inside and out. A Catalina of this era was priced within $100 or so of an Impala, making it a far better value. The Bonneville gave you more of everything with 303 hp and a dash a Caprice couldn’t touch.
The 1960’s were heady times for Pontiac under the legendary leadership of Bunkie, Pete Estes and John Z. D. Almost everything they touched was a winner. This ’68 GP was one of the few misses. The slump was short-lived however, as the ’69 was teriffic.
The sides of that car look like a busload of kids waving…
This thing has sort of a Big Bird vibe to it with the yellow paint.
Looking at the front view I was struck by how much the light colour ruins this car. In dark shades the full width grill looks cool and integrated, but when you see it set off against the yellow it it just looks like a paste on appendage to any other GM B-C body,
I’m late to the comment parade, as I have been traveling. But every time I’ve picked up my phone over the past three days I’ve found myself looking at the pictures of this car. I’m drawn to them. Unfortunately, it’s for the wrong reasons. There’s something about this car I find grotesque and viscerally hideous. When I was a kid, a few cars could make me feel really sad, and this, I now realize, was one of them. Adults didn’t make much sense to me in general, and this clumsy, ass-dragging, bloated coupe left me wondering why they’d choose to bring something like this into the world. It’s a car meant for people with no self awareness, no aesthetic sophistication, no desire to pursue understandings of the world any larger than the ones they currently inhabit. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Not that I’m bitter.
I am having a hard time understanding all the 68 GP bashing going on here. In 1976 I was in love with the look of the 68 and almost bought one as my first car but, I could not come up with the $1200 needed to buy is. Fast forward to 2011 when I found an almost identical car to the one I was in love with back in 76. I had to buy it. It has 34k miles on it at the time and is nearly all original with a fair amount of patina. To me the car screams beauty. Everyone has their opinion, now you have mine.
I still like the hide away headlights on the ’68 but the rear end looks very heavy compared to the sleeker ’67. It seems as though they were going for a Toronado look with the roofline going straight into the quarters on the sides.
I understand the 1969 Grand Prix was originally supposed to remain a B-body full sized model…