Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest Pontiac of them all? Pontiac’s golden decade, starting in 1963, has plenty of contenders. The ’63 full-size Pontiacs, headed up by the mile-stone Grand Prix shocked and revolutionized the whole industry. Some love the swashbuckling and hippy ’65 GP, or the even the more voluptuous ’67. The midsized Le Mans and GTO has its fans, as does the ’71 Firebird . But the ’69 Grand Prix may well be the one, for sheer dramatic effect, proportions, and its more restrained size.
Like (almost) all of my CCs, this was not a staged shot in any way. I was driving out West 11th, in the late afternoon, when I saw the GP. I was pretty anxious about how low the sun was already, because I’ve had trouble with that before, especially with dark cars. But as I stood facing that six-foot long hood, and saw how the low light and shadows were playing in its folds, suddenly a dreamy ’69 GP print ad appeared in my mind’s eve, the one you’re looking at here. It had been forty one years since I saw it in Time or Life, but Pontiac’s ads rendered by the team of Art Fitzpatrick (the cars) and Van Kaufman (backgrounds) tend to leave an indelible impression. I moved around until my mental picture corresponded what I saw in my camera, and hoped they were close.
The ’69 GP was a major departure for Pontiac, since it had always been the standard bearer of the full-size line. But the big GM B-Body’s ever-bulging hips and interminable overhangs took their biggest toll on the GP. The Mustang had redefined the sporty coupe on a drastically smaller scale, and mega-sized sporty-personal luxury coupes just weren’t cutting it anymore.
But rather than toss all that grand name equity overboard, a whole new approach was taken, and one with a decidedly Mustangian flavor. Take the bread and butter intermediate coupe body, but hang the longest hood this side of a Duesenberg on its front. Well, that was obviously in someone’s mind, given that the GP now sported the Model J and SJ monikers. What had worked so well in transforming the Falcon into the Mustang would be taken up a notch. And perhaps for the first time in a decade, GM actually created a new niche in the market, by using Ford’s playbook.
Brilliant, in defining the very shape and concept that would take the whole market by storm: the mid-sized and affordable personal luxury coupe. The Olds Cutlass soon latched onto it and rode it to the very top for what seemed like forever. The GP also anticipated the demise of the full size car, or at least their leading role as trend-setters and glamor-mobiles. Increasingly, full size cars became more sedan-focused, as the big coupes became irrelevant. Which makes sense, given how huge they were becoming, especially after 1971. Pontiac saw this in advance, and their move with the GP signaled a coming corporate-wide shift to “mid-sized” coupes as the standard-bearers and as the big sellers.
There’s always a price to pay, and in this case it was the interior. It’s virtually indistinguishable from a pedestrian Le Mans coupe of the same vintage. The big, old GPs came with buckets, console and those magnificent chrome-plated altars of a dash. Well, those were all being sacrificed on the altar of bean-counting anyway. The high quality interiors with the buckets and console had once been such an integral part of what defined a GP.
The sixties marked a big shift by GM and the rest of the US industry in de-contenting luxury cars to keep their cost down and dramatically boost volume (and profits). In the process, they lost their exclusivity, and opened the doors for the imports. Buckets and console, along with pretty much all the other goodies, were on the long option list. The 428 HO would be a good one to check off.
The ’69 GP’s price and sales stats tells this tale: its starting price, $3,866 ($22,460, adjusted) was lower than the the inflation adjusted price of its full-size predecessor, but not by nearly as much as it was cheaper to build. Let’s not forget that this is a Le Mans coupe with rhinoplasty and a new C pillar. Sales exploded, to over 112k, four times its bloated ’67 predecessor. Profit margins undoubtedly increased by at least that amount too.
The ’69 GP’s use of the 118″ mid-size platform did come with a price: it had to share the body shell with Chevrolet, for their new Monte Carlo. Pontiac did get the first year for itself, as a reward for its efforts. But sales dipped in 1970 and for the rest of this body style through 1972, probably because of the MC, and competition from the growing field.
Speaking of 1971, there are some who probably like the refreshed face of the ‘71 – ’72 GP even more than the original. With its single headlights and more “classic” grille, it unfortunately became the prototype for all those garish seventies “Super Fly” customs and pimp-mobiles, like the Bugazzi. That’s where this handsome coupe starts lose it for me; it and the Lincoln Mark III shared the same proportions and details that were too obvious retro with their exaggerated long hoods, classic grilles, vinyl tops, and other affectations. The 1963 Grand Prix was a true a trail-blazer; and the ’69 rightfully a pioneer of the new market niche, and a trend-setter for a garish decade (or two) of coupes to come.
Those cars had one of the coolest door handle designs ever. In 1969 our next door neighbor had one in Royal Blue Metallic with a White roof and interior which is always my mental image of this generation Grand Prix. It made a sharp contrast with my parent’s Mercedes 250S and the across the street neighbors VW Squareback.
Wonderful writeup of a car that I have not thought about enough over the years. I have been re-reading John DeLorean’s book “On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors”. He led the Pontiac Motor Division from the mid 60s until 1969 when he was transferred to Chevrolet. DeLorean was proud of this car and of the Division’s efforts to bring it about. He had a pretty smooth-running operation at Pontiac in those years, much of which he attributed to how divisional leadership listened to the Dealers about what would sell and what wouldn’t.
This car may represent the last new passenger car market segment that GM identified and was successful in. Probably because it was one of the last products that was conceived, designed and built by one of the Divisions and not by a centralized GM.
I always loved those Pontiac mag wheels with the “PMD” in the hubs. And I second slow_joe_crow on the door handles.
I don’t remember from seeing these in person, and I can’t tell from the pics, what’s special about the door handles?
I’ve always liked the door handles on Corvettes that were on the top of the fender, and you just push down with the end of your fingers, the ones on some 50′s Imperials where you push on a pad at the end with your thumb and the handle pops into your hand, and the handles on “bullet-bird” T-birds that are integrated into the stainless trim.
Always wanted to read DeLorean’s book but can’t find a copy. My dad had it once, but he lent it to someone and they threw it out instead of returning it.
Door handles are the kind that you push in with your thumb and the handle pops into your palm to pull.
I got my copy of the DeLorean book via Amazon.com. Actually, I suggested the idea to my kids for a father’s day present and they ordered it there. A hardcover, even! Definitely worth reading. The “centralization sclerosis” was in full swing at GM in the late 60s. DeLorean seems to have been fighting it then and losing and eventually quit.
Thanks for the tip. I would recommend Dewar’s book “A Savage Factory”. It was a very entertaining read about the crazy worklife at a Ford transmission plant in the 1970s.
Oh, this is probably my favorite American car design of all time. My Dad had a ’72 (single-headlight) Model J with the 400 ci engine and auto on the floor. Loved looking out over that long hood. Big twin pipes made it very ballsy. A total macho machine for sure. This one is in great shape, although the column-shifted automatic is kind of strange….
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/ddibiase/WebpagePics/72GrandPrix.jpg
Dan D
One of Pontiac’s most successful merchandising/product planning efforts, but far from my favorite sixties Pontiac. A lot of late-sixties and seventies styling is really not to my taste at all, and this is a prime example; I much, much prefer the pre-1965 GPs.
I second that, I think Pontiac Styling became rather baroque after 1967. I can tolerate the fender skirts on the 1965-66 Bonnevilles, even if that made them less sporting to the eye, but the Full Size Pontiacs jumped the shark in ’67, and the A bodies were the least pretty out of the lot from ’68.
The hips that sprouted on the 1963 models ended up benefiting the C Body Deuce & A Quarter and Delmont/Delta Eighty Eight the most in my eyes between 1967-70. I’d take the original, dechromed 1962 or the 1964 Grand Prix over this, or I would have forked over the extra $2000 for a Buick Riviera, which was in it’s last year of not being overtly baroque.
Not bad, but I have a soft spot for the ’65 Parisienne Custom Sport w/ fender skirts.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carphotosbyrichard/4956354753/
@smelter rat…..Nice 65, and a very nice GP. However,to this old Poncho dude,nothing comes close to a 63 Parisienne convertible.
There are so many candidates for the first “personal luxury coupe”, this post is spot on for giving the GP the prize for defining the midsize personal luxury coupe. My Lincoln bias puts me at arguing that the Continental Mark II is the real first personal luxury coupe. Well maybe Mr. Niedermeyer put it best in his CC to the first Lincoln Continental as the real first personal luxury coupe. I always thought the proper order should be : Mark I-Mark II-4 seater T-Bird-Riviera-Big GP-Eldorado-Mark III-Small GP- the rest of the Personal Luxury Coupe Onslaught. The 60′s Eldorado is really a Cadillac Mark II with FWD, thats why the Marks did better; for once the Lincoln was the genuine article and the Caddy was the knock-off. It is fascinating how these original retro cars borrowed classic motifs across marque lines- the Imperial and the Cutlass and later Grand Prix would all sport split waterfall grilles like the original Lincoln Continental, side vents as abstracted Dussenberg pipes, hexagonal wheelcovers and how many times has the coffin nosed Cord been riffed as a front end from Lincoln’s early 70′s power dome to the Dodge Magnum & Mirada. That first picture is an amazing match to that advertising, what a great eye.
I’d say Cadillac Sixty Special – Lincoln Continental – Continental Mark II – Square Bird – 1962-63 Pontiac Grand Prix – Buick Riviera – Oldsmobile Toronado/E-body Cadillac Eldorado – Lincoln Continental Mark III – ’69 Grand Prix – Chevrolet Monte Carlo – Chrysler Cordoba – downsized 1977 Thunderbird (in sales terms, one of the most successful of any of these cars) – Lincoln Continental Mark V.
I would be curious how much the Pontiac studio was aware of the Continental Mark III before it came out. Dave Ash, who was the lead designer of the Mark III, said in a 1985 interview that it was really Iacocca who insisted on the neo-classical theme, and that Gene Bordinat, Ford’s chief stylist, only went along with it because Iacocca (and later Henry Ford II) loved it. Ash said that if he’d suggested it without Iacocca’s support, everyone would have thought he was nuts. Certainly, neither the 1966-67 Riviera, Toronado, or Eldorado was particularly retro.
I suppose the 60 special counts for its aesthetics but it is a four door, so it should get points docked for that. I really argue the Mark II because it was purposely designed as a close coupled 2 rows of seats coupe. The 60 special and the first Lincoln Continentals were repurposed/modified lesser brethren.
If I recall correctly, the original 60 Special was considered unique because it offered handsome, cutting-edge styling with a custom-body look in a luxury package that was designed to be driven by the owner.
Throughout most of the 1930s, the true luxury market had been defined by the huge, custom-bodied, multi-cylinder cars that were too cumbersome for many people – particularly women and the elderly – to drive. Hence, the use of chauffeurs, who were usually young or maybe middle-age men. They had the strength to drive one of those monsters, which featured a long wheelbase, very heavy curb weight and no power steering.
The 60 Special could be considered a “personal” luxury car in the sense that it offered the distinction and style of the custom-bodied cars, but it could be driven by virtually anyone who could drive a car. You didn’t need a chauffeur to drive it.
I’d say the unintentional dad of the mass market personal coupe was the 1953 Studebaker Starlight/Starliner coupes. They weren’t as roomy (I think) as the Sedans and offered sleeker styling than the Sedan/Wagon line up.
Sure they didn’t initially play up the “Personal Luxury” aspect, but by 1956, you can’t say the Golden Hawk wasn’t starting to be marketed that way, with a price decidedly in upper Oldsmobile/Buick Century range and a Packard V8.
In concept, I would agree, but if you look at the Hawk’s sales figures, the “mass market” part becomes a little harder to justify. The ’53 “Loewy Coupe” Starlight/Starliner sold reasonably well, but the Hawk (whatever its hue), not so much.
Incidentally, I think the term personal car was largely coined by Ford for the 1955 T-Bird, mostly because they didn’t want to insist too hard that it was a sports car.
I think you can safely call the 1953-55 Loewy coupes the first mass-produced personal coupes. These were not limited-production halo cars like, say, the Eldorado or Caribbean.
Like the 1970s Cutlass Supreme coupe, the Loewy coupes shared nameplates and design cues with the sedans and wagons. However, the coupes had virtually all-new sheetmetal, a lower cowl, and they were sold for their style. In 1955 Studebaker bragged that it was the largest producer of “sports cars.”
As a car nut it is surprising to me that I am happy enough with my current daily driver, a 99 Intrepid, Which I guess was Dodge successful answer to the Grand Prix.
I Remember My 5th grade teacher Ms. Mustachio, picking me up in one on the way home from school, because she had a parent teacher mtng at our House. It was Mid Size to Me compared to my Mother’s 63 Marimba Red Gran Prix.
Mom would later pass on the 73 Gran Prix, and instead was happy to get a budget fitting Mark lV sibling, Thunderbird. That was a Spectucular choice at the time looking back, it was 100 % a Continental at half the price. or was it closer in price?
Then A Grand Prix Offered a Tremendous Value when compared to the Thunderbirds and sold in much greater volumes, starting with the 1969 model year, over 100,000 a year many times.
Yeah, that is a favorite GM car from the sixties. I vividly remember Henry N. Manney’s test of this one in Road and Track as it came out.
Quote (from my memory):”Even Henry N. Manney’s wife says it isn’t all bad”.
Love these cars, but another I like is the 1973 Pontiac Grand Am,
hope Paul finds one someday to feature.
I remember my cousins and I (the boys anyway) all thought that series Grand Am was cool, never mind that it was another Colonnade variation. (C’mon, I was about 5-6 years old, what did I know?)
1969 Pontiac Grand Prix
Early 70s Lincoln Mark
First Generation Cadillac Eldorado/Oldsmobile Toronado
First year Riviera
That to me is a list of cars that a man could show up to a first date in (as long as the car is well kept) and not make any apologize unless he’s just picked up a memeber of PETA/WWF/Siera Club. Hell with my lady we might not make it out of the driveway.
That reminds me of an episode of that 70′s show when Hyde has borrowed Jackie’s Dad’s Lincoln Continental ( A grey Continental town car)and after having been left alone at the dance goes up to a pretty blonde. He askes her something to the effect has she ever seen the back seat of a Lincoln Continental? She replies Yes. He then says Wanna see the back seat of this one? She says Sure, why not.
Best Pontiac ever? I’d have to go with the ’63 GP…it was fresh and completely different at it’s launch and I liked the lean, muscular stance. The same reasons the Boeing 757 is my favorite commercial plane.
Though in high school a friend did have one of these ’69′s with a magnificent pearl white finish with the white buckets interior. He was rather fastidious and drove it carefully and didn’t allow anyone to smoke in it…rare and off putting in the mid to late ’70′s.
I remember it being smooth but not excessively wallowing…a great cruising car, albeit a non smoking cruising car!
I too fell in love with the GP at first sight. Until the proud owner popped the hood. The motor sat some four or five feet back from the front bumper? Form has to follow function. It was always the most tarted up whore at the party for me after that.
I know other cars did similar things, (dare they be called crumple zones?) Camaro, Firebirds, all the Lincoln Marks, Caddies, guess this is why I still have an aversion of women with breast expansions.
Nice car I like the 4 light front and the general style What a shame personal coupe gave way to personal barge. Pretty much the end of the line for aspirational Merican cars once the fat sporty look became popular with you guys we got our fast cars where they werent watered down and fed so often, cruising at 70mph on gravel is normal in some parts of the world cars that can do that are good to buy they last well and drive ok especially on tar I like good handling on gravel roads kinda cars and softly sprung land yachts dont work those struggle to stay on a bumpy tar road at 70 if you need to make lots of land miles fast luxobarge is a slow tiring way to go
I think the 1st-gen Eldo, Riviera and Toronado trump all the others, although I have a lot of nostalgia for the early 70s Marks. (But as with the Grand Am, I was a kid and the hidden headlights and spare-tire hump said “cool”, not “schlocky” as they would now.)
I saw a ’72 or ’73 Toronado in traffic the other day and it’s still an impressive, if humongous by modern standards, car…it’s still a shame what happened to Oldsmobile.
’65 Bonneville for me. So clean and elegant. I built an AMT model of this car back then, dark metallic blue. Wish I had it today.
I like these, as well, both this and the similar ’66. I ran into one on the street two years ago, and trying to photograph it made me conscious of the complexity of its body shapes. Jack Humbert, who was chief of the Pontiac studio at the time, apparently made sure his team sweated the details on stuff like that, and it really paid off.
That time period saw some particularly complex curves, and the Grand Prix exemplified the look. It’s hard to find a flat surface anywhere, e.g., the back end has both a vertical “V” as well as a horizontal “W” shape.
The designers did a great job with design details, such as the lovely taper to the front bumper and the much-copied ribbed taillights. I think the 1966 lost some of the 65′s styling nuance.
It’s amazingly graceful for what is, in reality, a very large car. Someone in Harrisburg apparently has a fetish for 1965 Pontiacs – he has three beaters that are still daily drivers. They still look sharp, even with all of the dents, rust and faded paint.
I like the 1965 model front, with the fender that looks as though it is “peeling back” from the headlight housing. In 1966, Pontiac made the leading edge of the front fender flush with the headlight housing, and it looks less dramatic.
In many ways, 1965-66 was a peak period for GM styling. I don’t believe there is one ugly or awkward car in the bunch. Probably the least attractive car during these two years was the 1965 Chevy II, which was a facelifted version of a design that debuted for 1962. But even that one received a very handsome new body for 1966.
You are about dead on…but what about 1969? Ooooh, those full-sized Pontiacs just looked so muscular and took the Coke-bottle thing to new highs.
I totally agree those mid 60′s coke bottle fendered Poncho’s epitimize the best of Pontiac and 1960′s mid price styling to me. I prefer them over this Grand Prix(although I appreciate it Id just rather have a Mark III). Especially the 2 dr hardtops with the sloping fastback roofs. Every one scrambled to tack stacked headlights, the coke bottle fender and the swoopy roof on to their cars. All the low and mid pricers aimed for Pontiac territory-Dodge “Monaco” Chevrolet “Monte Carlo” and where is the most famous Grand Prix held? Plymouth and Ford would jump on the stacked headlights bandwagon. Mid 60′s Pontiacs were style leaders.
Had two AMT models that I used in a Demolition Derby with a friend…A 1965 Grand Prix and a 1966 Bonneville. Wish I still had those…and my life-sized 1969 Grand Prix Model SJ bought used in 1977 when I was 20. It had 83000 cream-puff miles…I quickly made a change to that cream puff thing. Damn, it had the 428 HO, and it’s a wonder I’m still here to type this after 6 months of dogging and drinking. How did i drive that car tipsy and live to tell about it? Oh, those younger, ignorant days.
in the early 70s I biult a model of every ponycar and vette, and one other car; the 69 GP… it had ski racks on top of the vinyl roof!
As for persoanl luxury coupes, my ’90 Olds Trofeo was the best daily beater Ive used…
This will sound crazy but the red bonnie that MikePDX posted is actually literally mine! Love the 65 bonnie. The Catalinas (and Gp) is most like a Bonneville fit for reality (it’s about a foot or so shorter, mainly rear deck length) but when it came time for me to buy my classic there was no question – I wanted un-reality! Beautiful machines!
Me and Car Buddy Zach crossed the country in his 71 Catalina, in 1995. To my eye that Cat stole this GPs schnoz. And the GP looks like a 67 Eldo around the c pillar. In 69 I think I would have gone with a Charger. In 63 it would have been GP…or Riv…ok both.
I still remember the first time I saw one in the summer of 69. It was love at first sight. I looked for months for a model of the 69 GP and finally found one. I painted it dark green like the first one I saw. Never saw many 69-72 GPs here in East Tennessee so I was never able to get an up-close look. It’s still my #1 dream car probably because it was always so elusive. I did eventually buy a 72 Monte Carlo but it never drove the GP from my wish list. It just seemed to be a pale imitation of the car I really wanted. Thanks Paul for reminding me of what I always considered to be the ultimate 60′s American car design.
The 69 GP doesn’t really do it for me. As far as Pontiacs go, I’d opt for a 68 GTO. That car had a nice font end, at least until they started flirting with hide-away headlights. Also think the 68 Firebird is a beauty. Th 68 GP has a big nose which reminds me too much of a Ford product.
Love the color of that ’65 GP in the link in the writeup: Iris Mist. It seems like every GM division offered a variation on metallic lavender at one time or another in the early 60s. Chevy had Evening Orchid, Buick had Camelot Rose, Olds had Antique Rose, and Cadillac had Briar Rose.
My first post the other day disappeared and is orbiting Jupiter, so I’ll try again:
The design is clean, but after the 1967 full-size GM’s, I lost interest, as they got too bloated and became barges. I went mid-size to compact. my favorite Poncho of all time has to be the 1966-67 Tempest/GTO. To me , that was the epitome of Pontiac design, especially that gorgeous split grille.
The pictured example? Nice, but I prefer the 1970-72 Monte Carlos. A bit smaller and more manageable.
This car’s one redeeming quality? One guess!
My high school auto shop teacher had a 65 Cat with 389/auto, and the cool ‘reverb ‘ rear speaker. This was in the late 70′s, by then even these cars were returning to iron oxide in my area of Northeast Ohio.
I was something of a teacher’s pet back then, mostly because I knew if I was a “good kid”, I’d be able to borrow his Cat to go on the morning run to the local donut shop. That 389 was pretty powerful beast back in malaise 1979.
I like the 69 GP, but it’s far from my favorite Pontiac. I still have to go with the late series Formula Firebirds/Trans Ams from 1975-1981.
You know what does it for me on these cars? That extra wheelbase added to make the front wheels so far away from the base of the windshield and passenger compartment. I don’t know what it is, but any car with that ratio I tend to love. The ’76 Seville is another one where the front end got stretched in front of the windshield really just for looks, and I adore it too.
Personally, I prefer the ’63 Gran Prix; it’s wonderfully understated. The ’69 looks simply like a parody.
All the late 60s GM luxury coupes we stunning, clean lines and each brand had its own identify, how times changed.
When these were new, I was 8 and disappointed they stopped using the big car body for the GP. I was a fan of the ‘sporty big cars’ then. But, the affordable personal coupes were a huge business in the 70′s.
So much so that former full size car owners switched to them. Neighbors traded in a 71 Impala for an 82 Cutlass Sup, and my dad loved his 70 Monte Carlo compared to the big cop cars he drove at work.
I had two GPS. First whenI got home from Nam I bought a Model J with the high output 428, power steering and brakes, radio. It was a dream to drive.Second one was 1970 with the 455 and 4 speed trans, no ac just the power steering and brakes and the 8 track. It to was also a dream. I had it for a few years and sold it to a fellow here in Ohio that raced Pontiacs. he had for 5 years and sold it.If I has known that it was 1 of 329 GPS with the 4 speed I would have it today.I got the VW craze for awhile, a 52 split, 2 56 ovals and 67 single cab. I still want another GP, often bidding on Ebay. I will have another one somedsay for sure
Of course customers could specify the strato bucket seats and a center console (in this case, canted towards the driver and mostly concealed from the front seat passenger). The absence of chrome and hard steel panels in the dashboard was more due to safety regulations that mandated safer dashboards removing any possible impaling protrusions with added padding to cushion the impact of a body crashing headfirst into the dash area. To say that car makers “cheaped-out” is perhaps a half truth at best.
Hey Paul! Look what I found was for sale online at a place that doesn’t look to be too far from you?A 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix! This is it:
http://www.cars-on-line.com/51525.html
I bought my first 69 GP J type in1977 at 17 for $500.00. It had an orange peeled hugger orange paint job,with a 400 auto ,276 gears which made it damn fast. Ugly but i loved the thing. Got my 2nd one in 1980, Green SJ with a 428 . My wife over hotrodded it while i was at work and burnt 3 valves(and yes I was pissed),hasn’t ran since but I still have it,but not the wife. I got the better deal. hope to restore it someday. Still would rather have it than a lot of the new cars around. Anyone that never drive a highly modified 69 GP , in its prime doesn’t know what their missing GREAT CAR.