(first posted 12/19/2015) We’ve recently had a deep immersion in the downsized for-1978 Malibu, both as a COAL and vintage review. The Malibu had an analogue over at Pontiac: the LeMans and Grand LeMans. The both shared the notchback coupe and sedan body style, while Olds and Buick had to suffer through a couple of embarrassing years with their Aeroback fastbacks. And although these sold better than the Aeroback coupes and sedans, they were utterly eclipsed by the mega-popular Olds Cutlass Supreme coupe. America was done with straight-forward coupes; thye had to be Broughams now, or else.
Of course Pontiac had the Grand Prix too, and Chevy had the very popular Monte Carlo. All of which made a LeMans coupe…almost invisible. The LeMans coupe had once been America’s sweetheart, but now it was an also ran. And except for a bit of a hip, and different front and rear ends, it was a lot like a Malibu. Misery loves company.
But at least it still had a distinctive genuine-Pontiac nose.
Which harked back a bit to more…exciting times. The excitement under the hood was a bit lacking, a reflection of the times. Standard power was Buick’s ubiquitous 231 V6, rated at 105 hp. The 301 Pontiac V8 had 140 horses on tap. A 150 hp version was optional, for the hard-core racers. My Encyclopedia also shows a 145 hp Chevy 305 available; maybe for CA only? At least Pontiac’s very weak-chested 265 V8 was still a couple of years away, as the engineers were hard at work figuring out how to make an engine both weaker and yet get the same mileage as a larger engine. Quite the trick. Fortunately, that only lasted two years.
At least the grille is has a certain appeal, seen close-up. These would soon be a thing of the past, thanks to the Aero Era.
Pontiac’s many-holed dashboard is present and accounted for. The weak metric THM is presumably too, unless it’s been swapped out for something sturdier (THM 350). Probably not.
That’s my shadow in the shot. And I’m covering up my eyes, as this car’s intense colors are a wee bit much. Not really; it beats the typical red, blue or green these usually came in. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of these, and I’m guessing it might be a while until the next one shows up, if ever. In the meantime, savor this one.
I’m surprised this one hasn’t gotten the big rim and candy sponsor paint job yet.
I bet the color was a beginning of a Snickers wrapper.
My wife bought one of these new in 1978.
She worked at the Pontiac zone office in lL. back then.
It was a boring car back then when new, never will be a desired model.
I always felt the problem with these “lesser” models, e.g., LeMans and Malibu, was that for not much more money you could have a Grand Prix or Monte Carlo which were much nicer looking IMO. I’m sure dealers kept more of the GP’s and Montes on their lots too. If properly equipped the Lemans and Malibu could be very attractive cars. I think the other models simply overshadowed them.
If you are saying that the Monte overshadowed and out sold all Malibus then I disagree with you as the Malibu sedan was a big seller for GM from 78-83 and sold more then the Monte in those years.
In fact the Malibu sedan was the best selling of the 78-87 A/G body sedans(G body sedan production ended in 1987 while the Cutlass/Regal/ Monte coupes hung on till 1988)
Now if you are saying that the GP and Monte sold better then the Malibu coupe and Lemans then you are correct.
Personal tastes. I find the ’78-’80 Monte Carlo to be quite overstyled, and I’d much rather have a Malibu or LeMans coupe. The MC and GP were refreshed for ’81 with much less dramatic scuplturing, and at that point became far more desirable to me. And the Malibu and LeMans lost their coupe models for ’82, so there’s not much overlap there.
I thought the Lemans and Malibu were good looking cars in their day, my folks bought a 1980 Lemans when our 77 Safari was passed to my brother and I. I thought the 1980’s dash was so much better–at the time I don’t remember thinking the 77 was a tank or anything like that, It drove as well as any domestic car did back then. I don’t understand the hate for the aerobacks, I thought they were cool looking especially a 442.
From every angle except the front (apart from the color) it’s a nice looking car. From the front, hideous. Looks like they just stopped caring at that point.
You’re right. I took one look and couldn’t get past that ugly beak. Now that I have, the rest of the car doesn’t look that bad.
I thought GM should have used quad headlights on all of their downsized 1978 intermediates. They would have looked more upscale, with this further brougham treatment, from the beginning.
+1 as Pedro posted below it looks like a Ventura. I never liked the regression to singles in the 70s in general but Pontiacs really suffered(the early Collonades weren’t much better either)
Quads returned for ’80 at least on the Formal roof coupes and then sedans in ’82; the single lights looked a bit cheap.
I agree that GM should have put quad headlights on their redesigned cars in ’78. It’s why I always prefer the 1980 versions of the Monte, Regal, Grand Prix and Cutlass…..they just look a bit more refined. I would have also preferred to see a couple of more years out of that ’78-80 redesign, and how they could have made an already attractive, swoopy, downsized car (from their ’77 counterparts) look even more refined. I know that the grille on the ’80 Cutlass I far prefer to the 78-79’s, just because it has a more fine toothed grille that seems to work better, overall, with the car’s front end with a bit more understatement, whereas the 78-79 seem to have a grille and headlights that are a bit more abrupt and cruder looking.
If you can call the 1981 version of the LeMans 4 Door Sedan which had the new roof line similar to that of the 1975 1/2-79 Cadillac Seville gaining quad headlights, this was probably it. Unlike the Chevrolet Malibu which retained its Two Door Coupe through the 1981 model year and discontinued in 1982, the Cutlass Salon and the Century discontinued their coupes in 1980 even though they were the first to have the 1G Seville type roofline while the LeMans ditched their coupe in 1981. It’s ironic though that after the Cutlass Salon became Cutlass Ciera, LeMans became the 6000 and Century were switched to the FWD A-Bodies, the Cutlass Salon became Cutlass Supreme, the same LeMans became the Bonneville and Buick Century 4 Door Sedans now became RWD G-Bodies. Only the New FWD A-Bodied Celebrity and RWD G-Bodied Malibu were being produced at the same time without any changes from 1982-83 until the latter was discontinued after the 1983 model year and replaced eventually and totally by the Celebrity in 1984. I would not count that the Monte Carlos from 1981-88 would be the Malibu Coupe’s replacement since both existed before plus the Monte Carlo was just redesigned in 1981. However, I would say that the El Camino (essentially a Malibu Pickup Car) was the only model left at least through 1987 and unchanged which continued the 1978-83 Malibu’s legacy.
That look was a one-year-wonder for the LeMans as it was replaced by the Bonneville G (same car, yet another nose job) for ’82. Kind of a shame as I think this is far more attractive than those ’82-’86 Bonnevilles.
These ’81 LeMans always stand out in my mind as my third-grade teacher drove one, a white Grand LeMans sedan.
The ’82 and ’83 were still called the LeMans in Canada, since Bonnevilles weren’t often sold there.
In the early 80s I bought a 78 LeMans or Grand LeMans sedan. Mine was gold in and out and equipped with the V6. I remember it as an okay car(mostly due to that V6), better built than my parents 78 Zephyr.
Two things I most vividly remember about that car involve it’s cruise control. When I took the car for a test dive, I tried the cruise while driving up a steepish hill. I set it at 55 MPH near the bottom of the hill and the car kept accelerating up the hill hitting near 80 MPH. Another time, soon after buying the car, I “forgot” to dis-engage cruise (I guess I thought the car would do it automatically?) and nearly ran into a large rock.
I’d buy another 78 Lemans/Grand LeMans today, but only because it’s (still) a nice car, and is now very rare. But just as I said in the case of the Malibu recently profiled….I’d STRONGLY prefer the wagon over the sedan or coupe.
My buddy had one in the late 80’s. It was the cheapest used car he could find that actually ran. In retroapect, it was a decent car, reasonably roomy, decent handling and very reliable. It lasted for years with zero problems.
It had the Chevy 267 V8, whicb was smooth, but slow. I thought this engine was a waste, all the weight and complexity of a V8, just for 110 hp
It was a Canadian car. He spent one summer, touring the US. He recalls getting an oil change in Loa Angeles. All the mechanics gathered around to look at the underside of it, because none of them had ever seen a car so rusty.
Years later he sold it for the same $600 he paid for it and got a 1980 LeBaron, which was not as good.
If the 267 V8 was down to 110 HP it must have been an ’81. IIRC (don’t have my reference handy) the 267 was not available in ’78, and I know it made 125 HP in ’79 and either 120 or 115 HP in ’80.
Are you sure it wasn’t the Pontiac 265? I don’t know if GM was still doing their Canadian market Pontiac/Chevy tomfoolery by this time, but I think the 265 was rated at 110 for the two years it existed.
Wow, I had forgotten all about these. I guess I had never noticed the lengths Pontiac went to for unique sheet metal on these coupes.
That rear 3/4 view shows the car’s problem: It couldn’t decide whether it was soft and flowing or blocky and conservative. There is enough of both going on that it just comes off as a mishmash to me. And trying for curves was pretty out-of-step with the straightedge school of styling that prevailed in the early 80s. I prefer the more honest design of the Malibu coupe.
These are good looking. Well, not with this paint job. Easy to forget that they shipped ’em painted like this back then. Some really unfortunate color schemes.
You mean that combo was factory? Shudder!
Really? Factory paint spec in this 2 tone?
I agree that this is an unfortunate paint job, but I don’t think it came this way from the factory. There were some two-tone options, and some of the colors were wacky, but nothing this bad.
That’s a relief!
Theres evidence of rough bondo repairs on the lower rear quarter the two tone is just a tidy up after repairs rather than respray the whole car.
I have to say, when I was a kid back in 1978, I was quite blown away by this car. Hard to imagine now, but compared to what I expected the downsized ’78 “intermediates” to look like, this was an absolute looker, at least in upscale Grand LeMans trim.
Here’s why: I first saw it in candy-apple red Grand LeMans 4-door sedan trim on the cover of Money magazine, probably sept. or oct. 77. Nice front 3/4 view taken from an high viewpoint, looking down on the hood. My dad had a ’77 Bonneville (whose 301 V8 felt plenty powerful incidently), which I found boxy and too much like a Chevy, and I expected the LeMans to be a smaller version thereof. But instead it was totally distinctive in a way that was becoming rare at the time. The front used diagonal surfaces to extend to a point in the middle, with the logo and individual block letters for the Pontiac badge – a common ’60s touch that had become rare. The grille inserts were each canted a bit toward the sides rather than on a plane with the main grille, so the pattern would be noticeable from an angle. The parking/signaling lamps were semi-hidden behind the grille, which had also become a bit retro by this time. While the ’77 B-body sedans all shared the same windows, the kick-up in the C-pillar window was unique to Pontiac. What really floored me though were the bumpers. They were the same color and completely faired into the body, complete with a chrome strip that continued onto the fenders and doors, perfectly matching the bodyside molding that protected the car from dings from other car doors (whatever happened to these?). Before you think “didn’t every car have those”, think back to ’78. Nowadays bumpers are almost always plastic, color-matched to the body, and faired in smoothly with the fenders. But in 1978, there wasn’t any other car with such fully integrated bumpers. American cars usually had chrome 5mph park benches; on imports it may have been coated with black rubber, and in either case it didn’t blend smoothly with the body – except on the LeMans and Grand Am. A year later, the Mustang got bumpers like this, and within a decade this became the norm.
The inside was just as amazing. Basically the same seat design as our ’77 Bonneville Brougham but now with two styles of velour and loose-cushion backrests. And that dashboard looked right out of an airplane with all those separate round dials (which were brushed silver on the ’78 model year only), and 6 round vents made to look just like the gauges at first glance. It was especially effective with the bucket seats and the huge center console that mated with the dash. To this day, the ’78-87 A/G Pontiac interior remains amongst my favorite ever.
One reason to select the “standard” A-body coupes rather than the “special” versions (Monte Carlo, Grand Prix, et al) was a more comfortable rear seat. The abrupt vertical roofline on the A-specials required a very upright seatback, but the more relaxed roofline on the standard coupes (or the aeroback Olds and Buicks) had a much more reclined seatback for added comfort. I spent lots of time in the back seats of several GM mid-sizers of this generation, which of course made me curse the unopenable windows back there even in sedans and wagons.
I always imagined how great a GTO version of these would have looked. Take the Grand LeMans, remove the tic-tac-toe board grille inserts, and add a simple recessed black grille with a single horizontal chrome divider just like the mid to late ’60s models, with the same GTO lettering. Add appropriate wheels and tires. The interior was perfect as is. All it needed was a proper engine – which it never would have got in 1978 of course. But wait it out and it could have eventually shared the Buick Grand National V6, just as one version of the Trans Am did. It would have had to move to the (less attractive IMO) Grand Prix body by that time though.
Those are some great points! I agree with your bewilderment of why there wasn’t a GTO option…..it would have helped to keep the LeMans name relevant, if only for performance reasons/ branding. Olds had the 442/ Hurst in between ’78-’80, which helped to keep the performance aspect of the Cutlass alive, even if the 442’s/ Hursts didn’t have much power. The LeMans just sort of languished as a sister/ brother variant of the Grand Prix (especially with the dashboard with the loads of dials/ round shapes), and it would have been easy for Pontiac to give it the axe, because it probably didn’t offer enough to differentiate it from their other cars. GM no doubt thought this as well.
Also, your comment about the bumpers…..great mention, because I don’t personally know when exactly the faired in, color keyed bumpers first became available on American cars after the 70’s crash standards were set in motion. But they were not common on cars in ’78.
I’ve always liked these smaller, squared off LeMans cars, and of course, they are very rare now. I can imagine that the GM quality control issues, coupled with the LeMans selling less units than other similar GM cars of the time, meant that the parts were less readily available in scrapyards and whatnot. I know from personal experience, from my parents owning a 1980 Monte Carlo (which was a complete disaster of poor build quality–by far the worst quality control i’ve ever seen on a vehicle, with the worst floorboard/ underside rot i’ve ever seen) and owning a 1984 Cutlass in 1998, that finding quality used parts that weren’t rusty or dented (pre-internet heyday), was starting to be impossible.
There’s one guy that has a lime green LeMans at the Sunday car shows here in the summer, and I always like seeing it……because I know that it takes a heckuva lot more patience and dedication to both the initial restoration of it and the ongoing maintenance of it than a lot of other older cars.
The Grand Am version of the ’78 Pontiac A/G line was better looking and had good handling, but got overlooked.
Maybe if they had just named them all Grand Am as was done in 1985?
GTO option would have worked if they could have also used the Trans Am 6.6 V8. But, CAFE said “no”, unfortunately.
The front end of the 1978 Pontiac LeMans bares a strong resemblance to the appearance and set up of the ones the identical sized 1977 Pontiac Ventura once had.
Actually the Pontiac Phoenix that was added to the lineup in mid-’77 and completely replaced the Ventura for ’78 was even closer to the ’78-’80 LeMans – indeed, it all but served as a preview for the downsized LeMans a half year early. The overall size and shape of the grille and beak were nearly identical. The Phoenix stuck with a traditional chrome bumper, but a color-keyed plastic center section along with inserts on either end helped disguise the metal bumper. The ’77-1/2 Phoenix was the first car in America with the newly-approved single rectangular headlamps.
The base model Phoenix came out in 1978, and had plain black rubber instead of body color trim piece on the bumper. Also had the smaller Ventura tail lamps. Still, the Phoenix line didn’t sell too well, though, overshadowed by Sunbird and GP on both ends of price scale.
Well there is actually a version of the 1979 Pontiac LeMans that resembled the Pontiac Phoenix grille set-up and front end and that would be the LeMans Grand Am model which in all actually its a sporty luxurious version which was a level above both the base LeMans and the Grand LeMans. The comparisons would be like a sporty and luxury versions of that aforementioned LeMans Grand Am and the Phoenix since the Phoenix was also an upscale luxurious version of the discontinued Ventura.
The 2nd car pic is a Grand Am, not Grand Le Mans….
So no similarities in front fascia there.
The early A body had a great range of choices. 2 door sedan, 2 door aeroback, two door coupe, two door landau, four door aeroback, four door sedan, four door brougham, wagons in utility, sport or luxury, even a Aussie style ute. Economy 200 inch V6 with 3 speeds. Mainstream 231 V6 mostly auto. Smooth low powered circa 300 inch V8s, some with 4speeds with direct drive top gears or a few with economical 5 speeds. A deep look could find diesels and a few honest to God 350 4 barrels with THM 350s.
All made in North America, able to be speced out with almost infinite choices, Solid drivetrains, good economy, decent period performance, roomier, quieter and smaller than what it replaced. Japan built nothing remotely like it. No wonder, the American auto industry was loosing share so fast in these years.
The sedan version of this car ended my grandmother’s lifetime of having Buicks. How was that? Well, she traded her Buicks every three years like clockwork, and since 1964 she had religiously driven the “mid sized” model (Skylark then Century). In 1979, when it came time to cycle out of her 1976 Century Custom, the aeroback sedan was the mid sized offering from Buick, and my grandmother thought it was flat out ugly and wouldn’t have it. She wouldn’t go for a LeSabre though, because that was “full size” (never mind that it basically had the same exterior dimensions as her ’76 Century). So what to do? Well, her next door neighbor Georgia Belle (not kidding), the owner of the Cadillac dealer (started by her husband and she ran it with her sons after he passed away), also had the franchises for Buick and Pontiac on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Being the good sales person, Georgia Belle suggested that my grandmother take a look at the LeMans instead.
Well, my grandmother liked the Pontiac enough that she decided to get one. So the reign of Buick was ended! Other than the color (my grandmother’s was Montego Cream–aka yellow) her car looked exactly like this Grand LeMans pictured in the catalog.
It was unexciting but pleasant enough. Equipped with the 301 2V V8 and automatic and a full range of power accessories, it was the perfect grandma car. I do recall how weird I thought the power windows were in the back seat. It was my first exposure to the GM fixed rear door glass in 4-door sedans that arrived with the ’78 A-bodies. As others have noted in CC posts, in A/C equipped cars, it wasn’t that big a deal. But what WAS strange was the fact that you had a power window control button located right next to the inside rear door handle. When you pressed it, you heard a short buzz but it didn’t look like anything had happened. Of course, the rear vent window behind your head had opened, but if you weren’t expecting that it was pretty odd. My grandmother was indeed surprised when she first figured it out, and was convinced something was wrong. It took a conversation with Georgia Belle to clarify things…
The other thing that was memorable about this particular Grand LeMans was its wire wheel covers. They were good looking for fake wire wheels, and quite popular. Especially with thieves. My grandmother’s wheel covers–the entire set of 4–were stolen off the car on three separate occasions. After the third theft, she gave up and just had the standard wheel covers put on, which made the car look even more boring than before.
The 78 monte carlo also had plastic colored keyed bumpers
The Pontiac stylists were actually able to make the LeMans distinctive when compared to other cars, the Malibu looked rather generic by comparison. The beaked front reminds me of an owl, and the taillights were possibly inspired by previous Pontiac thin taillights and Mercedes Benz taillights at the time.
I have always liked the Pontiac version better that the Malibu. Especially the “Grand Am” which was similar to the earlier “Can Am” coupe. The first Grand Ams were specialty models with the monochrome bumpers and the rear facing “Trans Am” style hoodscoop and rear spoiler. These had a more usable rear seat and better visibility especially since they never had those broughammy vinyl roof caps. I think these cars were the right size, with RWD and you could fit even a big block under the hood. The problem in Ca. was that these year cars have to be smog checked bi-annually and this discouraged most hot rodders as there were plenty of earlier cars still available. I wouldn’t mind having one of these over the same year GP. I checked the specs and found that the wheelbase and overall length was almost exactly the same as my 70 Mustang coupe which is also the right size to me. On the subject of paint jobs, that is a factory color and design . When I worked for GMAC in Fremont we sent many worse combos out the door on Monte Carlos and Malibus!
I had one of these in light blue 4 door Grand Lemans trim as I was going to high school. It replaced a troublesome 79 Ford Fairmont and felt like twice the car in most ways save perhaps the steering which was rack and pinion on that car. It had the 301 2BBL V8 and THM 350 transmission, deluxe upgraded split bench seats with passenger recliner and of course A/C which froze you out of the car. The upper trim lever Grand Lemans had the extra sound insulation and made this one quiet cruiser and non opening rear window aside everybody liked this car overall. It also had the Pontiac rally wheels. Despite being considerably quicker and having 2 more cylinders the Lemans actually got 2 better MPG than the Fairmont 200 six. The Pontiac felt like a Cadillac compared to the austere noisy cheaply made Ford. I had over 120K miles on the clock before I sold it to a fellow co-worker but he smashed the car a few months later and totaled it. Miss that car to this day
“…for not much more money you could have a Grand Prix or Monte Carlo”
True, the G Special coupes took sales from the plain jane 2 doors. The Malibu coupe sold OK, but LeMans was overshadowed by GP, since Pontiac was promoting base model GP’s as ‘luxury for less’. The storied name had sway with mid size/middle class buyers.
Even now, with ‘resto-rods’, vintage Malibu coupes have a following, while the LeMans is forgotten with the Aerobacks.
While the Malibu is always first in my heart, I liked these LeMans as well. The nose is a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it affair, but it worked well for me, and the details were quite nice if subtle. The slight kick-up that gave the car “hips” also differentiated the styling from the Malibu, with its uninterrupted arching shoulder line. I remember way back in the late 80’s or early 90’s Hot Rod Magazine did an article on a ’79 LeMans Coupe and a ’79 Malibu Coupe, both of which had been done up in the popular for the day monochrome pastel look.
That two-tone is positively awful though. Seems so bad that it just can’t have been factory. The red accent stripe on the brown does recall a Snickers wrapper, and makes the whole affair worse.
There was a brown ’79 or ’80 LeMans sedan sitting forgotten under a carport in the neighborhood where I lived in the mid ’00s. An older gentleman lived in the house, and I presume it had been his car but he gave up driving. Always meant to ask about it, but I never did–other than flat tires, it looked pretty solid.
Well…they were boring cars…to look at.I remember reading that a Nascar team after much high speed testing switched over to the Pontiac because the roofline angle made it 3-5 mph faster than the other GM’s on the super speedways..NASCAR in short order made changes to even things up.I just cant remember where I read it…
I love my 80 Grand Am, only around 1,600 made that year and pretty rare.
These would be primo hot rod material..RWD, V8, about the size and weight of a classic Nova. A few years ago you most of the two door Malibus you ever saw with this body made hot V8 noises. You didn’t see many though. I remember the contemporary Motor Trend published a rumor that a version would come with the T\A 400 and they were anticipating it. Turned out they must have heard something about the mid year Can AM on the 73 platform early and thought it would be on the 78 downsize body
A neighbour had one of these, in black. It was not even ten years old and the paint was shot, dull, marred, not to mention the scratches. I don’t think it got the best of care. It lived outside all its life and it showed it.
The passenger seat had a spring coming right up through the seat cover. You felt it when you sat there, so I am told.
I much preferred the styling of the Malibu from that era than on these. It seemed a bit more elegant and cohesive. I would guess that GM sold a ton of these Le Mans-Prix’s though, although maybe not as many as the Malibu or the Cutlass for that matter.
“Well, those were boring cars”, I.e., the base coupes. Well, their sloping roofline comes directly from the “Italianate coupe” clay model derived from a Pininfarina concept car. This coupe formed the basis of the ’77 Caprice. Interestingly, a key difference was that the Caprice was given a more upright roof- as were the ’78 Monte and LeMans. So the plain jane ’78 coupe models- however boring- turned out to be more faithful to the Italianate “lean and sheer”- not a box- look.
I wish that GM would have used this greenhouse on the last of the Coupe de Villes. It would have given the de Ville a lighter and airy look. Kind of like the ’61, an angular bubble top.
without doubt the worst of the Two-tone Era… At least it didn’t have a vinyl top as well…
It isn’t a factory paint job. The Grand Am had just the lower body a separate color.
1978 Brochure
A buddy in high school had one of these, and it was badged as something like the “Gran LeMans Bonneville”, which the internet insists never existed. It was two-tone “puke green on diarrhea green”, I mean really unpleasant colors where it became known as the “puke-mobile”. Like other GM products of that era, the soft cushy seats were completely superficial, and extended trips hadsome bar or spring jamming up your ass.
It was replaced by a VW Quantum sedan which had cool secret compartments in the trunk.
To me, the blocky front end doesn’t match the curvy rear quarters.
I think I see what the stylists were going for, but to me it just doesn’t work. At all.
The (’81?) restyle on all these GMs worked so well that its hard to believe they were basically the same cars.
It seems these were the better years for engines until the fuel-injected era of the late 80s.
What a ghastly color combo on this one!
If I had it, I might add painted 2-tone hubcaps in the same colors to fullly embrace the ugly.
And a spoiler. This is a car you go nuts on with gaudy stuff for fun without making it uglier, because it’s already worn the ugly-stick down to a nub.
These GM cars were edgy in 1977, but not so by 1978. In hindsight we see that GM didn’t go far enough in the direction the market was headed. They are actually too large and heavy looking. They made nice old brougham coupes. GM styled them against the aged Torino and Satellite, not the up-coming compact sedan boom.
GM downsized, when the market wound up UP-SIZING compacts into intermediates and sub-compacts into compacts. GM went the wrong direction.
The competition arrived with slightly larger Japanese sedans by this time, and the new Ford Fairmont. These cars looked smaller and lighter, but had similar interior space as the GM vehicles. The GM vehicles looked more substantial, but the look for the next decade was light and smaller looking in this market.
What ended up happening was that with the next gas crisis in 1979, these lighter and smaller looking vehicles appeared to be a better, more modern choice. GM was at its sales peak in 1980 with these vehicles, yet we all know how that decade wrecked GM. These cars weren’t the reason. Yet when it came time to restyle these cars, GM ended up following the Japanese style leaders and after their failure to catch the Taurus wave, GM settled for bland, well made, grandma-mobiles.
Perhaps why this generation of GM intermediate brings pangs of nostalgia. GM fumbled from here on to the end of the 20th century in this market.
“puke green on diarrhea green”,
Why new cars today are black, white, or gray. People want to avoid comments.