I think that, like most, whenever I think of GM’s 1968-1972 A-Bodies, the first image that comes to mind is that of a 2-door hardtop coupe. Understandably, since the 2-doors outsold the 4-doors by a large margin. And like many, whenever a 4-door showed up, I tended to think of them as styling afterthoughts; never looking quite right.
But a lot of those preconceptions were recently put to the test when I came across a 1968 Lemans 4-door hardtop. There, with its 116″ inch wheelbase, in its obsidian hue and darkened windows, a sudden newfound attraction for this ’68-’72 body type surfaced. Funny, how a few tweaks turned this “afterthought” into a desirable proposal; what a pillarless silhouette can do for one’s eyes, along with a well presented sample. But that’s just the fun of styling matters. Tweak a bit here and there, and the whole changes in front of your eyes.
Some may recall this car from last year, when I found it for sale in the Salvadorian FB Marketplace. Back then, the car didn’t look quite so alluring, with photos that weren’t very flattering. It seemed like a car in decent, if not great shape, in need of some loving.
From the looks of things, the car has found the needed attention since last year; it was and remains a standout in this city stuffed with Asian offerings. In the ad, it was advertised as having a 350CID V-8 and a 3-speed Hydramatic, which sounds appropriate for a LeMans in its intended role as Pontiac’s plusher A-body offering. I’m confused, however, by the car’s OHC6 emblems on the rocker panels. So this originally came with that advanced for the time, short-lived ’66-’69 Pontiac engine? Has it gotten a whole powertrain overhaul? The ad mentioned the Hydramatic was a recently refurbished unit, so I wonder…
9,002 of these LeMans hardtop sedans were built for ’68, and the lower Tempest line added another 6,147 to the body style. That’s about 15K 4-door hardtops total, a small fraction compared to the 276,406 A-body Pontiacs built in that year. And looking online, few 4-door hardtop survivors showed up, so the survival rate seems to be very low.
So not common then, and no wonder you can’t recall the last time you saw one.
Talking about the ’68-’72 A-bodies, wasn’t the 1960s peak era for the “get it as you wish” options? Just in Pontiac alone, the A-bodies came in Tempest, LeMans and Tempest GTO lines, with a dizzying variety of body styles and options: 2-door and 4-doors in pillared and hardtop versions, plus the station wagons and convertibles. Add 4 engine options, manual and automatic transmissions, and further drivetrain and interior choices.
And about that 4-door styling afterthought, they were anything but, since the cars rode on a stretched 116″ wheelbase. Four additional inches over the 2-door coupes to get the 4-door sedans to look “right”.
The stretched wheelbase effort pays off, more or less. However, in pillared 4-door form, the look is still rather unsatisfying and even unappealing. And well, depending on division, the bookends and side styling really brought about rather different outcomes, to varying degrees of accomplishment. A 4-door Olds Cutlass/Buick Skylark looked a great deal different than the Chevy/Pontiac cousins. You pick your favorite, or not, and just stick to the 2-doors.
In the case of today’s subject, I feel the blunt and forceful front of the ’68 Pontiacs fits rather nicely with the body style.
Talking about which, that beak just shouts late ’60s Pontiac-style.
Gobs of lustrous chrome, up close.
All to create a very Pontiac face.
The rear of the ’68 is attractively simple and well-suited to this body style. And the stickers on the rearview window answer a doubt I had previously; they’re Salvadorian transit permits from the early 1970s. A sign that the car has been in this nation since new.
The side windows were oddly very smudgy, so no way to get a clear shot of the interior. But I do have an image from last year’s ad. Not quite as well preserved as the exterior, but at least all instruments are in place, in an environment that looks pretty straight.
This image from the brochure, with wood paneling, shows what the interior and dashboard would have looked like new. Fabrics would’ve been Pontiac’s Morrokide, but today’s survivor is supposedly covered in leather now. Not original (try getting Morrokide in this nation…), but in keeping with the LeMans mission.
The ’68-’69 are the cleanest of these LeMans models, with the ’70-’72 models moving progressively into Brougham territory. If Brougham is your thing, you can check a previous post we had on a ’72 model.
Today’s LeMans was out, waiting for its owner after being serviced in the shop across the street. The car was getting its carburetor serviced, which caught my attention, since I remembered the sales ad mentioned the carburetor was new. Then again, we’re familiar with Nikkis over here, not American hardware. I hope the mechanics got the tuning right this time.
In all, it was a rare encounter that made me question old assumptions I had about these 4-doors, which in hardtop form I now find sharp and attractive. An idea that I never thought would happen, but it takes a chance encounter, and to come across a sample with the right detailing, to achieve that.
Related CC Reading
Car Show Classics: 1968 Pontiac Tempest & 1969 Pontiac LeMans – Muscle Car Flair For The Masses
Curbside Classic: 1968 Pontiac GTO – Red Pop!
Curbside Capsule: 1968 Pontiac Lemans Redux
The Lemans looks good as a 4 door hardtop. It would be really cool if it had A GTO spec 400/4 Speed.
Speaking of the GTO, the GTO Endura nose was available also for sedans and wagons for the 1971 and 1972 model years like this 1971 LeMans hardtop sedan with the GTO Endura nose and the guy created a “phantom” GTO 4-door hardtop sedan. https://www.hotrod.com/features/hppp-1005-1969-pontiac-firebird-1970-pontiac-lemans
I 100% agree that the sedans of this generation – whether hardtop or pillared – looked like afterthoughts. Even the wagons looked better.
Absolutely.
Sure, I’d take this Lemans. But these body styles were clearly designed as 2 doors. And the 2 doors still look the best.
If it’s got to have 4 doors, make mine a wagon.
The 20hp Briggs&Stratton V twin on my John Deere has a Nikki carb on it.
I always thought the 4 door hardtop was the only sedan on this body that was even remotely attractive. I don’t know, but would bet that Buick had the highest take rate on the pillarless 4 door. But none of them was ever common.
Without the vinyl roof, we don’t get to contemplate the goofy little c-piller molding that was supposed to look like part of the roof when the door was closed.
Ugh, fuzzy dice even in El Salvador. Those things must be universal.
I can understand those who feel the sedans look like an afterthought. However, if we take a look at a ’68 Nova sedan, well, that’s much m ore an afterthought. It’s true that a Chevelle o LeMans doesn’t look terribly good and if you are sitting in the rear seat of a pillared sedan you might feel inside a box, but at least there’s a little knee space.
I think the more squared off upper rear corner of the rear side windows is what does it. It makes me wonder why they went with the droopy rounded one for the sedans, especially since they also had a less blobby setup with framed glass for the wagons.
GM’s A body was indeed quite handsome in 4 dr hardtop form, as demonstrated here by my recently sold (and missed) ’69 Olds Holiday Sedan, a model rarely seen even at an all Oldsmobile show.
Agree that this seldomly seen 4 door hardtop looks great. Helped by the rally wheels no doubt.
I didn’t realize how unpopular these were, as I recall seeing a fair number of ’68-72 A body sedans and wagons when I was a kid. Most of the sedans weren’t hardtops, though; at least not the Chevys and Pontiacs. Still, the percentage of A bodies with four doors seems to have shrunken even more ever since; when I do a Google image search of” 1968 LeMans” I have to scroll down about seven pages before the first four-door shows up; everything above that is coupes, 2-door hardtops, and convertibles.
I’ve always wondered why Chrysler didn’t put a four door hardtop in their 1965 intermediate lineup since they already had a body in place. They would have been a year ahead of GM, and well ahead of Ford.
Should have brought out a Chrysler B Body as well…
This is an almost surprisingly attractive car. The color and lack of a vinyl roof only helps further. It strikes me as quite cohesive and not so much “an afterthought”. This car in this color and with those wheels is what a knowledgeable European might have ordered at the time.
As to its drive train, the OHC six turned out to be quite fragile and difficult to maintain for the long haul. I suspect it’s had a Pontiac or Chevy 350 implanted, and quite likely the transmission too, as these did not have Hydramatics.
I maintain the cut lines of the rear doors of the 4 door are… off… but I too am pleasantly surprised by how much I like it, and I think for those exact reasons. I know we tend to favor originality at all costs here but if more 4 door Lemans actually looked like this originally there’d probably be more surviving ones than the vinyl clad pillared wheel cover variety that were mostly crushed before the 1990s
This is a nice looking car, I’m really starting to come around on 4 door hardtops.
What helps even with the pillared version is the lack of a fixed glass pane in the rear door, it would look even better without front vent windows.
What’s kind of surprising me with this is the rear end design looks cohesive in a way I never felt it did on the coupes. I always found the 68 rear ends to be an afterthought on pretty much all of the 68 A bodies but Pontiac being number 1(especially following the 66-67 which to me is among the best of the era) but on the 4 door it doesn’t have that exciting flowing fastback coming to an ultimately unsatisfying point the coupe has, it stands as it’s own design and it actually looks better to me like that. Convertibles I’m this work better for me as well in this generation for the same reason even though (like 4 doors) convertibles aren’t my forte aesthetically.
I love the way Pontiac badged these, which it being a 4 door may be what makes me appreciate it more, the arrowhead side marker lights and the lemans lettering across the rear overhang leading to it straddles a fine line between busy and classy that Pontiac in the 60s seemed to never fail at being on the right side of
Paul mentioned the ohc 6’s fragility, what kind of problems were they known for? A friend in college had his dad’s 4 yr old ’68 Tempest with the 6 and it was fine as far as I knew, but of course not that old then… just curious? I always really like the 6 and would have loved a Firebird with one. I was disappointed when Pontiac dropped them, they sounded sweet!
Oh and Happy New Year to all! I started it off right by going here first thing!
Lubrication issues with damaged camshaft lobes and such. Very few survived the long haul.
Even though the wheelbase of the 4 doors is 4 inches longer, the front doors still look too short, and this is accentuated by the small triangular ventilation window.
I keep looking at this car. It has all the things that normally show a 4 door hardtop to maximum advantage, like the lack of a vinyl roof and the upgraded wheels. But for some reason, this LeMans doesn’t work that well as a 4 door hardtop. I think Pontiac’s (and probably Chevrolet’s) styling was more tied to the 2 door body than was the case with the sister divisions. The Buick and Olds seem to look best in this body style.
Hi, greetings from El Salvador, thank you for your compliments. I am the owner. The car has 61,000 original kms, it has regular home to work daily use. If you want more info, pics and a video please let me know your email or WhatsApp and I will gladly talk with you. It is for sale, all legal papers are up to date.