I’ve never done an In-Motion article because others have done them quite well and even made something of an art form of them (most notably Joseph Dennis). I’m not that good at catching cars on the fly. My pictures here are of borderline quality, but I just couldn’t resist when I spotted this car. After pulling in the slack from my jaw and grabbing the shots I could, I noted that it’s a latter day Pontiac Grand Prix, though honestly it’s almost irrelevant what the underlying car is. I certainly don’t think of this four door sedan when I think of Grand Prix.
Firstly, I would think of this, the real thing. Sort of. I’m sure you all recognize the source of this photo and what a great documentation of that period of European auto racing it was.
Naturally, I would next think of this, the car named after the race. The appellation was meant to imply that it was a sophisticated, European-style touring car owned by men of refined taste. That reality might have been a bit strained, but the early Grand Prix was certainly an attractive 1960’s American cruiser. 1962 was the first year, many consider the 63 (above) the best looking of the early full-size models.
If I’m dreaming of the best Grand Prix ever, I’d probably be thinking of this, the much-loved second iteration when it moved to the midsize platform for 1969. The GP had it all then: totally unique styling, the most powerful drivetrains from the muscle car era, and an airplane carrier length hood. The G-body Grand Prix (shared with Monte Carlo) had a 6 inch longer wheelbase than the regular A-body coupes, and the added length was all ahead of the cowl. It made for a spectacular coupe that had the goods to back up its bold looks.
If I’m thinking back to my formative automotive years, I’d conjure up an image of something like this 77 model. These were still very thick on the ground for most of the 80’s. Despite being the last year of its generation, 1977 was the all-time best selling Grand Prix. Personal luxury coupes were selling like mad in the mid-late 70s, almost anything with two doors and a vinyl roof that wasn’t named AMC Matador was flying out dealer doors, but the GP was still an attractive package in its own right. Swoopy, beaky, opera-windowed styling, nice interiors, and [relatively] powerful engine options with GM’s trademark easy, comfortable drivability were hard for buyers to resist in the Disco era.
In the days before www, call for more information, they’ll mail you a brochure!
The 1988 Grand Prix that was introduced in my teen years might also spring to my mind. The musclecar lover in me was disappointed at the time to see it as a front-driver, but it really was a big upgrade over the boring 1980’s models up ’til then. It was a sleek-looking car that was about as distinct from other divisions as a GM car could get in those challenging times. By this time, it had to compete with BMW, Mercedes, Toyota Supra and other hyper-competent sporty imports, but it was pretty good judging on a GM curve. The 1989-96 Turbo and GTP models had legit performance and boss looks.
The harbinger of the Grand Prix’s limited future came in 1990 with the addition of a four-door model. To my mind, a Grand Prix sedan was an oxymoron, but I don’t think my mind was in tune with the market. The four door GP would be a strong seller right until Pontiac’s last few years.
What I don’t think of when I think Grand Prix is this sixth (1997-2003) generation sedan. I remember thinking it sharp and modern upon introduction, I just don’t think it has aged to have a very unique look. It’s much more curvaceous, but somehow more generic-looking than its predecessor. It got generally positive reviews, and in supercharged GTP guise, it staked it’s claim as GM’s discount BMW fighter. SE versions like our feature car had the 3.1L V6 standard, but the GT came standard (and SE could be optioned) with the naturally aspirated 3800 V6, that fact alone placing it among the more satisfying-to-own GM front drivers.
I’m shocked (!) that the plastic rocker trim is missing on this Pontiac
This generation of GP is notable for having a two door body style available, an increasing rarity in a largish car by the late 90’s. Pontiac called it a coupe, but I believe it would meet our definition of a two door sedan. The roofline and backlight are identical, only the side glass and doors differ (it is in fact listed in Paul’s encyclopedic article on two door sedans). The coupe was discontinued prematurely for 2003, one year before this generation ended. I haven’t been able to find sales figures broken down by body style or trim (SE, GT, GTP), though the SE was surely the volume leader and it was not available as a coupe.
By 1996 (for 97 model), readers were told to “cruise www.pontiac.com” but you could still call.
The advertising for the new 1997 Grand Prix revived Pontiac’s classic Wide Track theme, with a very 90’s look. The car itself looked wide and was reported to be a good handler, but the track was not actually wider than most competitors. Front track was 2 inches wider than the Lumina, but between 0.1 and 0.5 inches narrower than Regal, Intrigue, Taurus and Intrepid. However, the car the Grand Prix would love to imagine as its competitor, the BMW 528i, had 1.5 inches less front track.
.
Which brings us to our feature car. I’ve never seen this version before, but I believe it’s the special and rare SE/WTF edition. This could stand for exactly what I thought when I first spotted it. Looking from the rear, it very well may stand for Wide Track as F*%#.
Seriously, though, I don’t know if I should take this car seriously or not. Like me when I spotted it, the owner was not thinking Grand Prix when he modified this car (assuming it wasn’t a dealer-installed package).
He was thinking something more along these lines.
Did the owner intend this car as an absurdist joke, or was he really following a vision for optimizing the Grand Prix? Pulling around to the front, I’m leaning more towards joke. That looks like a Mustang front bumper cover grafted on there. Hmmm, maybe it really was a vision he’s following, as I think the Grand Prix SE/WTF may be just a fresh paint job away from greatness!
2003 was the end of the line for this generation Grand Prix, replaced for 2004 with a heavy revision still on the W-body platform. It would come with 3.8L V6, supercharged 3.8L V6 and 5.3L V8 engines, making the Grand Prix go out with a powertrain bang, since the model would be dropped after 2008, briefly replaced by the slow-selling, abortive rear-drive G8. The final Grand Prix’s were available with the rare SuperScript package seen above.
I’m guessing the owner really loves his 2003 Grand Prix. From what I read for this article, there are quite a few owners and former owners who feel that way. For me, if I was looking for cheap wheels in the form of an older front wheel drive Pontiac sedan, the 92-99 Bonneville is a much better-looking car (IMO, and every one had some version of the 3800 V6). However, I wouldn’t mind a sixth gen Grand Prix in either GT or SE/WTF trim, thank you very much!
photographed on the West Loop, Houston, TX on August 11, 2021
Related reading: There have been quite a few articles on Grand Prix’s through the years, here are a few highlights
Curbside Classic: 1997-2003 Pontiac Grand Prix – Randy’s Here For Dinner And He Brought The Wild Turkey BY WILLIAM STOPFORD – A much more detailed and even-handed look at this generation
COAL: 1991 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP- Gargantuan Timing Problems BY KMCBRIDE – A tragically troublesome ownership experience with this hot car
Curbside Classic: 1976 Pontiac Grand Prix – Grand Size, Medium Prize BY PAUL NIEDERMEYER – A very sharp survivor
Vintage R&T Review: 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix – The American Espada BY PAUL NIEDERMEYER – An entertaining review with fantastic photos
No wonder Pontiac got cancelled by General Motors
I’ve had the pleasure of owning and enjoying a 77 with a 301, a 2003 , a 2006 (both GTs) and a 2009 G8GT(a Grand Prix with a different name). To me each was a better alternative to a Chevy in style and presentation. Why anyone would do such a thing to this example gives me pause but it’s nice to see one still rolling along.
Every generation has it’s bad-taste-done-on-the-cheap-hack-job street custom. When I was in my early twenties, it’d be a 1962 Bel Air four door with the rear suspension jacked up six inches, and a Stovebolt Six under the hood.
Fifty years later, you’ve found it’s equivalent.
This car shows a level of ownership rarely seen today. We should celebrate him. He loves this car. He has a dream and it is his dream ride. How I wish we saw this level of dedication and work in more of our high school parking lots.
Instead, we see rotten spoiled brats tooling around in an Audi, Tesla, BMW, Infiniti, or a Prius. Their cars look like they rolled off of a showroom. These high school rides appear to be the cars of their accountant parents, or lawyer parents, or government bureaucrat parents, or small business owner parents. There isn’t a single sedan or coupe with the panache of this Grand Prix. Trucks – yes, but no cars.
So, I love this car. I love seeing these cars. They evoke a level of masculinity I can relate to. They evoke a love for cars. They show the love of boy racers, so many of us used to be decades and for some, decades ago.
Finally, I like this Grand Prix even when it was new. It made so many people proud to own. It made a lot of people happy to be seen in. The Grand Prix was an aspirational car for many generations. Having it affordable, usable and capable of hauling two infant car seats, sippy cups, and CDs of Shania Twain, Slipknot, and Baby Einstein was a serious plus. My neighbors had one until it wore out. My barber had one until he turned his barbershop into a tattoo parlor. Then he bought a Dodge Charger.
Thank god for the working people with their barely working dream rides! We need more of them. A hell of a lot more.
Finally – my embarrassed kids can testify that I do this – when I see a ride like this, I amble over to the owner and tell him that I think their car is really neat. I let them know that I like them. That opens them up and they reveal the same kind of love I see here at Curbside. I have frightened my kids by approaching low riders, ghetto blasters, rice burners, and juvenile delinquents and seeing this tall skinny white guy smile at their ride and ask them about it, makes their day and mine.
These drivers have a great story we can all attest to. They got a fever and you just got to let them know that you like them as a car guy.
I do the same thing all the time. Anyone who puts some time and energy into personalizing a car gets my respect, even if it’s not what would do.
I agree, I respect anybody who’s put a lot of work into his car even if I don’t personally like the style. There should be more young people into modifying their cars (like the young Homer), though I don’t know if I’d be too hard on the current high school generation. Kids driving expensive new or newish cars bought by their parents is a phenomenon that’s been going on since at least the 80’s when I was in high school. I would have gladly done it myself if I had parents with more $! It seems to me that what automotive energy there is in young folks now is often in the form of trucks. Lifted and heavily modded 4×4 pickups are commonly seen at high schools around here (SE Texas).
I once knew a guy, older guy, longtime drag racer and mechanic, who absolutely knew almost everything about cars and was a real class act, who put a staggered setup (wider rear wheels and tires than fronts) on a 1996 Dodge Avenger. He liked the look.
Although a dated look now, I really liked mine when I had it.
That Supercharged 3800 Series II moved that car’s 3500 pounds (as you can see on the scale’s readout in the bottom picture) quite nicely.
It’s “Wide-Track” allowed for excellent handling, despite being FWD. I had no idea my ’98 Regal GS had a wider track? You sure about that, Jon? If so, wow!
Anyway, the W-Bodies and their cladding don’t get a lot of love here at CC, but this former owner loved his….
Thinking deeper I don’t even think these look dated outside of a few details that wouldn’t fly today. The 4 door doesn’t look that far off from a Tesla Model S if you nip and tuck it in the right spots. Modern day car design isn’t that different from the late 90s besides proportions
That’s a nice looking GP! The GTP coupe was definitely the cream of the crop. I haven’t taken a tape measure to tracks personally, I just looked up the official specs, which I assume were for base models.
I agree with XR7Matt, car styling hasn’t changed as much over the last 20-25 years as previous equivalent periods. For example, when the 97 GrandPrix came out, there was a world of visual difference between that and anything from 1972-77. And another world of difference between a 77 and 1952-57. Etc. Etc.
Yeah, I’ll have to concede that point to you guys.
We can call it “Design by Wind Tunnel”.
Since you can’t change the laws of physics, and thus aerodynamics, these basic shapes are here to stay for efficiency.
Ok, we can call “That 90’s Teal” (with gold trim) a dated look then….
…although truth be told, I’d love to see those colors come back into fashion. 😉
I don’t share the same negative sentiment about this generation, the styling is extremely 90s but there’s nothing wrong with being of its era, the previous two generations frankly looked a generation out of step, the G bodies being broughamy 70s and the original incarnation W bodies being techy wedgy 80s, and in my opinion these were one of the better looking midsize cars of the time. If I am expected to indulge BMW and Mercedes labeling I’d classify the 4 door a “4 door coupe” rather than the 2 door as a 2 door sedan. They may share rooflines but there’s not exactly any direction they could go to make the coupe look sleeker than the 4 door.
And really if there were any generation Grand Prix to have any actual performance credentials it was these in GTP form, they were quick for the time and could be made even quicker with a few modifications, and they had a legitimate enthusiast following for a while, until the Monaro based GTO came out those were the closest thing to it in spirit. Spiritually I think the current generation Dodge Charger is the car that most reminds me of these.
Very true about the roofline. To say it is technically a sedan doesn’t necessarily mean it’s frumpy. I think this is the start of the period when four door cars got very racy rooflines. The Mercedes “4 door coupe” was the most explicit, but it seemed that since the late 90’s every new generation of sedan from all makers got faster and faster rooflines. Are there any sedans today that have anything close to an upright rear window?
You skipped over the Grand Prixs of the ’80s and called them “boring”. I don’t think so. I think they looked really sharp–classic while still modern, and the right size for what a car like the Grand Prix should be.
I didn’t show the 78-87 version for brevity and because they aren’t too popular around here (and they are the last generation that comes to my mind when I think Grand Prix, as stated). They have to be considered a low point in GP history. The distinctive heavy creases and lines of previous models were shorn off the downsized GM cars of the late 70’s and 80’s, high performance engines were gone and even Pontiac was mostly pushing luxury with little distinction from other division or car makers. Pretty good bonifides to the claim of boring. They are boring, but that doesn’t mean they are completely without appeal.
I agree the styling is pleasant enough and clean, though the wheelbase is a little short for the length of the car IMO. I’ve always liked the coke bottle sides, especially on the 81-87; a nice throwback to the 60’s. They didn’t have any different engines or tuning from other G-body versions, but as we see in the ad here, they were available with really nice gauges. And I’m a sucker for anything with Rally II wheels! (Grand Prix with fake wires? Yawn!) My grandparents had the platform mate 86 Bonneville and that was a nice car, though not as trouble free as they would have liked.
That’s your opinion, but the RWD G bodies have a huge following and aftermarket support. Although the Regal GN and Monte SS are more well known, the others, even sedans and wagons are sought for resto-mods.
Don’t believe it? Check google for GM G body and see the online forums, clubs, and You Tube channels.
I don’t think he’s disputing the popularity of G bodies, but that the Grand Prix was neither the most noteworthy or sought after Grand Prix, and not the most noteworthy G body either. The lions share of the G body enthusiasm is with Malibu coupes, Monte Carlos, Cutlass supremes and the Regal(namely the turbo ones) in that order, where the Grand Prix is kind of the red headed stepchild of the bunch. The 2+2 was the only performance oriented version and was only available for a short time in limited numbers, not really cultivating much of a performance image for a car ostensibly from the excitement brand, and visually it comes off as more docile than the Buick
Yes, I am aware that G-bodies have a strong following in general, but like XR7 said, the Grand Prix is far and away the least popular of any of those models. At least that’s my impression from afar.
I’ve always liked the style of that generation.
It’s second only to the 1969 version to me.
Just a small note:
1996 was the last year for an SE coupe. And the 4 doors appears to have outsold the 2 door every year that both bodystyles were available…assuming you lump all the numbers by the door count. Yet the SE 4 door was THE volume.seller pretty much every year.
Great info! Did you find the production numbers by body style somewhere?
The 3800 and supercharged 3800 made this Grand Prix a vast improvement over its predecessor. However, the W platform was clearly dated by 2004 and GM should have had something new, instead of the 2004 Grand Prix, 2005 LaCrosse, and 2006 Impala – either a stretched Epsilon or Zeta.
Labeling car model years as “generations” can be subjective, I think.* Mostly for marketing, sometimes. To me, the 1988-2008 W body is one whole ‘generation’. The 1997 and 2004 were simply reskins of the ’88, not “all new”.
Some would say the 1969-70 is a “generation” since they have 4 headlights, compared to 71-72.
* On Wiki, they label differing year Impalas as “generations”. But who says so? The import brands are more ‘generational’ such as “Mark # Golf” or BMW e##…
I think it’s subjective to a point, like I think it’s ludicrous to say there are 3 generations of Ford F series trucks between 1980-1996 when the only differences are in the front ends, dashboards and what kind of fuel system they used. But, I don’t think “all new” or being on a carried over platform is necessary to constitute a generation either, it really depends on how extensive it is.
Yep, generations are declared it seems on a case by case basis. For American cars, at least, it hasn’t been considered necessary for a car to have an all new platform to be a generation, but at least all new sheetmetal/rooflines; all major interior parts new (seats/door panels/steering wheel, etc); significant mechanical refinements.
I actually debated with myself how to label Grand Prix generations. All the early 62-68 B-body GPs are generally labeled the first generation and the move to the G-body is the second. But with B-bodies, 1965-70 is considered a generation, so is the 69 G-body GP actually the third generation?
I briefly test drove one of these years ago.
It had a sunroof that made me not fit.
The power wasn’t much better than my vulcan-Taurus.
It was wasn’t very good in my opinion.
I’ll take the 1977 please, with a decent V8.
The 455 dropped from 250 to 200 hp in ’75, and to zero in ’77. The first two years (’73-4) had more powerful engines but tended to die often when cold, thanks to emission controls (this was true of most American cars in those years). Best engine in ’77 was the 180 hp 400 or the 185 hp Olds 403 in California.
Looks a bit like some of my Great Beater Challenge cars with the commitment level ramped up a bit.
i was born in 1995- this is the grand prix i remember. they were all over until about 5 or 6 years ago. I always liked these, they seemed “cool” and “butch” in a way the other GM cars weren’t. I miss them!
I still drive my 2003 Grand Prix SE. Almost 200,000 miles on it and when it’s cleaned up it looks as good as new cars today. I have to have a new hood and some work where a deer decided he wanted to be the hood ornament.
I love seeing the old cars at car shows or just on the road. Brings back good memories.