I get most of my automotive photographs at an annual car show sponsored by the LeMay Collections in Marymount. One of my favorite cars at this year’s event, which was held last Saturday, was a 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible.
This was the only year the Grand Prix was offered as a convertible. Even though advertising emphasized the new body style, only 5,856 were produced. That was quite a bit less than the number of GTO or Firebird convertibles which left the factory in 1967.
The Grand Prix two-door hardtop sold much better — more than 37,000 units — but that was still half as much as the glory days of 1963. Production would sink even further in 1968 to under 32,000 units, whereupon John Z. DeLorean would shift the Grand Prix to a mid-sized platform. This proved to be a good move because the full-sized sporty car was becoming an endangered species.
In 1967 the Grand Prix was among the highest-priced Pontiacs, but it was placed on a shortened, 121-inch wheelbase shared with the entry-level Catalina. This gave the Grand Prix a slightly longer-hood, shorter-deck look than the Bonneville, which had a 124-inch wheelbase and a deck stretched another four inches.
Restyling in 1967 wasn’t so great . . . but it got worse
The auto editors of Consumer Guide summed up the big Pontiac’s new sheetmetal for 1967 as having a “heavy look highlighted by bulky, curved rear fenders” (2006, p. 747). A new across-the-board feature was hidden windshield wipers, but only the Grand Prix hardtop eliminated vent windows.
The hardtop carried over a concave roofline that in previous years had been shared with the Oldsmobile Starfire.
All big Pontiacs had a “donut” shaped front bumper, but the Grand Prix received a unique design that wrapped around hidden headlights. In addition, turn signals were partially hidden in triple slates above the grille. This gave the car an unusually low, wide and modern look.
The rear styling of the 1967 Grand Prix was plainer than in previous years. However, the two-slate taillights had a family similarity with that year’s GTO.
I have mixed reactions to the 1967 redesign. In a way it is cleaner than the exceptionally creased 1965-66 models, but it does look heavier.
Meanwhile, the 1967 Grand Prix strikes me as having withstood the test of time much better than the 1968 model. A one-year-only sheetmetal redo better integrated the roofline into side styling, but the wrap-around taillights are awkward. Why did they bother?
The Grand Prix’s interior had top-end trim but otherwise varied little from other big Pontiacs. For example, the instrument panel had a ribbon-style speedometer that spread out far and wide. This was a less sporty look than the mid-sized GTO’s more European-style dashboard with round gauges.
One feature that the Grand Prix shared with the GTO was a hood-mounted tachometer. Advertising made it seem like this was a cool thing, but it was likely dreamed up to avoid the expense of rearranging the instrument panel to fit a tachometer.
Pontiac emphasized lush illustrations in its marketing
For 1967 Pontiac published a number of Grand Prix images that appear to have been penned by Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman. In addition, all three of the full illustrations I have posted in this story appear to show a Grand Prix in an exotic European locale. How fitting — a big American car in the narrow streets of Paris!
The exaggerated widths given to the Grand Prix work much better than with the Firebird, which doesn’t look as good drawn out of proportion (go here for further discussion).
The illustrations also give the Grand Prix’s surfaces considerably more color and contrast than would be possible than with photography. Yet all of that effort resulted in much lower sales for the Grand Prix than for the GTO or Firebird.
At that point Pontiac brand’s primary appeal was arguably its sportiness, but the public was increasingly associating “sporty” with mid-sized and compact cars. So much for the big Grand Prix, convertible and all.
NOTES:
Specifications, prices and production data came from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (2006), Bonsall (1979) and Gunnell (2002).
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International, Lincolnwood, Ill.
- Bonsall, Thomas E.; 1979. Pontiac, the Complete History, 1926-1979. Bookman Dan!, Baltimore, Maryland.
- Gunnell, John; 2002. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975. Revised 4th Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Pontiac Grand Prix (1967)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Pontiac (1967); Pontiac Grand Prix (1966, 1967, 1968)
I agree with most of the comments, but the best of the Grand Prixs were 1963-1964, in my opinion. The 1965 G.P. grill was over styled, and the 1966 Pontiac’s nose was in my opinion, too extended (as was 1968’s beak). The 1967 G.P. was adventurous and predicted the 1968 full-size and intermediate Pontiacs return to horizontal headlights.
I believe that the reason the 1967 G.P. convertible was not a “hit” in sales is because the desire for full-size luxury convertibles was in decline nationwide among most domestic full-size makes. The last four-place Thunderbird convertible was 1966. G.M. kept B-body convertibles until 1975-1976 and only later offered personal luxury convertibles through special third-party suppliers such as A.S.C. I also think much of the desire to have open-air driving was satisfied by moon-roofs and T-tops.
Finally, I would also believe that the connecting of isolated segments of “super-highways” that became continuous interstates made top-down traveling a buffeting experience, and with factory air-conditioning, driving in “fresh-air comfort” was only the push of a button or slide of a lever on the dashboard away.
If the Grand Prix convertible was introduced around 1963 or right from the beginning, would things have been different?
Also, the front end of the 1967 GP was recycled in Canada to create an other GP, a Grande Parisienne.
http://oldcarbrochures.org/Canada/GM-Canada/Pontiac/1967-Pontiac-Prestige-Brochure-Cdn/slides/1967_Pontiac_Prestige_Cdn-02-03.html
Pontiac had a whole bunch of convertibles that year. The Bonneville on a longer wheelbase, and Catalina with three trim option, near models in their own right..Base Catalina, the 2 + 2 sporty, and the Ventura full size muscle. One would be squeezed out.
That’s true — and overall Pontiac convertible production would have been meaningfully lower in 1967 except for the new Firebird. And in 1968 the only bright spots were the Firebird and the redesigned GTO; otherwise convertible output fell further.
It could have made sense to keep the Grand Prix convertible in 1968 if the rear end continued to share sheetmetal with the Catalina, but it’s hard to see how sales would have been high enough to pay for a unique trunk lid and rear quarter panels.
Steve,
The hood tachometer on the Grand Prix was an excellent decision, as the 1966 & earlier GP tachometers were mounted down below the dashboard, on the center console. That location was too far away from the driver’s line-of-sight out the windshield, requiring the driver to swivel their neck down & to the right just to see the tach, then back up to windshield level. Drivers using a tach to determine when to shift know you need the tach as close to the straight line-of-sight as possible.
40 Years ago I bought a nice original triple black 1966 tri-power 421/4-speed GP, and the original owner had replaced the tach with a SUN tach on the steering column, “So he could see it”. Paid $1,500 for it, wish I still had the car!
The ’67 front end was stunning, they should have kept the ’66 taillights or a modified version of it. The ’67 rear was a let down.