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1973 Pontiac Grand Prix J Series - Rare Factory 455 Option on 2040-cars

US $12,900.00
Year:1973 Mileage:40321
Location:

Crystal Lake, Illinois, United States

Crystal Lake, Illinois, United States
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1973 Pontiac Grand Prix J Series

NO RESERVE

Rare Factory Option 455 V8

 

First Year Third Generation Pontiac Grand Prix.  A luxury-performance automobile produced by Pontiac and first introduced as part of Pontiac's full-size model offering, slotting below the large Bonneville in Pontiac's model lineup.  All A-bodies, including the Grand Prix, were redesigned for 1973.

 

The most notable styling feature of this generation was the appearance of the fixed opera window. This year's Grand Prix switched from pillarless hardtop design to a pillared "Colonnade" hardtop with frameless door glass.  The 1973-77 GM intermediates with their pillared hardtop design were often referred to as "Colonnade hardtop coupes".  Front and rear styling of the 1973 Grand Prix turned out be an evolution of the 1971 and 1972 models with a vertical-bar V-nose grille and single headlamps. The rear featured a revised boat tail-like trim with square-taillights above the rear bumper.

Inside, a new instrument panel continued the wraparound cockpit theme of previous models with new African Crossfire Mahogany facing on the dashboard, console and door panels, which was "real" wood in contrast with the simulated woodgrain material found in most car interiors during that time. The Strato bucket seats were completely new with higher seatbacks and integrated headrests with a notchback bench seat offered as a no-cost option.

Standard drivetrain consisted of a four-barrel 400 cu in (6.6 L) V8 rated at 230 hp with a Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission. Also standard were power steering and power brakes. A four-barrel 455 cu in (7.5 L) was optional and included with the "SJ" option that also added a rally gauge cluster and a radial tuned suspension with front and rear sway bars.  Although the Third Generation Grand Prix was indeed bulkier and heavier than its predecessor, handling was good for a large car, due to improvements in suspension design.

The redesigned ’73 Grand Prix  was a major hit with the public, and magazine writers raved about its new styling.  Grand Prix production set a new record of over 153,899 units in 1973.  Grand Prix Model J production totaled 133,150, and of those, 9,812 received the 455 four-barrel engine at an extra cost of $57.  The remaining 20,749 were Model SJs.

Car runs and drives.  Original California Car with good paint and no dents.  Normal wear and tear with minor blemishes.  Wood dash shows wear and dashboard has cracks typical to CA climate.  Some gauges may not be working and AC not working.  Trim missing on steering column near turn signal lever.  Rear window needs to be resealed and tires show wear. 

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Auto blog

Looking Back At Oprah's Free-Car Giveaway 10 Years Later

Fri, Sep 12 2014

Molly Vielweber's Pontiac G6 appears unremarkable at first glance. It wears forest green paint, rolls on five-spoke aluminum wheels, and it has a sizeable scrape in the driver's side door, the scar of a decade's worth of hard use. You wouldn't notice it parked at a big box store or cruising on the highway. Pontiac made hundreds of thousands of G6s in the 2000s, and a lot are still on the road. It's unremarkable in every way except for the front license plate, which reads, "Oprah 6." But this is not just any G6. This car is a part of television history. Vielweber won her G6 10 years ago at a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show, when Oprah kicked off her 19th season in dramatic fashion by giving all 276 members of the studio audience a free car. It was an unprecedented stunt that changed lives, generated controversy and ultimately failed to provide enough of a marketing lift for Pontiac, which would be shuttered just over five years later. September 13 marks the 10-year anniversary of the memorable event, which caught everyone, including audience members, by surprise. In a masterful display of showmanship, Oprah dialed up the suspense to match the enormity – and cost – of the event. First she gave away 11 cars, which would have been a landmark TV promotion by itself. But then she coyly announced: "I've got a little twist." Models circulated throughout the audience carrying silver platters loaded with white boxes wrapped in red ribbon. One contained a set of keys, Oprah implied, for another audience member to win the final car. "Do not open it. Do not shake it," she commanded the crowd. Finally, with the suspense built to a fevered pitch, everyone opened their box. They all had keys. "You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!" Oprah exclaimed. "Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car!" This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Everybody did get a car. But not everyone kept it. William Toebe attended the show with his wife, Jillaine, and he immediately thought of the tax implications, which stretched to $6,000 or more for some audience members. It was a tough reality for many in the audience that day, some of which had been selected based on their need for a new car. "That responsible part of me stepped forward and wondered 'where am I going to get the money to pay the taxes?'" he recalled.

A case for Pontiac's return

Wed, Apr 5 2017

Sadly, many brands have disappeared off of the automotive landscape over the decades. Many people have imagined over the years of restarting defunct automotive brands. A few of those dreamers even made prototypes to shop around and to established connections with investors. But, alas poor Yorick, however valiant an effort, many brands are shuttered for good, rarely to be heard of again except in historical tales or maybe seen in car shows. So, what do you do when you win the lottery? Not just any lottery... In fact, it is a lottery that takes care of you and your loved ones for life? You and your family don't have to work, ever. You can give to charity, pay other people to do those projects that you've been putting off, and so on and so on. But, you're still a Car Nut right? There begins the conundrum. Do you buy and fix cars, new premium cars, old muscle cars, or classics, or maybe, just maybe, do you buy the rights to an old departed automotive brand and bring it back to life. Hmm. Which brand? The problem with the old Pontiac was that it was an additional badge engineered vehicle in the portfolio of GM. The meant the brand was diluted by competition from its own parent company, in addition to the competition outside the camp. So, if it were to come back, it would have to be different. Yet, it would still need to keep true to its roots at the same time in order to wake up its armies of existing fans. Even those that aren't fans of Pontiac cannot deny that Pontiac has a long heritage of legendary vehicles. So do Packard, and Studebaker, and others. So, why would a lottery winner choose Pontiac as the marque to bring back? That's easy! Pontiac's long heritage is closely tied to performance vehicles that made many of a teenager drool. Even more important though is that Pontiac is still fresh on people's minds. The brand itself is only recently departed. So, Boomers, Generation X, and Millenials all would all be able to identify with it as opposed to brand names that disappeared multiple decades ago and that now have a more limited appeal. The return of Pontiac couldn't just be another launch of a badge engineered vehicle. It would have to be performance oriented, yes. But, it would have to be unique in some way, a niche brand. What niche though? Look at the automotive landscape now and you see that Tesla is the one out there grabbing at the wide open electric niche with success.

GM knew about fatal Chevy ignition problem decade before recall

Fri, 21 Feb 2014

Well, this is not good for General Motors. Following a report last week that GM was recalling 778,000 Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 compacts over concerns that the ignition could switch out of the "run" position without warning, USA Today reports that the Detroit-based behemoth knew about the issue, which affected 2005 to 2007 Cobalts (the Cobalt shown above and in the gallery is from 2010) and 2007 Pontiac G5s, all the way back in 2004.
The information comes from a deposition in a civil lawsuit against GM, obtained by USA Today, which claims that a GM engineer experienced the issue while the then-new model was undergoing testing. The issue was "solved" when a technical service bulletin was issued in 2005, informing dealers to install a snap-on key cover on the cars of customers who complained about the issue. According to the Cobalt's program engineering manager, Gary Altman, the cover was an "improvement, it was not a fix to the issue."
The case where the depositions were made was from 2010, and involved Brooke Melton, a 29-year-old pediatric nurse in Georgia who was killed on her birthday. At the time, police claimed she was going too fast on a wet, rural road, although it later came out through the black box that her car's ignition had come out of the "run" position at least three seconds before the accident (the max amount of time a black box records before a wreck), disabling her airbags, power steering and anti-lock brakes. According to USA Today, police said Melton was "traveling too fast for the roadway conditions," although it's impossible to know if she'd have been in the wreck, which injured the occupants of another vehicle, had her 2005 Chevy not shut off. GM settled the Melton family's case, although the details remain confidential.