$11,500 can buy quite a bit of car. Perusing local listings makes the dollar amount fairly significant and can net some powerful, rare or quirky finds. Does it warrant a 1992 Pontiac Grand Prix with only 40,000 some miles on the odometer? That’s debatable.
This 1992 Grand Prix happens to be a Richard Petty Edition. Pontiac built just 1,000 of these cars and this one has been meticulously kept. We’ll give the seller that. However, is there such a market for these cars? At $11,500, the 1992 Grand Prix never really offered anything extraordinary.
The engine can be found in a plethora of other GM products from the time; the body panels give way to nearly identical W-body design—did you know the W-body only ceased production last year?—from Chevrolet, Buick and Oldsmobile; and the interior is comprised of typical GM parts bin quality from the 1990s. The decade wasn’t particularly good to the General.
So, when the seller says “rare,” we suppose that’s a valid statement. However, Richard Petty’s biggest fans will likely be the only shoppers to seek out this car.
Comments
Thats the big question for alot of GM cars from the 90’s and early 2000’s. What constitutes them as being rare? And how does that dictate price? And more importantly who’s gonna want them in the future? Most millenials have no clue special editions like these existed and dont really care which is sad.
I’m going to jump in on the conversation personally since I think about this a lot.
I actually quite enjoy seeing these kinds of cars in mint condition, since so many were basically throwaway and beat beyond repair. While I appreciate this car, I don’t know if I could swallow $11,500 for it. Consider Firebirds, Camaros and Corvettes from this era don’t always fetch premiums like this. I think it will take a long time for a market for these cars to come about. If that happens, clean examples like this could be pretty spectacular, despite being a tad insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Cheers,
-Sean
Look at it another way.
Is it rare? Yes.
Is it exceptional? No.
It looks visually indistinguishable from any of the many thousands of GP coupes of the period. Apart from a signed photo, badging, paint, and a number identifying it’s sequence in production, it’s not really anything for anyone to get worked up over.
If any of the many special edition W-body models offered something more besides easy trim and badging changes, then there is a good chance this car would make people give a damn.
That said, it does look nice and it has aged well (I particularly like crosslace rims), but I don’t think it will ever appreciate in value because it was built upon a mass produced Pontiac model and given a few distinguishing characteristics, but nothing so great that it makes someone sit up and take notice.
Just finding this generation of Grand prix in this condition with those miles is hard, and it does have the 3.4 (which many may find a bad thing…but at least it has a little getup and it was the top engine).
If it had a manual, they’d probably get it. Otherwise this is a nice $7500 car for the right buyer. I wanted one of these when I was in high school, but never this bad.
The very early W bodies could be had with a manual transmission, at least certain models like the Cutlass Supreme could. I think one of those is worth a premium over a sticker package like this. Also the Cutlass Supreme convertibles are worth a premium. I had one, but drove it into the ground with almost 300k miles before selling it. Finally the rare Turbo Grand Prixs are collectible. Outside of that, not really.
Amazing how advanced GM styling was at the time. Quality wasn’t there, but I remember the Grand Prix, especially in white, and it got all kinds of attention on the street. Interior was stylish too.
Olds Cutlass Supreme convertible in mint form is a classic.
Funny seeing this.
I own a ’94 Grand Prix SE with the B4U package.
It’s definitely as clean and probably cleaner than the one in this article.
My dad bought it brand new and I wouldn’t let him drive it during the winter.
He died in 1998 and I bought the car from my mother then.
The car had something like 22,600 miles on it when we put it away for the winter in November 1997.
It now has about 23,400 miles on the clock.
I don’t know what it’s worth or how to even value it because there’s just nothing like it out there, but I’ve insured it for $10K.
Here’s a pic of it:
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/HuJass/94%20Grand%20Prix/20150811_175441a_zps7q5ybb7u.jpg
Great color!!
Almost every 94 had the GFX package, the B4U is only sought after and rare on 91-93’s as it looked a lot different.
Your GP is nice, but if it’s just a 3.1 SE, there’s nothing special about it besides its condition. The 91-93 B4U with a 3.4 (a lot more so if manual) is a much more special car.
I think my car is more than “nice”.
And the fact you don’t see any of them anymore AND it’s condition makes it kinda special.
It may not be desirable from a collector standpoint. I think that’s what you were trying to say.
My beloved Pontiac brand………..Firebird; Fiero; Grand Prix, Boneville, Trans Sport………..dreams of my childhood
I’m 30 and I can remember as a kid these cars were so awesome​!! Special edition actually meant something then. Say what you will about GM, no one’s quality​ was anything to write home about in those days. especially domestics! The other points however are certainly valid and that’s what keep these from​ being worth the 11K. RIP Pontiac
I saw this online. I know the one above I wouldn’t pay more than 4k
http://jalopnik.com/for-1-900-this-1992-pontiac-grand-prix-could-be-a-gra-1691664175
Looking at it from the perspective of being a vehicle from the Roger Smith era, i’d say “yes”, it is a reasonable buy for someone with the discretionary income. The W-Body was built by robots, more so than Fisher Bodies, which were the prior standard bearer of GM Body Manufacturing. With respect to GM, it represents the high water mark of badge engineering vehicles. Most importantly, it represents the death of rear wheel drive vehicles outside of pick-up trucks, muscle or sports cars. Finally, this revolutionary decision to put the ax to rear wheel drive and dismantle decades of Fisher Body building automotive tradition was done with the intent of anticipating an 80s fuel crisis that never happened. Prior to their introduction, GM had about 40% of the vehicle market in sales within the United States, but after the presentation of this and other vehicle line conversions to front wheel drive GM’s sales market share dropped below 40%. Given that at one time almost 4 out of 10 vehicles was a GM meant our roads started looking different. American product was no longer saturating it and the automotive oligarchy between GM, Ford and Chrysler that existed since the 20s was stepping aside for what was about to be Japanese domination in vehicles sales and profit margins within the United States market. Today, these vehicles look thoroughly modern and with exception to their power plants that do not benefit from advances in computer chip technology they are thoroughly modern vehicles.
I e got a 5spd grand prix gtp I traded my 02 jetta for I took it on test drive it was nice then the next day it wont stay running idk what to do