This is not a complete list of every collectible Pontiac Grand Prix, but five rare or unusual examples you may or may not know from Grand Prix history.
1962 Pontiac Grand Prix Super Duty
Two years before John DeLorean’s brainchild Pontiac GTO made muscle car history, the 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix Super Duty was making short work of destroying rear tires. With a 421 cubic-inch V8 rated at 405 horsepower (many speculate actual output was north of 465 horsepower), the Grand Prix Super Duty cleared a path for all the Pontiac muscle cars that would follow. Only 16 copies of the Grand Prix Super Duty left the factory, due in large part to the Super Duty option adding $2,000 to the base sticker price of $3,490. Hagerty Price Guide value for a 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix Super Duty in #1 condition is $257,000.
1967 Pontiac Grand Prix Convertible
Not the rarest of Pontiac Grand Prix with 5,856 convertibles built out of 42,981 total production, but 1967 was the only year for the Grand Prix convertible. The 1967 model year saw a refresh of the model, with hidden horizontal headlights, a full-width front bumper that framed the grille, optional rear fender skirts, and a longer list of available options.
The convertible Grand Prix was a glorious land yacht loaded with luxurious appointments. The GP came with a standard bucket seats, center console, full instruments, and dual exhaust. Buyers could choose from the base 400 cubic-inch V8 putting out 350 horsepower, or the 428 cube V8 making up to 376 horsepower. Hagerty Price Guide value for a 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix Convertible with the 428 cubic-inch/376-horsepower V8 in #1 condition is $76,400.
1968 Pontiac Grand Prix WG Code
The 1968 Pontiac Grand Prix was the final year for the B-Body platform. The ’68 GP saw some styling changes, the most prominent being the full width grille with hidden headlights and protruding “beak” in the center that would become a prominent design feature for the Grand Prix for years to come. The grille was now a “mesh” pattern. Optional fender skirts added to the distinctive styling that made the Grand Prix unmistakable.
For the ’68 model year, option code WG got you a 428 cubic-inch, 375-horsepower V8 with a 4-speed manual transmission. Only 195 WG code cars left the factory in 1968, and of those, only 77 had air conditioning. Hagerty Price Guide value for a 1968 Pontiac Grand Prix WG code in #1 condition is $45,500.
1986 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2
A bit of a different Grand Prix, the 2+2 is one that was built to develop aerodynamic improvements for street cars that would be raced in NASCAR. The Grand Prix and the Chevy Monte Carlo, both G-Body platform cars raced in NASCAR, suffered from blocky styling that had aerodynamic deficiencies at high speed. There was significant drag created by the squared-off back window and lift at the rear end. GM approved modification on some Grand Prix and Monte Carlos in the form of a “bubble” back window and rear decklid spoilers. The nose also got the aero treatment. The resulting cars were called the Grand Prix 2+2 and the Monte Carlo Aero Coupe.
The new rear window gave the cars a fastback profile, while the spoilers decreased lift. The more aerodynamic rear window created a very short rear deck. Unfortunately, the rear windows were fixed, meaning the cars now had a much smaller trunk opening, making them far less practical. Only 1,118 Grand Prix 2+2s were built. All of them were shipped to Pontiac dealers in the Southeastern part of the U.S., where NASCAR has its largest following. The high sale price for a 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2 at auction was at the 2014 Mecum Kissimmee sale, where one hammered sold for $39,960.
1989-1990 Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo ASC/McLaren
In 1989 and 1990, Pontiac teamed with American Sunroof Corporation and McLaren to produce a Grand Prix Turbo. It was propelled by a 3.1-liter, 205 horsepower turbocharged V6 powering the front wheels through a four-speed automatic. It had wider bodywork, functional hood louvers, stiffer suspension, a more luxurious interior with sculpted cloth or leather seats (although the seats were contoured such that they could only accommodate four passengers opposed to five in other Grand Prix), and a head-up display. The Grand Prix Turbo also had stainless steel dual exhaust and 16-inch gold cross-laced wheels wearing 245/50 Goodyear Eagles.
The interior was awash in buttons (186 in all). There were only three options available on the Grand Prix Turbo: leather seats (could be had in tan or gray – cloth was only available in tan), sunroof, and CD player. The GP Turbo only came in red or black. This was a stunning offering from the “Cladocene” period of Malaise Era cars. There are rumors that McLaren originally built the 3.1 to produce 320 horsepower, but GM insisted it be detuned to just 205. Fewer than 3,500 of the Grand Prix Turbos were produced, and that number may be as low as 2,300 (there are varying figures on total production). A Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo ASC/McLaren sold on online auction site Bring A Trailer in April of 2020 for $15,500.
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Comments
“There are rumors that McLaren originally built the 3.1 to produce 320 horsepower, but GM insisted it be detuned to just 205.”.
If true, it is just another attempt by GM to keep the Camaro, and especially the Corvette, from getting stepped on by “lesser models”.
Very cool article!
Actually the Trans axle would not take all the power. The Trans axles had a hard enough time with 205 HP.
These are all cool but I will take the original with a SD421. That was what Pontiac was all about. No Chevy based engines involved.
The best was the prototype that one of the Pontiac Engineers had. It was a 421 with fuel injection and 4 cams. It is still around. Too bad GM killed Deloreans plans.
Or it could just be….you know, a rumor.
The transaxles were limited as to what they could take.
@MrR It could be a rumor just like it says in the article that I quoted? Wow, thanks for the tip.
As an engineer myself, HD trans axels could have been designed and developed IF GM actually wanted this GP to outperform the Camaro and Corvette…which they obviously did not. Having a GP outgun both your pony car and sports car, is not a good look.
Cool story, I’m an astronaut too,(it’s spelled AXLE BTW Mr.Engineer) yeah, all those other 320hp FWD cars that were in production in 1989….oh wait, there were none, ok great, moving on…… I’m sure you could design a transmission that could take an anti tank mine hit too if money and time was no object either……
It’s such a shame that we live in a society where some people cannot hold a civil and intelligent conversation and instead, choose to hide behind a computer screen and act tough.
Hey man, have fun. Peace.
Thanks for your expert input Mr.Engineer have fun engineering stuff.
I’ll probably get basted for not looking up the facts and just going off memory but in later years when they used the 3.4 dohc the automatic was 10 or 15hp less than the manuals too, so down rating for transmission sake is believable, even if the number wasn’t quite 320hp.
Developing a high hp fwd automatic would have been, like you said, poor money spent. The performance cars were rwd. The question isn’t always “can we” but also “should we” as it would have just increased the price of the car more than they wanted. Then they would have also needed a nicer this or nicer that, etc etc.
Let’s set this straight.
Yes GM could have built a better transmission. But they did not. There was a number of weak and poor transmissions in this era.
The reason there was is that GM was already going broke. The transmissions here were developed in shorten development cycles that resulted in poor products. The saving grace was most of the engines were low in power.
As for the 3.1 it was not a bullet proof engine either. Lots of rod issues and as the Fiero guys found out head gasket issues. There were few of these built but most died and were not worth the cost of repair.
The later GTP could go to about 315 ft lbs but anything more they would push the diff out.
The V8 GTP was able to do what it did only due to the more advanced computer engine management. They pulled power at the shift points to keep them alive.
I had one in my SS and it was limited to 315 due to that is al, it would take.
I loved the turbo SS but the FWD sucked as it just would not launch well. It would spin the tires up to 50 mph setting off the traction control.
GM for sure could have done much but at this point they were looking to kill Olds as it replace Pontiac for being on the bubble with declining sales.
The intent was to Pontiac originally but the high number of Grand Am sales saved them As olds sales declined.
So let not argued over this. There was much more going on inside GM than just who’s car will out run who’s. Yes there was a little of that going on but poor management and money were greater trouble.
There is only so much that the transaxle can take, even the later 4T80-E for the 300hp Northstar Cadillacs and the 4T60-E in Supercharged 3800 cars and 4T60-HD for the LS W cars had their limits and were talking about stuff that came way after the 1989 Turbo GP.
The old-school vision is/was greater. But, Chevrolet’s performance models had Pontiac’s ground covered.
You had the answer with the Grand Am, because GM missed the tuner ’90-00s and that was their best chance. People that liked body kits back then wanted boost-ready rotating assemblies, gaskets, grip appropriate trans.
The Grand Prix could’ve been helped from that enthusiasm. So could have a much less bloated Aztek. A couple things that get missed are the 1.5 din radios needed to be upped to 2 din. And aftermarket wheels sucked for 115mm instead of 4.5″.
That said, clearly better interiors than Chevy, and reliability were more vital. Too much woulda/coulda all around.
That isn’t even half of the neutering GM did in rhe the ’90s. The N-Body cars (Grand Am, Beretta..) was to get a turbo Quad 4, the 3.4 Twin Cam was rated at 290 hp but cut to 210 for transmission, the ’90 Fiero, ’97 Caprice, etc.. they dug some of their grave by not letting engineers roam.
The 3.4 was 275hp when it was supposed to be the high performance option for the never was to be FWD GM80 F body and as far as I know was never going to be in a Caprice.
Read again, I never said the 3.4 was going into the Caprice but the B-Caprice was supposed to continue with LS power as the old LT1 was being phased out. Yes the fwd Camaro was canceled but still GM didn’t want to develop the proper transmission for it, we still woulda had a 3.4 215 hp Camaro.
I had to read it about 3 times and it was still barely intelligible…..
“the 3.4 Twin Cam was rated at 290 hp but cut to 210 for transmission, the ’90 Fiero, ’97 Caprice, etc”-That is exactly what you wrote, I had to try to interpret what you were trying to say because it really makes no sense at all when you read it
You mention 90 Fieros and 97 Caprices(yeah because the Caprice and the all new C5 Corvette were going to get the LS at the same time too…..)
They should have never developed a FWD Camaro to begin with so who cares what tranny or hp it would have had (215 same as a 94 5.0 Mustang GT BTW) since it was an abortion that shouldn’t have existed to begin with.
Back at you professor if you can’t have a tantrum talking about cars. My overall point is GM thrown away interesting ideas that could had been in driveways in the ’90s.
Thank you for reminding me how much I used to lust after a TGP. Such cool cars. I appreciated the larger headlights of them over the newer 3.4 dohc models and the bodykit you found on the early models.
I remember the first time I saw one. Christmas 1997, I was 13 and saw one at the Christmas tree farm. I was scooping it out when I was supposed to be helping mom and dad cut down a tree. Went home and immediately researched it on AOL. Back when there was no surfing the web because you had to know where you wanted to go. No one had the time to waste on “surfing”
I would have added the Hurst SSJ Grand Prix’s to this list too.
I had a 1989 Turbo- black with tan leather. I got more looks with that car than any other since. At night the inside looked like dash of a commercial airliner. My friends still don’t believe me when i told them it had a heads up display back then.
Yes it was the first car in the world with it from what I recall, the Cutlass Supreme added it around the same time too. GM had an optional HUD years before any other car company, the only one that was close was Nissan, which offered it on the 240 SX, Altima and Maxima for a few years in the early 90’s.
The best production GP was the 69 GP SJ 428 HO.
Good handling for the era. Good power and styling that is classic today.
Again this was a true full Pontiac by DeLorean and crew.
1970-71 with a 3sp floor shift and a 455 it’s in the brouchure as opt . There was one lady down the st who had a 71 400 ci 3spd maybe it was easy to drive than a 4sd trying to find reverse?
I believe you missed one of the rarest GP’s, the 1992 GP Richard Petty Edition, 1000 made, three colors and available 5 speed manual. Great looking cars for the day. i owned a Blue one and a white one… looking for that Red one some day..
Where is the ’69 GP, 428HO (390 hp), 4 spd?
That’s gotta be REALLY low production.
These would be the rarest and most desirable GPs. Be them Models J or SJ, the ’69 428 HO 4-spd would be the Holy Grail along with the lower rated HP but torquier ’70 455 4-spd. Truly stunning cars that hark back to a time long ago when style ruled and men like John Z. were free to aim for the stars. Even Sinatra owned a ’69 GP. When American cars took a backseat to no others.
Don’t forget about the 3.1 turbo/3.4 Twin Cam STE sedan and v8 GXP.
3.4 cars were worthless. Even GM did not fix these engine the just replaced them till the engine died.
The V8 was no better than my SC Comp G. They detuned the engine so much as it was not AWD and driving the wrong wheels.
They were nice cars but not legendary Pontiac’s. Even at the Pontiac nationals they are seldom seen.
But yet the ’86 2+2 is on here with its low output 5.0. As I said the 3.4 power was cut and still much better performance wise then anything v6 GM had then. As a former GXP owner the Comp G 3.8 wasn’t even close to it’s overall features and performance other then midrange to the GXP.
The best looking of all of the GP’s and handled the best was the 76& 77 GPs with the Hurst T tops an 0pen air convertible center console automatic SJ or LJ fully loaded I had both great looking cars their design was way before there time I owned both Sorry l didn’t keep at least 1 of them
Best thing GM did was kill the 3.4 V-6 and replace it with the 3.8 V-6.
That engine had a lot of torque it seemed and they ran forever hence why it’s not on the market. Had a friend who had the 3.4. The dealer had it more than he did. They bought it back. He ended up with a 3.1liter. Last Grand Prix he owned.
I have a 68 Grand Prix I actually think it’s one of the best cars. I’ve owned a 68 goat. I also own a 67 goat. My Grand Prix the interior is a lot nicer and spacious. And the horse power and the handling of this car I can race my goat and beat it I love my Grand Prix.