The fourth-generation Pontiac Grand Prix was truly one of America’s sweethearts, with the personal luxury car managing to sell over 288,000 units during its final year of production in 1977. But when the fifth generation was introduced in ’78, it was downsized along with many other GM offerings and had more of a boxy appearance than its predecessor, and sales immediately fell about 20%. The GP retained this same look through 1980 with production tumbling to fewer than 115,000, but to find a survivor that’s only traveled 14k miles in over four decades such as this 1980 Pontiac Grand Prix here on eBay is a cause worth celebrating. The car is in Mazomanie, Wisconsin, not too far from Madison, with the owner aiming for $19,900, although there’s also an opportunity to submit your best offer.
The seller obtained the Grand Prix from the second owner, who had been the car’s caretaker since 1981, so this one hasn’t been passed around very many times. Allegedly, the car hasn’t seen winter driving since its first year on the road and has been stored inside a garage but also spent some time outside, making the condition of the original Agate Red paint surprisingly good considering GM wasn’t using the highest quality finishes from the factory during this time period. The padded white vinyl top also seems to be in good shape, but the plastic filler around both bumpers shows almost total deterioration, and while I like the looks of those Honeycomb wheels it appears they were borrowed from a Firebird, but those Radial T/As are said to all be brand new.
For 1980, the top offering under the hood was Pontiac’s 301 with a 4-Barrel, which fortunately this one is equipped with. The seller says all of the drivetrain is original, but with that 14k mileage the car went through a long period of sitting, 20 years to be exact, and some recent maintenance includes a rebuilding of the Quadrajet, fuel system cleaning, plus new plugs and wires. It’s now running well, and the automatic transmission is stated as shifting like new.
As you’d expect from an LJ model, this one’s got quite a few options and includes such niceties as power windows, a clock, and a rear window defroster, components that are standard on most cars nowadays but not always found back in these years. Just about everything we can see inside looks well-preserved, and for a 1980 Grand Prix this one’s a sharp ride, I’m just not sure potential buyers are going to be all that eager to drop nearly 20 grand on it. What do you think?
Meh
Great main body color but I’m not sure about the white vinyl top and black interior. If this car in this color had no vinyl roof and either a maroon or tan interior it’d look a lot less meh.
The 301 was a total wheezer … I love the 70 to 74 Grand Prix. Especially the 455 GP SJ … but this one is a hard pass.
20k no way. You won’t see heater core leakage on the firewall but on the passenger side carpet you will.5k car imo.Used to replace the hall effect pickups in these GM distributors a lot because the vacuum advance can was constantly turning it up and back and a wire would break on the pick up .glwts.
Thats odd, we have two of these, neither has that problem. If this was being sold for 5k, there would be a line of people at his front door.
Very nice. Not easy to find this car in any condition. To bad all the plastic is broken around the bumpers. I do like the addition of the snowflake wheels. I would say good price on a nice driver. Maybe a little high but that’s where O.B.O. comes in, right?
Agree on the snow flake wheels, they were a nice factory option that you dont see vert offen on this year, most had the rally wheels or wire hup caps.
It shocking to see a 301 in this car as I thought larger engines were available in 1980 & cars with luxury intentions but full on malaise Era bs was apparently the order of the day! At least it’s a pontiac motor but that wouldn’t last long. Sad to know now the downfall of such Marques was already in the works at GM & sort of feel betrayed personally.
< $10K assuming you loved this era of the GP. Odd color combo too. Red/white/black? That motor probably won't last to 100K either unfortunately .
The 265, the 301, and the Oldsmobile diesel engines in that car were all bad.
Surprisingly the 231 was the best. It couldn’t get out of its own way, but at least it held together.
There were really no good engines in any 1978-1980 A/G Bodies, except the Olds 350 in the 79 Hurst Olds, and it was terribly defined to under 200 hp. That’s why these cars are ideal swap candidates.
Snowflakes were a factory option on this year GP, so not necessarily taken from a bird. The 301-4v wasn’t a racer, but was decently peppy in these downsized GPS. Good color. Possibly mid-teens $$
LS powertrain make this a real sweetie.
So WHAT if it has 14k miles. These are really nice cars but not much more than 10k in pristine condition. Maybe 15k with a “stunning” color scheme AND fully loaded. I like the Pontiac version of this generation of midsize cars the best , especially the dashboard! This one has potential but only for a reasonable price. Good luck. Great article!
20 seems a bit steep, but nice car! 5k? LOL! If it was 5k, I’d be on my way to the seller myself to pick it up, even though I have no room for it, nor need for it.
I also don’t get how people are saying how the color combo looks meh. It’s a lot more dynamic with the gold wheels, white top, and black interior than a lot of these. I guess that’s 100% taste but I think it works perfectly.
No buckets/console-no deal. Plus, the odd color mix. Maybe cinnabar/white top/white buckets & tan rugs/dash.
If you want odd Grand Prix color combinations, or an odd GP generally, there was a 177 mile ketchup and mustard (red vinyl top over yellow) ’77 on Bring a Trailer a couple years ago. Look it up.
I don’t think this looks weird at all by comparison. And that fetched 36k!
My 464 ci pontiac and Muncie 4 speed would straighten out what ails this car.
Snowflake wheels, NOT honeycomb!!!!
Always called Honeycomb in the Detroit area, their birthplace for the most part. Stop being a snowflake!
I have seen low mileage well preserved survivors like this come up several times on this site, and there are always several someones griping at the price. How often does a a rust free 1980 GP with 14k miles show up? Head up to Honest Arnie’s Used Car warehouse with 19k and see what you can get. That 3 year old Fusion with 30k miles catch your eye? If you have a soft spot in your heart for Tin Indians and want something for cruise nights or cruising, you are not going to find better.
Surely, you meant 130K?
I’m a G Body guy myself, restomodded a 79 Cutlass, but I’ve always liked the GPs, and they definitely had the best dash layout. This is a very nice looking unit, but I’d have to agree that the asking price is very steep, particularly for a column shift, bench seat, vinyl top model. Low miles and good cosmetic conditions only go so far. Perhaps with buckets and console shifter $7500 for the person who really wanted it.
I like it, but not crazy about the interior. I would forever be disappointed it had a bench seat, so no go for me. Its got the 301 going for it, but still no.
I had a 1978 SJ model. Silver, red pleather buckets and interior, red landau vinyl top. Same wheels and 301. My first new car as a 20 year old. Cost was between 8-9 thousand .It helped me get a few girls, lol. GM quality was lacking in those days to say the least.
Very nice time machine hate the 301 though horrible power plant .y dad had a gorgeous 78 gp blue with white interior and factory sport rims,,I put 5 engines in that car before my dad finally gave up on it. All that aside the fact remains it’s a time machine and is worth what someone will pay there,s a butt for every seat I have an 87 Cameron with 12 k immaculate asking 20k myself and getting a lot of crap cuz it’s a 6 cyl so ask yourself what your fond childhood memorys are the worth a chance to own a super clean example of the car you drove in high school or drove your now wife to senior prom in
Just like some of the other Pontiacs listed on here they looked great and very clean.But they had the 301,the worst V8 made by Pontiac,a chapter of failure in a big story book of success.
Timming chain ,and a weak 200 trans or a 200 c fixed hundreds of them , oh get rid of feed back carb ,these cars rode like cadys, I bet some of you never seen a 250c thm
A TH350C that has an intermediate band instead of an intermediate clutch.
The C3 carb isn’t bad if set up properly.
Sad it’s fire engine Red….
Red…..white…..black …..
If this car was black or white = homerun
I remember that shade of red, really nice color, especially with a white top. Prefer a white vinyl interior though instead of the black cloth, put still nice looking color combo. So many of the 80s GPs came in common boring colors, gray, silver, white, etc.
Looks clean,, but check those rear frame rails- these Metric chassis Gm cars were notorious for frame rot .
In 1980, every car manufacturers were building vehicles that got better than 10 – 15 mpg. The first time America saw gas shortages and the end of $0.30 – $0.40 per gallon like in the 1960’s & 1970’s. This Grand Prix was a Sporty Coupe, and with a 301 V-8, with a 4BBl Carb was reasonably peppy compared to most cars available in 1980. Average of 21 – 22 mpg , every day driving , not as good as the 26 – 27 mpg 231 V-6 delivered, but plenty good compared to the 455 cid 10 mpg Grand Prix you traded in! Today , 2 Dr Coupes are gone and SUV or Trucks is all you see! Yep, this 301 4BBL V-8 is a possibility, for the right price!
Are you sure that these used a four barrel carb? As I recall, the only ones I ever saw had a two barrel that looked like the front half of a Q-jet.
They ONLY came with 4bbl carb on the Pontiac 301.
Grossinger Pontiac was a dealership in Chicago area.
Neat time piece. Somebody will buy it as a memory piece.
Refresh my memory. Wasn.t Grossinger the place to go in Chicago for muscle Pontiacs?
ACZ, A 4 BBL Carb was an option on the 301 V-8. The majority of 301 V-8 were the 2 BBL Carb. So, a 301 V-8 4 BBL in this Grand Prix is a rare find! The 4 BBL made a difference, without much difference in every day mpg, as long as the driver saved opening up the secondaries til needed!
I drove one of these with the 301 4V engine. It was far from quick but I found it peppy. The Bank wouldn’t go for it. Ended up with a 1975 Dart Swinger 318 instead. Black over silver and the Magnum style Road Wheels. It looked sharp but I really wanted that Grand Prix SJ with the t-tops. Put dual exhaust on the Dart. So at least it had a nice rumble.