The “personal luxury car” niche – four-seaters with sporty characteristics and high-quality trim – was in full swing by the time the 1970s rolled around. John DeLorean contributed to the trend when he redesigned the Pontiac Grand Prix in 1969. This third-generation Grand Prix was placed on an intermediate platform, shorter by three inches but with the longest hood Pontiac ever offered. Meanwhile, as this new car evolved, George Hurst, running Hurst Performance, was yearning for a special-built Pontiac to carry his badge. Ace Wilson of Royal Pontiac in Royal Oaks, Michigan did something similar in the 1960s, taking Catalinas and GTOs to the track. Hurst’s interest soon produced the SSJ package, which was a specially trimmed Grand Prix. Here on eBay is a reproduction of one of these rare cars, a 1972 Pontiac Grand Prix, bid to $27,800. This car is located in Clearwater, Florida. We’ll review the similarities and differences between the seller’s creation and the real deal. The basics are here: these cars were usually Starlight Black or Cameo White, with the hood and later the trunk painted in Fire Frost Gold metallic.

The Gran Prix – Hurst or otherwise – offered two engines – a 400 cu. in. V8 and a 455. This one has the 400 which came stock with a four-barrel carburetor. When the Grand Prix was redesigned in 1969, it was a hit, blending muscle car performance with luxury looks and tipping the scale for Pontiac farther toward the younger buyer. But by 1972, GM was trying to get ahead of government regulations and performance was being strangled. This motor’s compression ratio declined from over 10 to about 8.2:1 taking horsepower down to 250. Several transmissions were offered originally until 1972 when the Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic become the only option.

The interiors of the Hurst car were usually white, so this car ticks that box. The real-deal console carried a Hurst logo; this one carries a couple. But the sunroof installed at Hurst was a metal sliding roof painted gold; this one is clear.

The Hurst SSJ cars had their roofs partially painted, with a white half landau installed over the back half. This car ticks those boxes as well. By 1972, the trunk lid was being painted, so checkmark there too. Gold-painted American Racing wheels were at all four corners; this car has something similar. A question mark is where all the Hurst logos are placed. This car has the logo all over – the fenders, twice on the trunk, in the engine bay, and at the corners of the landau top. SSJ cars I reviewed were, if anything, subtle in the logo department. Overlooking that point, this is a reasonable facsimile that a buyer should probably acquire for no more than regular Grand Prix money which seems to run from about $22,000 needing work to closer to $40,000 in great shape. A genuine SSJ sold for $56,000 about a year ago. What do you think of the value of this reproduction?