With the Grand Am falling out of the 1976 Pontiac lineup, it left the LeMans as the sole intermediate-sized offering for the brand this year, with the car available in base trim, the LeMans Sport, and the top-of-the-line Grand LeMans. This 1976 LeMans here on Craigslist is said to be a solid and rust-free example, but I may have to turn to our Pontiac aficionado readers to help determine exactly where this one falls in the model range. The white coupe is located in Medford, New York, and comes with what sounds like a reasonable asking price of $6,700. Our thanks go out to Barn Finds reader Rocco B. for his great tip here!
Upon initial glance, this one looks fairly plain on the outside and has the grille for the base car or Sport model, so my first impression was it’s of the entry-level variety. However, when you move to the back, the rear end has some extra trim on the trunk and a badge that reads Grand LeMans, but the front doesn’t have the vertical bars in the grille associated with that model. Regardless of hierarchy, it looks clean and well-kept overall outside, with what looks like some minor sheet metal rippling low on the passenger’s quarter appearing to be the worst exterior area.
We just get to view this one interior photo, which shows a nicely preserved bench and front area. However, the Grand LeMans featured the more prestigious instrument cluster carried over from the previous year’s Grand Am, while this one’s just the regular edition, giving more credence that this is just your basic 1976 LeMans. It would have been preferable to see a couple of more inside areas, but with the driver’s section appearing this decent, I’m guessing the rest probably looks as good or better.
We don’t get to see any pictures from under the hood either, but the seller says this Pontiac is powered by a 350 V8, which is stated to run really well. Fortunately, a couple of underneath shots are provided, which show what seems like a solid platform. The 56,000 miles on the odometer are also mentioned as actual, as the original owner kept the service records and a mileage log, along with various other paperwork. I’m not sure there’s a lot here that would necessarily be considered special about this 1976 Pontiac LeMans, but it is a fun coupe from the Colonnade era, and I think this one seems like a nice driver that will probably turn heads without very much additional attention. What are your thoughts?
The LeMans wasn’t the sole intermediate offering if you count Grand Prix.
Looks like a very clean Pontiac. The under carriage photos look very clean. Add some dual exhaust and drive it. Would be nice to see some under hood pictures!
My late grandma bought a 1973 LeMans brand new, and she didn’t trade it in until roughly 1983 on a new Buck Lesabre Custom. Grandma’s was merely a LeMans (not grand LeMans) but hers had what appear to be more extra-cost features that this car doesn’t appear to have. Grandma’s — being 3 years older than this one — had the upgraded instrument cluster with the pods being surrounded by chrome/stainless steel, an AM/FM radio, and hers had factory A/C. Gramma’s old Pontiac was a looker though as it was red, and had all-white (vinyl) seats. This car has an almost identicall looking interior so Pontiac must not have changed the interior much between 1973 and 1976 model rears, but this example has the quad/rectangular headlights and different tail-lights design than grandma’s did as her headlights were just dual round headlights and I don’t think looked as sharp as the front end on this car does. Not sure if this car has A/C or AM/FM radio/stereo, but it looks to have the non-upgraded instrument cluster. I wanted Grandma’s old LeMans so bad when she traded it in, but I was in high school at the time and just didn’t have the funds so she got a great trade-in on it since it had very few miles, and was meticulously cared for, detailed every couple weeks, and always garage kept. It still smelled new when she traded it in!
This is a great post Abe. Thank you. Whenever I read things like this Im reminded that part of the old car hobby is the memories certain old cars bring back to us, especially if its a cherrished love one like your grandma
For me, its Every time I see a white with blue interior 66 Impala SS ( especially one with a 396) and always think of my Grandpa. He had so many Chevies over his lifetime, but that was his favorite one. He always reffered to it as “The Chevy”. But back to the Lemans, this one looks great, the white rims seriously dress it up. Wish there were more pictures.
its a colonnade beauty, ready for a crate motor
In my opinion these Ponchos were the best looking of GM’s intermediates in the 73 to 77 years. This one looks clean and I think priced reasonably.
Great 👍 comments. ☝️
Such a sweet looking ride and in nice shape! Reminds me of the Can Am. Although I would hate to cut a nice hood, but a hood scoop added would be cool, although many I’m sure would disagree. Finding a Can Am rear spoiler would be difficult. Don’t think I would add the stripes but the hood scoop would be functional if done right.
I had a ‘74 Bonnieville that I added a Trans Am shaker scoop to and surprisingly the shaker hood scoop mounting surface was the same diameter of the air filter housing of the Bonnieville. I got a smaller cover just the diameter of the air filter and the shaker scoop was already drilled open so I had a functional shaker hood scoop on my Bonnieville. Made cool sounds when you hit the gas!
I think this car needs a good inspection ! Its certainly no Gran LeMans , so was the trunk lid or the trunk trim replaced ? The one photo of the open door looks to show some overspray . the other issue is the one photo of the front where you can clearly see an emblem on the left fender, but all the other photos there are no emblems on either fender .there is no stainless trim on the rockers either which it should have and the quarter glass has no chrome surround -Its possible this car had a vinyl top. . The white paint seems brighter than the original shade, though that could be from the camera. Even a base LeMans would have fender emblems , and they would be metal and bolted to the fenders, but there’s no holes on either fender.
I’d like to see the build sheet to see what options this car actually had new, as its not a true base car as it would have a Chevy 250 under the hood and even though there’s no photos of it , the ad states its a v8 car – Its also on the East Coast, so you’d want to know how long its been there.
Personally I think this was a decent condition low line Pontiac with some rust issues which were “fixed” and some cheapo white paint sprayed on it for a quick sell
Didn’t Sheriff Buford T. Justice drive a Convertible one of these in “Smokey and the Bandit”??
It was a 4 door, but the roof got sheared off when he went under a trailer
This car isn’t as nice as the ’75Grand Le Mans I had back in the 80s but it’s still a cool old Pontiac!
This car isn’t as nice as the ’75Gran Le Mans I had back in the 80s but it’s still a cool old Pontiac!
That’s no Grand Lemans with that steering wheel and base seats, probably too a shot in the back and trunk lid got replaced
Seems like a decent car for a decent price but definitely needs an in person inspection before dropping any cash on it.