The Grand Prix debuted in 1962, part personal luxury vehicle and part muscle car. It established a reputation for sporty styling backed up by beefy powertrains. It replaced the Ventura which became an upscale option on the Catalina. This 1964 edition is said to have less than 9,000 miles on the odometer and it’s an original with numbers matching parts under the hood. Located near Fort Myers, Florida, this beauty is available here on craigslist for $30,000. Thanks for the cool tip, Patrick S!
After a rework for 1963, changes to the Grand Prix for 1964 were a bit more subtle, but noticeable, nonetheless. It continued to be offered in a single body style, a 2-door hardtop with seating for five with bucket seats and a console upfront. Five versions of a 389 cubic inch V8 were available along with two having a displacement of 421 CI. We don’t know how the seller’s car is set up, so we’ll assume the basic 389 is there with a 4-barrel carburetor that was rated at 303 hp.
Production numbers for the Grand Prix were off a bit in 1964, down from 73,000 to 64,000 units. This edition wears a stunning maroon/burgundy paint job that doesn’t show any flaws if there are any. This car originated in California and comes with a set of Black Tags, so that environment may have helped preserve this automobile. If the mileage is correct, how does someone go about making the decision 58 years ago to keep this car in museum-quality condition?
We’re told all the parts are original, so we assume that applies to anything that’s not consumable, like fluids and tires. The seller has the car’s original owner’s manual, registration, and other 1964 paperwork. But details provided about this Pontiac stop there. If you want to know more, you’ll have to reach out to the seller who will send a video upon request.
Is this the first car with stacked headlights? Super cool.
It’s the second. The ’63 had them, too.
Thanks Russ. I loves me some stackies.
I personally love anything that is stacked!
Ahh ha ha ha…I get what you did there. And I keep all my spare car parts on giant racks…wink wink.
@Melton Mooney: 🤣🤣🤣
The first thing to lose is that Florida licence plate, because everyone knows “he’s movin’ kinda slow, at the junction”. 😉
I thought he’s run off to Fire Lake…
9k miles; how did that happen? I never believe in such claims unless there is solid documentation to prove it. If true then the owner must’ve really not liked to drive this GP, that’s 155miles each year!
It’s not even well-optioned and until a couple years back these didn’t even catch much $. With that said it does indeed look very nice and if seller’s statement is true it should be expected
Might be 109K miles, but still pretty low for a 58 year-old car.
109k is my thought too – that equals 1.880miles a year and a lot more realistic. The ‘personal car’ GP targeted more adult buyers just like Starfire/ Riv so it’s highly plausible that a careful sensible owner managed to maintain it at this level for 58years and 109k. At 9K miles the floor carpet should still look new, the carpet here looks very nice but it does show wear and fade.
9k is hardly more than broken in – then I’d expect to find period AC Delco plugs, air filter, fan belts and transmission filter – and not the octagon rad cap
RE: Firewalls. I had a 69 GTO Judge, and I’m pretty sure the firewall on that was black. And when I cleaned it up I just painted everything….engine compartment…. underneath and the firewall and everything flat black. The Grand Prix was very very clean and and I mostly just cleaned it up. And I realized that the firewall should be the body color. It’s part of the body. So if the body without the doors and the trunk and the front sheet metal was dipped in primer and then paint it and then painted…. it just looks natural that way. And with the front end off you can see the body mounts, and for the firewall to be black, they would have to do another step… an extra step at the factory.
Yup, I agree that from a manufacturing point of view it’d probably make more sense to paint firewall body color. And IMHO an engine compartment is much more pleasing to the eye with firewall and hood underside wearing body color. With that said, my ’64 Bonne (Southgate CA built) and ’64 ‘pala (St Louis MO) both wear this satin black on the firewall down to the body mounts. Other than receiving an exterior repaint they are both otherwise unrestored and in those few places finish is scratched/peeled there’s no other color than primer underneath.
So one can only speculate as to why firewalls suddenly were coated black. Maybe it was realized that the extra step was worth the hassle so that sheet metal/seam imperfections would become less visible? A matt dark surface will reduce highlights. Also, since engine/tranny was already sitting in the frame when body was lowered onto it, maybe it was concluded it was easier to have one single color to touch up with at the assembly line if/when some drunk worker smashed firewall into the rear of the engine?
Another plausible explanation can be that – considering engines of day were both visual and technical art wearing flashy colors – the satin black environment would lead the engine itself to become an even more obvious focal point in the engine bay
What???? No 8 lug rims? Hubcaps, really??
Not that many Pontiacs were sold originally with 8-lugs. The enthusiasts and restorers like them, tho’, so percentage wise there are probably more out there today than when they were new.
In an about face, I don’t care what the price is, nor the mileage. I absolutely dare you to find a nicer car,,,This was “Uncle Joes” baby, and entirely possible on the mileage. It doesn’t show any telltale signs of 109K, and I realize, ALL the companies produced cars like this, T-Bird, Monte Carlo, Cordoba, all affording cushiness, but something about this car, maybe the name, Grand Prix.
Like all this stuff, “Uncle Joe” can’t afford to live anymore, the rent in his gated community in Fla. ( hence the low miles) just hit 4 figures,, the GP sadly has to go. Fantastic car, Joe! Got to hurt to let it go.
Not 9000 miles. Gloss black inner fenders and core support, wrong, factory was satin black. Battery cables with bolts, wrong, factory was spring clamps. Worm screw hose clamps, wrong, factory was corbin and tower style. Body bolts on inner fenders to fenders painted, wrong, factory was cad plated. Nice car but nowhere near 9000 miles nice. Marimba Red is a great color on these.
I did notice the gloss black inner fender panels. I’m not an expert , but the other thing that seemed wrong to me was the firewall. I believe the firewall should be body-colored. I have a 63 Grand Prix and that’s how it came. The firewall is the same color as the exterior of the body. like I said I’m not an expert, so it could be different in 64…. I don’t know
That’s such a geeky point on the firewall color Ronald and it triggers the Asperger in me…! 😁
Now I cannot say with certainty whether there was any instruction specifically for Pontiac firewall finish, however what I do know is that Chev switched practice from painting firewall on B-bodies body color to satin black in the middle of the ’63 model year. Since you own a GP you probably already know many fullsize Pontiacs were assembled at same plants as their Chev cousins so they would most likely follow same practice.
So this would depend on WHEN your GP was assembled, and also WHERE as it doesn’t appear to be a specific date for when each specific plant was to have introduced the new practice. Another interesting detail is that this goes for US- assembled vehicles only – Canadian ’64 B-bodies wore body color firewall, as for B-bodies assembled from CKD kits firewall finish would depend on local practice…!
Remember, this car is 50 years old, and while it may not have been driven much, it still shows it has 50 years of “cobbling”, and the things you mention could have been fiddled with. I look at things like pedal wear, doors, dash, seats, all stuff that tells of something with a lot of miles. I think it’s the real deal, and not to be a wiseaxx, but I can spot a high mileage car a mile away.
This looks like the speedo was reset to zero during a “kinda” resto. @Howard A–Pedal pads have been known to be changed out with repo units, along with- dash-seats-door panels. Factory paint was never this nice. Like I said before, nice Pontiac, but guaranteed not 9000 miles.
too glossy under the hood. Great body style
First car with stacked headlights? It was the 1957 Nash Ambassador.
1957 Lincoln also had stacked headlights.
I want this to show up in my barn! I want to find it, and boy would I love it.
Nice Grand Prix for sure!!! I am a Oldsmobile guy because of their high compression motors…. especially the 425 cubic inch Starfire of 65’and 66′ ….
Those Star fires from those years were fast, fast, fast, in my opinion in comparison to other makes and models of the same year…. exception would be the 426 street hemi that came out in 66.
To local_sheriff….I had a 69 GTO Judge, and I’m pretty sure the firewall on that was black. And when I cleaned it up I just painted everything….engine compartment…. underneath and the firewall and everything flat black. The Grand Prix was very very clean and and I mostly just cleaned it up. And I realized that the firewall should be the body color. It’s part of the body. So if the body without the doors and the trunk and the front sheet metal was dipped in primer and then paint it and then painted…. it just looks natural that way. And with the front end off you can see the body mounts, and for the firewall to be black, they would have to do another step… an extra step at the factory.