The Pontiac LeMans Sport arrived in 1970 as an alternative to the GTO muscle car. Performance machines had begun to fall out of favor due to higher insurance premiums, so offering a LeMans with some of the GTO goodies sans the name was the plan. The seller’s 1970 edition has a 400 cubic inch V8 (not hooked up) and a bucket seat interior, so hopefully the original owners got a break on their insurance bill. Located in Easton, Pennsylvania, this project is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $4,500 OBO.
Perhaps the ploy worked, as 1970 LeMans Sport 2-door hardtop sales were nearly 60,000 units. That compared to 36,000 copies for the GTO coupe, which was already on the decline after a record year in 1966 (nearly 100,000 GOATs overall). A 350 V8 was standard in the LeMans Sport, and a 400 was one of the options. There’s no indication if the 400 here is numbers-matching.
We’re told this Pontiac had been in a garage since 1992 until recently. Its 400 V8 is not bolted in, so does that mean it was rebuilt and the reinstallation didn’t get completed? Or is there a different story? The car’s automatic transmission is not in the vehicle, but the seller has it. Whether it works or not will require you to contact the seller. The dark bronze paint could be original, but we see rust in a number of places in the sheet metal. A black vinyl top is there, and we hope no corrosion has invaded it, too.
A restoration is likely the solution here, as the white interior has its problems, too (cracks in the seats and dash, for example). Since the car was parked 34 years ago, it’s possible the odometer reading of 80,000 miles is original. Do you see this GTO wannabe in your future? Thanks for the tip, Russ Glantz!
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