Like so many cars from this bicentennial era, Pontiac’s Grand Prix started packing on the pounds and adding to its girth by 1976. Not that it seemed to matter, as 228K of these personal luxury coupes rolled off of Tin Indian assembly lines almost half a century ago; they were popular! And I doubt there are many still in existence that are as fine as this 50K mile example, which was brought to us by PRA4SNW. Petersburg, Texas, is where you’ll find it, and it’s available here on Hemmings for $25,900.

Pontiac’s venerable Grand Prix was offered in three trims for ’76: the LJ with its luxury touch and our subject car, one of 29K assembled that year; the SJ, a sportier version; and the standard Grand Prix, known at one time as the Model J. As for specific LJ traits, those included: velour interior trim, a rally gauge cluster, rear interior courtesy lights, a spare tire cover, black velour trimmed trunk liner, a vinyl top (full or partial), pin stripping, 400-4 CI V8 engine, and supposedly, a two-tone paint job though our car appears to be finished in a single hue of Cordovan Maroon. The listing does mention that this GP has undergone a repaint, so that may explain its single color. The exterior presentation is like new; I’d suggest it needs nothing.

As goes the exterior, so does the interior. It seems to me that someone at GM was really, really big on red velour upholstery, as it appeared on virtually all of their models well into the nineties. Done to death, maybe? Regardless,  its condition in this case is not to be denied; it’s in excellent condition. The large, slightly convex instrument panel with its large, legible, circular gauges is a nice respite from what most of Detroit was pushing in ’76 – it has a real quality, and functional bearing about itself. A/C was still an option in ’76, though this Grand Prix is so equipped; no word, however, regarding its operational capability.

The push for improved fuel economy was on in ’76 as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards were now mandated and in place. Standard Grand Prix Power was a 350 CI V8, though SJ and LJ trim levels got a bump up to a 185 net HP, 400 CI V8 engine. The seller states, “The engine bay is very stock and clean. The car is really a pleasure to drive. No rattles or wind noise. It starts, idles, and runs very nice.” A Turbo-Hydramatic three-speed automatic transmission was the only game in town, and that’s what’s backing up the big V8.

Back to that curb weight matter. Note below:

• 1968 (last year for a full-size G.P.) 4,299
• 1969 (first year on down-sized modified A-body platform) 3,884
• 1976 (our subject) 4,180

I certainly wouldn’t refer to this Grand Prix as porcine, but it does have some bloat going on. My favorite is the ’69 edition, the perfect blend of styling and performance with some luxury touches thrown in. By ’76, it seems it was more about luxury appointments, features, and ride; performance was pegged low on the “gotta have it” scale. Regardless, these were popular cars and sold quite well. As with yesterday’s 1967 Dodge Monaco, here we go again with a big, two-door body style, rear wheel drive architecture, V8-powered machine, a configuration that has all but disappeared from our current American auto scene. The big deal here is that suddenly, it’s 1976 all over again – this car is about as perfect as you’ll find, and the seller is open to offers! Might be one to consider, right?