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?
Of all the Colonnade Grand Prixs, ’76 is my favorite grill. This one is gorgeous. I do seem to remember a two tone with this dark maroon and a slightly lighter red, so maybe with the repaint they simplified it. This one is a knock out. Really nice interior too. That was very interesting seeing the different weights of Grand Prix throughout the years, I had no idea the ’76 was about as heavy as a full sized ’68. Great write up Jim, and great find too PRA4SNW. Thanks.
Nice car but a dark maroon leather interior would look awesome.
Absolutely, I agree, caring for the velour is a job in it self
It’s nice, but will the market support what is basically a $26,000 asking price? There are a lot of nice Pontiac and Oldsmobile Colonnades on the market for far less money, plus there are a lot of other makes and models to choose from at this price level. The higher the price, the more someone has to love that specific car, otherwise the decision is based largely on the cost of cars its competing against on the market.
Steve R
I miss the couch seats !!! The seats today are like sitting on a park bench no comfort !!!!
Crazy to see an LJ without pwr windows, but it does have b-pillar courtesy lights that the SJ didn’t get. Nice Car.
This was at the end of Detroit building good looking cars. Last one was the Gran Nationals.
It was a shame GM built these with such low power motors. When I worked for a Pontiac dealer the only thing we had to sell was the Trans Am. The GPs were just to look at and drive to church. They had no power and no excitement. Pontiac always built the most beautiful cars that would go with the best of them before the 1970s came along. This car is all looks but it does look good.
Actually they handled and rode very nicely, even by today’s standards they are quite competent. Much better than the ‘68-‘72 A-bodies by a decent margin. As for power, it was 1976. The good news is that unless you live in California, piece of cake to get a better performance out of any ‘70s car. Much easier than anything that came after it with feedback carburetors, computers that did nothing for performance without FI, etc.
That and even the stock 400 was not exactly a slug. You could even still get 455 in 1976. No, they were no Ram Air III or 455 HO in stock form, but they were at least torquey and given the gearing they used (2.56?), the engines made the torque where it was needed. Those engines feel more powerful than their actual HP suggests.
This one takes me back to my Friday night cruising days, a good friend had one in this same color but his had the vinyl buckets in the same color along with t-tops, car was definitely a looker, great for cruising but no power.. Those were the days
these do look very elegant. i never understood why if you got the gauges, you did not get a tach just giant clock 25k seems a bit high to me, but it is a nice car
Very nice clean Pontiac here. Hope the next buyer keeps it this way!
Finally, someone, Jason V, agrees with me that 73 to 77 Colonnades are far better cars than the 68 to 72 models. I have owned five Colonnades, the last being a 77 GP SJ with every option, including Hurst Hatches. That car handled and road light years better than 68 to 72 cars, had a few of those also. As Steve R points out, this asking price is steep. Personally, the 77 is the best looking GP ever, with that great front end. Nice 76 here. My 77 had red velour buckets. Took a ride one night with t tops out, 50 mph max, looked over, my wife was fast asleep. It rode that well.
Petersburg is only 20 miles from me! From the under-car pics in the Hemmings ad, I see a 77? white Trans Am, an early 70’s Vette, and several other interesting cars. May have to go check out that garage. Have to agree with other comments on here, the mid 70’s GP’s were smooth as silk. I had just purchased a new 76 Camaro while a friend purchased a new 76 GP. Both of our cars were black on black. Both looked very nice, but the GP certainly rode smoother.