Even in base form, the fifth-generation Grand Prix was an attractive automobile, especially from 1981 onward, after Pontiac revised the sheet metal, improving looks and aerodynamics. As popular as these cars were, I don’t recall there being many special editions, unless you count the NASCAR-inspired 1986 Grand Prix 2+2. A few others wore 2-tone paint with an unusual breakline stripe on the side separating the colors, but that was just an option and not really considered anything special. Barn Finds reader Barney recently stumbled across one I hadn’t heard of before: this 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix Americana here on Craigslist. It’s located in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and priced at $13,500. Nice find, Barney, and thanks for sending us the tip!
My internet sleuthing didn’t turn up much information about the Americana, and I have a feeling not too many buyers sprung for the package, since it apparently added an extra $2,000 to the price of a Grand Prix. Evidently, Pontiac dealers installed this exclusively, and from what I can tell, the most significant feature was a distinctive vinyl landau top that reduced the back side window size. It also included opera lighting on the B-pillars and special badges outside, so Pontiac admirers would know this wasn’t just another run-of-the-mill G-Body. The seller says he recently bought this GP from the original owner, and the exterior appears very well preserved.
Everything inside also looks much younger than four decades, and it’s great to find this one equipped with bucket seats and a center console. It’s also well-optioned for the mid-eighties, with power windows, door locks, cruise control, and a tilt-steering column among the luxurious features. However, unless I’m missing something, the sole special piece in here is one badge on the dash that reads “Americana”, so the package was almost all exterior-oriented.
The Americana didn’t include any performance upgrades, but this one does have the 305 V8 under the hood instead of a V6, and the seller says the car runs, drives, and stops nicely. The mileage is listed at 80,000, so if the mechanicals have been maintained as lovingly as the cosmetics, there’s probably plenty of life left for the next owner to enjoy. For two grand more in ’85, I might have expected a little more extra bling, but this is a sharp car nonetheless. Has anybody here ever heard of or run across a fifth-generation Pontiac Grand Prix Americana before?
Beautiful, but I’d lose the vinyl top. Great lines.
I always liked the mid ‘ 80s GM cars ( Chevy Monte Carlo SS, Buick Grand National / GNX, Oldsmobile 442 and this Grand Prix. Even though like stated the GP didn’t really have a separate sport model. To me GM had refined the looks to all f them, from their base models and came up with sport versions out of 3 of them. I guess the Grand Prix was considered more of a luxury model, like the one here. Just like Mike noticed, that landau roof on the back looks like a special version. Along with the back window being smaller, the opera windows on the sides look narrowed in the width from the standard opera windows on the GP. I know this is the only version of this GP I have ever seen. I believe it must have been a special order. I really like it though.