Yahoo Autos Four-Speed 1979 Pontiac Grand Am Is Today's Bring a Trailer Pick
Despite the original 1973-75 Grand Am’s lackluster sales, Pontiac tried this blend of European handling and American muscle style again from 1978 to 1980. It was fun, but ended up even less popular the second time around.
Based on the downsized A-body LeMans, the second-gen Grand Am got its own front and rear styling, interior pieces from the Grand Prix, and a bevy of suspension tweaks.
Only 4021 Grand Am coupes were made in 1979, and fewer than 10 percent of them were four-speeds. Survivors of any kind are exceedingly rare now.
Pontiac Grand Am fans tend to fall into two groups: fans of the 1973 to 1975 original, with its curvy "colonnade" styling, taut handling, and big V-8s; and fans of the much more popular front-drive 1985 to 2005 versions. But there's another Grand Am that's hardly ever mentioned or seen, despite being one of the excitement division's best cars when it was new: the second-generation model built from 1978 to 1980.
This 1979 Pontiac Grand Am coupe, up for sale on Bring A Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos), is probably one of the nicest of these second-gen models, but it also illustrates why you've either never heard of this car or forgot that it existed. Pontiac only sold 18,141 of them in three years, and four-speed cars are proverbial hen's teeth. They were offered only in 1979, and fewer than 400 were made.
Buyers didn't bite, it's true, but that doesn't mean the second-gen Grand Am was a bad car. When we tested one in 1980, we found that Pontiac had done extensive work to turn GM's workaday family-car A-body platform into a genuinely fun sports sedan. It just seemed to be the wrong car for its moment and audience.
The original Grand Am, the name attempting to merge the Grand Prix's opulence and the Trans Am's sportiness, was the brainchild of Pontiac engineer Bill Collins, Jr. After borrowing a BMW 3.0S while visiting Opel HQ in Germany, Collins came away impressed. With muscle cars fading, the division needed new ways of building excitement, and he felt that offering handling like BMW was a natural extension of Pontiac's performance mission. The 1973 Grand Am, with its cool plastic "Endura" fascias, was created as a blend of GTO-like flash and fury and BMW-like moves.
Despite rave reviews and 43,000 sales in '73, the original 12-mpg Grand Am was torpedoed by the OPEC crisis and its 30 percent price premium over its LeMans sibling. It was dropped after 1975, but Pontiac, struggling to retool its image in the age of Broughams and emissions regulations, didn't give up entirely on the idea. The 1978 GM-wide A-body downsizing provided a perfect opportunity for a revival.
At 800 pounds lighter and a foot shorter than its predecessor, the second-gen Grand Am was theoretically closer to the lithe-handling "Euro-style sports sedan" idea than the original. Pontiac's 301-cubic-inch V-8, the only engine in '78 and fitted to most examples, was nothing special and never had more than 155 horsepower, but the Grand Am's unique suspension made it legitimately fun to drive. It consisted of heavy-duty springs, thick anti-roll bars, quicker steering, and special shocks, all tuned to give it flat cornering and agile responses without compromising the ride.
Two problems remained: The Grand Am was too American to appeal to European car fans, and it competed with too many other Pontiacs. Like the original, the new Grand Am used "endura" fascias on a LeMans body, but they were less distinctive now, and "subtle" was not the vibe of the Brougham era. The Grand Am still cost 10-to-20 percent more than a LeMans and about the same as a V-8 Firebird Esprit or a Grand Prix LJ in the same showroom.
In 1979, Pontiac cut prices and added the four-speed option and an even cheaper version with Buick's 231-cubic-inch V-6, but nothing moved the needle. Sales fell from 10,608 cars in 1978 to just 5886 for '79. Just 1647 were sold in 1980. All were automatic V-8 coupes as Pontiac dropped the four-door, manual, and V-6 versions.
What buyers ignored then, however, is a fantastic deal now. This car is so rare that you'll probably never see another, especially one with a four-speed. That styling, too subtle then, looks clean and muscular today, and those rare Pontiac Rally IV wheels complement it well.
Despite its rarity, it's also an easy car to live with. Most of these Grand Ams were used up and junked years ago because they're reliable, practical, and mechanically simple. Trim and body parts can be a challenge, but everything else is easy to get. They're not fast, but they're easily modified and quick enough to keep up with modern traffic even bone stock. Best of all, they've never commanded high prices, though, with only 66,000 miles and the four-speed, plus that pretty paint scheme, this one might.
If you want a unique muscle machine that likes twisty roads, the auction ends August 22nd.
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