Gran Sport badges were found inside and outside the automobiles. The reshuffling of normal and non-compulsory tools was precisely what the market demanded, and Pontiac was rewarded with a new Grand Prix manufacturing document in a model year when sales of bigger automobiles had been generally on the rebound. Looking back, Mercury sales stumbled after 1956 at the very least in part because the fleet, good-looking vehicles of earlier years have been abandoned for shiny, begadgeted behemoths that could not hope to sell nicely in a down financial system. The GP and a companion 1976 Sunbird — with another impending engine, the four-cylinder “Iron Duke” — were part of a publicity campaign sponsored by Pontiac and National Automotive Rental. In order to extend gross sales within the lower finish of the personal luxurious market and fill the void left by the departure of the Grand Am, Pontiac made a “worth chief” out of the entry-level Grand Prix (no longer going by the Model J title).
The grille looked one thing like the ’48 affair, however was decrease and wider. Just like the Century of yore, Wildcat was the division’s sizzling rod, carrying the Electra 401 within the lighter, shorter LeSabre chassis. For 2005, both Century and Regal had been replaced by a single nameplate: LaCrosse. The primary fruits of this program were dramatically evident at Buick, where LeSabre and Electra shrank to nearly Century dimension. First was the standard J coupe, next up was the SJ, which grew to become more tightly imaged as the “sporty” model, and the new luxury-based mostly LJ featuring velour upholstery and a choice of two-tone paint schemes. The T-high from the earlier yr’s anniversary edition became a regular Grand Prix choice, and the non-compulsory “honeycomb” wheels first seen in 1971 were discontinued in favor of a new “snowflake” aluminum wheel design. The ever-tightening California and federal emission requirements contributed to probably the most confusing engine roster the Grand Prix had ever seen. Depending on the state to which a car was to be delivered, there is likely to be a Pontiac-, Chevrolet-, or Oldsmobile-built V-eight underneath the hood, as there was a 49-state engine lineup and a California and excessive-altitude lineup.
The base GP engine for 1977 was Pontiac’s new 301-cubic-inch (4.9-liter) V-8. Pontiac additionally constructed one 1976 Grand Prix with the as-yet unreleased 301-cubic-inch V-8. Power got here from a 160-horsepower, 350-cubic-inch V-8 outfitted with a two-barrel carb (Californians acquired a 4-barrel version) coupled to a Turbo 350 automated transmission, each borrowed from the Le-Mans line. The 350 V-8 was the smallest engine ever offered within the Grand Prix up to that time. The brand new engine shared the identical three-inch most important journal diameters because the 350 and 400 V-8s. Whereas the larger Pontiac engines tipped the scales between 640 and 675 pounds, the new V-eight got here in at a very trim 452 pounds, about the identical weight as Buick’s 231-cubic-inch V-6. Grettenberger personally delivered a brand new Allante to actor Larry Hagman about the same time that Hagman’s character, J. R. Ewing, began driving one on the internationally common television collection, Dallas. When Honda made the Match into a Hybrid, it spent time increasing the general experience of the car, not just the powertrain. The result of the pound-shaving efforts dropped the general weight of the 301 considerably.
Whereas the horsepower ranking would solely rank as mediocre for the current crop of four-cylinders, the power level of the 301 was similar to other 5.0-liter V-eight engines of the interval and had the advantage of being lighter in weight. The 455 V-eight with four-barrel carburetion was down to just 200 horsepower; it remained standard within the SJ. The 1975 engine lineup was as follows: The base engine was a four-barrel 400, now rated at a somewhat lethargic 185 horsepower, a loss of a full 40 horses. The 200-horse, 455-cube 4-barrel was now an possibility for all models. The next yr introduced a 3.8-liter option (standard for T Varieties) and new 5-door Custom and Restricted Estate wagons (replacing the old Regal fashions). Of course, if a extra upscale version was desired, the SJ and LJ have been nonetheless both accessible, every returned with comparable levels of trim as in 1975. Furthermore, to commemorate its 50th anniversary, Pontiac launched a particular restricted edition Grand Prix LJ.
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