From some angles the 1973 Pontiac Grand Prix looked like a step down from the successful ’69-’72 edition, yet sales shot up 67 percent.
Sometimes, compromises work out for the best. For 1973, the Pontiac Grand Prix lost the classic long hood/short deck packaging it shared with the Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Now both products were consolidated on the same A-body platform used by all the other General Motors intermediate coupes, losing their apparent air of distinction. One more compromise: The ’73 Grand Prix was originally planned for a 1972 introduction, but a messy 67-day labor strike in late 1970 pushed the automaker’s product schedule back a full year. But things all worked out in the end, as sales shot up from 92,000 vehicles in ’72 to 154,000 in ’73, scoring the Grand Prix’s best sales year to date.
With the consolidation on the GM A-body package, the Grand Prix lost 2 inches of wheelbase to 116 inches, but overall length grew three inches to 216.6 inches. Actually, the extra length was due in large part to the federal government’s famed FMVSS 215 bumper standards for 1973, which required the bumpers to withstand a 5 mph barrier impact test at the front and a 2.5 mph whack at the rear.
Still, Pontiac’s styling staff, led by GM design boss Bill Mitchell and Pontiac studio chief Bill Porter, managed to include all the familiar Grand Prix styling elements, integrating them with the Colonnade roof and greenhouse package common to all the GM intermediate coupes. The design went through a number of iterations in clay and fiberglass that began back in 1969 before the studio arrived at the final result.
For 1973, the Duesenberg-inspired J designation was dropped and now the base model was simply named the Hardtop Coupe. However, the top-line SJ model continued with its standard 455 CID V8 with 250 hp, extra badging and trim, and a sporty Radial Tuned Suspension package. The base Grand Prix got along with a 400 cubic-inch, 230 hp V8 and more conservative chassis tuning. However, both Grand Prix models were blessed with real (not fake) African Crossfire Mahogany veneer trim for the instrument panel and console.
Most Grand Prix buyers by far opted for the base Hardtop Coupe, as the SJ accounted for only 13 percent of the volume. But more than 95 percent chose air conditioning, 75 percent took power windows and door locks, and the take rate for the Turbo-Hydramatic automatic transmission was +/- 100 percent. We can see how the personal luxury coupe segment was a profitable one for the automakers, as buyers typically loaded up their cars with extra-cost options.
The mighty leap in Grand Prix sales for ’73 might not be so easy to explain. Did buyers actually prefer the Colonnade styling over the previous long-hood look? Seems that way, although intermediate coupe sales were on the rise throughout the Motor City. Whatever it was, it worked. Despite all the changes, one element of the popular ’69-’72 Grand Prix that was carefully preserved, even improved, for ’73 was the intimate, cockpit-themed interior (below). Really, that was the essence of the personal luxury coupe—creating a private haven for the driver.
