General Motors rarely employs corporate-wide marketing, but it made an exception to intoduce the 1974 full-sized Colonnade Coupes.

Through the years, corporation-wide marketing campaigns are the exception rather than the rule at General Motors. Instead, each individual brand is empowered to project its own identity, while the common features and shared components among the makes are de-emphasized. But in the early ’70s that strategy changed a bit, as shifting consumer demands and stricter safety and emissions standards compelled the General to clear its throat occasionally and make corporate statements. For example in this instance, when GM announced the full-sized Colonnade Coupes for 1974.

The Colonnade roof had actually been introduced one year earlier on GM’s intermediate-class products. (See our feature on the 1973 Monte Carlo here.) For 1974, the theme was then applied to some full-sized two-doors. The Colonnade’s robust B-pillar and double-roof construction allowed GM to meet stricter rollover standards, while the fixed quarter glass and more efficient use of steel no doubt reduced manufacturing costs. True pillarless hardtops would soon be in the rear-view mirror for GM, which had pioneered the body style in 1949, but it didn’t appear to hurt sales any. Here, Spanish colonial architecture is presented as the inspiration. Video below.