Video: Introducing the 1980 Pontiac Grand Prix

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Here’s a detailed look at the Grand Prix, Pontiac’s stylish personal-luxury coupe for 1980, in an original dealer film. 

 

In looking over the production figures for the 1980 Grand Prix, it’s a bit of a downer to recall that it wasn’t a huge seller for the Pontiac division. At the time, it seemed popular enough. But in truth, Pontiac sales had begun their steady decline in 1974, and when the Grand Prix was downsized for 1978, its volume dropped considerably. All the mid-sized personal luxury coupes from General Motors—Buick Regal, Olds Cutlass, and Pontiac Grand Prix, received the same overhaul for ’78, and they were similar products. But at not quite 115,000 cars in 1980, sales of the Pontiac version lagged well behind the Buick and Olds.

There’s a lot going one there, plenty of places to lay the blame. We can point to the shifting fortunes of the various GM car divisions; increasing competition from imports; the shrinking of the personal-luxury category overall. And really, more than 40 years later it’s all water under the bridge anyway. We’ll just note that for a personal-luxury coupe from the Motor City in 1980, the Grand Prix had a lot to offer, as this dealer film illustrates.

 

The stylish interior offered a classic Pontiac-flavored instrument panel and steering wheel in all three trim levels: Base Grand Prix Coupe, the luxury-tinged LJ, and the sporty SJ. Buicket seats and a console were available in the SJ and LJ (above). A  Buick-sourced 3.8-liter V6 and a three-speed Turbo-Hydramatic transmission were standard, but a 4.9-liter V8 of Pontiac origin with 150 hp could be had at extra cost. All these details and more are well covered in the video below.

 

4 thoughts on “Video: Introducing the 1980 Pontiac Grand Prix”

  1. the G-body Gran Prix was definitely a lot rarer than the Monte Carlo, Regal, and especially the Cutlass as used cars in the late 80s and 90s when I got into the used car business; I doubt I had more than a couple Pontiacs but easily dozens of the others.

  2. The downsized GM mid size cars were a shocker to most people, and completely soured some buyers to other brands. By the 82 refresh, they all had a better proportion from a side view, increasing sales and returning customers.

    • 1978 and 1979 were the peak years for downsized A body sales. The previously downsized 1977 b bodies had made the colonnades look dumb.

      1982 was an especially bad year for car sales in general and the RWD midsizers in particular. The restyled 1981 generation of Cutlass coupes never sold as well as the original 1978 downsized coupes.

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