There were a lot of quality GM muscle cars at the Hotchkis Suspension open house. Fellow speedhunter, Mike Garrett, gave us great look at the event. But of all the cars that were on the lot, there was one car that stood out the most for both Mike and myself.
It was this a first generation Pontiac Grand Am –a pretty rare car.
Under the hood sat an Edelbrock 455 big block. Seeing and hearing all these full sized muscle cars with rumbling big blocks has wet my appetite for one….
I just love the hood mounted tachometer. It's a Pontiac trademark which was first seen on the GTO.
The interior looks to be mostly OEM except for the steering wheel and added gauges. The best part about the car is that it has a manual transmission, a pretty rare option for cars in the early 70s!
A manual, an 8-track player and Aerosmith? The owner is doing this car justice.
The strange, yet interesting, twist with this car is the modern choice for wheels. The Grand AM is rolling in a set of HRE 640R, which is a high load rated wheel. These wheels are typically for trucks. They're beefier and not as pretty as the lighter and more performance based HRE wheels.
Many folks who own a car that is as rare as this Grand Am usually wouldn't modify it in the way that the owner of this Pontiac has. But I'm glad that the owner did. It looks great!
-Linhbergh
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
That 8 track player is classic.
This things is great, yay for alternate body styles. +1 for keeping the Poncho motor, +1 for a manual trans, +1 for the 8-track/Aerosmith (needs to find one more knob!).
I think the steering wheel is OEM, just out of a slightly later Firebird. Was the car actually a 4-speed when new? That console setup looks original and would be ahead of its time as far as American cars go.
man under the bonnet looks clean, never seen that bonnet mounted tach before.. [couldn't have one those over here in the UK for long] - those wheels suit the car to a tee, especially how they look "out back!" - 8 track?? can you still get those .. honestly?? suits the interior tho' and makes it looks 'period correct' - [some-one source him an encoder knob for the other side] - 10 points from me!!
never seen one, that thing is bad ass!
What year is that thing? Like 74-77?
nice ride there,, how many ponies does it makes ??
Tho I'm not totally convinced about the wheel choice, it looks dope!
Can anyone tell me what steering wheel is that?
Great car!
God that is ugly. I hate to say it, but the only 2 muscle to come out of the states that are classic with styling and actually look great are the first gen camaro's and the corvette's. I just wish Speedhunters could do a feature on a Holden Monaro, either HK, HT or HG....preferably the HG as we own 3 HG 350 4spd manual's in our family! Australian muscle cars rule!
I wouldn't say the 4spd was RARE. Other wise, fantastic car.
Colonnade FTW! Yeah, these cars were questionably styled but they certainly represent the era. I love the fact that people are now starting to restore and modify them.
That body style (A-Body) was used by GM from 73-77, though the original Grand Am was 73-75. This appears to be a 1973, 74-75 had twice as many grille openings.
There were reportedly 187 4-speed '73 Grand Ams (20 were 4-door sedans), where I come from that is rare. I see a hydro clutch master cylinder though, who knows if this is an original 4-speed car.
This really makes me want to grab the one out of my grandpa's field...
I'm torn, on the one hand this is undoubtedly a restomod-looking piece, and as such is an abomination. on the other hand, nobody really cares or values this model enough to warrant the indignation that would normally come with a classic car sitting on ugly modern wheels and tires.
Syfon, STFU, Holden Monaros are suck.
The interior design of this car looks so modern, unbelievable, gorgeous car
Pylon - get a life mate. You obviously have no appreciation for the first of the true Australian Muscle Cars. What, in america you can buy a 70's muscle car for $10,000? In australia you will be lucky if you get change out of $100,000....not many left in the country.
Steering wheel is factory stock 70's Pontiac found in Trans ams, and GTO's. This car was Pontiacs answer to the BMW Mercedes cars of that era. It was available as a 4 door, bucket seat 455 powered "touring" car.
I doubt that's a factory trans. Probably a tremec.
Very nicely done. But, the 455 isn't a big block. Pontiac has only one block for all of there displacements, so there's no small blocks or big blocks.