By the time the 1960s rolled around, Pontiac's reputation as a performance marque had been firmly entrenched on all fronts: stock car racing, drag racing, and most importantly, on the street. Most of the hot Pontiacs sold in those years were carefully optioned Catalinas and Venturas, and while they were unquestionably high-performance cars, they had the same trim levels as the ubiquitous family transporters of those same model names. Pontiac wanted to create a car that embodied performance, luxury, and style—one that didn't owe its existence to a couple of option groups on an order sheet. This was to be the flagship of the fleet, the Grand Prix.
With the four-seat Thunderbird in 1958, Ford had defined a new type of vehicle—the personal luxury car. Product planners all over Detroit quickly realized that this new market was indeed lucrative. Pontiac wanted to take the concept a step further, though. Whereas the T-Bird was a decent performer, the new Pontiac would have the potential to be a real mauler, if the customer desired.
If you noticed the similarities between the 1959 line drawing and the photo of this very rundown 1960, you're not alone. After taking photos of this discovery at a wrecking yard, I sent them to Pontiac Historian John Sawruk and GM Design Staff's Floyd Joliet. They determined that the car was an early Grand Prix production proposal. It was painted in what appeared to be Firefrost Blue and sported such features as a fiberglass roof, fiberglass headlight buckets (like the 1960 X-400), metallic blue leather/cloth interior, power everything, and 8-lug wheels. Unfortunately, this car vanished without a trace during the first week of 1990. Pieces of the car have been found, such as the engine, exterior trim, and interior. It was apparently stripped, but the fate of the rest of the car is now unknown. We hope to have more on this unfinished story in next issue's Department X. —D.K.
As far as automotive historians can surmise, the Grand Prix's beginnings came from the desire to design a successor to the 1957-58 Bonnevilles. Remember, in 1959, the Bonneville gained 2 inches in wheelbase and a full 9 inches in length. A car with a leaner look was needed to carry the upscale performance tradition.
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