1976 Pontiac Grand Prix: Firethorn Flair
It may be hard to believe for car lovers of a certain age, but in the mid-’70s the personal luxury car was king. As popular then as combovers (oops, I meant crossovers) are today. Yes, indeed. As unusual as it may seem today, families with kids bought these midsized coupes—with super long hoods, frequently small back seats, and rampant Broughamage—as normal family cars.
And in 1976 you were spoiled for choice. Except that at General Motors you had four attractive specialty coupes, based on the workaday midsize chassis. But these coupes rode on the 116-inch wheelbase of the normal four-door models, all the more to stretch that hood, Dorothy!
First up was the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which I fondly nicknamed Monte Cristos. The ’76 Monte added the briefly trendy vertically-stacked quad rectangular headlamps, but otherwise it was pretty similar to the ’75 version.
In fact, ALL of the ’76 PLCs got the quad rectangular headlights; it may seem simple today, but it was a big deal back then. Everyone rushed to add them to their model lineups. And so the Grand Prix also got them, replacing the neoclassically-inspired dual round headlamps that graced the 1973–75 versions.
Further up the GM hierarchy, you could also get the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and Supreme Brougham, as well as the Buick Regal. I’ve already waxed nostalgically on the Cutlass—a favorite of my childhood—and will write about a Regal one of these days, but let’s get back to our featured Pontiac, shall we?
The ’76 GP and only slightly facelifted ’77 are among my favorites. I simply love that waterfall grille; it’s so slick! And the “ironing board” hood. It just looks great. And Pontiac personal luxury fans apparently agreed, as a total of 228,091 1976 Grand Prixes (or is that Grandes Prix?) were sold for the model year. Not too shabby!
The 1976 model year was a great one for sheer, unapologetic color choices, too. No, 97 percent of production was not black, silver, or refrigerator white, like today! Oh, no. Among the colors you could choose from were Roman Red, Polaris Blue, Durango Bronze, Alpine Green, Cordovan Maroon, and Metalime Green—my favorite; I’d have ordered either a GP or Bonneville coupe in this color, with white interior and lime green dash and carpet!
But another fine choice, and the color of our featured GP today, was Firethorn Red, a very pretty, red-orange metallic that just glowed in the sunlight. It was a little faded on this car, but you can still see how bright and attractive it was, even with a bit of sun damage.
And it was a very popular color, seen on everything from Cutlasses to Silverados to Coupe de Villes. And this car was especially fetching with a matching interior and white landau vinyl roof. It appeared to be a very well-preserved, original car.
The 1976 Grand Prix came in two models, the $4798 coupe (about $26,007 today) and the $5223 SJ coupe ($28,310). The LJ luxury option added $520 ($2819).
The SJ, as you might surmise, was the sport version. It came with a standard 400-cubic-inch V-8 with 185 horsepower, a bump up from the base GP with its 160-hp, 350 V-8. A 455 V-8 with 200 hp was optional on all models.
And just because I felt like it, here’s a gorgeous, loaded up ’76 Grand Prix LJ I saw more recently at one of the South Park Mall monthly summer cruise nights in Moline, Illinois. It was spectacular.
It had the cushy velour interior, sport steering wheel, Rally II wheels and even cornering lights. Awooga! And for those of you taking notes, this one was painted in Firethorn Red over Cordovan Maroon.
It just goes to show how customizable these cars were back then. Many color choices, wheel choices, and engines. And even our featured car, with minimal options and the base wheel covers, looks pretty good.
As the ’76 brochure advised: “… If you can afford a lot of mid-sized cars, you can afford a new 1976 Grand Prix. You’ll get classic styling. This year highlighted by new dual rectangular headlamps. A bold new grille. A formal roofline. Monogrammed rear quarter windows. A stand-up hood ornament. And more.” Standard equipment was pretty nice too, with the aforementioned 350 V-8, Turbo Hydramatic automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, and Pontiac Radial Tuned Suspension.
It was sharp, swank, and relatively affordable; no wonder they sold close to 230,000 of them. This survivor was spied at the 2021 Grape Festival car show in Nauvoo, Illinois. It bore a faded dealer sticker on the back, proclaiming it was sold at Carl Motors in Carthage, Illinois. I zeroed in on it and walked past several Corvettes, Camaros, and Mustangs to gawk at it and take many, many more pictures than were necessary. And before I sign off this week, can we bring back whitewall tires and two-tone paint?
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Should be was Firethorn.
I think with a nit of work it could be somewhat saved.
Looks like the one my dad had when I was a little kid. His was white instead of red, but I recall the interior was red.
Pontiac was always Detroit Cool (James Garner drove a firebird) and this beautiful personal luxury Coupe’ is the perfect example! To Me, cars like this represent the age before WORRY, when You got a big Coupe’ because it was sporty! You weren’t worried about air bags or all wheel drive! You bought this because you liked the roofline or the vinal top or the instrument cluster! Kids didn’t mind getting in the back because this car was COOL!
This article brought back some happy memories for me, I had a 77 Gran Prix, white in color, no half vinyl roof and a blue interior, automatic on the floor. Loved that car and drove it through my college time, sold it when I graduated. Nice article, keep em coming, always enjoy reading your column.
Remind me of a friend of mine in high school had a 301 with no air conditioning
The SJ at South Park Mall was outstanding and someone checked off for most of the option… and as another commenter said with a little elbow grease the profiled car could be made really nice. It is great to see that there are still nice Pontiacs out in the wild.
My dad had a 1973 (?) with the round headlights, unfortunately it got totalled, he replaced it with a 1976 (or 1977) Monte Carlo. I liked the GP better than the MC.
I had a ’76 Grand Prix black with black interior beautiful chrome wheels. That car was gorgeous and I loved it. My husband blew it up one night jerk that he was. I never forgave him for that but anyway I sold it to a guy who finished second in the demo derby. My poor GP. I have one now too it’s a 2008 and I love it.
You should find a classic black GP in memory of your first one and get revenge on life by cruising it every weekend!
This is my kind of car. Intact, driveable, nice from a distance but rough around the edges. Something you wouldn’t think twice about driving to work or the grocery store
These handled better than most other vehicles of the day.
The Firethorn interior brought back memories. Had a ’77 El Camino with a firethorn interior.
My ’76 Nova has a Firethorn Red interior. Novas also had that interior color in 1977. However in 1975 the same color interior was called Dark Oxblood.
I had a 1972 GP black with white pinstripe along its side and red SJ lettering on the front fenders, black vinyl roof and dark green interior. My first car with AC. It was loaded. My favorite car. It was plenty strong, smooth handling and had a great radio.
My drivers ed car was a 77 GP, red with a white vinyl bench interior. We had an advanced program at my school that included skid control. I remember doing lane changes in the snow as well as spin recovery. The GP was very controlled in those exercises. It also moved pretty good. My teacher tolerated no dawdling-merges were mandatory full-throttle. The size was a little intimidating at first, especially in reverse because of the limited rearward visibility.
The mid-seventies GM Colonade coupes are favorites of mine. Thanks for a great article on a favorite car.
Second on the driver’s-ed car! We had two or three different ’77 GPs at my school. I know one was red and one was white. As a new driver, it felt like the width of this thing filled the lane! Definitely the nicest car I had driven to that point … and for some years beyond. A little ride in the way-back machine!!
The people that liked Grand Prix, loved them.
I knew of a gentleman that dealt in an illegal green substance back in the 70s and loved the Grand Prix. He bought a red one. Several months later he was arrested in it. So, to blend in, he bought a green one. Same result several months later. Hmmm. Next he rented another Grand Prix, don’t remember the color. Yup! Same result. So he sold the the 2 that he owned and returned the rental. Bought a little Datsun 2 door sedan. Didn’t change his occupation or his habits. Never got arrested again as far as I know. Cops felt sorry for him – figured he wasn’t making any money. lol
My dad bought a red 1976 Regal coupe (350-4V) new, and yes, it did have a long hood – to his surprise, a foot longer than a 1975 Olds 88. Funny how good the Regal and Cutlass looked (and a lot alike, too), while the Grand Prix looked almost as good, and the Monte Carlo looked overwrought, baroque, and embarrassing, to my teenage eyes – and that still holds true.
Believe it or not I invented the two-tone back in the 70s it was brown with a cream half vinyl I stripped the top off and put Chrysler gold starting at the pinstripe line on the hood all the way back to the trunk when people saw it that had one they started to do it too with a 400 quadrajet turbo glide transmission I went to visit one of my ex-girlfriends in Tennessee back in the ’70s and the first thing she said look at you with that big fine car I just smile from ear to ear she actually only partly committed to the relationship in high school LOL I also had a 77 same color as the ones you’re showing but my had a full white vinyl top a straight seat and a V6 sing this one brought a tear to my eye 🥲 thanks for the memory 🙂
Brings back lots of great memories! All the cars then were built well. Solid. Powerful. And best of all : NO F’ING COMPUTER & SENSORS EVERYWHERE! IF ANYTHING went wrong… You could fix it!!!!!;;