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?

***

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.