Pontiac Grand Am

The Pontiac Grand Am is a mid-size car and later a compact car that was produced by Pontiac. The Grand Am had two separate 3-year runs in the 1970s: from 1973 to 1975, and again from 1978 to 1980. It was based on the GM A platform. Production of the Grand Am was canceled in 1980 when it was replaced by the Pontiac 6000. The Grand Am was reintroduced in 1985 when it replaced the Pontiac Phoenix. It was Pontiac's best selling car and later replaced by the Pontiac G6, so named as it was intended to be the 6th generation of the Grand Am.

All 1973-75 Grand Ams were built in Pontiac, Michigan at Pontiac's main assembly plant. 1978-1980 Grand Ams were built in Pontiac, Michigan at Pontiac's main assembly plant and in Atlanta, Georgia at GMAD Lakewood. All Grand Ams between 1985 and 2005 were built in Lansing, Michigan at the Lansing Car Assembly.

Grand Ams were available with the sub models SE, SE1, GT, and GT1.

1973–1975

The original Grand Am was introduced in the fall of 1972 as a 1973 model. It was based on the GM A platform (A-body) along with other cars such as the Chevrolet Chevelle, Pontiac LeMans, Pontiac GTO, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, and the Buick Century. The GM A-body platform had major design revisions in 1973 that included the elimination of pillarless hardtops due to proposed Federal rollover standards, but with frameless windows similar to that of a hardtop. No convertibles were produced due to the rollover standards (that never were enacted). In addition to Federal emissions regulations, new safety standards required a 5 mph (8.0 km/h) impact-resistant front bumper and a 2.5 mph (4.0 km/h) impact-resistant rear bumper, which increased to 5 mph (8.0 km/h) for 1974.

Grand

Grand may refer to:

Music

People

Places

Transport

Other uses

Pontiac

Pontiac was a brand of automobiles manufactured and sold by General Motors (GM); though production ended in 2009, Pontiac remains a registered and active trademark of GM. The Pontiac automobile brand was established in 1926 as a companion make for GM's more expensive line of Oakland automobiles.

The Pontiac cars overtook its Oakland parent in popularity and supplanted the Oakland brand entirely by 1933. Pontiac became a companion make for Chevrolet. Pontiac was sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico by GM. Pontiac was advertised as the performance division of General Motors for many years, while specializing in mainstream vehicles. Pontiac was relatively more popular in Canada, where for much of its history it was marketed as a low-priced vehicle.

In early-2009, amid financial problems and restructuring efforts, GM announced it would discontinue manufacturing and marketing vehicles under the Pontiac brand by the end of 2010 and focus on four core brands in North America: Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC. The last Pontiac badged cars were built in December 2009, with one final vehicle built in January, 2010. Franchise agreements for Pontiac dealers expired October 31, 2010.