Motion Pictures A Real Looker: The 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix

I always loved these particular years and style of Pontiac's, great lines.

 

Maybe it's my long time association with early Ford "wide-five" wheels, but I think they are probably the best looking wheel treatment ever offered by an American car company; to my eye, better that most aftermarket offerings as well.

 

My favorite Pontiac years are:
60 Ventura
63 Grand Prix
65 2+2

Wonderfully styled ‘factory customs’. In 60/61 they dominated NASCAR (won Daytona), Winternationals (NHRA), and Pike’s Peak.

 

As I recall, that was due to the nylon coating over steel gears. Meant to quiet chain noise, but peeled off at some point. Pontiac wasn't the only GM car to have that issue.

 

No, but they were the worst of the lot. When Pontiac developed its half-a-V8 four-banger for the Tempest, they had to use a special heavy-duty timing set along with a cam chain tensioner to make the chain live. The standard V8 set wasn't up to handling the four-cylinder harmonics.

 

by wicarnut posted Jan 20, 2014 at 5:46 PM

My 62 Bonneville convertible that I owned back in the day, had the Tri colored red leather interior and the 8 lug wheels. IMO Pontiac and GM cars were the best of the 60's cars, also owned 64 & 65 Impala SS cars, 300/ 327 4 speed cars, great memories the HAMB brings up.

 

I remember the ads that said "wide track" but Canada had narrow track.

 

I was in high school in 1959, when they started running the "Wide-Track" advertisement in all of the popular magazines. The ad DID NOT have the make of car listed, and me and my buddies were mystified about what it was. When it turned out to be Pontiac, we were all blown away.

My fascination with these cars started with the introduction of the '58 Bonneville with the "Rocket pod" in the side scallop. In retrospect, the more subtle "Star Chief" insert was far superior, but when you're 16, you sometimes get influenced by the improper things.

 

Cool pictures!....

 

As a mopar guy, I can't argue. Pontiac didn't miss a single year or model in that period.
They exude class, style and brand identity.

 

My high school buddy had a new.'60 Ventura. Beside being fairly quick, it had the nicest interior I had ever seen.

 

You can say that again. GM really had it nailed back in those days. I remember when my dad took his '55 Olds into the dealer for service. There was a '57 98 Holiday coupe on the showroom floor; I got into the drivers seat and could have sworn I was sitting in the cockpit of a jet fighter.

 

I am on board with Jive-Bomber’s comments about Pontiac having the most attractive styling, but for me it starts in 1958 and continues through the early ‘70s (I know, it’s beyond this forums’ cutoff year, but Pontiac with DeLoreans vision had a streak of style and performance that had many other companies playing catchup for over a decade).