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2 minute read
By VWLarry
(drumroll.........)
...the 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix is my choice for the most beautiful Pontiac ever built. Sleek, bold, voluptuously sculptured, and a major trendsetter (although none of its imitators ever achieved the original's clean and almost austere, gimmick-free elegance), it still knocks me out whenever I see one. The SJ model (so cool that Pontiac used the Duesenberg tag), with its deep-dish wheels and concentric hubcaps, was a fantastic looking car that photographs just don't do justice to. Plus, even the interior was a look into the future, with its wraparound instrument panel that BMW would be celebrated for after they copied it years later.
John Z. Delorean ran Pontiac then, and the all-new '69 GP was his swansong at Pontiac, after a decade under his leadership that saw Pontiac become THE styling leader of the automobile industry. After this car, Pontiac went into a decline that didn't end until its death a few years ago.
I'm throwing in a photo of the first Grand Prix, from 1962, to show how the GP started out beautiful, and stayed that way, at least until '69:
Now, let the disagreements begin!