1981 Pontiac Grand Prix - Dealer Film (GM186)
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- Опубликовано: 4 сен 2022
- 3 of 7: Now we're talking! This video showcases the 1981 Pontiac Grand Prix including LJ & Brougham trims. Featuring some behind-the-scenes styling exercises as well as pure-80's high-fashion.
See the "1981 Pontiacs" playlist for model-specific dealer films.
Digitized from LD GM186 with enhanced audio. 
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Its hard to believe that just one year before the Grand Prix SJ came with a dual exhaust, 301 4BBL with 170 hp and used a 2.93 rear gear ratio. For 1981 the top gas engine was the little 4.3 liter V8 with 50 less horses at only 120! The second oil crisis took a huge wrecking ball to performance indeed!
Californians and Canadians could get the 145-horsepower Chevy 305 as an option.
Cool! Love seeing the concept drawings and models.
Cheers too my favorite G Body 🏆
RIP Pontiac we miss you.
😿😿😿
We had one of those in 1985. It was an awesome car.
I was at the dealership thru these years I had just started when the CCC came out in 81 across the board they had us scratchy our heads on some of the difference we weren't used to seeing and the way the lockup converter was functioning all good times .
Interesting video I can still remember my dad Nick buying a brand new '81 sliver lemans coupe with the 305 V8 engine with an automatic transmission it was great until 2-3 years later when I about 14 years old and my late mother vassa Got hit turning left on a yellow light and a taxi cab was coming through and hit the right corner of our car with my aunt Angela in the passenger seat and me, my younger brother Chris and my cousin Paul were in the back seat on my birthday party at McDonald's lol
Thank you for sharing this video the series I just watched them all. I enjoyed this one and the ones with the Bonneville. It is interesting to note a year later that the 1981 LeMans would become Bonneville for a while until 1987. The Bonneville would return in sheet metal form as Parisienne in 1985.
1983 for the return not 1985.
@@googleusergp I appreciate your response. I am sorry, but I know what I am referring to. I am aware of the Pontiac Parisienne from 1982-1984. That one was based on the Chevrolet Caprice/Impala styling wise. It was sold in Canada in 1982 and we got it for 1983 model year. The 1980-1981 sheet metal did not reappear until the 1985 model year and ran from 1985-1986 when it was selling well. That car and the Bonneville Model G were replaced by H Body front wheel drive Bonneville for 1987 model year. Bonneville Model G as it was called appeared for 1982 model after they dropped the B Body Bonneville. That Bonneville was based on the LeMans from 1981. They changed the front styling. You can check it here on You Tube and in Google as well. I have the brochures here in my home also.
@@OLDS98 Yes, I'm aware of what's available and what returned when. The brochures are all available online, so no big deal there. The way you posted it makes it seem that the Parisienne wouldn't return until the 1985 model year, which of course is incorrect. Sheetmetal aside, the car is the same in both body styles as far as basic chassis goes. It returned to the US market for the 1983 model year. The reason was because there was no full size Pontiac for the 1982 model year in the US, and in fact, there wasn't a V8 gasoline powered Pontiac in the US (except the Firebird) in 1982. The other models didn't offer a gasoline V8 option.
@@googleusergp Hello again. I did not get the information from brochures online. I have them in my home along with Pontiac books. I also know the information as well. I was not implying at all it came back in 1985. I was referring to what I said. The 1980-1981 styling did not reappear until 1985 model year. You said a large Pontiac returned in 1983. That is true, but as I said I was not referring to the 1982-1984 Parisienne. The reason is because Pontiac was in trouble in the early 1980's and GM was reorganizing at the time into BOC( Buick Oldsmobile Cadillac) ( large car) and CPC(Chevrolet Pontiac Canada) (small car) groups. They also were trying to turn Pontiac into a small car brand, but as we know that did not happen. You are correct there was no full-sized Pontiac for the US, but there was Parisienne in Canada in 1982. I am aware of no V8 power cars back then. It is because they were trying to turn Pontiac into a small car brand. I recall reading about Grand Prix's with no V8 engines. As we know, things changed. The American dealers wanted a large car. That Parisienne from Canada was the quickest fix. They got most of the old tooling back in place to make the 1985-1986 Parisienne. It would have been interesting if it had got the front styling tooling too. It got most of it back even in the interior with the exception of the instrumentation panel.
@@OLDS98 Pontiac dealers complained that there was a gap in the line with both competitors and other GM divisions so yes the easiest fix was the Parisienne.
Not many mechanical differences, but my father preferred the Cutlass Supreme Brougham Coupe. He bought two of them (1981 and 1987).
Your dad had good taste. The Cutlass was the most popular, over the Monte Carlo and Grand Prix. I bought an '85 GP when I was 27 in late '84. I'd wanted one since '81, and the opportunity was finally right. It was the Brougham, and my decision had to do with it being the most 'Eldorado-like' and also retaining much of the Grand Prix looks going back to about 1971 with the hood and trunk sculpturing I'd admired since I was 13/14 years old. Was a great car. Unfortunately it got stolen in 1992.
@Bo Blu I had a 1982 Regal Limited Sedan...insurance for a Regal Coupe was too expensive, LOL.
@@robmcgowan4034 Yes, they were easy to steal.
@@SpockvsMcCoy Unfortunately, yes. I miss that '85 GP Brougham to this day. It was black with a maroon interior and only had a little over 50k miles on it between November '84 and June '92. I hate thinking what happened to it. It's upsetting.
@@robmcgowan4034 Which car replaced it?
GM sold alot of these cars between all the makes on the chassis
❤❤ I had a brome 2-door two-tone blue I love my car
I think this car was beautiful besides its siblings Regal and Cutlass Supreme back when cars had class and durability.
Durability 😂😂😂😂😂. GM cars had myriad of problems and were slow as heck.
Depends on the engine chosen.
It's so funny to me when I look back on a lot of GM designs and especially the g-body's how they took all this time and effort and design it at the end of the day the Pontiac looks like the Chevy looks like the Buick looks like the Oldsmobile .... Throw a crease here throw some hips on the back change the grill a little bit switch the inside up but barely and people fell for it this shit cracks me up 😂
This was the height of the Lookalike Car Era. I can understand liking or disliking GM as a whole, but I cannot understand why people would like one brand for life but refuse to even consider buying the same car from a different brand. Eventually, too many of those brand loyalists died off without being replaced by new generations of brand loyalists. The brands that didn't get as hard by the die-off remained, and the ones whose sales fell further were the ones eliminated.
The biggest difference was the side window in the back.
Plus there was a time when you bought whatever brand you got a v8 from that brand. Then GM changed that and pissed off a lot of loyalists
Love this '81 Pontiac series!
Funny how drastically small all of these types of GM cars got in 78 and then began to get larger in the following years.
"1981 Grand Prix BRO" lol at the subtitles.
Had an ' 84 in 1995 as my 1st car. loved it and miss it. 1981 is a good year to have if you like Pontiac v8's. pull out the 265 and install a 350 or 400. simple direct swap.
2:30 THAT'S the one, right there.
Thank you for the video. Bought a 1981 Grand Prix LJ new with the Pontiac 265 cid V8. It was a beautifully styled car, but the new GM Computer Command Control GM installed in the car pretty much choked the car’s performance and drive ability.
Negative, the 265 was always a poor performer due to small bore severely limiting breathing capabilities. The CCC reverts to "open loop" when at WOT, and a/f ratio is controlled with the secondary metering rods (Q-jet), not the mixture control solenoid, therefore performance is no different than any other 4 bbl carb.
I had an 85
Anyone know what piano music is played when they show off the car?
Get your Pontiac V8 in 1981 because none to be had in the US market in 1982.
Man, that driver's side high-beam looks like it's way out of alignment.
4.3 V8s are small. Well I'll be
They looked good when they did not have the cheap-looking faux wire wheel hubcaps. No car, including this fairly attractive Grand Prix looked good with them.
I love these cars (with the V8) but aerodynamic is a stretch at 1:45. It's like advertising the Big Mac as healthy and hearty.
They were more aerodynamic than the 1978 to 1980 Grand Prix.
Can you say brand dilution? While many people had good experiences with this car, this promo emphasizes the luxury over the sportiness. While a Brougham fits in with the Oldsmobile and Buick images, it clashed with Pontiac's image. It's hard to believe that the Pontiac Grand Prix Brougham was in the same showroom as the Firebird and Trans Am. Given that this was the height of GM's Lookalike Car Era, it's surprising that Oldsmobile and Buick never had their versions of the F-body muscle car, which would have been just as out of place as Brougham-trimmed Pontiacs.
My Dad had an 82 GP. It was horrible. Slow, broke constantly, rattled incessantly. Traded it after four years.
That's too bad, mine was a great car, even during winters. Luck of the draw I guess.