'79 Pontiac GTO??

[78lemans]

Has anyone ever heard of a 1979 Pontiac GTO? Several years ago I found what I thought to be a maroon '79 Grand Am two-door sitting for sale beside the road. It had a large spoiler on the rear deck, a hood phoenix similar to that of a Firebird, and GTO stickers on the lower sides of the body and deck lid. It had Pontiac Rally wheels and had bucket seats and a console. At first I figured it was someone's custom job, but a small plaque on the glove box door said "GTO by COE". Here in Grand Rapids, there was at one time a Pontiac/Olds dealer called Orson E. Coe. Calls there to investigate were useless. Not only had the dealership changed hands in the last year, but all employees who had worked there in that era had long ago quit or retired. The closest I can figure is that they were a limited run of dealer-assembled muscle car wannabees, and from what little I can gather on them, they all carried similar options and 301 Pontiac V-8s.

Not long after that I found the remains of another supposed '79 GTO. This one was brown and tan with a tan interior and the same spoiler and body markings. Am I the only one who has seen one of these things? Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of either car. The brown one I know was scrapped eventually (they wouldn't sell it to me when I stopped to inquire about it) and the maroon car has since sold and been resold. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

 

[grandamman]

No 79 GTO

No 79 GTO. closest thing was the 79 GA/CA proyotype.
I think one that they made with T-tops got crushed.(second hand info)
One is in the Pontiac "limited access" show room I think. (Hot Rod July 78)
I know of one GA/CA that was featured in a Hot Rod magazine Nov. 78 and Feb 79. The car was modified outside the production facility though.
It's now is Nevada.
Thought about makeing a 78 GTA years ago.

 

[78lemans]

Thanks for the info. Not trying to disagree but I still think it's real but I'm 99.99% sure they were something built at a dealer here locally. I tried to check with the dealer but they've since switched ownership and nobody is there anymore that was employed there in 1979.

The car disappeared again not too long ago. It was sitting around the corner from my mother's house but it's gone again. I'm trying to track it down though and see if I can get some good pictures or possibly buy it. Thanks again! -M.

 

[clean8485]

I think you're probably correct in figuring that it was a dealer installed conversion. This has been done over the years by various dealers to various different cars. The last factory built GTO came out in 1974, until the new GTO was re-introduced a couple of years ago. It would be interesting to see a picture of that car, if you can get one.

 

[grandamman]

Did it look like this? The wheels were placed in front of the car, not actually mounted in this picture.


http://gbodyforum.com/album_pic.php?pic_id=235


or like this?

http://gbodyforum.com/album_pic.php?pic_id=236

 

[78lemans]

Nope, that's not it. Both of the cars I saw had spoilers that weren't integrated into the trunk like a Formula, but stood on pedistals more like a '71-'72 Lemans Sport or T-37.

....Still trying to get some pictures of it. The last time I knew, it was sitting around the corner from my mother's house, but has been sold and resold since then.

I did have a little light shed on the situation for me though. One of my co-workers used to work for GMAC financing, and remembers the Orson E.Coe dealership. He told me yesterday that Coe used to put out a few limited-edition cars in an attempt to compete with Berger Chevrolet's (which is just down the street about 1/4 of a mile from Coe) dealer-built supercars. So like I figured, it's a dealer-built custom car. But still very cool.

While you're at it GrandAmMan, I've got another '78-'79 Lemans/Grand Am mystery for you to unravel. Several years ago, back before I got my '78, I looked at another '78 Lemans two-door. It was sitting by the road with $950 on it and really wasn't a bad looking car, but the 3.8 had bad rod knock. Anyway, the owner told me it was some limited edition car that they only built 500 of and he supposedly had proof, although I didn't ask to see it at the time. It was a black car with red stripes along the bottom half of the body, a red interior that had (strangely) bucket seats but a column shift and no console, and very strange looking vents that covered up the quarter windows, honeycomb-style hub caps, and a Trans-Am-style phoenix on the hood just like the '79 GTO. Any guesses? Probably another dealer custom I'm guessing.

It sold later on and is supposedly still in the area. I'm also checking into this one and will get back with you if I can get some pictures of it.

So is the black Grand Am yours? I wish I had your wheels! Heck, I'd be happy enough with a set of 15" Pontiac Rallyes!

More later. -M.

 

[grandamman]

Well, I certainly don't know as much as I thought. There is a guy in MI that just parted out a 79 Grand Lemans manual 3 speed on the floor with a bench seat.
There is a 79 Lemans on Ebay with a 4 speed, buckets and no counsol, and a spoiler. I dont believe the add, I think its pieced together, but after hearing your story, maybe it was a dealer build. Guy wants like 4 G's for this one. It's been listed like 3 times now.
Wait, it says 78. manual trannys were 79 only. Malibu, Elcominos, Grand Prix, Grand Ams as far as I know.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... AMEWA%3AIT

The black G/A Can Am is not mine. I posted my newest purchase, 1980 G/A. 49K miles!! True duals, sounds nice but still a 301. (photo album on this site)
I put a spoiler from a 1983? T/A on my first 78 G/A. I had to wedge it up to get the right angle, otherwise I couldn't do 50 MPH without being all over the road. That car, I'm sure is crushed by now.

 

[78lemans]

The Ebay '78 almost looks like an automatic trans car that was swapped over to a four-speed. As far as I know, they didn't put consoles in stick-equipped G-bodies (please enlighten me if I'm wrong), and you can see where a console used to be on that car. The photos don't show what the pedals look like, but I'd bet it's a fake. The spoiler looks like something from the early to mid '80s, like a Firebird unit or something similar.

 

[GP403]

You could get the back half of the Chevy console in the Malibu (and probably the Elky) in '80(?). Not in the Pontiac though. The shifter is in the right place, almost. The raised floor section is missing (I think) and so is the plastic trim piece, and to top it off its the wrong shifter altogether, its too straight. See this:

Not to mention the column's been replaced and the section of carpet missing where the console mounts are. It's definitely a '78 because it's got the silver fuel gauge. ('78 was only year for silver gauges).

 

[78lemans]

Well I tracked down the '79 GTO. It's still not far from my mother's house and I talked to the owner on the phone this evening and am probably going to go look at it on Sunday. The good news is it's still available, but the bad news is that it's in worse shape than I thought, it's more expensive, and I have to also buy a '79 Grand Prix to get it. The guy wants $1,000 for both cars.

I got the current owner's phone number from it's previous owner, and talked with him about the car a bit. He said the floors are completely rusted out on both sides all the way back to under the rear seat, the console is cut up, there's no steering column or shifter, the bucket seats have seen much better days, and there's no engine or trans.

The guy who owns it now will only sell it with the GP (which he got to take the 350 Pontiac and TH350 out of and stick in the GTO) and won't budge on the price. I'm still going to try and get some good pictures of it, but highly doubt I'll buy it. All I'd really want from it at this point is the spoiler, bucket seat frames, and Grand Am nose to maybe build my Lemans into an Orson/GTO clone some day, but I don't think that's worth a grand.........unless someone else in the lower Michigan area wants to go in with me on what's left and the '79 GP???? I know, yeah right!