Pontiac Le Manses for Sale

Pontiacâ€™s fabled Le Mans nameplate, its name suggesting a whiff of international opulence, began and ended on the smallest vehicles in Pontiacâ€™s lineup; in between, it was the brandâ€™s mainstream midsize model.

Initially based on

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Pontiacâ€™s fabled Le Mans nameplate, its name suggesting...

Pontiac’s fabled Le Mans nameplate, its name suggesting a whiff of international opulence, began and ended on the smallest vehicles in Pontiac’s lineup; in between, it was the brand’s mainstream midsize model.

Initially based on the compact, new-for-1961 Pontiac Tempest, and sharing its four-wheel independent suspension, front-mounted 195-cubic-inch “Trophy 4” (really one bank of a Pontiac 389 V-8), a rear transaxle and “rope drive” (really a small-diameter forged-steel torsion bar), Le Mans was a new Tempest trim level (mostly bucket seats, specific trim, and a power top for the convertible) that arrived on the new coupe and ragtop bodystyles for 1962. Buick’s aluminum 215-cubic-inch V-8 was available. For 1963, Tempest Le Mans became its own model, and the aluminum V-8 was dropped for Pontiac’s own iron-block 326-cu.in. V-8

The B-O-P (Buick-Olds-Pontiac) compacts grew to become mid-size models in 1964; a new 115-inch chassis offered pillared Sport Coupe, two-door hardtop and two-door convertible models. It was also the base for Pontiac’s GTO option package. For 1965, a four-door sedan was added to the Le Mans line. GTO became its own model for 1966; the four-body Le Mans lineup remained (though a four-door hardtop replaced the previous four-door pillared sedan), and the previous engine lineup remained intact save for one intriguing new addition: a four-barrel, overhead-cam version of the base inline Six. Making 215 horsepower, the Sprint engine was a Pontiac exclusive and was available as a package atop any Tempest or Le Mans. The Safari wagon arrived in the Le Mans line for ‘67.

Pontiac’s restyled 1968 Le Mans line still consisted of five models (sport coupe, hardtop coupe, convertible, hardtop sedan, and wagon). The Le Mans two-door hardtop sold more than 110,000 units for the year—nearly a third of all Pontiac A-body production. With the Tempest name’s demotion to the lowest-line Pontiac A-bodies, the 1970s are when Le Mans came into its own, splitting between five Le Mans body styles and now four Le Mans Sport bodies; convertibles were exclusively Le Mans Sport. For 1971, the Tempest name was eliminated in favor of the T37 alphanumeric, but Le Mans and Le Mans Sport models accounted for the bulk of Pontiac’s 165,000 A-body sales for the year. Sensing that the muscle car era was over, Pontiac brought the GTO back as a Le Mans trim level for 1972; T37 was gone, and the only Le Mans Sport left was the convertible. A new upscale Luxury Le Mans offered deluxe trim and rear-wheel skirts.

New “Colonnade” styling greeted the Le Mans buyer for 1973; coupes remained in standard, Sport and Luxury flavors; four-doors were available in standard and Luxury trim, and both six- and nine-passenger wagons were available. For 1974, a Luxury Le Mans version of the wagons became available, a lineup that remained in 1975 (when the Luxury Le Mans moniker was switched to Grand Le Mans) and ’76; for 1977, Pontiac demoted the three-row wagon to the basic Le Mans line.

Downsizing was the watchword of 1978, and the new Le Mans line was 600 pounds lighter and a foot shorter than previous. The model lineup was simplified: coupe, sedan and Safari wagon variants were available as Le Mans or ritzier Grand Le Mans. Despite a restyle for 1981, including a Firebird-esque nose treatment and a formal sedan roofline shared with other 1981 GM A-bodies, the Le Mans was discontinued in favor of the front-wheel-drive Pontiac 6000.

The name had one last brief hurrah: Pontiac’s final Lemans, with a lower-case M, was a Daewoo-built Opel Astra starting in 1988. Available largely with a 74-horsepower 1.6-liter four-cylinder in your choice of three-door hatch and four-door sedan body styles, it lasted in the States until 1993. A sporting two-liter hatchback variant, called GSE, was short-lived.

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