Pontiac Le Mans

Pontiac Le Mans

Introduction

The Pontiac LeMans was a compact and mid-size car range that ended production in 1981 from Pontiac. The second generation of the LeMans is famous for its performance version that is known as the GTO. From 1973 to 1977, the third gen. of the LeMans was offered in luxury and sports trims (GTO). Then in 1978, the last gen. LeMans became smaller and wasn't available in many trims like the 1970's models.

The name LeMans was given to these beautiful compact and mid-sized vehicles and their production was continued from 1962 to 1981 which is almost 2 decades. The car was a huge hit of its times and there came 6 generations of it over the years with a lot of modifications and changings. It was replaced by Bonneville in the year 1982.

Models and Features

The Pontiac LeMans were initially made available for sale as coupe and later on as convertibles. What’s interesting to note is that only 80,000 plus units of the 2 door hardtop were produced and the number of convertibles and coupes was not even more than 6000.

For almost 20 years ranging from 1962 to 1981, the General motors continued to present the Pontiac Le Mans for sale as a refined version of Pontiac Tempest. What’s interesting to note is that the name of the LeMans was applied to both the compact and mid-sized vehicles and it was later on replaced by Bonneville in the early 80s.

The car had much more than just luxurious trimmings and great seating and no wonder it was later on upsized and was replaced by a line of mid-sized vehicles. However, this process took quite some long and an interesting fact to note here is that the Pontiac LeMans continued to keep the same 215 cylinder level like most of its competitors.

A new car package was made available with the car and its price was deliberately kept under $300 in the starting years of its production. This generated huge sales and the number even crossed 30,000 very fast. The body style of the Le Mans was also improved in the upcoming version. 3-shift floor manual transmission was given by the manufacturer to enhance the performance by a clear extent. It wasn’t until the year 1966 when the car became its own model GTO and it kept the same body as the LeMans and Tempest of all the models. Also it continued to keep an big engine and a muscular look that became its identity later on.

It is a shocking fact the the Lemans was produced in relatively smaller number than the other cars in the ’78 and the manufacturer also reduced its weight from about 300 to 350 kgs. It was taken seriously by the international investors and its engine was downsized as a result to reduce the size and weight of the car.

It is sad to see that the sprint oriented engines of the car was not even as close to the performance expected by the enthusiasts. The customers were expecting a performance of the likes of a V8. However, at that time 350 CID and 326 became the most ordered versions of the car due to their great performance. Shortly after the start of the 1964 model year, the Le Mans became available with a new performance package designated as the GTO, or 'Gran Turismo Omologato'.

Options and Packages

The steering and the transmission of the car is really good and never fails the expectations of even a car freak. Even the 4-door hardtop version had the same specifications which are hard to come by. The powertops were present in the car for better performance and the black lettering appeared on the front of the car. By the time the 1962 models arrived, Le Mans, primarily a trim package upgrade featuring front bucket seats, also came as a new convertible. There were now a total of four models: station wagon, sedan, coupe, and convertible. The series of Tempest was upsized to a far better version called GM A in 1964 with Lemans getting the upgrade with a new 215 CID 6-cylinder version of the car. Which is now actually known as a 326 CID.

Under the Hood

In the year 1978, the car underwent a lot of changings which included a V6 engine and also a V8 engine. The performance of these engines was really great and no wonder they were matched with the bigger V8 engines in the previous years. Another notable thing about the LeMans is that it was more suited in both styles and that’s why it became one of the most popular cars for a short time in its era. It was also presented in Euro-Sport sedan with the 73 and 75 models but unfortunately it wasn’t such a tremendous seller like them. The nameplate models of the car were discontinued in the later years because of unforeseen reasons. However, the car was successfully revived in 85s. One of the interesting things with this car was the 195 cubic inch four-cylinder engine.  At first this does not sound particularly interesting, but actually the engine is one-half of the 389 cubic inch V8 engines that was used in the full-sized Pontiac cars at the time.

Fuel economy

3 variations of the engines were given by the manufacturer which was a low compressed engine, an 8:6:1 and a single barrel engine. It is interesting to note that all the three versions of the models enjoyed a good fuel economy and the engine never failed the expectations of the critics. Moreover, the car gave really good fuel economy in the city as well as on the highway so it became a symbol of fuel saving at that time. Popular Mechanics reported 21.3mpg at 60 mph.

Safety ratings and technology

The Pontiac LeMans has not been crash-tested. A decent list of safety equipment is optional, however, including lane departure warning, automatic cruise control with full autonomous braking, front and Rear Park assist.