Pontiac originally used the Grand Am name in the 1970s on a line of midsize A-body coupes and sedans. It was a combination of "Grand" from the upscale Grand Prix personal luxury coupe and "Am" from the racy Trans Am pony car. Sporty imports with more upmarket features from the Celica to the BMW New Class sedans and coupes were making inroads into the US market and Pontiac wanted a sporty-yet-plush car that wasn't a Catalina-size land yacht to compete with them.
The nameplate went dormant in the early Eighties before being revived as Pontiac's version of the front wheel drive N-body coupes and sedans, shared with the Buick Somerset/Skylark and the Olds Cutlass Calais. That generation of the Grand Am was sold from the 1985 through 1991 model years before being replaced with the fourth generation Grand Am for 1992.
This new Grand Am rode on a revamped version of the N-body platform that had been widened so as to share more of its underpinnings with the Beretta/Corsica twins from Chevrolet.
For 1993, the Grand Am could be had as a two- or four-door and came in either the base SE trim, or the sportier GT, like the Bright Blue Metallic coupe in the photo. Its GT-ness is attested not only by the badge on the B-pillar, but also the GT-only 16" alloy wheels. By 1993, ABS was standard on all trim levels of the Grand Am.
The base driveline in the Grand Am GT was the High Output version of the Oldsmobile-sourced DOHC 2.3L Quad 4 rated at 175 SAE net horsepower, backed with a 5-speed manual transaxle. Ordering the three-speed automatic downgraded the Quad 4 to the standard 155hp version. The fender badges on this car show that the original buyer spend the coin for the GM 3300 corporate 3.3L OHV multiport fuel injected V-6, which put out less power than the H.O. Quad 4, being rated at 160hp, but outmuscled it in the torque department, at 185 lb-ft versus the four cylinder's 155.
This one was photographed with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens in October of 2024.
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