'74 Grand Am 4-Door 4-speed found - now what?
 

Hello -
At a unfortunate family get together last week (funeral) I was talking to one of my mom's cousins who wanted to know if I would buy his 1974 Grand Am 4-door that he was tired of having sit around. At first, I said not interested in a 4-door anything, but he continued that he ordered it new from my Dad's dealership, and it is a 4-speed, 400 - 4 bbl, A/C car. So now I am interested. Original paint (silver) with a very nice red bucket seat interior (carpet is worn, but rest is very nice). Car has always been inside, and is really good. 106k miles - all original paperwork. Runs, drives fine, A/C does not work. No rust, no damage.

Anyone ever seen a 4-door 4-speed Grand Am? Any thoughts on value? My first thought is it has to be rare, but that does not equate to valuable to me for this year and model. Tough to find any details on 4-door Grand Am production.

Any help is much apprciated.
Mike

Any photos?

There were only 3,122 4 door GA built in 1974 compared to 8,691 in 1973.Total production for all 1973 GA was 43,136 with only 180 [give or take few]4 speeds.And only 17,083 1974 GA built,so i would say that is a VERY rare car.

No photos - didn't have a camera....
Car has always lived in the dry NorthWest, so trim and soft parts (including the nose) are in good condition.

of the 3,122 4-door Grand Ams, I would bet there were very few 4-speeds, like 20 or 30 total??? Pure speculation, of course.

There was a Green 4dr 4spd G/A for sale on here about this time last year. Even so, there can't be too many of them around. I'd be interested if it wasn't so far away.
-Dave

Are you getting the car to keep? I would be interested if for sale! Just drop me an e-mail, Dave K.

It certainly is a rare and interesting peice. It is surprising the original nose is still intact. Very few of those have survived the ultraviolet sunlight.
It would get alot of attention at the all Pontiac shows.

You need to borrow someone's camera and get some photos for us.:)
In the meantime, you can do a little browsing here:
http://www.grandamregistry.com/new/menu.cfm

I know of One that was parted out.The same Silver and Burgundy.

I will get some photos, but I am back in Alaska and the car is in the Northwest....so it may be a few months unless I talk my brother into stopping by and shoot a few.

I am just trying to get an idea of value to make an offer. I was intially thinking $500 to $1000, but I don't know what he will take for it, and that seems like a low ball now. I don't know what I would do with it - I am nearly out of room (and nearly out of my wife's good grace for all these old Pontiacs).

Based on the green 4-door 4-speed project for sale a couple of years ago that I found posted here on an old link for $2000 and was very rusty, this one would be worth that or more on the open market? I would like to keep it due to fact that my Dad sold it new, and none of my other cars ever came from his dealership, but I honestly don't know what I would do with it either....

Thanks for all the thoughts.

Ask the cousin what they are willing to take for it and go from there.

I don't have any production figures on the '74 G/A's with 4-speeds, other than to say there were more of them built with 4-speeds in '74 than in '73.

'73 4-speed G/A production is "around" 180...I've heard 183, 185, 187, but nobody has ever given me any definitive production info. As for '73 4-door 4-speed G/A production? The number that has been touted is...are you sitting down? Six. Terry Wortman had one for sale about 15 years ago, and I considered buying it, but passed. He is the one that told me about only 6 being produced, but I have heard it from others.

4-door 4-speed G/A's from any year of the first generation G/A's are rare, period.

Mike,

Sounds like a great find! I would think that even though it is a very rare car, not many people would pay very much to buy it. But I am sure there are few Grand Am nuts out there that would love to have a rare piece like that.

I purchased a low mileage (62k) 73 4-door (automatic) about 5 years ago on Ebay, I paid $2000.00 for it. At that time, I felt I was overpaying for it but I really wanted the car, and they don't come around very often, it was loaded and in very nice shape...... so I paid what had to (without regrets). The car is extremely loaded, including climate control and a factory tachometer. It is the 6.5 litre (400) auto trans with 3.23 gears. It was in very nice original shape but the paint and clothe seats were getting tired from the sun. I have since had the car painted in the original burnished umber color, and had the carpet and (beige) upholstry refinished. Its a very unusual color combo but the car gets a lot of compliments. It draws quite a bit of interest at car shows, and I would agree that a 4-door 4-speed would be received extremely well.

I would love to add it to my stable but I fear I would be looking for a new wife, as I already have too many cars!

Production data
1973
Grand Am 2 door 34,445
Grand Am 4 door 8,691
All A-Body Total 248,785
A-body 4-speed option totals 2,242
1973 GTO 4-speeds 1,113
Estimated number of 1973 Grand Am 4-speeds: 600-900*

1974
Grand Am 2 door 13,961
Grand Am 4 door 3,122
All A-Body Total 149,637
A-body 4-speed option totals 833
Estimated number of 1974 Grand Am 4-speeds: 400-600*

1975
Grand Am 2 door 8,786
Grand Am 4 door 1,893
All A-Body Total 103,688
A-body 4-speed Option totals 833
4-speed (M20) Option totals 0 (not available in 1975)

*These are my own guesses and not based on any facts.

Tim at the Grand Am registry has documented over 125 '73 2dr Grand Am 4-speeds, maybe one or two 4-drs. No data available from PHS on a concise breakdown.

The 187 1973 Grand Am 4 speed number is incorrect. It's an old story that gets passed around and is actually the number of 1973 non-sport coupe 4-speed GTO's. I don't know where the 73 GTO numbers came from, but they have been published on various websites and I believe in some books.

73-74 4-speed Grand Ams seem to be alot more common than 73-74 4-speed LeMans's. There are a few 4 speed 73-74 wagons too. I believe a higher percentage of of the 833 1974 4 speeds were Grand Ams because there was no A-body GTO. (74 X-body 4-speed GTO's got the Saginaw). 73-73 A-body 4-speed totals are from Rocky Rotella who I think got them from Jim Mattison at PHS.

Keep in mind the 400 was the only engine available with the 73-74 M20 (Muncie or BW-ST10) option, so eliminate 6cyl, 350 and 455 cars from your estimates.

Finding a 4dr 4spd Grand Am in good shape is a real rarity. You can make your own guesses on 4dr 4spd Grand Ams, maybe half a dozen or so have been discussed on the boards in the last ten years. I would guess around 100 for each of the 2 years. What's your estimate?

If the nose is still intact, it won't be for long. My '74's nose was in great original shape when I bought the car 5 years ago, always garaged, but the cracks slowly start creeping in. I have been told by every body shop that has looked at the car there is nothing to save it. Good news is you can get a fiberglass replacement.

It is obviously a rare car, but it just won't bring the brain damage like more "desireable" cars would. I would love to have another A-body, especially one like that. If you decide to sell, a buyer shouldn't be too hard to find.

I owned an Ascot silver 73 W/400 4 speed coupe and when it came time to put the first clutch in it I converted over to a T/400. It was the wife's primary car and it was easier than to keep replacing clutches in it. It sounded like a good idea at the time...LOL..in retrospect it got rusty as it was an everyday driver and we lived in Erie Pa, well known for road salt and rust which claimed the rear wheel well lips early on. We fiberglassed all the rusty spots and painted it black and I sold it for a good buck back then.

Did somebody call my name and say 4-door? 4-speed? If you do not want this car, please pm me. I would be interested. Thanks.

A 4 door Grand Am with a 4 speed would be the one car I'd love to replace my '78 4 door with... Too bad none exist or are in *really* bad shape.

What a super rare, neat car. It would command a lot of attention at any show.. Sure would be refreshing to see in a sea of GTO's and Firebirds.

So Mike, post some pics for all of us to share in your "barn find" 4-door 4-speed Grand Am. What? You didn't bring it home YET????

Yep... 4-door / 4-speed GA would be a huge attention getter at a show. Neat car.

That would be uniquely different and ideal for me with the kids...too cool. Pics Pics!!