72 Grand Prix mufflers
 

My folks had a 72 GP Model J they bought new. It had such a distinct sound. A little rumble and tone, but not too loud. My dad put a NAPA system on it one weekend and when he started it, he hung his head in disappointment because it was so quiet. Six months later he went to the Pontiac dealer and bought a complete OEM system. This was my mom's daily driver, and she was much happier, as was my dad. And me of course. I am looking at putting a new exhaust system on my 72 and just wondered if anyone had suggestions for mufflers that replicate that sound. My engine is the original 400 and is all stock.

Pontiac's mufflers were produced by Oldberg and were designed for a specific sound. Did your Grand Prix sound like this?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/U7l12H...feature=oembed

If so, you might consider this system from Gardner Exhaust. It's expensive, but well worth the price!

https://www.gardnerexhaust.com/exhau...aust-system-3/

Thanks for your reply, Rocky. That sounds really good, but I'm afraid it's louder than my parents' car. It does have the correct cut at the end. I actually printed off that Gardner photo to give to the local muffler shop, so it gets bent correctly. The system on my car was done before I purchased it, and whoever put it on did what many shops do. They run that passenger side pipe directly under the oil filter. That requires removal of that pipe from the exhaust manifold to change oil. It has to shift over to allow access to the filter and the Gardner system does exactly that, so the correct end cut and bend at the filter tells me they make a quality product. If I recall correctly, mom's car almost sounded like a quiet flowmaster. The car was a bit of a sleeper back then. The car in the video has the more aggressive turbo muffler, so I guess that's why it's louder.

By the way, that 71 four speed car is a beauty! I've watched some videos of that car. If it's your car, congrats man. It's awesome.

Anyway. Thanks again for your reply.

After listening to all of the sound clips for the GTO and Grand Prix on Gardner Exhaust's website, and after a couple of conversations with Eric Gardner, I learned a lot about what they do to provide a quality product that will stay looking nice for a long time. As a result, I ordered their concourse system with stock mufflers. Thank you Rocky for the recommendation. There is a 71 GTO in the sound clips with stock mufflers that sounds as close to my parents' car as I can remember. Maybe a little bit louder, but still the right tone. Eric was a real pleasure to deal with and told me that my car will have the same mufflers as that 71 GTO. Although it's expensive and there is a wait time, I believe I will have no regrets. I will update this thread once I receive the system, and it's installed.

That’s great to hear. And glad to help!

Please do report back when you get the system installed. I’m sure you’ll love it.

And last, no, that isn’t my GP. I only wish!

That was my '71 at the time when I installed the Gardner system. I ordered the stock mufflers, but Eric's video stated they were turbo. Maybe he was just going by the tone in my video? Regardless, it fit perfectly and sounded great! That was my third Gardner system, never disappointed.

Grant

Thanks for the information. I love that car!