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Grand AM Development from How Stuff Works

The 1973 Pontiac Grand Am started out in the development stages as a GTO. But the muscle era was drawing to a close and, very much aware of that, Pontiac decided to change the car’s character. Instead of continuing to make the GTO a stoplight drag star, the next iteration was to be more European — more along the lines of a luxury sport sedan. With that in mind, Pontiac designers and engineers examined Mercedes, BMW, Audi, and Volvo as likely targets.

To backtrack a little, the Grand Am concept originated in the Pontiac styling studio. At that time, all Pontiacs were designed in one studio under the direction of William L. (Bill) Porter. Working with him were his assistant, Wayne Vieira, plus senior designers Ted Schroeder, Charley Gatewood, and Geza Loczi. Dennis Barnes was a young modeler in the studio.

Porter, who retired as chief designer for the Buick LeSabre, Park Avenue, and Riviera, recalls that the notion for the 1973 Grand Am’s soft front end evolved from the GTO’s “Endura” bumper/grille, GM’s revolutionary body-color nose, which Pontiac introduced for 1968. Wanting to take that idea one step further, Porter and his staff did some collective brainstorming, while still thinking in terms of the next GTO. As a result of that session, Porter and Gatewood got together to sketch what ended up being the Grand Am front end, with its peaked prow flanked by “catwalk” grilles, plus quad headlights, an integrated bumper, and sharp fender end caps.

One of the givens in the then-GTO program—which subsequently spilled over into the Grand Am—was that the car had to be based on GM’s new 1973 A-body, i.e., Pontiac’s LeMans. Among other things, the GTO/Grand Am would have to use the new LeMans hood, which was already locked up. Because this had a raised center section, the Grand Am prow-nose seemed a natural.

Gatewood worked out the rest of the graphics and, being a superb artist, made a full-size rendering of the front end. Porter hung it on the wall opposite the studio entrance. The idea was to impress GM design vice president William L. (Bill) Mitchell when he next walked in. After all, Mitchell would be instrumental in selling the design and the soft-nose concept to Pontiac management.

Wayne Vieira, who would become chief designer for GM’s Saturn small-car subsidiary, confirms that “Charley Gatewood was the designer who came up with the original front-end sketch. Charley’s a very modest person, and he would tend to say something like, ‘Oh, actually . . . I remembered an old sketch that Ted Schroeder did years ago. All I did was to do Ted’s sketch over again.’ But it was Charley who sold the idea.”

Vieira continues, “And to help sell the design to Bill Mitchell, Charley did this full-size air-brush rendering . . . a white rendering with black grille slots. It really stood out from across the room. In fact, when Bill Mitchell walked in, all he said was, ‘Jeeeeeeezus Christ!’ And we were off and running. He brought people in to see it, and it was really quite exciting. The graphics on the front were so strong and unique compared to what was on the road at the time,” Vieira recalls. “In fact, we all felt that when the car came out for 1973, it had by far the best front end of anything in the industry.”

The technology needed to engineer the Grand Am’s soft front end wasn’t fully developed when the initial soft-nose designs were proposed. But a 174-day strike during 1972 gave GM extra time to make the soft front end feasible. “This was one of our first attempts to do a full plastic front,” Vieira told us. “The technology hadn’t yet caught up, and the car would have been very complicated and expensive to build [with the technology at the concept's beginning]. The division at first felt that they wouldn’t have a competitive, quality car for the price. But now that we had more time to work on it—due to the strike—they told us to take another crack at it, and this started the process of a new design.”

Source: 1973-75 Pontiac Grand Am from How Stuff Works

By the time I got to General Motors Design Staff in March of 1973, they were placing new hires directly into studios instead of through an orientation program like Design Development. I was placed into Advanced Chevrolet. Ron Hill was the Studio Chief, and Geza Loczi the Assistant Chief Designer. Geza must have recently been transferred from Pontiac Two studio where these renderings were done. I was given a three months to get orientated on my own, a daunting prospect. After a three month review I was transferred to Pontiac Two production studio.

Chalk and marker rendering by Tom Semple

The day Tom Semple and I nearly did each other in.

I became interested in motocross motorcycles in the ’70s, and rode in the woods with several GM designers and sculptors including Larry Brinker and Bernie Smith. One Saturday several of us met up around Mt. Grampian ski area in Oxford, Michigan. There was a challenging, single-track loop about a half mile long that had hills, banked berms, and woods. Because it made a big loop, you could get to know the course, and each lap became faster than the last one. There were a couple of spots where you could get launched pretty good and get some air. And there were many blind turns. So for safety reasons, it was strictly one way. Tom Semple showed up with his Bultaco. I don’t remember who was going the wrong way, but Tom and I met in mid air, missing each other by inches. That was the day Tom and I nearly killed each other.

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My dad took me to an auto show in Los Angeles in 1959. I don’t remember if it was a Motorama or not, but on display were several Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild models. I took the literature and about wore it out looking through it for years before finally deciding to enter in 1964. I think what tipped the scale was seeing the actual Monza GT on display at a USRRC race at the Riverside International Raceway. I was never quite the same after seeing that car. I entered the contest three years straight (’64, ’65, and ’66) and received two honorable mentions.

If you have photos of your models or stories associated with being an award winner and traveling to Detroit, I’ll publish them in a subsequent post. Email them to me. Photos must be at least 650 pixels wide.

Ron Hill’s 1950 National Award-winning entry. Photo courtesy of Ron Will.

Elia Russinoff’s 1949 National Award-winning entry. Photo courtesy of Ron Will.


Milt Antonick’s 1955 National Award-winning entry. Photo courtesy of Ron Will.

Terry Hinline’s 1958 National Award-winning entry. Photo courtesy of Ron Will.

Chuck Jordan’s 1947 National Award-winning entry. Photo courtesy of Ron Will.

John Mellberg’s 1965 1st Regional Award winner. Photo courtesy of John Mellberg.

John Mellberg’s 1966 2nd National Sr. Award winner. Photo courtesy of John Mellberg. John Mellberg wrote, “Becoming a Guild participant opened my eyes to the world of automotive vehicle design, and lead to what has become a lifelong career as a creative designer. The Guild set many of us upon this same journey, and was a great recruiting base for GM Design.”

Photos of the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild models from the 2004 Eyes on Design exhibit are posted here courtesy of Mike Parris.

The black and white photos in this post are scanned from various pieces of Guild literature.

Design & Build a Model Car booklet cover.


The books and Guildsman newsletter contained inspirational stylist’s renderings.

Design & Build a Model Car booklet cover.

Specifications sheet from contest year 1964–65. Click on the image to view full size.

The winners were treated to a tour of Styling. The designer sketching looks like Larry Shinoda.

1964 contest winners. Upper left is Tom Semple.

1965 contest winners. Geza Loczi is standing, second from right.

Judges Lenny Casillo and Terry Henline. Who is in the center?

Chuck Jordan’s model is on display at the Henry Ford Museum.

These photos were part of the same exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum.

There is a book about the contest entitled The Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild-An Illustrated History by John L. Jacobus.

Photos of the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild models from the 2004 Eyes on Design exhibit are posted here courtesy of Mike Parris.