There’s some cars that were so ubiquitous when I was a kid, they ended up just blending into the landscape. In my earlier childhood, these GM A-bodies, made between 1973 and 1977 and known as the “Colonnade” style because they had a lot of prominent pillars (no pillarless designs here, because everyone was sure the feds were going to mandate roll bars) were absolutely everywhere. They were huge sellers in America, and I realized I never really appreciated the strange and exuberant styling of some of these things until my eye was seized by that picture of a 1974 Pontiac LeMans Safari wagon up there. I mean, look at it!
Incredibly, these were considered “intermediate” sized cars, even though they were huge. I suppose they were still somewhat less huge than the full-size cars of the era, but even in today’s era of massive trucks and SUVs, these things still felt pretty massive.
These Colonnade cars tended to weigh at least around 4500 pounds, and they were powered by the malise-iest of malaise engines, huge V8s making numbers that we can generously call “modest.” Think a 6.6-liter V8 making around 170 hp or so. Good times.
But I’m not here to get into a whole thing about malaise-era engines and emission controls and sadness; I’m here to celebrate a station wagon design I don’t think I ever really looked at until now! So let’s look some more.
I don’t think I ever really appreciated just how, um, swoopy these things were! Look at that front fender, the whole thing tapers into a huge sort of gracefully curving arrowhead shape, and then the rear fender echoes it again, kicking up its graceful arch all the way to the window line.
Glass area on these things was pretty vast, and the pillars – as many of them as there are – are really quite slim and graceful. I also like how the woodgrain, if so optioned, was constrained to the lower third of the car.
The front ends had that prominent Pontiac beak and split grille, and was overall really quite a simple design, with round headlights in chrome squared-off bezels and simple rectangular grille slots, trimmed in chrome, of course.
Of course, there were grille variations, but all kept it commendably restrained. I think I’m most taken by the rear view, though. Let’s look at it again:
There’s something about that huge curvy-pointy fender line and then the massive fishbowl of the rear wagon area with all its glass that I find strangely appealing. I like that there were those tiny vent windows on the rear side glass, too, to keep dogs and kids alive on hot summer days.
I’m not sure what’s going on with those vertical doohickeys on the rear liftgate; the brochure just calls them “rear vertical molding treatment” and they look like they should serve some practical purpose, but I have no idea what that would be. The taillights inset into the bumper are also a little questionable; they do allow the hatch to be full-width and are still usable if you drive with the hatch open, but they’re not great for close visibility or not getting smashed when you back into a hydrant.
I hardly ever see these around anymore, but the next time I do, I’m going to make sure I appreciate it. The overall design of these are so unrestrained and dramatic, especially for a mainstream family car. It’s just nice to see.
Here’s a sort of odd commercial for the LeMans of this era; a coupé, though, not a wagon, even though this dude’s situation does sort of suggest wagonhood:
Also, he’s delusional about the handling thing.
Oh, and that “Wide Track” thing was a bit of Pontiac marketing since around 1959. They had a bit wider track than their other GM siblings, so they crowed about that as a handling advantage. Did their customers feel the extra inch or so of track as they rambled around without seatbelts, driving buzzed and smoking and sliding all over vinyl bench seats? I’m skeptical.
Still, I love 1970s Pontiac’s mildly unhinged tone and willinngess to set cars on fire in their commericals:
You either run with the herd – or you don’t!
I miss Pontiac! I’ve always liked those moldings on the liftgate- I figure they’re just for body style but they sure do make it look better
You may not remember the Pontiac Safari Wagon – but Marvin and his family sure do:
(scroll to the 18.50 mark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vezKBBOjI7U
So does Steve Robinson (24 minute mark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpReqTbwQmc
For future reference, you can right-click on the video timeline and choose “Copy video URL at current time”, and you’ll get a link that will jump to exact spot you want. Like so:
https://youtu.be/vezKBBOjI7U?t=1128
station wagons: official vehicles for every Canadian hockey mom
We had one of these back in 1982, bought off a 2nd tier used car lot for the princely sum of about $1750. Our family was just getting started and we needed a responsible vehicle with which to tote around our toddler son and all the stuff that went with him. Besides I was tired of spending time under a couple of Corvairs keeping them running..
For all the griping that has been done about Colonnade cars, I have to say this Lemans Safari (actually a ’73) did an outstanding job of being our family truckster for the next ten years. It was the exact root beer brown as shown in your illustrations with Dinoc covering the lower half.
It had a 400 4-barrel with a tow package and turbo 400, factory dual exhausts, and for some reason this engine did not have any AIR system, and it was this way from the factory. Once in tune, it ran extremely fast, and could get about 17 MPG on the freeway during our frequent trips from our home in the Bay Area to Los Angeles.
It came with the third seat, air conditioning, power seats and windows, so it was pretty well equipped. The upholstery was starting to go, so we had a guy put cream colored MB-tex on all 3 seats, and it never needed anything else for interior cosmetics.
It was very comfortable, great sight lines, and put up with all kinds of abuse. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, we had to rebuild part of our foundation, and towards the end of the pour I determined we were 27 bags short of redi mix. My wife went into town to pick them up, and the guy at OSH put all of them in the footwell of the 3rd seat against my instructions. With all that load behind the rear axle, my wife got the front end airborne a couple of times on the way home.
Later during the rebuilding process, we needed 12 sheets of drywall. so I bought three 2 x 4s, tied them to the roof rack and tied the drywall onto that. The car handled very sketchily, but we got home with no problems.
Was it perfect? No, but we definitely got our moneys worth out of it and had many fond memories while we had it. By 170,000 miles the transmission began slipping really badly, rust had eaten a hole in the drivers door, and we realized it was time to let it go.. and I do miss it. We never had any trouble with the engine internals, differential or air conditioning (remember that big A6 swashplate compressor).
I think you may have just described my perfect station wagon.
OK so the dog goes in the back seat, then he shuts the door… so where is the baby going? Roof, trunk?
That top rendering is a little…exuberantly done, since the Pontiacs didn’t actually have rear fenders with the same top-and-bottom sculpting as the front fenders – they only had the shoulders on the top. But props to GM for tooling a separate set of doors and rear quarters. I forgot they did that.
The moldings on the tailgate are to protect it when it’s folded down.
We had a grey ’77 Malibu wagon when I was little – boring-looking, but we lived in a malaise-free country so no smog controls. Like someone else said, these used to be all over.
The moldings on the rear might have been useful for protection from striking objects below if there was a fold-down tailgate — but these cars didn’t have one. It was a massive liftgate, like what became a defining feature of the Chrysler minivans that would hasten the demise of wagons.
Actually, I wonder if the thinking was that the trim strips would protect the paint on the liftgate from striking overhead obstructions — like garage door frames and handles — since the open gate had a higher clearance than the roofline of the car.
Iin the 1970s, the liftgate was a little controversial since it was unusual compared to traditional wagons. It also sometimes got taken as the cut-rate alternative to the fancy electric retractable glass / lower gate “clamshell” openings on the big GM wagons. But the liftgate had its proponents because, like the selling point of the minivan liftgate, once lifted, you could get underneath it and right up to the bumper, sheltered out of the rain while loading or unloading.
When the downsized replacements arrived in ’78, the liftgate went away, replaced by a more conventional liftable glass window and drop tailgate. But the bumper-mounted taillights stayed on.
Oh, that’s right! I saw the rub strips and my brain went into some kind of unthinking automatic mode, when even a moment’s thought (or look) reminds me it has a liftgate. I can only imagine, then, that they were intended to evoke those.
So true, these were just part of the urban landscape you hardly have a glance to in their day, but as you stated, a lot going on with the styling. Old wagons are increasingly popular in the collector car world, and it is easy to see why.
I was thinking about this too. How many good or good looking cars are we glossing over because they are so common? They may not be so extra as the cars from the 60’s and 70’s, but still.
It’ll be interesting to see what now regular cars are going to be collectible in 20-30 years.
Jason, do you remember what my member drawing was? It was my first car. I want to resto-mod one of these so very badly. A Body All Day!
I just never cared for the rear end of these wagons. To me, they looked incomplete, like we needed something back there to signify this was the closed-off back end of the vehicle, but the designers just phoned it in. Maybe it was because I was a true tailgate snob, wanting a movable window and a swing-out or swing-down door, but that hatch looked incomplete.
I’ve never noticed the Monte Carlo style rear fenders on the Pontiac wagons, then again the only Colonnade wagons I recall seeing were Oldsmobiles and Chevies.
You have that backwards. Montes had Le Mans style fenders. 🙂
First new car I bought was a 1974 Pontiac Ventura V-8 Hatchback it was also the last GM product I bought. Burnt valve at 13000 miles will do that not to mention molding falling off while driving down the road and tissue paper OEM tires that forced me to buy 4 new fangled for the time steel belted radials
“You either run with the herd – or you don’t!”
If I remember somewhat accurately, back in the day Pontiac was considered a bad boy brand — even the family sedans and wagons. If you wanted to project the image of PTA/church-goin’/solidly monogamous/management-aspiring herd member respectability, and wanted to step up from a Chevy, you got a Buick or Oldsmobile. Buying a Pontiac signaled you weren’t quite domesticated yet. Like the commercial said, you wanted a TransAm, flaming chicken decal and all, but wife, kid and all that.
Ooh wee I loved that demanding commercial voice over, but it makes me want to watch “Extreme Prejudice“, again!
Great car! Wasn’t it the one (in sedan form) they built the 6000SUX on? Love that big wide flat rear hatch. Some Opels over here at the same time had a bit similar one
(Edit: No, that was the Olds Cutlass, which also had some crazy bulging fenders…)
As mentioned by one of the others, the strips on the rear hatch are mimicking the strips on the 55-57 Chevy Nomad and its sister car the Pontiac Safari wagon.
I suppose those Colonnades were quite large, but still over a foot and a half shorter than the best selling family sedan of today (F-150 SuperCrew)
I rode in a lot of Colonnades during the 80’s, but the one I remember most was my buddy’s mom’s Century Wagon, same body as this one. He once hit a VW Rabbit that had cut in front of him; the Rabbit was smashed, the Century had a slight scuff on the bumper.
The overall visuals of these cars never really appealed to me, except for the Grand Am model. For some reason, those swooping lines and the distinct grill just worked.
My friend had one of the coupes back in high school that he bought for $200. I remember that thing handled like it was about to derail but it was an absolute blast. You’ll never have more fun than you will in a $200 car.
I’m not sure if this is the right model or not – it was at least something very similar and still (technically) the 70’s, but I remember sitting in the back and being able to lift the cover off of the wheel well inside to see the wheel spinning. I had to be asked not to do that.
So the full-width tailgate that necessitated the bumper lights was to appease folks who thought that a wagon was worthless if it couldn’t fit 4′ wide building materials.
Also of note: the “wayback” vent windows featured in most of those pictures were standard (and only available on) 3-row wagons. If you didn’t get the 3rd seat, you got a solid pane of glass.
My first car was a 75 Malibu Classic (350-2bbl, slushbox). Handling? No, not at all. The differences between the cars of then and the cars of now is staggering sometimes.
Mine was the same, but the ’74 version. A fat ADDCO rear sway bar and 70-series radial tires helped a LOT.
I wasn’t interested in modifying it at that stage of my life. I was busy daydreaming about cheap British sports cars.
I never really appreciated how pontoon-y those fenders were.
Those strips on the tailgate look like they would go with one of those purely ornamental “luggage rack” setups they used to slap onto trunklids. Except it’s an essentially vertical surface. Logic? Bah!
yep. fakes were also on trunk lids of the era, though these were even more clearly nonfunctional decoration. just like that chrome “s” decorating hearses is a vestige of carriage droptops.
Are the bars on the tailgate a styling element or some vestigial luggage rack? IIRC, the tri-five Chevy wagons (and other GM wagons?) had a similar look.
I think it was harkening back to Nomad-style tailgate strips from the 50s. Maybe it’d be functional when paired with a luggage rack of sorts, but I think was to break up the large swath of sheetmetal in the back. I always thought they were cool on Nomads.
A luggage rack was not available on these wagons — and while it’s a weird element, it doesn’t look bad.
When I look at the illustrations of that era, I can only imagine how the actual cars would have looked if given the exaggerated proportions and forced perspective the artists employed.
Scale? What’s that?