Junkyard Find: 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo Coupe
The Pontiac Grand Prix started life as a sporty hardtop coupe version of the full-size 1962 Catalina, then spent the 1969 through 1987 model years as a midsize rear-wheel-drive sibling to the Chevy Monte Carlo. For 1988, the Grand Prix moved to the brand-new front-wheel-drive W platform, immediately winning Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award and carrying on John DeLorean’s tradition of affordable personal luxury cars with a rakish bad-boy-in-a-suit image. Here’s an ultra-rare example of the most expensive Grand Prix available for 1990, found in a Denver-area self-service yard last month.
The list price of the 1990 Grand Prix Turbo Coupe started at $23,775 (about $51,870 in 2021 spondulix), and this one has a bunch of options that must have pushed its out-the-door price much higher than that… well, unless the nasty recession that hit in 1990 forced Pontiac dealers to cut prices. In fact, the Bonneville SSE was the only costlier new Pontiac in 1990, and it cost just $220 more than a Grand Prix Turbo Coupe (the Firebird Trans Am GTA cost a mere $23,320). A new 1990 BMW 325i two-door cost $24,650, while — more relevant to Grand Prix shoppers — the 1990 Ford Taurus SHO had a $21,505 MSRP and more horsepower to boot.
The Pontiac Grand Prix started life as a sporty hardtop coupe version of the full-size 1962 Catalina, then spent the 1969 through 1987 model years as a midsize rear-wheel-drive sibling to the Chevy Monte Carlo. For 1988, the Grand Prix moved to the brand-new front-wheel-drive W platform, immediately winning Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award and carrying on John DeLorean’s tradition of affordable personal luxury cars with a rakish bad-boy-in-a-suit image. Here’s an ultra-rare example of the most expensive Grand Prix available for 1990, found in a Denver-area self-service yard last month.
The list price of the 1990 Grand Prix Turbo Coupe started at $23,775 (about $51,870 in 2021 spondulix), and this one has a bunch of options that must have pushed its out-the-door price much higher than that… well, unless the nasty recession that hit in 1990 forced Pontiac dealers to cut prices. In fact, the Bonneville SSE was the only costlier new Pontiac in 1990, and it cost just $220 more than a Grand Prix Turbo Coupe (the Firebird Trans Am GTA cost a mere $23,320). A new 1990 BMW 325i two-door cost $24,650, while — more relevant to Grand Prix shoppers — the 1990 Ford Taurus SHO had a $21,505 MSRP and more horsepower to boot.