The Pontiac Grand Safari is a 4-door station wagon from Pontiac, built from 1971 to 1978, as the oil crises and the first emissions rules rewired the industry. Under the bonnet: 400 cuin V8. Bill Mitchell drew it.
Where it came from
The Pontiac Grand Safari was Pontiac's top-of-the-line full-size station wagon offered from 1971 to 1978. The Grand Safari used the grille and interior trim of the Bonneville and Grand Ville passenger car series, and most (but not all) examples were trimmed with woodgrain paneling on the sides and tailgate.
Under the skin
Power comes from 400 cuin V8; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 5000 -. It shifts through a 3-speed TH-400 automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 127.0 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Pontiac Bonneville Safari (1965); its successor was the Pontiac Bonneville Safari (1979); assembly was at Pontiac Assembly, Pontiac, Michigan, United States. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Chevrolet Impala, the Suzuki Jimny, the American Motors Corporation AMC Gremlin — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Pontiac catalogue sit the Pontiac 2+2 and the Pontiac 6.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Pontiac Grand Safari has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.