About the OEM Factory Air Conditioning System Originally Installed on the 1973 Grand Prix

Grand Prix background and what was new in 1973

The Grand Prix as a model

The Pontiac Grand Prix was first introduced in 1962 as Pontiac’s answer to the Ford Thunderbird, slotted as a luxury, performance, mid-size car, between the larger Bonneville and the smaller Tempest in the Pontiac lineup.

The 1973 Grand Prix in context

The 1973 Grand Prix was the first of the A-body based 3rd generation (1973-1977). With the 3rd generation, the Grand Prix still continued its long hood/short deck design but introduced a fixed rear “opera” window and a concave top edge of the door panels.

73 vs 72 Front

In the front. the 1973 Grand Prix was similar to earlier models with a large, vertical slatted grille and headlights set in square bezels. As part of a safety focus, the front bumper was suspended by energy absorbers and vertical struts were added to it. As in earlier models, the turn signals were still cut into the leading edge of the front fenders. One change was that the front split grilles in the beak became distinctly separated by the body panel and the Pontiac “V” logo was placed between them.

73 vs 72 Side

The clean side panels remained but like all of the 3rd generation Grand Prix’s, the 1973 featured a pillared “Colonnade” hardtop (for more rollover protection) with frameless door glass, a downward notched lower glass line and an option for fixed rear “opera” windows. The Grand Prix monogram was printed on the “opera” window.

73 vs 72 Rear

In the rear of the 1973 Grand Prix, the deck’s “V” boat tail was shallower and squarer at the end. The horizontal, integrated-into-the-bumper, taillights on the 1972 were replaced with almost square taillights above the bumper with a clear horizontal band centered between two red ones.

73 vs 72 Other

Two versions of the Grand Prix were offered in 1973, the base model (formerly given the “J” designation) and the sportier, more luxurious SJ, which again featured the larger engine standard. Of the 153,899 produced, 20,749 were SJ. Over 100 lbs of weight were added to the base model and over 500 lbs to the SJ but improved suspension still gave the 1973 Grand Prix good stability and cornering ability. The car proved popular and easily broke the prior Grand Prix production record set back in 1969.

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General Statistics & Specifications on the 1973 Pontiac Grand Prix

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Note: The “Std” body type, dimension, price, weight and engine is for the best selling base model. Production totals are for all models combined.