1972 Pontiac LeMans

U/K

6.6L 400Cu. In. V8 GAS Naturally Aspirated

Hydramatic

Clear

GAS

This is essentially a rust free original car. I say 'essentially' because there have been 2 changes; it has been repainted in the original colour and the vinyl top has been removed, and the powertrain has been upgraded but with an authentic option. I purchase the car from a guy in Milwaukee in September of 2004. He treated it as a collector car and put it away in winter so it did not see Wisconsin's salty roads. He purchased it from a person in Fairhope, Alabama,a coastal town, sometime between March of 1994 and July of 1994. The car was built in GM's Lakewood plant near Atlanta,Georgia and shipped to a dealer in Mobile, Alabama so presumably it spent its life on the Alabama coast which explains its rust free status and I suspect is the reason for the repaint due to the deleterious effects of salt air on automotive finishes. I don't know exactly when it was repainted,it wasn't fresh when I bought it so I would guess the Milwaukee guy had it painted early in his 10 year ownership. The finish is still in good shape although with the typical scratches and dents a driver would accumulate over say 10-14 years. The original powertrain was a 350-2 with a 350 Transmission. I bought a 1972 Grand Prix which had a 400-4 engine and 400 transmission. I had both rebuilt as well as the 4bbl carburetor and installed them in the LeMans along with new water pump,radiator and fuel pump. Because I had the Grand Prix I had all the related parts so nothing was cobbled, it is as if the factory installed it in response to the original purchaser checking that option. That was done about 13,000 miles ago. The performance is exciting and the sound is great, the mufflers are not as loud as a GTO but it has a nice tone that disappears with the windows up. The original interior is in excellent condition. The seats,trim panels and headliner need nothing. The carpet has a couple of patches and the "A" pillar trim pieces were painted white which doesn't match the ivory of the rest of the interior. The air conditioning is functional but it is only delivering 50 degree air when should be closer to 40 degrees. I suspect it has lost some R12 in the last year so it will need to be leak checked and recharged. While the engine was out I removed to condenser and evaporator and had them leak checked so I don't think either of those to be the source of the problem. The compressor is an after market rotary compressor but I still have a newly manufactured axial compressor that probably works along with all the bracketry.