Just bought a '71 Grand Estate today

Hello all,

I just bought a '71 Pontiac Grand Estate 9 passenger wagon today. We just got home tonight so I don't have any pictures yet but thought I'd drop in and say hi.


Brandon

 

Congratulations on your new Pontiac wagon, and welcome to the forums. Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

 

Can't wait to see your new wagon, Brandon!

The 1971 Pontiac Grand Safari (not 'Estate') was all new that year. It had an all-new tailgate design for General Motors, shared with the other big GM wagons. Pontiac merely called it a 'disappearing' tailgate, but it commonly called a 'clamshell' these days.

You've also got (originally) a nice torque monster of a 455 cubic inch V8 there.

Welcome to the forum!


Marshall

 

congrats man!!!
lookin forward to seeing it

 

Welcome to the madness Brandon! Those Grand Safari's are nice. Do we know for sure its a 455 or might it be a 400? Post up a few dozen when you get a chance.

 

Welcome to the forums!

 

Congrats and Welcome Brandon! Sounds cool can't wait to see some pics!

 

Welcome to the wagon lair, congrats on the purchase. I will echo everyone else and say I can't wait for photos

 

Congrats Brandon and welcome aboard!

 

Welcome, waiting for those pics.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. I was finally able to get some pictures today. It was dangerously hot so I snapped a few in a hurry. The car hasn't really been cleaned yet. I did spray it off from the large amount of road grime we got from trailering it back in a huge storm. The car wouldn't fit on the trailer with the front shield on, so it the protective shield had to stay at home.

This is me loading the car up in Alabama. With the humidity it had to be around 110 degrees. I actually had trouble tying it down because sweat was burning my eyes so bad I couldn't see.


The car came with documentation dating back to when it was bought used in 1972. They traded in a 68 1/2 ton Chevy pickup and a Willys Jeep for the new-ish car.


The dash seemed to be in pretty decent shape. No cracks, but it was warped a bit




The front seat is the worst of the 3 seats. It has a few tears in it. The power seat will move forward, but no other direction. The motor will click, however. I will need to take the seat out and fix that.


The middle seat seems to be in great shape.



The rear seat has what appears to be some mold or a stain on it. I believe it will clean off. Other than that, it is also in good shape






The car has no real severe rust issues. It appears to only have surface rust, with the only exception possibly being above the windshield. I will have to take the molding off before I will know for sure.
The door jambs and under the doors are all solid.





Something is preventing the driver side middle seat from folding all the way down. I'm not sure what yet. It was so hot all I did was get some pictures and get out.

 

From initial inspection, surface rust seems to be the only culprit in these areas:







These are the potential problem areas. You can see where dumdum was used to seal some kind of windshield leak



From what I've been able to tell the underneath of the car is very solid


There's a dent in the rear driver side door


Door panels need some attention


Some more dash photos




The car appears to have no bondo in it



Newer set of Michellin's


The luggage rack appears to be in good shape


Just for fun I rubbed a little compound on the woodgrain. I'm not sure yet if it will replaced or just left off.

 

The engine compartment was pretty clean. Everything seems to be there for the air conditioning and the compressor still kicks in.








The rear window does not operate. The rear door will go down, but not up. The guy I bought it from said the door was going up but quit when he tried to show me. I believe the motors can be rebuilt and this will solve the problem.


I'm building my wife a '37 Chevrolet 4 door with a newer engine and transmission. Until that car is done, we plan to use this car as her daily driver. She currently is driving my old '79 Caprice but it has recently begun to leak oil, trans fluid and radiator fluid. My plan is to pull the 455 and rebuild it, sand the car down and repaint it, fix the smaller problems, get the air working and drive it until we're finished with the '37. There are some issues like the driverside power door lock not working, radio, power seat and the rear doors. The front seat will need recovering, as you can see it is in need of a headliner and the carpet may need to be replaced. As of now, my wife really loves Emerald Green colors, so we may go back with that color. I've seen a couple of old Oldsmobile wagons that had a nice factory emeraly green color. The woodgrain may be replaced, dependent on the cost.


Brandon

 

Groovy, man! Like ther trailer, too. Looks like a toy under that wagon LOL

 

Awesome, I need to find me a woman who would drive an old wagon like that.