Junkyard Find: 1989 Pontiac Grand Am

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

The N Platform-based 1985-1991 Pontiac Grand Am was sibling to such rapidly depreciating semi-sporty-looking coupes as the Buick Somerset and Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais, and there was a time when they were common sights on American roads.

Now most of them are gone, but this Iron Duke-powered, 5-speed-equipped rusty survivor showed up recently at a Denver self-service yard.

We saw this 1989 Grand Prix Junkyard Find, notable for its rare manual transmission option, not long ago. Now the very same yard has this rare 5-speed-equipped Grand Am.

There’s plenty of rust, and plenty of optimistic body-filler-and-paint attempts to cover up that rust.

The car’s final owner appears to have attempted to sand, Bondo, and rattle-can-paint the hood. This didn’t work so well.

A visit to Pep Boys added this handy cupholder to the dash (right in front of the passenger seat).

The Iron Duke engine was standard in the ’89 Grand Am. By this time, the 2.5-liter Duke (aka Tech 4) was equipped with a balance shaft that smoothed out some of the engine’s notorious harshness, and output was 110 horsepower.

More than a quarter-million of these cars were sold for the 1989 model year, making it a respectable sales success for GM.

This one reached 178,641 miles before, presumably, the sound of the wind howling through the rust holes became intolerable.

Just the car for those hot nights in cities full of steaming manholes and big-haired, pastel-wearing ladies.

If you can stand it this hot …

Yeah, ya big ham. You own one hot car!

[Images: © 2016 Murilee Martin/The Truth About Cars]








Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • Jb2980 Jb2980 on May 15, 2016

    First car was a 1988 Grand AM SE -- came with the 2.3 Quad4 and 5-speed (and obligatory 1980s "Fuel Injection" labels everywhere). When I got my license in 1997 I wanted a Mustang GT (have one now) but they quoted me over $3000 per year for insurance for a 5.0 being driven by a 17 yo male. I probably would have killed myself in it anyway. Plan B was for something sporty but with more affordable insurance. The original plan was for a Z24 cavalier but came across the GA from a private seller. Looked semi-mean with the plastic body kit and was "quick" with the 16v motor (by 1988 standards), and it had low miles, and snuck under the insurance radar if it wasn't a turbo. Looking back it was a decent first car and we had fun with it but the build quality was awful. Everything broke on that car, not sure if the Buick V6 which was an SE trim option fared much better. Didn't even make 100k and the head gasket blew and aluminum head warped. We forget how far we came in 25 years. By comparison my commuter is a 2011 Fusion Sport AWD (purchased new) -- 150k and still going strong. Nothing but Mobil-1 oil every 5k and general maintenance. Wish it came with a stick option like almost every car did in the 80s tho. I guess you take the good with the bad.

  • CaseyLE82 CaseyLE82 on May 22, 2016

    When I was a kid my parents bought me a used 1996 Cherokee...but they couldn't swing the payments and it was repossessed after about a year. So, in 1999 I purchased a baby blue 1989 Grand Am just like this one. It was so dangerous and scary then that my boyfriend at the time refused to ride in it with me! It blew black smoke out the back and white smoke out of the hood. I couldn't take it into enclosed drive thrus for fear of asphyxiation. I loved that car. That car was MINE. That car was my first taste of freedom. That car was ghetto as all get out. About a year later I saved up for the down payment on a 1999 Dodge Neon and I sold the Grand Am for $50 more than I paid for it. I miss it.

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