Subtle Sculpting on the 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix

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In 2005 I was car-shopping and briefly considered the Pontiac Grand Prix.  Didn't get around to test-driving one, perhaps because I was driving an Oldsmobile Intrigue and wasn't very interested in buying a similar car.  The car I eventually bought was a Chrysler 300.

But there was one thing about the Pontiac that caught my eye.  It was the sculpting on the hood and front end.  Attractive and subtle.  Almost too delicate for the Pontiac's 1960-1980 image as a performance car.  Which might have been a factor in the brand's demise -- it wasn't macho enough for macho buyers.

The hood and frontal detailing is so subtle that I found it difficult to locate images that do the sculpting justice.  One needs to actually view a car.  But take a look below and you might get a hint of the reality.

Gallery

Front quarter view of a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix.  Ever since 1961 Pontiacs featured a two-segment grille.  The version here has a shield-like outline.  Character lines extend from the outer sides of the grille openings up over the hood, then fading just forward of the cowling.  These define a slightly raised hood area.  The grille's central divider anchors the remaining character crease that extends to the rear similarly, but has little other function than to define the hood's centerline, adding visual interest.

Frontal view.  Here we note that the hood folds do not quite align with the grille sides, a slight continuity error.

Grand Prix side view.  Slinky, and typical of General Motors design language from the 1990s and early 2000s.

Aft end of the car.  The vertical part of the trunk lid is fussy, but not as extreme and on many current cars and SUVs.  Otherwise, the design is hard to criticize from technical standpoint.  What it lacks is character.

The images above were factory-sourced, but I don't know the origin of this one.  It serves to reinforce my comment regarding the overall design.

A for-sale Grand Prix.  Not a great photo, but it has the virtue of showing fairly clearly the otherwise subtle sculpting.

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