In the Pontiac studio, this...
In the Pontiac studio, this '61 Bonneville clay model, aka "Batmobile," shows off a very dramatic roof treatment that didn't make production.
This was a turning point for Pontiac, and in 1961, it moved into third place in sales behind Chevrolet and Ford. The Division's styling was fresh and youthful, making it a design leader throughout the '60s and well into the '70s. The following are but a few of the many landmark models designed under Jack Humbert.
Stand-Out Models
The '63 Grand Prix
Pontiac introduced a personal luxury car design that stunned the automotive industry: the award-winning Grand Prix. Though Humbert had a hand in the premier '62 edition of the Grand Prix, the '63 was the first car completely designed under his leadership.
It changed the look of automobile design with its stacked headlights, recessed grille with round parking lights, a chiseled "coke bottle" body side, and a formal roofline with a concave backlight. This design also started a new trend by restraining the use of chrome, thereby reversing a practice that had become so prevalent in the design themes of late '50s automobiles.
This '62 Bonneville clay model...
This '62 Bonneville clay model sports the '61 bubble top roof that, ultimately, was dropped for '62.
The '63 Grand Prix won a Certificate Of Design Merit award from the Industrial Design Institute for its outstanding design. Pontiac sold 73,000 Grand Prixs in 1963, more than doubling that of the '62 model. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as evidenced by competing car companies that incorporated aspects of the '63 Grand Prix's styling in their future products.
The '65 Pontiac Lineup
The entire '65 Pontiac lineup received the coveted Motor Trend Car of the Year Award; the major factor, "Design." Pontiac's fullsize cars graduated from their slab-sided, chiseled look of the '63-'64 body styles, to the beautifully sculpted, fastback coupes of the '65-'66 era. They became longer, leaner, and more aggressive with this elegant, free-flowing design. Pontiacs retained the patented stacked headlights and split-grille theme, only this time the ironing board was designed into the hood to the center beak of the split grille. The higher end cars of the '65 lineup received diecast rearend treatments and the Grand Prix continued the concave backlight. "I went out on the Design patio to view the early design proposal for the fullsize clay model of the '65 fullsize Pontiac and thought the team had lost it," Designer Bill Porter remarked. "In typical Humbert fashion, however, he pulled the design together and made an award-winner out of it."
The '65 Tempest/LeMans could...
The '65 Tempest/LeMans could have been a fastback? That's what this clay model with two different upper designs suggests. Note the wild rendering in the background of the '65 design. The tail of the clay model still has a decidedly '64 appearance, however.
The LeMans and GTO lineup was mostly carryover from the all-new '64 design, but the front and rear were updated with fresh details such as stacked headlamps, twin protruding split grilles, and wraparound taillamps hidden in chrome, as well as a new single hoodscoop design for the GTO.
The '67 Firebird
The '67 Firebird defines how important design is to the automobile. GM's Chevrolet studio had completed the design work on the '67 Panther/Camaro, before Pontiac had even gotten started. The Pontiac team was busy working on one of John Delorean's many pet projects, a two-seater sports car named the XP-833 Banshee. General Motors upper management told DeLorean the Banshee was out and Pontiac would share the Camaro's already-designed sheetmetal.
All Jack's team changed was the hood, the grilles and headlights, the front and rear bumpers, tail panel and taillights, as well as stamping six hash marks in the Camaro's quarter-panels. Pontiac ended up with a very distinctive-looking car, definitely a more aggressive design than that of the Camaro. Much of the change came from the front chrome bumper that covered the leading edge of the Camaro's fenders, giving the Firebird a uniquely different appearance from its F-body cousin.
It's interesting to note that DeLorean still didn't give up on his vision of a two-seat sports car for Pontiac, and had design staff build a fiberglass model of a shortened '67 Firebird with two seats called the Banshee T/T. History has shown John DeLorean continued to pursue his two-seater sports car vision, even after leaving GM.
The '63 Bonneville clay model...
The '63 Bonneville clay model is in the development stages. Note the heavy diecast trim on the front fender and the bullet-shaped lights and horizontal split in the grilles. The fender trim made production in a much smaller size on the Bonneville. The lights were redesigned, the horizontal grille trim became a chrome strip, and both were used on the Grand Prix.
Here's the '63 Grand Prix...
Here's the '63 Grand Prix fiberglass model still in the development stage, prior to the addition of the parking lights and chrome horizontal split in the grilles. Note the louvered hood.
This is a '65 clay model in...
This is a '65 clay model in the Design Dome. Note the differences from production.
A '64 GTO clay model is being...
A '64 GTO clay model is being updated to a '65 model. Look closely, the '64 hoodscoops are still in place. The parking lights in the grilles are a nice touch, but didn't reach production for '65. They did, in oval shape, for '66 and '67, though.
This clay model of the '65...
This clay model of the '65 Grand Prix sports the rear quarter-trim found on some of the X400 show cars of the era, but it didn't make production.
Here's the famed '65-'67 GTO...
Here's the famed '65-'67 GTO hoodscoop on the clay model.