1972 GTO and LeMans Stripe Options

                                                                         By: Patrick Smith

  A surprising number of Y Code GTOs and LeMans had the optional D98 stripe added to their build order. You can expect a certain number to appear in the first intro batch as show room display models and exhibition cars. Any that appear after December 1971 usually are customer or dealer ordered. The production by option totals for D98 stripes reveals a fair number of cars got this; 15.1 percent of the 1972 production total got these stripes.This is a big jump from 1971 D98 stripe totals which maxed out at 6.6 percent for the LeMans cars. For 1971 that worked out to be 8,513 cars. For 1972, it's considerably higher, about 13,961 cars.
   

A Sundance Orange LeMans GT with black sword stripe. Normally a T 41 LeMans would get the
lazer stripe. Because it has a T 41 nose, it got the sword stripe. Note it doesn't have the GT logo in the decal.
Pontiac wasn't consistent at all in applications of decals.

   Now we need to distinguish the difference between LeMans  D98 stripes and the GTO D98 stripes. Although they shared the same RPO code, the stripes were quite different.  The GTO only had one stripe package, a lazer stripe offered in black or white with horizontal strips cut lengthwise across the entire decal revealing body color underneath. The LeMans on the other hand, not only had two different stripes, they also had color variations tied to the body color. It was a more comprehensive package altogether and indicative of the rising fortunes of LeMans versus the GTO. The sword stripes on LeMans were reflective material by 3M and available in silver, gold, black, blue. The proper stripe application to body paint code is shown below for GTO and LeMans cars. Note that even if the car has a GT option, there's a possibility it had a plain sword stripe installed. Pontiac wasn't consistent at all in applications.
Stripe and Body Color Coordination Chart 1972 Lemans Series    GTO 5 lazer stripe color coordination
Code 614  UPC D98 1972 Lemans/ Lemans-GT series
Cameo White  11 Stripe Color: Blue                                          Cameo White: Black 5 lazer
Revere Silver   14 Stripe Color: Black                                       Revere Silver: Black 5 lazer
Antique Pewter 18 Stripe Color: NA                                         Antique Pewter spec order, unknown
Starlight Black 19  Stripe Color:  NA                                        Starlight Black: sp order, white 5lazer
Adriatic Blue   24 Stripe Color: Silver                                        Adriatic Blue: white 5 lazer
Lucerne Blue   26  Stripe Color: Silver                                       Lucerne Blue: White 5 lazer
Springfield Green 43 Stripe Color: Black                                    Springfield Green: Black 5 lazer
Wilderness Green 48 Stripe Color: Gold                                    Wilderness Green: White 5 lazer
Brittany Beige   50 Stripe Color:    Black                                     Britanny Beige: Black 5 lazer
Quezal Gold     53  Stripe Color: Black                                      Quezal Gold: White 5 lazer
Shadow Gold   55  Stripe Color: Black                                       Shadow Gold: Black 5 lazer
Monarch Yellow 56 Stripe Color: Black                                    Monarch Yellow: Black 5 lazer
Brasilia Gold 57  Stripe Color: Gold                                           Brasilia Gold: White 5 lazer
Anaconda Gold 63 Stripe Color: Black                                      Anaconda Gold: unknown
Sundance Oran 65  Stripe Color:Black                                        Sundance Orange: White 5 lazer
Cardinal Red 75 Stripe Color: Gold                                            Cardinal Red: White 5 lazer
special order lazer stripe color combos
for Lemans-Lemans GT cars
rally green = silver stripe  if GTO model white 5 lazer
burgundy = black stripe   if GTO model  white 5 lazer

   As you can see, a lot more effort and money was spent dressing up the LeMans series than the has been GTO. Production breakdown of D98 stripes between GTO and the LeMans series hasn't been available but guesses as to the production has been made on the low side of 5 % of GTO production.
That would make it to be 291 cars in all. I suspect this number is on the low side because a few LeMans cars were made with lazer stripes as well. If a T41 GTO appearance package was ordered with the LeMans and D98 stripes, the car got the lazer stripes instead of sword stripes.The 291 car figure would only be true if they were all verified GTOs and we have no way of knowing that.
   

A 1972 GTO with lazer stripes. We have 4 D98 stripe cars in the registry so it isn;t as rare as some
people make it out to be.

The 1972 Pontiac Bulletin showing stripe colors and corelation to paint codes. If you have trouble seeing it, you can
use the typed copy at the beginning of article. This diagram courtesy of GT-37.org. Check them out, lots of cool info on A bodies.

  What I can tell you is the D98 stripes appear frequently enough for the 15.1 percent figure to be accurate. In our small sample of Y Code registry, we have 4 cars with this option. Three of them are lazer striped and those three happen to be GTO cars. The sole sword stripe car is an Anaconda Gold  LeMans Sport convertible GT with T 41 option. Since it was ordered with the GT package it got the sword stripe instead of lazer. We'll need to wait until more cars enter the database before we can  extrapolate to see if the percentage is accurate. It looks good so far. We have a few really nice examples to look at.
                *Article (c) Patrick Smith PHS Collector Cars Y Code Registry images from PHS Y Code Registry except last image which is from GT-37.org