Y Code Resto Files: 1970-1972 Tempest- LeMans GTO rear bumper Assembly

                                                         With: Patrick Smith

 Restorers of 1972 LeMans, LeMans Sports, GT and GTO cars often have to source a bunch of parts unless they're fortunate enough to start with a clean survivor. For years, finding parts for these especially body and trim was difficult. Only now are we seeing a groundswell of aftermarket assistance and this is largely due to the astronomical priced we're witnessing for clean cars online.

  

Note the turquoise, black and white decal with part #. This is an older replacement part likely made during 1972-73 era for body shop repairs.

   This time out we look over a prized piece; a New Old Stock 1970-72 rear bumper assembly. This part is in possession of Bill McWhorter who owns a gorgeous and rare 1972 LeMans Sport 455 HO ragtop in Monarch Yellow. Bill is setting out to restore his survivor car and this assembly is one of the parts going on! Check it out; the part number is on a decal on the inside rear of bumper. Note the turquoise, black and white colors. A late 1970s early 1980s era parts piece. The pn here is 484946 2008. 

   Seems kind of long, doesn't it? Well that's because there's also another bunch of numbers afterwards on the second row.  It isn't a part number as such. The actual pn is 4844946. It was filed under Group 7.831 in the GM parts catalog. This piece will work for 1971 and 1972 models as well.

   

The black inner bracket has no part number and comes as part of the rear bumper.

  Let's look at what this assembly contains; notice there are fixtures inside the bumper itself. These are tail lamp  assembly brackets for bolting the tail lamps in place. It's a metal piece in low gloss black and has six holes for attaching the bracket inside the bumper. In the catalog it doesn't have a part number but is described and shown as  lamp to rear bumper mounting bracket. The wiring harness for the tail lamp has 4 separate bulb holders which twist in place in the plastic lens housing.

  

A side by side comparo by Bill showing his original with the replacement NOS unit.

   A word or two on original assembly line rear bumpers and the parts replacement pieces. On assembly line bumpers you will find a date code stamping behind the licence plate frame area. Reproduction bumpers don't have a date code and neither will GM parts replacement bumpers. Have a look at this original factory rear bumper assembly off of Bill's car. Note the stamping beside the left rear side of fuel filler neck entry. It says "1JA4". Bill's car was assembled January 27th  1971. This bumper was stamped January 4th 1971. 

   

Note date code stamped on this original factory bumper. Jan 4th 1971.pic:Bill McWhorter

   Looking at Bill's replacement bumper which left the storage warehouse in 1984 shows no date code anywhere. Notice the tooling marks under the chrome flashing? The stamping was worn out and close to the end of its normal life span. Squeezing an extra year out of some parts pushed their quality control luck a bit! Fortunately this area isn't visible when the bumper is installed. We will return soon with another cool Y Code info extravaganza.

  *(C) 2022 by PHS Media. PHS 1972 Y Code Registry.

Y Code Luxury LeMans RIP- The File -

                                                           By: Patrick Smith

    Here's how I know at least 1 of the Y Code Luxury LeMans cars is no longer on this planet intact. This topic came up years ago on Performance Years sponsored Pontiac Forum, now known as PY forum. Way back in 2013 this topic came up on a chat, and one member known as Ram4King stated he had scrapped at least one of those cars for parts quite a few years ago, so way before 2013. Not only that, he posted the PHS Invoice of that very car, allowing us to view how this particular vehicle was set up new.

   

   It was a nice ride with a lot of goodies; the kind that made it an excellent parts car. Check it out; it had for VIN 1G37Y2P154089. Then it follows here it was ordered with S1 color and trim code 731 which was actually Dark Saddle. The 1 would be black Cordova vinyl roof. The S is Silver or Revere Silver metallic. It gets better, check it out the body code is 37G which meant two door hardtop!

   Below was the list of extra cost options. AM radio, console, rear visor mirror, power steering, power disc brakes, rear floor mats, front floor mats, luggage lamp, dual exhaust, 455 4 barrel L75, G78X14 WW fiberglass tires, Rally II wheels, 8 track tape player, sport mirrors, tilt steering, tinted glass, hood lamp, heavy duty battery. The total cost for this puppy was $3633.31. It was shipped to Miller Pontiac GMC in St Cloud, Minnesota on May 17th 1972 even though it was built in December. The GMAC finance code shows PPA so this car has some PR work involved which likely meant it was indoors and doing exhibition work for awhile before becoming a demonstrator. Cool ride, too bad its no longer around!

    *Article (C) 2022 PHS Collector Cars Y Code Registry.

Our First Luxury LeMans Y Code!

                                                                By: Patrick Smith

   We have a new entry to show here. This is a first for the registry. Our first Luxury LeMans Y code car! For those who aren't up on their LeMans bodies circa 1972, Pontiac did a cool thing that year. Since it was a carry over year as it was with all GM intermediates, Pontiac decided to create a new model to generate sales in the growing "luxury intermediate" category. Since 1969, GM noticed a strong uptick in well optioned A bodies selling. Since Pontiac was essentially an upgraded Chevrolet in GM management's eyes, it made sense to create an upscale LeMans model to add more sales possibly by nicking sales from Buick and Oldsmobile. 

  

This sinister gray coupe is a rare Luxury LeMans Y code two door owned by Mark Carter in Oklahoma.

   The Luxury LeMans model delivered a fancier version of the custom interior with built in reflectors on the door panels, upgraded cloth and vinyl upholstery, added woodgrain trim on the lower dash board for the wiper switch, cigar lighter and defroster switch area. The dash pad got an LLM script on the passenger side instead of a plain 'Pontiac' escutcheon. The exterior received a special three bar grille, extra wide belt moldings, LLM script for the  trunk lid, sail panels and front fenders, a chrome plated front valance for the parking lamps, extra wide trunk lid molding and fancy full hubcaps with the red lucite Pontiac center caps. A set of rear fender skirts was also provided. 

  

Some work has started since Mark bought it. After contacting me, he might change plans towards 
a more stock appearance. We'll see how it goes.

    For drive lines the Luxury LeMans offered a choice of 350 two barrel, 400 2 in two or four barrel form or a 455 4 barrel automatic as the top choice, also known as a Y Code engine or D port 455.This was a 250 hp regular fuel engine designed for pulling power and passing power instead of all out performance. What it provided in torque made up for any perceived lack of horsepower. Backed with a TH400 automatic either on the column or floor shift (console was mandatory option) and a stout series 2 12-bolt carrier packing a 3.31 ring gear.

 

His car sports a/c. power steering and brakes, underhood lamp.

    Production total for Y Code Luxury LeMans is very low. only 71 two door hardtops were made and just 19 four door hardtop LLMs. They did not make convertible LLMs. There can't be many survivors. In fact, I know of at least 2 that have been junked.  Not only did we have the luck of coming across one, it also happens to be superbly optioned with real goodies. How about a bucket seat console car with full Morrokide black vinyl for starters? Let's add a black vinyl top and Starlight Black paint as well. While we're at it, let's make it a two door hard top. That' what owner, Mark  from Oklahoma had to show me. My jaw dropped to the floor when I saw it. Starlight Black paint was special order that year on a LeMans so it's pretty rare to start with. A triple black car just pushes it through the roof.

   This one came with factory air conditioning, electric clock, pedal dress up, power steering, power disc brakes, tinted windows, remote control driver side chrome mirror, console, bucket seats in full morrokide vinyl, tilt steering, woodgrain three spoke steering wheel, under hood lamp, custom seat belts (the rare exploding buckle version) and some kind of stereo. What appears to be there now is aftermarket or possibly some later era GM unit. 1972 cars didn't use the horizontal slider switch above the dial like the 1973 Colonnade models.

    So it was an early build car last week of December from the Atlanta plant. Sold in Oklahoma where owner Mark Carter purchased it near Tulsa recently. It's a low mile survivor car with minimal rust and believed to be the original engine and tranny. It even has the fender skirts after all this time! Mark's plans are starting to change a bit now that he has a better idea what he has. He already was at work on an interior and exterior reno when he discovered this registry and my blog. So welcome, Mark and your LLM Y code hardtop! 

   *Article (C) 2022 PHS Collector Cars Y Code Registry

Factory Correct Series: Dog Dish Hubcap for 1972 LeMans and GTO

                                                                  By: Patrick Smith

 When the 1968 era body was used for one last season in 1972, you'd assume the company would re use some of the 1971 era parts to save money.Carrying a body for five years in a row had more than paid off amortization cost of tooling so there was no need to be thrifty. GM had planned to roll out the all new Colonnade body style for 1972 but a major strike in 1970 lasted so long it pushed back retooling contracts and plant redo for a whole year.

   

  Realizing this GM knew they had to carry their intermediates one more year and to freshen up the looks, invested in new front and rear end treatments, interior and minor trim. The GTO and LeMans was part of this strategy. The base wheel cover from 1970-71 was dropped and a new design with the Pontiac arrowhead prominently displayed in center with a stamped ring around it was the main feature. Note that the arrow head section is within its own raised base with a smaller ring inside. The actual surface area is not a true convex surface as seen in the 1973 style base hubcap. Instead it is slightly domed. This hubcap was a one year only design and had the part number  488630.

    This was the standard hubcap you got when you didn't order any wheel cover or mag wheel option. The PHS invoice will have no wheel code at all, it will be void of any code as the invoice only shows paid for options, not base equipment.  

    Shown above is a New Old Stock item used by Pat Brown for the restoration of his Lucerne Blue 1972 Lemans Sport 455 HO. Brown is a major enthusiast of the 455HO engine (roundport X code) and is the architect behind the correct 455HO air cleaner decal. A piece that has been sorely needed for years.

   Note also the beveled sides of the hubcap for clearing the raised sections of the steel wheel. The 1973 hubcap does not have this as the internal design is different and clears the raised steel wheel edge completely. My car had these 1972 style hubcap centers when new and probably lost them the second the aftermarket Cragar SS mags came into the speed shop. At present no one is reproducing these hubcap centers but the 1970-71 unit is being reproduced. 

    *Article by Patrick Smith  image from Pat Brown. 

       (C) 2022 PHS Collector Cars 1972 GTO LeMans Y Code 

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