Pontiac did some shuffling of nameplates in 1971 with the Grand Ville being added to replace the Bonneville as their top-of-the-line full-size automobile. The Bonneville was still around but dropped down a notch to take over for the Executive. In 1974 you could still get the Grand Ville as a convertible, the next-to-last-year before Pontiac would get out of that business (at least for a time). Located in Seattle, Washington, this gigantic drop-top doesn’t run but is available here on craigslist for $4,000.

Because the Grand Ville was the “top dog”, it came with Pontiac’s largest engine, the 455 cubic inch V8 (until 1975 when it was offered with a 400 in the nameplate’s last year). Pontiac produced exactly 3,000 of them as convertibles in 1974. The GM division went on to build 4,500 more copies in 1975 before dropping the body style. In 1976, only Cadillac would peddle a GM ragtop, and they got out of the business, too, in 1977 when all of GM’s big cars were downsized.

The seller describes this “Poncho” as a barn find and that structure is in the photos to prove it. It was listed as the Catalina model, but the badges say otherwise. From the looks of things, the Grand Ville has been sitting for a while (notice what appears to be mildew on the convertible boot). It’s also described as a project and we wouldn’t be surprised if the car’s time in the barn brought along some corrosion (there’s also a hole in the trunk floor, though we don’t know why).

The white interior may be okay when cleaned up (but the steering wheel is broken) and the seller suggests a new top is needed (we see no photos of it in the up position and we hope it was to help keep critters out of the interior). The large Pontiac has been repainted, but we don’t know if the original color was kept. There’s no indication of what it will take to get the big displacement V8 and automatic transmission going again. But after 50 years, how many of these Grand Ville convertibles could be left? A few hundred at best?