72 Lemans ?

[tom406]

My Dad bought a '72 LeMans GT new. It was orange with a solid black (reflective) stripe down the side. Endura front end, scooped hood, and air extractors in both front fenders, just like his buddy's silver '72 GTO, which was purchased around the same time. But the goat had a floor shifted 400 motor, my parents GT was a column shifted 350 2bbl. I still remember how upset I was when my dad got whitewall radials mounted on the Rally II's to replace the original worn-out Polyglas GT's. (Even at age 6 I knew that Polyglas GT's looked "right").

My only other vivid recollections are that quality control wasn't too hot (decklid only had a "G" where it should have been "GT" in black decals) and that Minnesota salted winters weren't too kind to the old girl by the time he sold it for $500 around 1980.

Also, another friend bought a brown '72 LeMans within weeks of the other two cars, and as a toddler car nut I marveled how they all had different stripes down the sides.