Pontiac's new 350 V8 wasn't designed from a blank sheet — it was stitched together from three existing engines, borrowing the 389/400/326's crank stroke and stretching the 326's bore to get there.
Lead trim: LeMans 250 cu in OHC I6 (175 hp, 1968) · up to 330 hp
Pontiac Lemans1968–1972
- 0spots by members
- Unclaimednobody has spotted one yet
- 0sets it belongs to
Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Pontiac Lemans yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactPontiac's new 350 V8 wasn't designed from a blank sheet — it was stitched together from three existing engines, borrowing the 389/400/326's crank stroke and stretching the 326's bore to get there.
The third-generation LeMans (1968–1972) added a four-door Safari station wagon to the Tempest line for 1968 and replaced the 326 with a new 350 cubic-inch V8 (353.8 cu in actual, built from the 3.75 in stroke of the earlier engines with the bore enlarged from 3.72 to 3.875 in), and the OHC six grew from 230 to 250 cubic inches. For 1968 the 350 came in two versions, 265 hp with a two-barrel at 9.2:1 compression and 320 hp with a four-barrel at 10.5:1, while the base six gained 10 hp to 175 hp and the Sprint four-barrel stayed at 215 hp. In 1969 the 350 came as a 265 hp two-barrel and an optional 330 hp four-barrel (the last high-performance version of the Pontiac 350) and the Sprint six was rated at 230 hp with manual transmissions and 215 hp with automatic; the Sprint option and SOHC six were discontinued after 1969 and replaced by a Chevrolet-built 250 cu in OHV six as the base engine from 1970. Wheelbase 112 in for the two-door models. The 1970 model year introduced the LeMans GT-37 package.
Collectors Spotted in the Pontiac Lemans Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Pontiac Lemans yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
5 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LeMans 250 cu in OHC I6 (175 hp, 1968) | 1968–1968 | 4.1 L Inline-6 | 175 hp | 240 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| LeMans 250 cu in OHC I6 Sprint (215 hp, 4-barrel, 1968) | 1968–1968 | 4.1 L Inline-6 | 215 hp | 255 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| LeMans 350 V8 (265 hp, 2-barrel, 1968) | 1968–1968 | 5.7 L V8 | 265 hp | 355 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| LeMans 350 V8 (320 hp, 4-barrel, 1968) | 1968–1968 | 5.7 L V8 | 320 hp | 380 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| LeMans 350 V8 (330 hp, 4-barrel, 1969) | 1969–1969 | 5.7 L V8 | 330 hp | 380 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
Owning one
An estimate, for the LeMans 250 cu in OHC I6 (175 hp, 1968) trim: fuel on its EPA figure and a dated national price, upkeep on a per-mile average for the kind of car it is.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
The Daewoo-built Pontiac LeMans wore three different badges depending where you bought it — Pontiac in the US, Passport Optima in Canada — and its five-speed gearbox was an Opel design built in Japan by Isuzu.
GM and Daewoo announced their joint LeMans factory in January 1984 — political turmoil in South Korea held the car up for four years before it reached American showrooms in 1988.
The 1978 downsizing that remade the LeMans cut 600 to 800 pounds off the car in a single model year — one of GM's most dramatic mid-size diets of the era.
In 1977, Pontiac kept selling the old mid-size LeMans right alongside its all-new, smaller full-size Catalina and Bonneville — a deliberate hedge in case the radical downsizing flopped.
Pontiac's new 350 V8 wasn't designed from a blank sheet — it was stitched together from three existing engines, borrowing the 389/400/326's crank stroke and stretching the 326's bore to get there.
The overhead-cam six under this LeMans's hood was John DeLorean's idea, years before he left to build his own stainless-steel sports car.
The first Pontiac LeMans put its transmission out back next to a four-wheel independent suspension, chasing near-50/50 weight balance on a compact nobody remembers as a handler.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
It briefly served as senior sibling to Marquette, a GM companion brand cancelled after just one year.
Nissan hired former BMW engineers to help develop the 510's suspension, which is why period reviewers frequently compared its handling to the BMW 1600/2002.
A Trabant 601 won its class at the 1970 Monte Carlo Rally, with a second 601 right behind it in second.
The 600 was a stopgap: the P50's body over the 601's mechanicals, and for a while its estate was built alongside the new 601 saloon.
The G80 Sport brought a 370 PS twin-turbo 3.3 V6, a mesh grille and copper-tinted chrome with copper stitching to match.
The Vigor was sold only with a five-cylinder engine, an unusual configuration Honda used to fit a longer engine transversely under a short hood.
The GS/E coupe earned the nickname "German Charger" for its long hood, short deck stance borrowed from Detroit muscle cars.
This DeVille/Fleetwood was the first production car anywhere to mount its V8 sideways, Cadillac's front-drive gamble on the new C-body.