I was reading an article in a recent issue of Collectible Automobile magazine on the badge-engineered cousins of the Chevrolet Nova: the Oldsmobile Omega, Pontiac Ventura II, and Buick Apollo. The Pontiac, in particular always, seemed like a curious artifact to me because it arguably didn’t resemble a Pontiac aside from the split grille.
This article made me realize that the Ventura II somewhat predicted what was to come for the 1973 LeMans. While the 1971-72 Ventura II front end bears little resemblance to what Pontiac was producing at the time (the issue that I have), I can see the resemblance to the redesigned 1973 LeMans, especially in the parking lights and single headlights.
Interestingly, for 1973, Pontiac introduced a fiberglass front panel and grille for the Ventura (the “II” was dropped) ordered with the sporty Sprint package. Pontiac claimed in the Ventura brochure that the revised front-end styling was influenced by its pony car (“remind you of a Firebird?”). Sometime during the 1973 model year, this front end was made a $38.00 option for the Ventura independent of the Sprint package. Interestingly, the option shared the same T41 ordering code as the Endura option for the 1971-72 LeMans.
This nose was implemented across the board for all 1974 Venturas.
So, irony of ironies, the Pontiac that foreshadowed styling for another model ended up being influenced by another Pontiac several years later!
