General Motors G platform (RWD)


The General Motors G platform was an automobile platform designation used for mid-sized rear-wheel drive cars. It made its first appearance from the 1969 to 1972 model years, adapted from GM's A-body, and reappeared from 1982 to 1988. The second series of G-bodies began production designated as A-body cars in 1978, but were redesignated as G-body when the new front-wheel drive A-body platform was introduced in 1982.

Use

The G-body designation was originally used for the 1969–1972 Pontiac Grand Prix and 1970–1972 Chevrolet Monte Carlo personal luxury cars, which rode on longer wheelbases than A-body coupes.
For 1973, the Grand Prix and Monte Carlo were related to the A-body line, with all formal-roof A-body coupes designated as A-Special. These special coupes included the Monte Carlo, Grand Prix, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, and Buick Regal.
For the 1982 model year, GM introduced a new front-wheel drive A platform for its mid-size car lines. The rear-wheel drive platform that had been in use since 1978 was re-designated as the G platform, and select models remained in production. The Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac LeMans coupes were dropped; on sedans and wagons the LeMans nameplate continued only in Canada while the formerly full-size Bonneville replaced it in the U.S. 1983 was the last year for the Malibu sedan and all station wagons, leaving the G-Special coupes; Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac formal-roof sedans; and the Chevrolet El Camino/GMC Caballero. For 1988, most remaining G-body models were moved to the new front-wheel drive W platform. The Pontiac Bonneville had been moved to the H platform for 1987, the El Camino was dropped without a replacement, and there would be a one-year gap before the W-body Chevrolet Lumina coupe replaced the Monte Carlo. GM later used the G-body designation for unrelated full-sized front-wheel drive cars.
The G-bodies were some of the last cars to follow the front-engine, large V8 and rear-wheel drive muscle car formula, remaining popular while most mid-sized cars moved to front-wheel drive. They were also among the last production-based vehicles raced in NASCAR. NASCAR regulations continued to stipulate production body parts until 2003, but since most of the vehicles that bodies were derived from during this period had a transverse front-wheel drive layout, the drivetrain and all running gear were either custom-built or sourced from other models.

Vehicles

This family consisted of:

Performance variants

Performance applications included: