The Grand Safari was Pontiac

Pontiac

Pontiac was an automobile brand that was established in 1926 as a companion make for General Motors' Oakland. Quickly overtaking its parent in popularity, it supplanted the Oakland brand entirely by 1933 and, for most of its life, became a companion make for Chevrolet. Pontiac was sold in the...

's top-of-the-line full-size station wagon

Station wagon

A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

 offered from 1971 to 1978. The Grand Safari used the grille and interior trim of the Bonneville

Pontiac Bonneville

The Pontiac Bonneville was an automobile built by the Pontiac division of General Motors from 1957 to 2005. It was introduced as a limited production performance convertible during the 1957 model year...

 and Grand Ville

Pontiac Grand Ville

The Pontiac Grand Ville was the top-trim model in the division's full-sized line from 1971 to 1975. It displaced the Pontiac Bonneville which had served as Pontiac's top-trim model since 1958....

 passenger car series, and most (but not all) examples were trimmed with woodgrain paneling on the sides and tailgate.

The 1971 to 1976 models, with a 127-inch wheelbase, length of about 19 feet and weight of about 5,400 pounds, were the largest station wagons Pontiac ever built. These wagons were unique in that they had a clamshell tailgate design (officially called the "Glide-Away Tailgate"), in which the power rear window went up into the roof, and the tailgate dropped down into the floor, either manually or with an electric motor. These wagons ran with V8 engines of either 400 or 455 cubic inches.

The 1977 Grand Safari was downsized considerably, with wheelbase cut to 115.9 inches, length to less than 18 feet and weight to just over 4,000 pounds. These wagons thus could run with smaller engines, either a standard 301 or optional 403 V8; a 350 V8 was additionally offered on 1978 models. Replacing the Glide-Away Tailgate was a three-way tailgate not unlike that used on Ford station wagons. In 1979, the Grand Safari's name was changed to Bonneville Safari.

References:

• Encyclopedia of American Cars by Publications International, ISBN: 0-7853-6275-4
• Standard Catalog of Pontiac 1926-1995 by Krause Publications, ISBN: 0-87341-369-5