In 2000, High Performance Pontiac magazine featured a wide-ranging interview with Bill Porter, chief designer at the GM Design Center, and studio chief at Pontiac Styling through 1979, the meat of development years for the second-generation Pontiac Firebird. By the time he’d worked his way up to studio chief, he said, the first-generation Firebird was just about wrapped up. “I never identified with that car personally,” he said. “But that ’70½ second-generation Firebird was another story altogether. I was absolutely crazy about that car from day one and I really threw myself into it. I put the best designers on it, and we were consciously trying to create an important American sports car. We knew we had our chance, and we wanted to do it bad.”

They did, and it was bad, in the best sense of the term. With the exception of the Corvette, the Trans Am and the Formula 400 were the baddest street cars available at that time, cramming high-horsepower 400-cubic-inch V-8s into a platform built to turn as well as it took off in a straight line. The Camaro was tough enough, but the Pontiac Firebird—with its own interior and exterior design staff and engineering teams—kept Pontiac on the map during some exceedingly grim years in the 1970s.

Of course, the Trans Am and Formula 400 get the attention, but lower-trim cars like the Esprit were massively popular. Long before Burt Reynolds drove a Trans Am in 1977, Jim Rockford put a series of brown Esprits in millions of American living rooms. Sales commensurately took off and stayed elevated throughout the entire decade, almost until the very end of production.

From the beginning, the Firebird was a driver’s car, and not just for drivers of the hot-performing trim levels. It went right down to the base car, and everybody involved with the Firebird’s production wanted to deliver a holistic driving experience.

Good ergonomics, for example, were a Firebird standard feature in every trim level. “Too many people cling to the notion that the inside of a sports car—especially a low-budget sports car—is a wind-in-the-face, knees-in-the-chest, pain-in-the-neck,” read the promotional material. Even the back seat gets a mention for its overall comfort, comparing its relative spaciousness to international sports cars that considered the rear seat an afterthought better suited for bag lunches than human occupation.

The basic shapes of the interior were similar to the Camaro, but as Porter mentioned in his interview, there was a unique synergy between the inside and the outside of a second-gen Firebird that might have been a bit lacking in the Chevrolet. “One of the design approaches pioneered in the ’70½ F-car and that’s coming into the industry in a more widespread way is the integration of the interior and exterior,” he said.

John Shettler designed the interior of the Firebird to mimic shapes that were used on the outside of the car. “I actually had templates taken off the grille openings and the nose profile,” said Porter. “John used those for the seatback shapes, the instrument panel cowl shapes . . . so that the exact same curves were used through the interior and exterior of the car. When you open the door of a Firebird, there is—I would like to think—a subliminal sense of the unity of the interior and exterior.”

John DeLorean—at the time general manager of the Pontiac Division—exerted his own influence on the interior design. “[I]f your hand didn’t fall right where it should’ve been when you reached for the shifter, or maybe for a switch, [DeLorean] and Johnny [Shettler] would talk about it, make modifications and try again,” said Porter. “Everyone involved with that vehicle wanted it to be really good, not only from a performance standpoint, but from an ergonomic standpoint.”

Like all cars of the era, the Firebird was challenged by increasing restrictions from the EPA and corporate mandates, by inflation, and by the general malaise that overtook the country, but it simply didn’t seem to hurt what most Americans considered to be a fun, good-looking mode of daily transportation. Especially in the early years of production, it wasn’t the Trans Am or the Formula 400 that kept customers flowing into Pontiac showrooms. From 1970 to 1976, it was the Esprit and the base trim Firebird that represented the largest sales volumes. That’s kind of fascinating for a car that has long been synonymous with the excess of the era.

1970

Depending upon who you talk to, the second-gen Firebird was a 1970 or a 1970½. Porter talks about the half-year, but the brochure clearly identifies it as a 1970. Regardless, the Camaro and Firebird debuted within a day of each other, on February 25 and February 26, 1970.

Like the Camaro, these cars were built at the Norwood, Ohio, and Van Nuys, California, plants. Later in the production run—from ’72 to ’77—Norwood exclusively built Firebirds. Cars built in Norwood will have an “N” in the fourth digit of the VIN from 1970 to 1971, in the sixth digit of the VIN from 1972 to 1980, and in the ninth digit in 1981, when the 17-digit VIN finally arrived. Van Nuys cars will all have an “L” (for Los Angeles) in the same positions.

Pontiac offered four trim levels in 1970: The “basic Firebird,” as identified in the sales brochure, the Esprit, the Formula 400, and the Trans Am.

“Economy is what the basic Firebird is all about,” read the copy, leaning on the car’s overall value proposition rather than its performance. The Endura nose, for example, is called out for its long-lasting resistance to dents and chips and its imperviousness to rust. The long door with no rear quarter window is identified for ease of access to the rear seat.

The base car sadly avoided the Pontiac-specific overhead-cam straight-six in favor of Chevrolet’s 250-cubic-inch six, though a Pontiac-specific 350-cid V-8 was available. Horsepower jumped from 155 in the six to 255 in the V-8, with the larger engine putting out an impressive 355 lb-ft of torque. It made a base 1970 Firebird with a 350 and a Hurst-shifted four-speed a smoking bargain.

The Esprit was marketed as a “luxury” Firebird, but not at the expense of performance. “We never let luxury get in the way of sport,” read the promotional materials. “You won’t find anything frivolous or wasteful about Esprit’s kind of luxury.” And you won’t, especially through a modern lens. “Luxury” includes things like knit vinyl upholstery (along with straight vinyl and cloth options), an available console, storage pockets in the doors, and “soft, squeezable vinyl” wrapping the wheel. Even in the “luxurious” Esprit, power steering was still an option, but you did get chrome window opening trim, and a 15/16-inch front stabilizer bar.

A differentiator from the Camaro was the fact that the Esprit was only available with a V-8 engine, either the base 350 or a 265-horse 400-cid V-8 with almost 400 lb-ft of torque. You could buy an Esprit with a manual transmission, but only the three-speed, and only with the 350. The Esprit with a 400 came exclusively with a TH350 automatic.

In nearly every way, the Formula 400 may have been the best car in the Firebird lineup for 1970. With its lack of spoilers, side scoops, and tape stripes, the Formula is a much cleaner design, hewing close to the car’s original sketches and avoiding nearly all identifying markers except for the fender callouts. The brochure called the styling “almost stark.” Dual exhaust, a flexible fan, fat front and rear stabilizer bars, and F70-14 tires were all part of the trim level.

The Firebird 400 featured—as the name implies—the 400-cid V-8, delivering 330 hp and 430 lb-ft of torque. The 400 could also be had with the 345-horse Ram Air III package (the same engine was rated at 366 hp in the GTO), though fewer than 700 were so-equipped. The Hurst-shifted three-speed was the base transmission, with a four-speed or an automatic transmission on the options list. The optional Ram Air twin-snorkel hood scoop was a particular bone of contention for Bill Porter. “I always kind of wished the double-scooped hood that became the Formula hood—originally done for the Trans Am—would have prevailed [as the hood for the Trans Am] because it’s functionally superior,” he said. “Those twin boundary scoops up front really gulp in the air.”

Top shelf was the Trans Am, with its spoilers, air extractors, and shaker scoop, all of which was functional. The 345-horse Ram Air III came standard in the T/A, while the 370-horse Ram Air IV 400 was an option that only 88 buyers took advantage of. The stabilizer bars are the thickest available for 1970, with 1¼-inch up front and 7/8-inch in the rear. Heavy-duty shocks, Rally II wheels without trim rings, and F70-15s rounded out the handling package.

There were 15 color options in 1970, and that year, Pontiac produced 18,874 base Firebirds, 18,961 Esprits, 7708 Formulas, and just 3196 Trans Ams. Watch that Trans Am number between now and 1979, because it goes through some wild fluctuations.

1971

The biggest news for 1971 was in the engine room of the Formula and Trans Am trims. The Formula now offered the two-barrel 350 and a four-barrel 400, and the cars were identified as “Formula 350” and “Formula 400.” Then there was the Formula 455, which shared the 455-cubic inch V-8 with the Trans Am. Compression ratios had dropped across the board, but the 455 was available in two flavors: The four-barrel 455 delivered 255 net horsepower (though gross horsepower was still listed in the brochure), with 455 lb-ft of torque. Then there was the 455 HO, with 305 net horsepower and a Wide Oval–boiling 480 lb-ft of torque.

Several trim items were revised, too, including fake side air extractors all the way down to the base Firebird, a new console-like armrest with an ashtray between the rear seats, and new Polycast honeycomb wheels. Bill Porter designed those himself, with the help of Maurice “Bud” Chandler, with whom Porter shares a patent. “It was inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes that I had admired since I was a student,” said Porter. “The idea of doing a wheel with a deep cell structure that would be inherently strong, not only radially but laterally, was intriguing.” Porter’s intent was to make the wheels completely aluminum, but that never made it to production. Instead, they were Polycast, “much to my regret,” said Porter. “In the Polycast approach, all of the structural requirements are taken care of by the underlying stamped steel wheel. The honeycomb pattern—now an injection molded appliqué—merely goes along for the ride, reduced to just so much pastry icing, only there for its decorative pattern.”

For 1971, again, 15 colors were available. Pontiac produced 23,021 Firebirds, 20,185 Esprits, 7802 Formulas in all three engine sizes, and 2116 Trans Ams.

1972

The Firebird underwent some exterior changes in 1972, including a new honeycomb grille pattern that mirrored the design of the Polycast wheels. Inside, the front seats all featured a new high-back design, the third consecutive year the front bucket seat design changed. In 1970, the low-back seats had small individual headrests. In 1971, the seat backs got slightly taller and the headrests left. And for 1972, the headrest was fully integrated into the high-back design, which would essentially carry through until the end of second-generation Firebird production.

Power outputs took it on the chin across the board, with the 250-cubic-inch six dropping to 110 hp, the 350 two-barrel to 160 hp, the 400 two-barrel to 175, and the 400 four-barrel to 250 hp. The standard 455 in the Formula 455 and Trans Am was eliminated for 1972, focusing solely on the HO, which dropped to 300 hp and 415 lb-ft of torque. (Some of the change in output coincided with the switch from SAE gross to SAE net calculations.)

The VIN code change for 1972 is significant. Prior to 1972, the only engine identification in the VIN was that V-8 cars had serial numbers starting at 100001, and six-pluggers started at 600001. From 1972 through 1980, the VINs got much more specific, helping future owners understand the DNA profile of their Firebirds. These letter designations change through the years, though they are fairly consistent for the next three model years. For a more explicit breakdown, visit PontiacFormula.Free.fr:

• D = 250-cid
• M = 350-cid 2-barrel, single exhaust
• N = 350-cid 4-barrel, dual exhaust
• P = 400-cid 2-barrel, dual exhaust
• R = 400-cid 4-barrel, single exhaust
• T = 400-cid 4-barrel, dual exhaust
• X = 455-cid HO 4-barrel, dual exhaust

Fifteen colors were again available in 1972. Thanks to a UAW strike, this is the lowest-production year for the second-generation Firebird, with just 12,000 base cars, 11,415 Esprits, 5250 Formulas, and a scant 1286 Trans Ams.

1973

It’s interesting to consider just how far ahead Pontiac was with the Firebird compared to the Camaro. Over at Chevrolet, there was hustling afoot to make the split bumper comply with new 2.5-mph crash requirements. The second-generation Firebird was born with it, thanks to the Endura bumper, which required no design changes to comply, regardless of trim level. The slender rear bumpers were beefed up a bit, but still chrome.

Inside, the Esprit got a “Custom Interior” as standard, with deeply scooped bucket seats, a grab handle on the dash for the passenger, rear ashtrays, a fitted rubber trunk mat, and a body-color insert on the exterior door handles. The Custom Interior package was optional on the Formula and Trans Am.

And most notably, the exterior of the Trans Am featured—for the first time—the bird decal on the hood that had been an emblem and a small decal in prior years. Porter said he sketched it roughly on a napkin and had intended it for the 1970 Trans Am. Norm Inouye—who later attained greater fame for designing the logo for Disney’s EPCOT Center—worked out the graphics, and Porter had it applied on two concept cars. “[GM styling chief Bill] Mitchell saw it in the paint shop and just went into one of his horrible tantrums. I was back in the studio. He called me up and I had to hold the phone away from my ear. That was the end of that,” said Porter.

But three years later, designer John Schinella had another bite at the apple. Schinella had worked on the Chaparral 2, the Mako Shark II, the ’67 Camaro, and the ’68 Corvette, before making his way to Pontiac. In a 2014 interview I conducted with Schinella for Bangshift.com, Schinella shared that Mitchell was driving a Trans Am in custom John Player Special livery that had been a show car. Schinella had a set of gold foil decals made up, applied them to the John Player Special car Mitchell was driving, and parked it outside Mitchell’s office. Evidently, that was enough to seal the deal for the hood bird to reach production.

Power reset again for 1973, with a paltry 100 hp for the inline-six, 150 for the 350 two-barrel, 170 for the 400 two-barrel, and 230 for the 400 four-barrel. The 455 HO disappeared, and in its place were the 455 four-barrel with 250 hp, and—one of the last significant muscle car–era engines—the 455 Super Duty with 310 hp.

A choice of 16 colors provided the most extensive palette to date, and seven vinyl top colors expanded the range as well. Five interior colors were available, but only two were available in cloth trim. Production picked back up to more normal levels, with 14,096 Firebirds, 17,249 Esprits, 10,166 Formulas, and 4802 Trans Ams.

1974

The 5-mph federal bumper standards came into effect for the 1974 model year, and it changed the nose of the second-generation Firebird for the first time. As a result, the Endura bumper morphed into something that was much more in line with the design of the Camaro.

The bumper itself is interesting and unique to the Firebird. Instead of the aluminum bumper that the Camaro had, the Firebird got a full rubber bumper, along with bumperettes that were all cast in one giant rubber piece. A body-color Endura chin piece covered most of it and provided the housings for the lower air intakes and marker lights.

Inside, seat belts changed to a three-point design, which moved through a seat-mounted holder, along with an inertia reel.

Power steering moved to the standard features list for all Firebirds, while power brakes became standard on the Trans Am. The fuel tank increased from 18 gallons to 21. Mechanical changes also included the late introduction of HEI ignition on the 400 and 455 engines, beginning around May 1, 1974. The balance of the engines kept their points distributors.

Sixteen colors made up the paint options. Production ramped in a big way, with 26,372 Firebirds, 22,583 Esprits, 14,519 Formulas, and Trans Ams broke the five-digit mark for the first time, with 10,255 units.

1975

The HEI distributor made its way to all Firebirds for the 1975 model year, and that’s probably the only positive news for performance. It was part of what the brochure pitched as “The Pontiac Travel Plan,” which included radial tires and a catalytic converter. The 455 bowed out, and the Trans Am instead featured a 400 four-barrel just like the Formula.

There were only minor exterior updates again, including the ever-moving marker lamps, which now moved up to the grille inserts. Like the Camaro, this was the year the Firebird got a wraparound rear window for better visibility, made more crucial because of the high-back bucket seats.

The brochure shows a new AM/FM stereo as an option, along with infant and child love seats (GM-branded baby seats), which were a first-time option for the Firebird. Again, 16 colors were available, but black was not one of them. Production dipped slightly to 22,293 Firebirds, 20,826 Esprits, 13,670 Formulas, and—in what would now be a relentless march skyward for the next four years—27,274 Trans Ams.

1976

Most of the changes for 1976 were cosmetic, but they seem rather dramatic in some cases. Take the Formula, for example: The twin scoop hood was still there, but it was drastically scaled back for 1976, with the two nostrils almost vestigial and moved back at least 10 inches on the hood.

Two full model years before the Camaro had them, the Firebird sported monochrome bumper covers rather than the aluminum bumper employed over at Chevrolet. It made the Firebird look much more modern, and it provided some interesting color contrast between the standard Firebird and the Formula, which now had more elaborate lower colors and graphics. The “Canopy” vinyl roof was new for 1976, essentially a reverse landau top with the vinyl over the front passenger compartment.

Hurst T-Tops were available for the first time in 1976, a late-enough option that they didn’t make the brochure that year. They were only available on the 1976 Trans Am Special Edition and had unique, one-year-only weatherstripping that both sealed the T-Tops and held up the headliner. The design changed in 1977 to a plastic trim held in with a series of screws. The Hurst T-Tops used between 1976 and 1978 were smaller—only 30¼ inches x 17½ inches wide—and left a foot of roof between the two panels.

In the engine room, things carried on pretty much as before, with a 250-cubic-inch inline-six as the standard in the Firebird, with a jump up to a 350 as an option. Formulas had a TH350 automatic as standard equipment, which was optional on all other trims.

There were 14 colors for 1976. This was the first year when Trans Am production really started to raise some eyebrows. The Firebird still sold respectably at 21,209 units, with another 22,252 for the Esprit. The Formula still sold well at 20,613, but the Trans Am massively outpaced all other Firebird trims at 46,701 cars.

1977

You can make arguments for the merits of Firebird design prior to 1977, but this is the Trans Am that everyone remembers, thanks to the second-most popular movie that year behind Star Wars. For the first time, the Trans Am was the halo car, showcased prominently on the cover and the opening spread of the Pontiac brochure.

The biggest obvious change was the nose, with a phoenix-like beak, and four DOT-certified rectangular  headlamps, set deep into the grille. The front fascia is one continuous piece, and it set the stage for more elaborate soft bumper covers to come. Incredibly, this icon of Pontiac design was around for just two years before it underwent a significant change in 1979.

The initial 1977 Trans Ams had shaker scoops that were recessed a bit into the hood, before a design change made the scoop more prominent later in the production year. Formulas also got another revision to their twin-nostril scoops, which moved them from the center of the hood to the leading edge, for a more aggressive look. Formulas and Trans Ams both shared the iconic chrome quad exhaust outlets.

Wheel and wheel cover designs changed as well, with Trans Ams using the Rally II as the base offering, while new cast aluminum wheels to replace the old honeycombs were available on all trim levels. Firebird, Esprit, and Formula all had a spoked wheel cover available as an option, a tragedy for any Formula.

Sadly, the lesser Firebirds really started to get pushed to the back of the line, though they did have their own redesign for 1977. With it came the all-new 3.8-liter Buick V-6, years before the Camaro would finally move away from the mid-1960s–era 250 as the base engine. The Buick 3.8-liter was as good here as it was in the rest of GM’s lineup, providing 105 hp and 185 lb-ft of torque. For the first time, the Esprit would start out with a six-cylinder as the base engine.

The Formula also got serious engine revisions, including an all-new Pontiac 301-cubic-inch two-barrel V-8 as the base engine, which providied 130 hp. That engine was optional on both the Firebird and the Esprit, along with an Oldsmobile 350 with a four-barrel that was available on all three lower trims. A Chevy 305 would come in later as well. The larger engine options in the Formula and Trans Am got even more busy. The 180-horse L78 400 Pontiac engine was available only with an automatic and was visually identified by the “6.6 Litre” on the Trans Am’s shaker scoop. The hotter 200-horse W72, denoted by the “T/A 6.6” on the scoop, was available with a manual or automatic. California and high-altitude locations got a 403-cubic-inch Oldsmobile V-8 rated at 185 hp.

New for 1977 was the Sky Bird, which was an appearance package only available on the Esprit. It featured blue velour seats, two-tone blue paint, cast aluminum wheels with unique blue-painted inserts, a dark blue rear panel, blue grille panels, and accent stripes.

Colors became more limited in 1977, with just 13 offered. All sales ticked up in 1977: The Firebird sold 30,642 cars, the Esprit 34,548, and the Formula 21,801, while Trans Am sales grew to 68,745.

1978

Styling didn’t change much at all, with a gold Trans Am stealing the show on the cover and the first spread in the brochure. There were slight revisions, with the grille surrounds in black, but otherwise, the design went essentially unchanged.

The T-Tops were still the Hurst design, featuring screwed-in plastic pieces that held up the headliner. Continuing through the interior, cruise control appeared on the options list. The radios included a new AM/FM stereo with a digital readout, though it was still an analog tuner.

Power increased on the W72 6.6-liter V-8 to 220 horses, making it the engine to have. Some sources note that it was partway through the ’78 model year that the automatic ceased to be available with the W72.

While the Camaro offered just nine colors, the Firebird palette grew to 14. Sales for 1978 saw growth across the board, with the Firebird at 32,672, Esprit at 36,926, Formula at 24,346, and the Trans Am at a staggering 93,341 units.

1979

Depending on who you ask, 1979 might be the last year for the “real” second-generation Trans Am. It marked the end of 400-cubic inch V-8 production.

The basic shape was unchanged, but it was bookended by radically different front and rear fascias. The front was a return to something similar to the Endura nose, a rubberized nose cover unbroken by anything but low-mounted grille openings with the marker lights at the outside edges, and four headlamp buckets. The nose design was shared throughout the Firebird lineup, with the exception of the Trans Am’s chin spoiler.

At the rear, the pads on the bumpers mirrored the design of the grille up front. Replacing the individual taillamps was a full-width red panel that hid the fuel filler and incorporated the lights, predating designs that used full-width LED lamps by 40 years.

The 10th Anniversary Trans Am was a bona fide hit, with a ton of unique features that had never been available before, including mirrored T-Tops, leather seats, and a hood bird that reached the front fenders for the first time. These cars had their own unique X87 VIN code and only one option: The Olds 403 with an automatic, or the Pontiac 400 with the four-speed. Base price was a hefty $10,620, or nearly $46,000 in 2024 dollars.

If there’s one thing to take note of for 1979, it’s that it was all Trans Am. The Formula Firebird rated exactly one picture in the Pontiac brochure. The Esprit and Firebird none at all, though the Esprit did have a special package in the Red Bird, which replaced the Sky Bird. It was essentially the same idea but red instead of blue.

Mechanical changes were few but presaged what was coming in 1980: For the first time, the Trans Am was available with a small-block V-8, the 301 that was optional in the standard Firebird. High-altitude cars were available for the last time with a Chevrolet 350, and California was only offered the optional 305.

There was also the addition of four-wheel disc brakes as part of the WS6 package, which included fat stabilizer bars and wide 8-inch wheels. The big issue was the take rate on the package, which caused supply chain issues and resulted in Pontiac offering a WS7 package that included everything but the brakes.

The T/A was so immensely popular in 1979 that the last page of the brochure featured a pitch for a limited-edition 20 x 50-inch poster of the car, which was available for $2. Again, 14 colors were offered, and 1979 marked the most popular year ever for the nameplate: Pontiac sold 38,642 Firebirds and 30,852 Esprits (the first year that trim level had seen a dip since 1975). The Formula managed to hold steady at 24,851 cars. For Trans Am sales, though, hold onto your hats: 117,108 cars were produced, a number it would never come close to again.

1980

The Turbo Trans Am got a bad rap in its day, but it’s actually a more exciting car than most people thought in 1980. That year’s 301 wasn’t the run-of-the-mill engine that it had been in years prior. The block was beefier, along with the head gasket and pistons, and there was a high-pressure oil pump. The turbocharger was electronically controlled and was shipped over to Pontiac from Buick, which knew a thing or two about turbocharging. The Garrett TBO-305 delivered 9 psi of boost and used a modified Q-Jet four-barrel and a knock sensor, just like the early T-Type from Buick. (Imagine what might have happened if the second-gen had hung around long enough to steal the Grand National’s later setup . . .)

The engine delivered 210 hp, which wasn’t much to get excited about, but torque was respectable at 345 lb-ft. Sadly, this engine was crying out for a manual but only got an automatic, with a 3.08 rear gear to boot. That put the kibosh on any enthusiasm for the car, as did the 17.02-second quarter-mile that Car and Driver reported that year.

The other major intro for 1980 was the Indy Pace Car, 5700 of which were built in Cameo White with gray details. The Esprit had one more trick up its sleeve with the Yellow Bird appearance package, which continued the legacy of the Sky Bird and Red Bird before it.

This was also the first full year of the Fisher T-Top, which replaced the Hurst T-Tops that required cars be shipped out to Hurst for modification. Now they were built right at Fisher Body, and the modified design addressed a few issues. First, instead of having two latches at front and rear, the Fisher T-Tops had just one latch, with pins at the front and rear that extended into matching holes in the roof. They were also 3 inches longer, stretching back to match the side window opening. And they were each 5 inches wider, leaving a narrow strip of just 4 inches of steel roof between the two panels. If there’s anything truly improved about the 1980 model year, it’s the T-Top design.

Pontiac offered 15 colors in 1980. The Firebird’s sales glory came to an end that year, with every trim level seeing significant drops. The Firebird sold 29,811 units. The Esprit dropped to 17,277, and the Formula was barely on life support, with 9,356 cars sold, less than half of the year before. The Trans Am fared not much better, with a total of 50,896 cars, a year-to-year drop of significantly more than 50 percent.

1981

In its final year, the Firebird was virtually unchanged, except for the deletion of the Indy Pace Car and the Yellow Bird trim package. The Pontiac brochure squeezed the entire Firebird lineup in between the Phoenix and the Bonneville. It did manage to feature Burt Reynolds in the main spread, atop a black Turbo Trans Am, and next to a Formula.

The biggest revision was the standard Computer Command Control emissions system, an ECU that monitored fuel mixture, throttle position, and transmission performance, since the computer controlled the new lockup torque converter. There were 14 colors available in the final year. Sales took another massive dip in 1981, with just 20,541 Firebirds, 10,938 Esprits, a paltry 5927 Formulas, and 33,493 Trans Ams produced.

Before Inspection

If you’re hunting for one of these cars, you’ve got a lifetime worth of resources for figuring out every possible nut and bolt. Note that most of those resources are going to be focused on the Trans Am and to a lesser extent the Formula, and not necessarily the six-cylinder cars, the Esprits, or the odd trim packages like the Sky Bird. For the most part, though, many of those same resources for everything from headliners to wheel covers will transfer.

FirebirdNation is an excellent forum, with more information in one site than we could possibly add to this document. Check out the sticky topics at the top of the forum, which focus on things like paint colors, fabric types, how to adjust door glass, and where you can find whatever parts you may be looking for.

As with the Camaro, VINs in these cars changed three times during production, so be aware that the information encoded in those VINs will change depending upon the year. There’s a good VIN decoder at Classic Industries.

F-Body Warehouse is a parts supplier specializing in Firebird and Camaro restoration. Their video on what to look for when buying a second-gen Firebird—specifically a Trans Am, but it applies across the trim levels—doesn’t have Ingmar Bergman–level production quality, but the information within is solid and a must-see before you decide to look at one of these cars.

Rust is going to be your biggest concern. It can quickly turn a half-decent prospect into something that’s not much better than a parts car when areas like frames, floors, trunk pans, fenders, rockers, window pinchwelds, and firewalls are rusted beyond reasonable repair. Keep in mind that while these cars do have an excellent aftermarket, the cost for parts and labor to set a car like this right is going to be expensive.

These cars were built in the same two plants as the Camaro, so build sheets will likely be in the same locations—that is, all over the place. They could be tucked under the package shelf, under carpets on the transmission tunnel, over gloveboxes, under the front seat springs, under the rear seat backs, or on top of the fuel tank.

The cowl tags are also a vital source of information. Trans Am Country has good information on cowl tags, from their location to their contents to why it should be considered an international war crime to swap a tag.

Unfortunately, the GM Heritage Center has no information on these cars at all, so you won’t find order guides, brochures, or sales documentation the way you do for a Chevrolet (or a Geo, inexplicably.) All of that information is now with PHS Historical Services, which will sell you a full report on your car based on its VIN for $95 via email in four to five days, or $125 for a rush turnaround.

Before You Buy

When you’re considering what you’ll have to put into a potential project, know that there really isn’t a part that you can’t source through one of the major suppliers. And some of these aftermarket suppliers are dedicated to nothing but cars from Pontiac, like Ames Performance Engineering. They’re probably the best place to start for technical advice and sourcing. Start with the PDF version of the Firebird catalog. Other suppliers, like Classic Industries, Year One, Classic Muscle, and National Parts Depot, can fill in the gaps. You may need to hunt for highly specific things. For example, the folks at Restore-a-Muscle Car have successfully 3D printed the T-Top headliner trim we mentioned earlier. But the good news is, it’s not like owning a second-generation Buick Riviera, where the only parts available are in a junkyard.

Mechanical components for the Chevy 250, the Buick 3.8-liter, the Pontiac 350, the Pontiac 400, the Olds 400, and the Pontiac 455 are all readily available. F-Body Warehouse even has a number of restoration parts for the 301. Transmissions and rear differentials are plentiful, no matter which example your Firebird came with.

The best car to buy is wildly subjective. Most people are going to be interested in the Trans Ams throughout the build history, but you can have a lifetime’s worth of entertainment with a 1973 Esprit with a 350 and save yourself a boatload of money in the process. Cars like the Sky, Red, or Yellow Birds add an extra element of rarity with period-correct luxury touches, ensuring you’ll never find a duplicate of yours at a local car show.

What to Pay

Since the middle of 2021, median #2 (good) value is up a little more than 20 percent, with even more growth for the Super Duty, though prices stabilized and have been flat for about a year, according to the Hagerty Price Guide, #2 values range from $11,400 for a 1981 Firebird with a 120-hp V-6 to $165,000 for the aforementioned Super Duty. As always, get the latest valuation data from Hagerty by clicking here.

According to Hagerty’s data, it almost doesn’t matter what year of Trans Am you choose, a #1 (concours) example will be expensive. The 1970 and 1973 Trans Ams with the largest engines and four-speed manual transmissions push up over the $200,000 mark, with the best of the rest still fetching around $60K. On the other end of the economic spectrum, there are deals to be had if you don’t necessarily want to go fast. Driver-class 1980 base Firebirds and Esprits with a 350-cid V-8 and an automatic can be had for less than $13,000, and the 301-powered cars are even more affordable.

The count of insurance quotes sought for these cars has remained even in the last year, but the Firebird—in all trim levels—is the sixth-most popular vehicle in Hagerty’s database. Gen X quotes a fairly stunning 40 percent of second-generation Firebirds, even though that cohort makes up a 32 percent share of the market. Right behind them, boomers quote 34 percent of the second-gen cars, about even with their share of the market. Millennials quote 17 percent of second-gen F-bodies, with an even smaller share of the market at 21 percent. Gen Z quotes 8 percent of F-body examples, and comprises exactly the same percentage of the overall market.

Bookended by the memorable blue-and-white early Ram Air cars and the Bandit-era black-and-gold Trans Ams, all of Pontiac’s second-gen Firebirds have come to epitomize the charm of 1970s American iron. Whether you go understated or full bird, this Pontiac delivers plenty of character.

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It may be hard to believe for car lovers of a certain age, but in the mid-’70s the personal luxury car was king. As popular then as combovers (oops, I meant crossovers) are today. Yes, indeed. As unusual as it may seem today, families with kids bought these midsized coupes—with super long hoods, frequently small back seats, and rampant Broughamage—as normal family cars.

And in 1976 you were spoiled for choice. Except that at General Motors you had four attractive specialty coupes, based on the workaday midsize chassis. But these coupes rode on the 116-inch wheelbase of the normal four-door models, all the more to stretch that hood, Dorothy!

First up was the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which I fondly nicknamed Monte Cristos. The ’76 Monte added the briefly trendy vertically-stacked quad rectangular headlamps, but otherwise it was pretty similar to the ’75 version.

In fact, ALL of the ’76 PLCs got the quad rectangular headlights; it may seem simple today, but it was a big deal back then. Everyone rushed to add them to their model lineups. And so the Grand Prix also got them, replacing the neoclassically-inspired dual round headlamps that graced the 1973–75 versions.

Further up the GM hierarchy, you could also get the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and Supreme Brougham, as well as the Buick Regal. I’ve already waxed nostalgically on the Cutlass—a favorite of my childhood—and will write about a Regal one of these days, but let’s get back to our featured Pontiac, shall we?

The ’76 GP and only slightly facelifted ’77 are among my favorites. I simply love that waterfall grille; it’s so slick! And the “ironing board” hood. It just looks great. And Pontiac personal luxury fans apparently agreed, as a total of 228,091 1976 Grand Prixes (or is that Grandes Prix?) were sold for the model year. Not too shabby!

The 1976 model year was a great one for sheer, unapologetic color choices, too. No, 97 percent of production was not black, silver, or refrigerator white, like today! Oh, no. Among the colors you could choose from were Roman Red, Polaris Blue, Durango Bronze, Alpine Green, Cordovan Maroon, and Metalime Green—my favorite; I’d have ordered either a GP or Bonneville coupe in this color, with white interior and lime green dash and carpet!

But another fine choice, and the color of our featured GP today, was Firethorn Red, a very pretty, red-orange metallic that just glowed in the sunlight. It was a little faded on this car, but you can still see how bright and attractive it was, even with a bit of sun damage.

And it was a very popular color, seen on everything from Cutlasses to Silverados to Coupe de Villes. And this car was especially fetching with a matching interior and white landau vinyl roof. It appeared to be a very well-preserved, original car.

The 1976 Grand Prix came in two models, the $4798 coupe (about $26,007 today) and the $5223 SJ coupe ($28,310). The LJ luxury option added $520 ($2819).

The SJ, as you might surmise, was the sport version. It came with a standard 400-cubic-inch V-8 with 185 horsepower, a bump up from the base GP with its 160-hp, 350 V-8. A 455 V-8 with 200 hp was optional on all models.

And just because I felt like it, here’s a gorgeous, loaded up ’76 Grand Prix LJ I saw more recently at one of the South Park Mall monthly summer cruise nights in Moline, Illinois. It was spectacular.

It had the cushy velour interior, sport steering wheel, Rally II wheels and even cornering lights. Awooga! And for those of you taking notes, this one was painted in Firethorn Red over Cordovan Maroon.

It just goes to show how customizable these cars were back then. Many color choices, wheel choices, and engines. And even our featured car, with minimal options and the base wheel covers, looks pretty good.

As the ’76 brochure advised: “… If you can afford a lot of mid-sized cars, you can afford a new 1976 Grand Prix. You’ll get classic styling. This year highlighted by new dual rectangular headlamps. A bold new grille. A formal roofline. Monogrammed rear quarter windows. A stand-up hood ornament. And more.” Standard equipment was pretty nice too, with the aforementioned 350 V-8, Turbo Hydramatic automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, and Pontiac Radial Tuned Suspension.

It was sharp, swank, and relatively affordable; no wonder they sold close to 230,000 of them. This survivor was spied at the 2021 Grape Festival car show in Nauvoo, Illinois. It bore a faded dealer sticker on the back, proclaiming it was sold at Carl Motors in Carthage, Illinois. I zeroed in on it and walked past several Corvettes, Camaros, and Mustangs to gawk at it and take many, many more pictures than were necessary. And before I sign off this week, can we bring back whitewall tires and two-tone paint?

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Sometime in 1976, after rehabbing a pair of swoopy Thunderbirds, overconfidence overwhelmed my fledgling car skills and good sense, and I fell for this dingy 1951 Pontiac Chieftain Deluxe sedan.

Flamboyant midcentury styling hadn’t yet reached GM’s value division, so despite being billed as “new and beautiful,” in reality, the Chieftain wore milquetoast body forms and a sofa-like broadcloth interior, which in this case smelled like a wet dog.

The owner was quite senior, and a quick calculation suggested she’d been in high school when the Model T debuted, then witnessed World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, World War II, Beatlemania, and the moon landings. I sure do wish now that I’d asked her about it all. Anyway, she called the weathered Pontiac “Turtleback,” perhaps in reference to its roofline. No matter—her driving days were over, and a windfall $150 in the cookie jar trumped keeping that tired lump in the driveway any longer than she needed to. And it was a lump. Unlike sister division Cadillac, there was no V-8 under the Pontiac’s long hood. Instead lurked a straight-eight Silver Streak flathead displacing 268 cubic inches and producing 116 horsepower.

Of course, that straight-eight motor didn’t run, nor did the brakes work. Lacking useful prefrontal cortexes, a buddy and I thus concocted a “brilliant” scheme to roll the car to the brink of a steep hill near the seller’s house and then lower it into town using his ’64 Olds and a tow cable as a brake. Then we would push it home. All the plan needed was a useful idiot to steer the car. The process was both stupid and frightening, yet we survived.

Once in safe harbor, we set about resuscitating the Chieftain, starting with a brake fluid flush. The 6-volt starter cranked the engine slower than an ancient butter churn, and once running, the Chieftain would barely crawl to useful speed, whereafter the temperature gauge pegged and steam twirled through the grille. Eventually, I pulled the massive iron head to reveal stuck exhaust valves. Way out of my depth, and unable to comprehend a solution, I fussed and fretted, pried and pounded, twisted and twirled the valves until the springs finally closed them.

The old Turtleback ran better after that, and I took immense satisfaction from my ham-fisted tinkering skills to get it there, but the car remained forever on the brink of overheating. More happily, the tube radio worked, and so did the magnificent illuminated Chief Pontiac hood ornament.

Calling this one a draw, I lived, I learned, and then … I walked away. I sold it for $250, give or take, and put the money into my next project.

***

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On my birthday in 1985, my first car drove off into the sunset. It was a black-on-black 1965 Pontiac GTO I’d found in the For Sale section of a Tulsa newspaper and bought for $2000 cash—earnings from two years working at a department store. For five years, it was my only car. I drove it, crashed it, had the engine rebuilt by our school shop class, and rebuilt it again over one summer. I even swapped in a 12-bolt, 4.11:1 rear-end (bad idea, but seemed cool at the time). But during college, I had to sell it because I couldn’t afford the gas, tires, oil, and insurance.

I’d always told myself that, someday, I’d get another. In 2020, I was surfing Hemmings for ’65 GTOs and found one in Connecticut: Coupe, factory A/C, four-speed, power steering, and brakes. It was originally painted gold with a gold interior but had since been changed to black on black. I live in Florida now, where that color combination is impractical, but the memory of my first car kept pulling me back. My wife, Alli, added, “You aren’t getting any younger.” After thanking her for reminding me, I also thanked her for being supportive and called the dealer.

The car appeared fully restored and had PHS documentation and a billing history card. A local inspector put it on a rack, drove it, photographed it, measured the paint depth, and provided me with an appraisal. After some haggling, the car was on a transporter.

While awaiting the arrival of my new GTO, I dug out the documentation from my old one, which included a set of taped-together keys and an Oklahoma registration. Comparing VINs, I was pleased to note the numbers were only 50 digits apart—277 for the old one and 227 for the new one. But then I realized the photos of the VIN that the appraiser had provided didn’t match what was in his report. Concerned, I called him. “The VIN on the car has clearly never been tampered with,” he said, apologizing for having made an error in his transcription. “The correct VIN ends in 277, not 227.”

I felt flush. “If the VIN is correct,” I told him, “This is the first car I ever bought!” Neither the inspector nor my wife could believe it. When the car arrived, I cracked the Scotch tape on my old set of keys and stuck one in the ignition switch. It turned.

My Pontiac had changed during our time apart. A big dent I’d put in the rear quarter was gone, as were the steel sheets I’d (clumsily) pop-riveted into the rusted trunk. The car had been treated to options such as Tri-Power carbs. I’ve continued the improvements, including paint color correction and a set of Coker radial redline tires with a bias-ply look. It has trophied twice at the Festivals of Speed in Orlando, and we’ve put on a few thousand miles driving to nearby towns. I could have bought another GTO and would have been perfectly happy reliving my youth with that car. But my actual first car? It’s abundantly clear to me how rare that is.

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If this 1970 Pontiac GTO could talk, oh the stories it might tell. Drive-ins and date nights, cruises and wrenching sessions … perhaps even some street racing on Woodward Avenue. A one-owner car for 51 years, it finally changed hands in 2021, and its second Detroit-area owner has given it a new lease on life. Perhaps its next home will be yours.

Offered on Hagerty Marketplace, the iconic GTO is powered by its original, numbers-matching, 366-horsepower, 400-cubic-inch V-8, mated to a four-speed manual transmission with Hurst shifter. 

Far from living a pampered life, the nearly all-original Ram Air III survivor has almost 100,000 miles on the odometer and some visible flaws, but over the last two years, it has received second-owner upgrades like rebuilt cylinder heads and new exhaust system, replacement floor, carpet, and vinyl roof.

As for that GTO swagger, that’s been there all along.

The Gran Turismo Omologato was born when Pontiac engineers John DeLorean, Bill Collins, and Russ Gee inserted a 389 engine into a 1964 LeMans and created what is generally considered the first muscle car. Offered as an optional package on the LeMans in 1964 and ’65, the GTO became a separate Pontiac model in 1966 and sold nearly 100,000 units that year. After the GTO averaged almost 85,000 in sales from ’66-69, the market began to move away from muscle machines and toward smaller cars—think Plymouth Duster, Dodge Dart, and Ford Maverick—and 1970 GTO sales plummeted to 40,149, just over half as many as the previous year.

The ’70 GTO, which received a slight facelift over the previous year’s model, had a base price of $3267 for the hardtop and $3492 for the convertible, equivalent to $25,854 and $27,635 in today’s money. 

The standard engine was the 350-horsepower 400-cubic-inch V-8, paired with a floor-shifted three-speed manual gearbox. The legendary Judge package added an extra $337.02 ($2667 today), and the most popular engine upgrade was the Ram Air III, which could be had for an additional $168.51 ($1334). A total of 2380 buyers selected the RA III with an optional four-speed manual, which added $143.50 ($1136) to the bottom line. One of those 2380 was the original owner of today’s featured car.

According to the build sheet, the Granada Gold-over-brown GTO (chassis/VIN 242370P173928) was purchased on December 28, 1969, from Red Holman Pontiac in Wayne, Michigan. With options that included a Cordova top, 14-inch Rallye wheels, and power-assisted front disc brakes, it carried a retail price of $4199.58 ($33,234).

Among the car’s features: a three-spoke steering wheel, power steering, dual bucket seats, adjustable headrests, frameless doors, aluminum door sills, manually-operated windows, center console, AM radio, 140-mph speedometer, cigarette lighter, heater, fog lights, and hood pins.

While the bodywork retains large portions of its original paintwork, it has multiple imperfections and some minor retouching. Other known flaws are a cracked dash, wear on the driver’s seat, and minor rust on the inside bottom of the doors.

The sale includes the original build order sheet, a copy of the original window sticker, and Pontiac Historical Society documentation. The car has a clean title.

With just under two weeks remaining in the auction, bidding has reached $16,000. Considering the GTO’s iconic roots, classic design, and legendary performance—plus its documented ownership from new—this 1970 Pontiac GTO Ram Air III should draw a lot of interest before the auction closes on Wednesday, December 27 at 3 p.m. EST. Could its third owner be you?

The post Auction Pick of the Week: 1970 Pontiac GTO Ram Air III appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The story of the GM10 platform, also known the W-body, is a tragedy on par with that of Macbeth, a tale intertwined with the larger issue Scotland’s moral order. Is the car platform underneath the 1980s Buick Regal so significant? Many would disagree, but consider the staggering sum of of dollars in play; since the start of development work on the GM10 in 1982, a mind-numbing seven billion dollars was thrown at the project. At the same time, it lacked a dedicated team for leveraging the General’s deep reserves of staff and resources, and the dream of engineering a world-beating mid-sized platform was dashed by strategic missteps. Pontiac’s Chief engineer Robert Dorn was the platform’s project manager, and he struggled for clout in a post-1984 corporate landscape that shook GM up like a smoothie.

Part of CEO Roger Smith’s initiative was to organize GM into separate business divisions. Dorn worked under the new CPC (Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada) division, but his job was to make a mid-size vehicle that would assert GM’s dominance for every brand (except Cadillac). It was a tall order to match market dominance forged from years of success with the A-bodies we know and love (Cutlass, Chevelle, etc.). Plus, global threats were now on the horizon: Toyota was gaining ground with the third-generation Camry, Accords were corruptingly good, and America was downright bullish on Ford’s Taurus. Even worse, Dorn was up against the rest of GM’s new front-wheel drive platforms. The W-body had internal enemies in the A-body, L-Body, and the N-body at one time or another in its long lifecycle.

While the sedans pictured above were introduced in 1990, the GM10 coupes had a two-year head start. This was strategic misstep number one: failing to identify the degree to which markets were disinterested in big coupes like this. To borrow a term from drag racing, this wasn’t a hole-shot launch, and model year 1988 ended with a depressing figure of 100 + days of inventory on dealer’s lots. Yikes.

According to Rude Awakening by Maryann Keller, this misfire led to “temporary plant closures to reduce the surplus dealer inventories.” The sedans, once they arrived, didn’t fare significantly better. They lacked key selling points such as Chrysler-worthy airbags, Honda-like engines, or Toyota levels of customer satisfaction. The competition was collectively reinventing how American families hit the highways, while GM was still struggling with relevancy after the 1984 reorganization.

Honda, Toyota, and Ford subsequently feasted on the carcass of GM’s former market dominance, whose share dropped precipitously in the 1980s. The GM10’s subsequent redesign (part of that multi-billion dollar investment) was a mixed bag: more conventional rear suspension (note the transverse leaf spring design in the Lumina photo above) but also more milquetoast styling. The predicament changed little, as Ford dominated the value/fleet side of this market with the Taurus, while Honda Accord/Toyota Camry were the standard-bearers for premium family sedans.

We’ve finally arrived at Buick, which was responsible for building the most prestigious car on the GM10 platform: the Regal. Its sights were set higher than the V-6 Taurus or a four-banger Honda. The Regal Coupe may have initially faltered in 1988, but the sedan came with larger engines (3.1 and 3.8-liters) and the top-spec Gran Sport looked like a modern take on what made the original A-body Skylark GS so special during the muscle car era. With big alloy wheels and a firm suspension, the W-body Regal had the hardware to be a modern grand tourer. However, let’s recall what the folks at Motorweek thought about it:

Oh dear. You know there’s trouble afoot when John Davis says “don’t blame them, the GM10 Regal design was finalized before the current Buick brass came to power,” within the first two minutes of the road test. It’s a generous way to suggest that other automakers were making superior cars in the same (or lesser) competitive set, but I question the review’s real-world effectiveness. How many PBS watchers snickered, turned off the TV, and looked elsewhere for their next mid-luxury family sedan?

Those who didn’t grab the remote for their Magnavox might have ultimately appreciated the Regal GS’ luxurious interior and futuristic dashboard, something we’d see eventually in modern luxury EVs. (With touchscreens, of course, instead of recessed black trim.) The CD player, much like its trucky GMT400 cousin, is mounted far away from the rest of the audio controls. The dual-mode HVAC was ahead of its time, as was the cupholder located in the center console. But the lack of airbags was a dealbreaker for many, even with the Regal GS’ respectable thrust and competent handling. The price was on point, compared to other luxury brands in the segment, but conquest sales would in the end prove difficult.

Buick’s overall sales dropped on the regular as the GM10 transitioned into the ubiquitous W-body, and it’s still a bit hard to believe that we can thank sales in China for keeping the brand afloat during General Motor’s bankruptcy. (China is still a big market for Buick today.) But that was twenty years after the GM10’s introduction in a sea of globalized competitors hungry for their market share. And it was forty years after “the good old days” of General Motor’s market dominance: that idyllic time when products from Japan and China would be laughed out of darn near every American household. Time can be a cruel mistress, and the launch of the GM10 is evidence of the auto giant’s failure to appreciate just how much times had changed. Though it was in many ways a solid-performing mid-sizer, one of time’s victims, in the end, was the ’91 Buick Regal Gran Sport.

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When Pontiac marketers called the redesigned 1970 Firebird “The Beginning of Tomorrow,” they likely didn’t imagine that the second-generation muscle car would see more than 4000 tomorrows in what would become a 12-year production run. The new Firebird not only looked good, it offered more power, a winning combination for performance-minded buyers of the era—and auto enthusiasts today.

As Hagerty Price Guide editor Greg Ingold wrote in 2021, “Although the second-gen Firebird achieved pop-culture fame in its later years—think T-Tops and screaming chicken—serious collectors prefer the high-horsepower, tightly wound thoroughbreds of the early ’70s.”

General Motors’ first-generation F-body cars were rapidly developed in response to the wild popularity of the Ford Mustang, and plans for a second generation were green-lit almost as soon as the first Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds went on sale in 1967. Designed by legendary GM design chief Bill Mitchell, the second-iteration Firebird received positive reviews when it was introduced at the 1970 Chicago Auto Show.

The new Firebird, wearing dramatic, European-influenced bodywork with long hood and truncated fastback rear end, was available in four models, all coupes. The entry-level Firebird offered both six-cylinder and eight-cylinder engine options; the Esprit had an upgraded interior, bright moldings around the hood, doors, and wheel lips, and a wider chrome molding on the rocker panel; the Formula 400 featured unique dual snorkel hood scoops and a 400-cubic-inch, four-barrel V-8 standard (with the Ram Air III 400 as an option); and that fourth model, the Trans Am, that became a legend.

With all of its high-performance options, the Trans Am was built for the serious driver—so serious, in fact, that in addition to the standard 345-horsepower Ram Air III 400, the racing-focused Ram Air IV 400 offered 375 hp and could only be had through the special order form. (Only 88 of those were built, 59 with standard transmission and 29 automatics, making them the most valuable and sought after second-gen Trans Ams.)

The top-end Firebird model’s styling also offered fender flares, “shaker” hood scoop, and spats ahead of the front and rear wheel openings, all unique to the Trans Am.

That brings us to this beautiful 1970 Firebird T-A, one of 1739 built with the venerable Ram Air III and mated to a four-speed manual gearbox. Fully restored in 2015 and offered on Hagerty Marketplace, this legendary muscle machine was refinished in its original factory shade of Polar White (10) with a blue stripe and Black (218) vinyl interior, and it rides on 15-inch Rally II wheels mounted with raised white-letter BF Goodrich Radial T/A tires. Its five-digit odometer shows 15,500 miles; exact mileage is unknown.

The car’s many features include front air dam, chrome rear bumper, color-keyed dual exterior racing mirrors, engine-turned aluminum dash panel, rear ducktail spoiler, thick stabilizer bars (front and rear), heavy-duty springs and shocks, bucket seats and lap belts, padded three-spoke steering wheel, Hurst shifter, power steering and brakes, manually operated windows, center console, gauges for voltmeter, water temperature, and oil pressure, dual-speed windshield wipers, Delco push-button AM/FM radio, heater, dual padded sun visors, locking glove compartment, lined trunk compartment, back-up lights, and dual exhaust outlets.

Known imperfections include cracking in the front grille surround and discoloration of the clear coat in some areas. Included in the sale are a PHS Automotive Services, Inc. information packet, digital copy of original build sheet, tire jack, and spare wheel/tire.

Currently located in Lakeville, Massachusetts, the Trans Am was originally delivered to All American Pontiac in San Jose, California, in June 1970 with a sticker price of $4748.64, which is the equivalent of approximately $37,670 today.

A 1970 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with Ram Air III 400 carries an average value of $93,300 in #2 (Excellent) condition and $55,300 in #3 (Good) condition. With 11 days remaining in the auction, which ends on November 13 at 3:30 p.m., bidding has reached $18,500.

If you’ve been searching for a second-gen Trans Am, perhaps this is the beginning of your tomorrow.

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It’s no stretch to call Pontiac’s GTO the single most important car of the muscle car era. Yes, there are varying opinions as to when and how the American muscle car really kicked off. But the fact remains that the standard formula of taking a mid-size car and stuffing a large engine under the hood started with the GTO. Launched in 1964, it first came as an option on the LeMans, increasing the engine size to 389 cubic inches for a stout 325-horsepower in base form, and 348 with Tri-Power (three 2bbl carbs).

The GTO’s performance and sales success put everyone on notice, including Pontiac’s siblings within General Motors, and forced other brands to play catch up. But while the likes of Chevrolet and MOPAR focused on putting down huge raw power numbers, Pontiac struck a balance of offering excellent power with killer looks and more creature comforts than more entry-level manufacturers like Chevrolet, Dodge, and Ford.

1967 would be another watershed year with the old 389 being swapped out for Pontiac’s all-new 400 cubic inch engine. At least in the eyes of Poncho enthusiasts everywhere, the Pontiac 400 ranks among one of the all-time great engines and would be the basis for Pontiac’s famed “Ram Air” option. And with the introduction of an updated engine, it was time for Pontiac to update the GTO as a platform. While it had big shoes to fill, the second generation 1968-72 GTO was more than up to the task. Those were arguably the model’s best years but, being a muscle car with a wide range of available powertrains, performance options, convenience features and colors, the market for the second-gen Goat is a nuanced one, and values can range from barely above entry-level to well over half a million dollars.

1968

GM completely refreshed the A-Body platform on which the GTO rides for 1968. It was a welcome change, leaving behind the boxiness of the 1964-67 models in favor of the softer, curvier “Coke bottle” style popularized in the later part of the ’60s. Pontiac’s styling department also went to town on the GTO setting it far apart from the competition. The biggest innovation to the GTO’s look was the introduction of the revolutionary “Endura Bumper”, a GTO exclusive. In short, the bumper shook up the industry by eliminating the traditional chrome front bumper and instead replaced it with a painted, impact-resistant piece made of a rubberized material, which could be moulded to any shape and withstand minor impacts with minimal damage.

Such would be the, ahem, impact of the Endura Bumper that the concept across the industry, and the same basic idea remains on today’s cars. Complimenting the new nose, the GTO was also available with a set of hidden headlights. This optional piece covered the lights when they weren’t in use, creating the illusion of a wide uninterrupted grille.

Pontiac continued with the 400 engine as a standard offering (GM wouldn’t allow anything larger at the time), but the power numbers started to creep up. Pontiac rated the base 400 engine at a respectable 350 horsepower, and this engine accounted for the vast majority of GTOs. A no-cost optional 2bbl, low compression version was offered, but it is a very uncommon sight. After all, why would you go out to buy a performance car and then think, “Yes, I would love to have the economy engine”?

An optional Ram Air engine was available for 1968 but it didn’t make its way into very many cars. The Ram Air engine for 1968 was a High Output 400 with cold air induction and freer flowing exhaust, which bumped performance to 366 horsepower. Mid-term updates to the engine changed from a D-port exhaust to round port and a tad more aggressive cam. Horsepower ratings didn’t change, but this new “Ram Air II” engine was likely underrated (as were many Pontiac performance engines) and is somewhat of a rarity in 1968 Pontiacs these days.

1969

Following the 1968 debut of the newly designed A-Body, the 1969 GTO would see only subtle changes to the styling. Here are the easiest ways to tell the difference between a 1968 and 1969: The ’69 seats have headrests, the doors no longer have side vents, the side marker lights in the quarter panels no longer have the Pontiac arrowhead, and the tallights are set above the rear bumper instead of inside.

Under the hood, the base engine remained the same from the prior year, but the Ram Air engines rose in popularity. A 366-hp Ram Air III was the mid-range option, and a 370-hp Ram Air IV option debuted. On paper, it is only marginally more powerful than the Ram Air III, but that’s just on paper. The Ram Air IV received a more aggressive cam, stronger rotating assembly, and freer flowing heads, so rumors abound that these engines are far more powerful than rated.

Another big change to the GTO lineup for 1969 was the introduction of “The Judge” package. While the name sounds a little campy today, it was a clever play on pop culture of the time, referencing the popular comedy routine from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In TV show. Along with a groovy graphics package, loud colors and sporty Rally II wheels, The Judge came standard with the Ram Air III engine and could be optioned with the Ram Air IV.

1970

After two years of production, the GTO received a major facelift for 1970 with a redesigned front and rear bumper assembly, giving the car a more mature look than the edgier 1968-69 models. Other than the looks, the biggest update of note in 1970 was the introduction of Pontiac’s all-new 455 cid engine. By 1970, GM had lifted its engine size restriction in mid-size cars, opening the floodgates of big cube behemoths to compete with FoMoCo and MOPAR, who were not hampered by the same restrictions in their performance cars.

Other than the facelift and new engine, not much changed for the GTO from 1969 to 1970. The Judge package was again on offer, but was only available with the 400 cid Ram Air engines and would not get the 455 for another year. As a whole, the 1970 would see few fundamental changes aside from the facelift, but it is also a fan favorite amongst muscle car enthusiasts because of it.

1971

Another minor face lift arrived in 1971, with a more beak-like front nose and hood scoops relocated to the front. As this year was the beginning of the end for the golden age of American muscle, the Ram Air engines disappeared from the lineup, leaving the 455 H.O. engine as top dog. The H.O. borrowed heavily from the Ram Air engines, with round exhaust ports like the Ram Air IV, freer flowing exhaust and a spicier cam than the standard GTO 455. In simple terms, the 455 H.O. is about as close to a Ram Air type engine as it comes without just naming it one. The Judge nameplate stuck around one last year, available only with the 455 H.O.

Horsepower ratings also began to slip. For instance, the base 400 engine slipped from 350 horsepower in 1970 to 300 for 1971. It would only get worse from here.

1972

The final year in the series would see few substantial changes from 1971. Looks would remain nearly identical to the previous year, but car spotters will notice the set of faux fender vents behind the front wheels. The biggest change in the GTO lineup would be what was missing. First, The Judge package was not offered in 1972. Second, horsepower ratings took another nosedive thanks to tightening emissions regulations and the switch from the industry standard of gross horsepower rating (basically the potential horsepower of the engine) to a net rating (a more realistic figure for a fully dressed actually equipped in the car). The GTO also ceased to be its own separate model and went back as an option package for the LeMans. When the third generation GTO debuted for 1973, it stayed on as a LeMans option but performance-wise was a long way from its peak just a few years before.

Buying a second-generation GTO

The market for a 1968-72 GTO is as nuanced as the yearly changes. As is the case with any classic muscle car, power, options, and rarity are the biggest factors when it comes to what buyers are willing to pay. While a clean, base 400-powered-GTO will run enthusiasts anywhere from $35,000 – $55,000 in this market, that’s just a jumping off point.

The most sought-after are Ram Air IV-powered Judges. But more specifically Judge convertibles. If there is a Holy Grail GTO it’s the 1969 Judge Convertible with the Ram Air IV. Only five were produced, making it one of the only muscle cars that can make a Hemi Cuda convertible look common.

Next up in terms of collectability is the 1970 Ram Air IV Judge Convertible, with an estimated 18 produced. The most recent high sale of one of these Judge Convertibles was $1.1 million for a 1970; however, a handful of recent sales in the spring of 2023 suggest that the market is hovering more in the range of $400,000 – $500,000.

A 1969-70 Judge is vastly more collectible than base GTOs equipped with the same drivetrain, while 1968 Ram Air IIs are rare as hens’ teeth, even if they don’t bring Ram Air Judge Convertible money. 1971-72 GTOs tend to be the bargain (comparatively), as the less refined looks and the lower horsepower can be a turnoff to buyers, but definitely shouldn’t be overlooked.

Speaking of buyers, it should come as no surprise that the overwhelming majority of interest for these cars comes from the Baby Boomers who knew and loved GTOs when they were new. Nearly half of the quotes Hagerty receives come from Boomers, with Gen-X coming in at 34 percent. From there it drops off like a stone. It should come as no surprise that Millennials and Gen-Z are the smallest piece. But this is likely due to a couple of factors, one being interest and the other being cost. Yes, it is a true statement that collectors tend to gravitate to cars they remember fondly as kids, but a solid GTO is not exactly an inexpensive purchase for a group that hasn’t had much time to accumulate the wealth and disposable income for expensive cars.

It’s worth noting though that while “kids” aren’t buying a GTO in big numbers, it has done little to curb the appeal. While the more valuable GTOs like Ram Air-equipped cars are more susceptible to swings in value, the overall GTO market has remained fairly steady, with only a bit of fluctuation in the past three years as the market has heated then cooled again.

That said, most of us don’t buy cars with the sole intention of making a buck (it’s nice when we do though). It’s all about how the car drives and makes us feel. And a clean second-generation GTO drives well and makes us feel great. With the looks, winning performance, and unmatched pedigree, it’s no wonder people call the GTO “the great one.”

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After automotive styling and performance slipped into the 1970s Malaise Era, Pontiac engineers offered a mid-engine, mid-’80s ray of hope: the Fiero. Marketed as an economy car—a claim that didn’t jibe with its sports-car good looks—it took several years before the two-seater’s performance matched its appearance. By then, however, General Motors deemed it too expensive to continue production. That’s unfortunate, because there’s a lot to like about the 1984–88 Fiero, especially the later versions.

As our own Jason Cammisa explains in Episode 27 of his popular Revelations YouTube series, GM’s brass gave Fiero the green light based on the assumption that it would be a gas-sipping commuter. As a result, Pontiac borrowed heavily from GM’s parts bin to keep costs low. Most notably, its front suspension came from GM’s compact rear-wheel-drive Chevette, and the front suspension of GM’s front-drive Chevy Citation/Pontiac Phoenix was repurposed for the rear. The car was compact, rigid, and relatively lightweight; it featured Enduroflex body panels over a steel space frame and weighed around 2600 pounds.

At its launch, the four-speed Fiero—Italian for “proud”—was powered by the 2.5-liter Iron Duke four-cylinder engine, which produced only 92 horses and fit its econo-car label. While Pontiac made tweaks every year to incrementally improve the car, the public yearned for performance to match its styling, and that upgrade arrived in 1985, when the GT model received a 140-hp 2.8-liter V-6 and wider tires. A five-speed manual transmission arrived the following year.

Dogged by a series of early engine fires, the Fiero’s reputation is forever tarnished in the minds of some enthusiasts, but the sports car (econo coupe?) has plenty of fans, too. In fact, the Fiero, the first and only mid-engine production car offered by General Motors until the launch of the C8 Corvette in 2020, has seen its values rise in recent months.

That brings us to this 1986 Fiero GT, which Cammisa drove in his entertaining and insightful Revelations episode. Located in Novato, California, VIN 1G2PG9795GP281348 is finished in black paint with silver accents over a gray cloth interior. Its 2.8-liter V-6 has been upgraded with Hypertech Street Runner tune, Accel 15-pound fuel injectors, and an MSD coil, cap, and wires. It also has upgraded Ravetti 18-inch wheels (originals are included with the purchase of the vehicle).

Purchased in Texas by its current owner in August 2021, the Fiero is equipped with a new air-conditioning compressor, lines, hoses, shocks, struts, steering damper, and cruise control components. It also received a 7-inch Garmin GPS unit with a backup camera, as well as a Delco radio with AM/FM/CD and hands-free Bluetooth capabilities in place of the original radio.

Features include: A/C, rear spoiler, fog lights, pop-up headlights, four-wheel power disc brakes, cruise control, power windows, power door locks, tilt steering wheel, electric rear window defroster, intermittent wipers, and carpeted cargo area.

While a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT in #2 (Excellent) condition has an average value of just over $10,000, bidding for this one on Hagerty Marketplace has reached $6000 with less than a week remaining.

Will Pontiac’s “We Build Excitement” marketing slogan also describe the auction? We’ll soon find out, as bidding ends Wednesday, September 13 at 3:50 p.m. Eastern Time.

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Jay Leno has driven countless automobiles in his life, yet he still manages to find unique rides. Among the most memorable is the 1948 Ford F6 rat rod featured on the latest installment of Jay Leno’s Garage.

“This is what people will be driving on the last day of gasoline—when it’s all used up,” Leno jokes. “… In most modern cars, you go 100 [mph] and you feel like you’re going 60. In this one, you go 60 and feel like you’re going 200.”

Owned by Brett Gregory, CEO of the Circle G Movie Ranch in Agua Dulce, California, says the truck “checked three boxes” for him: rat rod, vintage tow truck, and blower motor all in one package.

“So you’re ready to die,” Leno says. “Leave this with me and I’ll take care of it. You’ve pretty much accomplished everything.”

Just about every major American auto manufacturer is represented in the F6. Under the hood, the ’48 Ford has a Chevrolet 350-cubic-inch roller motor with a 671 blower that’s mated to a three-speed Turbo 400 transmission. (The driveline averages 3 to 4 mpg.) The build also features ’42 Chevy headlights, Dodge motorhome wheels (19.5 inch tires on the front, 20s on the back), ’50 Pontiac running lights, and so much more.

The roof has been chopped five inches, the front axle raised two feet, and the back lowered to create its head-turning stance. Yet “it looks authentic,” Leno says. “There’s still a lot of 1948 there.”

Created by Larry Mason and Ed West about a decade ago, the patina-laden rat rod has numerous unique—and sometimes hidden—features. The “GPS” is a World War II compass. There are two antique brass fire extinguishers in back. A JVC stereo system with a back-up camera is concealed behind a drop-down panel on the dash. The battery is hidden inside a tool box. And the fuel tank is located beneath a hinged gas can in the truck bed; the can is secured in place by an old Winchester lock.

Though the license plates read BADNUWZ, this truck is anything but.

“It must be a lot of fun when you go to car shows,” Leno says, “because this is what people go crazy for.”

“They really do,” Gregory admits. “… It really makes people smile. They want to come up, they want to talk about it, they follow me on the street, the cameras come out … It’s very, very unique.”

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Of the true iconic American muscle cars, the 1974 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Super Duty 455 ranks near the top of the list. One of just 943 Pontiac Firebirds equipped with the Super Duty 455 cubic inch (7.5 liter) V-8 for the 1974 model year, this numbers-matching Trans Am is a true survivor and a stellar representative of the pony car era. It’s offered on Hagerty Marketplace.

Publicized as having 310 horsepower and a whopping 395 lb-ft of torque—big numbers for 1974—the SD 455 was among the last of the true over-the-top muscle cars of the 1970s, an era when political correctness, gas prices, and emissions standards began to trump sheer potency.

Along with the very first Firebird Trans Am model that debuted in 1969, the SD 455 is among the most collectible of its kind. The 1974 Firebird’s visibility also rose thanks to the Rockford Files, whose star Jim Garner drove one in the TV series’ debut season.

Borrowing technology from the Pontiac racing engines, the hand-assembled SD 455 V-8 underneath the shaker hood featured heavy-duty connecting rods and an entirely new block with a revised crankshaft and heads. Other improvements include thicker internal-block bracing, four-bolt main bearing caps for greater crankshaft support, and an 80-psi oil pump for better lubrication at higher speeds. The 455 was offered for just two model years, 1973 and ’74, as an option in the Trans Am and Formula models. Rear axle is a 3:08:1 unit.

At a time when many Trans Ams were white, blue or, later on, black, this one is finished in Buccaneer Red over an optional custom interior trimmed in red perforated vinyl with a center console. It even has the factory-correct red oxide underbody coating.

Wheels are the Rally II style with bright trim rings, coupled with BFGoodrich Radial T/A radial tires and a “Radial Tuned” suspension. It comes with a copy of the original window sticker (suggested retail price: $6233.75, with the 455 SD package costing just $522). It has power windows, locks, and trunk, and even air conditioning. 

The transmission is the sturdy three-speed Turbo 400 automatic. The odometer reads just under 54,000 miles, but it is not believed to be accurate. It was treated to what appears to be a high-quality restoration under previous ownership. The seller represents it as being a strong running and driving example with no known mechanical issues.

Many of us who had Trans Ams in the 1970s wish we had never sold them. Count me as one of them, and as someone who seriously covets this red 1974 Trans Am SD 455. Bidding ends Monday, August 21, at 3:50 p.m. ET.

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VanDerBrink Auctions is hosting a massive collection of mostly Pontiac Firebirds, including more than 30 Trans Ams, at an online and in-person sale taking place in Waverly, Iowa, on August 5. The auction also boasts a pair of 1969 Camaro projects, some G-bodies, a few third- and fourth-generation F-bodies, and some trucks and farm equipment. However, the main attraction is clearly the abundance of second-generation Trans Ams with their decals and shaker-scoops.

The collection boasts nearly one of every year of second-generation Firebird production, with multiple copies of several years, with an even dozen 1979 models and ten 1981 models, with some of the best preserved of the bunch being Turbo Trans Ams. Two of the 1980 Turbo Trans Ams are Indy pace car editions, while a pair of the similarly equipped 1981 Turbo Trans Ams are NASCAR editions, which are also a relatively rare find, with just 2000 produced.

Plenty of the cars are rough and in need of serious, subframe-off restoration, as the worst examples do have rust damage, and the photos don’t sugarcoat it. Many of these cars will take major investments, while others, like the aforementioned Turbo Trans Ams, need more of a cosmetic freshening and mechanical once-over.

The collection has something for just about every second-gen Firebird fan, although the early models are less represented than the quad-headlight style popularized by Smokey and the Bandit. Still, there are legit early Trans Ams, including a 1970 Ram Air III, as well as a 1973 Super Duty clone. Fans of Formulas and Esprits will also be interested.

Our favorite might be the 1973 SD 455 clone, currently painted white, which was originally Brewster Green. We’d love to see this four-speed, 455-powered car returned to its original color, as we’re sure that many of the Firebirds, stored for years, will be making their way back onto the street where they belong. If any Hagerty readers happen to nab one of these ’70s beauties, be sure to drop us a line and keep us posted. Happy bidding!

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Our man Stefan Lombard stammered a bit when asked how he came up with the idea—which we have gone to enormous lengths to execute—of gathering a 1973 Pontiac Trans Am SD-455 and a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 in the central Texas Hill Country. “They are kind of the same shape,” he began. “Well, they both have ducktails. The Firebird was the pinnacle of Pontiac production, the 911 was the pinnacle of… you know… Porsche.” He’s on a roll now, hand on chin, eyes at the ceiling. “They have enough small similarities that added up in my mind to—it was just kind of a ‘what-if’—plus, it’s Porsche’s 75th anniversary, and there will be a lot of stories, but not this one.”

At least that last part is certain.

You can classify cars a lot of different ways—by make, by body type, by price, by size, by national origin. Here are two cars joined pretty much solely by year. And the fact that they are both coupes. And they both have four seats (the Porsche is debatable on that point). And they both lean on the sporty side. OK, that’s an understatement; the Porsche was as close to a street-legal factory racer as you could buy in 1973, and even crazier cars were ahead in the company’s future, which is what helps make the ’73 RS so ridiculously valuable today. More on that in a minute.

The Pontiac, meanwhile, is also pretty special, practically a factory hot rod championed and steered through GM’s red-tape forest by a dedicated group of engineers. It is one of just 252 Super Dutys built in 1973 and one of just 73 with a four-speed. Plus it was the final act, practically the end of the road for the division’s decade-long craze for shoving its largest engines into its smallest cars. In 1973, the optional $521 Code X engine, the Super Duty 455, had an 8.4:1 compression ratio and was rated at 310 horsepower. Two years later, the Code X was gone, the Code Y 455 offering a pale 200 horsepower via a 7.6:1 compression ratio. By 1978, the big 455 was extinct.

What the ’64 GTO wrought, the ’73 Firebird Trans Am SD-455 effectively finished, as Pontiac’s performance cars thereafter lost their punch to emissions regulations and oil embargoes. Pontiac as a division still had a few good years left in the ’80s and ’90s, but in between, the so-called widetrack Tigers were tamed and shackled into toothless kittens.

Thus, one empire, Porsche, rising; one empire, Pontiac, in decline. Ever has it been so. The Egyptians gave way to the Greeks who gave way to the Romans, all of whom left behind a lot of stuff we would classify as condition #4 or worse. As Pontiac began its long glide toward eventual mothballing in 2010, Porsche ascended to heights in sales and profitability that would have been unimaginable to founder Ferdinand Porsche (as would the modern SUVs that largely did the heavy lifting).

And the troubled year of 1973—sample newspaper headlines: “Nixon Claims History Will Justify Viet War;” “Inflation Our Big Problem Now;” “Cold Weather Could Intensify Energy Crisis;” and “Stories on Watergate, Syphilis Top Journalism Award Winners”—seems as likely a year as any to be considered the crossover point. Hence, this matchup. You’re welcome, Stefan.

On a gloomy Tuesday in March with a blanketing overcast sky bringing forth wind and spurts of rain, we rolled out of Kerrville, Texas, a town about two hours west of the state capital in Austin. The Mooney Aircraft Company once built small planes here with their famously distinctive forward-swept tails. The Porsche and the Pontiac both have rearward-swept tails, plastered with 3-inch-high lettering shouting their names at the traffic. Because you could do that back in the 1970s, pizazz up your most macho models with bright paint and colorful graphics. You could even paste a flaming blue bird on the nose and everyone up to and including the Marlboro Man thought it was cool.

But then, GM was pretty fearless back in those days. Unlike today’s glacially slow ooze of design evolution, the second-gen Camaro/Firebird, delayed until early 1970 after slowdowns caused by a strike, was a clean break from its predecessor. Pontiac’s then-design chief, Bill Porter, and his team channeled European themes by leaning and visually lowering the car while stripping off most of the chrome and traditional Detroit gimcrackery. The new polyurethane front bumpers supplied by Detroit’s McCord Corp. and its Davidson Rubber Division—GM called it the “Endura” bumper when it debuted on the ’68 GTO—had looked somewhat grafted on when it was applied to the ’69 Firebirds. Now, for 1970, the stylists were able to shape a whole new front end around the bumper, crafting a long and low sportster with alluring proportions behind twin flaring nostrils that defined a clean and all-business nose.

Our Trans Am owner, Keith Sasich of Dallas, certainly likes the look. A lifelong drag racer who started in Pontiacs and still owns his first car, a ’67 Firebird 400 that he laid his eager teenage mitts on in 1974, Sasich walked away from a chance to buy a ’73 Super Duty in 1979. The car was $3500, and the mistake haunted him down through the decades. Just a few years ago, he put up his paddle at Barrett-Jackson for the numbers-matching example you see here, adding it to an all-American collection that tilts toward Pontiac and includes a ’69 GTO Ram Air Judge four-speed and a ’71 455 H.O. Judge. “Many a true Pontiac fan wants these cars,” he says of the Super Duty, conceding he probably paid too much (funny, our Porsche owner said the same thing), but hey, what the hell. He really wanted that four-speed, even more than his preferred color of Brewster Green.

There’s nothing subtle about the Firebird, which is all thundery bravado when you pry open the single 800-cfm Rochester Quadrajet to let the 455 (technically, it’s a 456) inhale. The retro remanufactured Goodyear Steelgards fitted to this car can’t maintain grip against the tidal wave of torque any better than the originals did back in the day, and the ’Bird shakes its tail feathers reliably and hilariously at the slightest provocation. Much finesse must have been required for magazine testers to pull out a 13.7-second quarter-mile in period. Hands up, those who think drag racing isn’t hard.

Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac offered 455s in 1973, but because this was old GM, before bean counting all but eliminated the independence of the divisions, the three engines were completely different except for displacement. The cast-iron Super Duty outwardly resembled the Pontiac 455 available in other Firebirds, but Special Projects engineer Herb Adams along with Skip McCully and Tom Nell labored to make the oily innards feature improvements gleaned from NASCAR, NHRA, and Trans-Am racing, all while still meeting new emissions limits. They include thicker internal block bracing, four-bolt main bearing caps for greater crankshaft support, connecting rods and pistons that were forged for more strength, and an 80-psi oil pump for better lubrication at higher revs.

GM’s suits had by this time banned multi-carb induction setups like the famous GTO Tri-Power, so the Super Duty ran the single, lunchbox-size Rochester four-barrel under a Shaker scoop poking through the hood. The twin forward-facing ducts of the lesser Firebird Formula’s hood were said to be better for breathing, but the Shaker, as always, puts on a better show.

GM automatics in this era had developed to a reliable state of creaminess, which helps explain why so few of the Super Dutys were built with a stick in ’73. There’s no particular joy in shifting the Muncie M20 four-speed with its Hurst shifter about as long as a Texas copperhead. Unless, like Sasich, you were raised on them. Mile-long and trucklike throws along with a heavy clutch are what you remember most, as well as the amusing fact that—per some GM lawyer most likely—you can’t pull out the ignition key unless the shifter is moved to reverse. As you do it, you can hear the cables and pulleys of this Rube Goldberg safety interlock sliding and spooling behind the dash, all part of the charm of this rare car.

Everything feels bigger in the Pontiac, especially the expansive dash trim that salesmen claimed at the time was easier to remove thanks to it being mounted with a total of five screws. Lightbulb swaps in the new F bodies were said to take a mere 60 seconds. In contrast, the delicately spoked and leather-wrapped steering wheel seems small for a car weighing close to 2 tons, a lot of it engine. Our relatively gossamer Porsche was fitted with a plastic rim at least an inch larger. But alas, there is power steering, something the Porsche doesn’t have—or need.

That’s because the Carrera’s creators in 1972 targeted a weight for their RS homologation special of slightly under 2000 pounds. As has so often been the case with Porsche, what the company said it was going to do, it did with aplomb. The result is a glorious little corner eater you drive with your fingertips and toes, the center-mounted tach—where else?—effortlessly zinging on a crescendo of air-cooled clamor to its 7200-rpm redline.

The Carrera feels just as small and light as it looks sitting next to the Pontiac, with that classic upright seating position putting you in perfect relation to the pedals and five-speed shifter. If you bemoan the acres of plain, hard plastic in the Trans Am, you won’t find much relief in the spartan Porsche, even though its price new was more than twice that of the Pontiac. This Porsche isn’t a car as much as it is a tool, and to murder a phrase about a hammer, when all you have is a Carrera, all your problems look like racetracks.

Especially the narrow scribbles that interconnect Texas Hill Country burgs such as Barksdale and Leakey by cutting through the hillsides of limestone and clay, providing undulating, constant-radius joy for drivers and cyclists equally. Having at one time or another owned 35 Ferraris and too many Porsches to remember them all, our Carrera’s custodian, Mike Green of Houston, isn’t easily impressed, but he does like these roads and knows them well.

A longtime exec with the Sysco food distribution giant, Green was out buying hot stuff when it was just lukewarm. But he got bit by the Carrera bug too late and, as mentioned earlier, “paid too much. But I wanted to make sure I got a good, genuine car. I like my cars to be factory spec; taking the original seats out [they’ve been substituted with more comfortable chairs] is kind of a big deal for me.”

Porsche by 1973 was no longer the cottage German firm that seemed to uneducated eyes to make nothing more than hyper Volkswagens. It had only a few years earlier taken its first 24 Hours of Le Mans victory—not in class, but overall, with the outlandish 917K, which instantly elevated the Stuttgart stable above so many of its longtime British and Italian rivals (granted, Alfa Romeo won Le Mans in the 1930s, but that was already ancient history)

However, Porsche’s 240-mph, cost-no-object racing program couldn’t be sustained for long. Thus, when engineering leader Ernst Fuhrmann took over the top technical job in 1971, he was determined to refocus the company’s racing efforts back on production-based models and especially the 911, the better to remind buyers what Porsche mainly sold in its dealerships. As one door closed—1973 was the final year for the 917 in Can-Am—another door opened with a car that took its name from Porsche’s 904-through-908 racing Carreras of the 1960s as well as its long-ago campaigns in the famous Mexican road race, La Carrera Panamericana, which ran from 1950 to 1954.

Key to the effort was getting the 911 accepted for the newly revised FIA Group 4 “Special Grand Touring” competition class, which required that at least 500 units be built for sale to the public. A then-young engineer named Norbert Singer, not long out of the Technical University of Munich, was put in charge of developing the 911 Carrera RS. If Singer’s name is familiar even to non-Porschephiles, it’s because he went on to blaze an illustrious career in the ensuing decades as the company’s brilliant racing czar.

Aerodynamic enhancements like the famous fiberglass Bürzel, or ducktail, were shaped in Porsche’s new wind tunnel while Singer and his colleagues went to work on the chassis and engine, stripping the 911 of carpet and other sound insulation. Out went the bolstered door panels, replaced by simple flat panels with pull cords, as well as the sun visors, clock, under-coating, exterior trim, glovebox, even the gas struts holding up the front trunklid. Anything that could be yanked out without impeding the car’s performance was yanked, though some luxuries crept back in later in an optional Touring trim. The magic of the RS, however, is in the stuff you can’t see from the sidewalk; engineers spec’d thinner sheetmetal and glass for the RS to shave pounds, as well as lighter Bilstein shocks, the first Porsche production car to wear them and the beginning of a very long association between that brand and Porsche.

It’s not entirely wrong to say the 2.7-liter flat-six is half of a 917 flat-12. The Carrera’s 210-hp fuel-injected mill was bored out from the regular 911 S’s 2.4-liter to eventually share its bore and stroke measurements with the later 917/10 Can-Am car (and who didn’t have the Corgi model of that white wedge with its red and black L&M cigarette logos?). The Carrera’s engine employed a then-radical spray-on hardening process called Nikasil, developed by the German supplier Mahle for strengthening an aluminum engine’s otherwise fast-wearing cylinders.

So many important firsts, so many distinguished fingerprints; the 1973 Carrera RS ranks among the cream of the Porsche collector car elite. Though at the time, writes eminent Porsche chronologist Karl Ludvigsen, the company worried that all 500 units would not find buyers, especially since the 2.7-liter engine hadn’t been certified for U.S. sales. The price was thus kept artificially low, at the German deutsche mark equivalent of around $10,000. However, the initial run was sold out within a week of the Carrera’s debut at the Paris Salon in October 1972, and the company went on to produce three times as many as originally planned—1580—thus launching a dynasty.

Of course, that’s not nearly enough cars in a world of 8 billion people, so the Carrera RS, like the even rarer Super Duty, trades hands for many multiples of what lesser—but really, not that much lesser—versions go for. Here are two cars from the very unsentimental year of 1973 that prove that no matter what, in the collector car world, it’s all about sentiment. And personal choice informed by your own history, your own experiences, and your own tastes.

Mike Green and Keith Sasich both unquestionably fall under the title of “car guy,” but, as with their cars, they don’t have much in common beyond that. Sasich likes his thrills one quarter-mile at a time and doesn’t own a foreign collector car. And Green has never owned an American muscle machine—or, indeed, any American collector car beyond a modern Ford GT. We tried to persuade him, but no luck.

Different passions inflame in different directions, and 1973 was a crossroads year in which two storied brands found themselves on vastly divergent trajectories reflected in this pair of special, limited-production cars. The good news is that a half-century later, in times that are perhaps equally fraught and uncertain, you still have some excellent choices. Perhaps 50 years hence we’ll be publishing a comparison of the Porsche 911 GT3 RS and Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170, both new for 2023. Stefan is already working on the pitch.

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This article first appeared in Hagerty Drivers Club magazine. Click here to subscribe and join the club.

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Jeremy writes:

Good afternoon Sajeev, I have appreciated your opinion in several of your articles, and I wanted to pick your brain on a topic: wrapping a classic.

Last year I picked up a one-owner ’69 GTO that was in fantastic barn-find condition, but in the ’80s it had been repainted a god-awful shade of UPS brown. The car was extremely original and I had decided to keep it as original as possible down to the white line tires. But when a UPS-brown GTO is parked next to a blue one, yellow one, and gold one, it just never gets picked. So this GTO wasn’t being enjoyed, which is a shame, as it drives great and even has cold factory A/C!

Looking at options, and the fact that I already have two cars in different body shops, I wanted to see how much fun I could have for the least amount of money, so I wondered what I could do with a wrap. First, let me be clear on one thing: I didn’t fix anything on the body. That’s because I didn’t know if this was going to work out, as I might be destined to have $500 worth of vinyl crumpled up in my shop. If that was my fate, my escape plan was to peel it off and never tell anyone of my mistake.

So I bought 50 feet of vinyl off Amazon and got to work. I removed the hood and trunk and did those first—it went very well. Then I moved to the fenders, doors, the god-awful quarter panels (that wrap around the back), and lastly, the roof.

For just over $600, some evenings in the shop, and several four-letter words later, I had a car that looked 100 times better, was only one shade, and the rust was much less visible; I was extremely pleased. I added the Judge decals and spoiler, then a Flowmaster exhaust, and I had one hell of a car. I chose to black out the grills and swap the white-line tires and hubcaps for some Rallye IIs from my ’70 LeMans.

I was amazed: I have cars that have been in body shops for years and the cost is out of this world. If I tried to justify paint and body expense I would want to go original on this one-owner car and go back to the correct Espresso Brown. But that would have taken two years and cost $12,000. Instead, this has proven to be one of the most fun cars I’ve ever had. I can drive it and park it anywhere, my daughter took her first driving lesson in it, I can set my beer on it and not freak out … the freedom and enjoyment of driving a car like this is amazing.

I doubt I devalued this car at all, as it’s being driven, doing burn outs, and getting stared at everywhere she goes. All in all I consider this project a success! I should say this is my first attempt at wrapping a car, so keep in mind it’s all about taking your time until you get the hang of it.

Then I got to thinking: How many cars have been cast aside, parked in a yard, or parted out just because you couldn’t justify spending the money on paint and body?

While you probably won’t win “best paint” at a car show, this is an extremely economical option. It just takes time, patience, and a heat gun. There are countless YouTube videos to help. You may find an extra set of hands helpful for those difficult spots (damn quarter panels)!

So anyway, I’m very curious what your take is on this. Did I destroy a time-capsule car (with documentation back to day one), or did I save a car that otherwise would have rusted away?

Sajeev answers:

Jeremy, you absolutely did the right thing. A time capsule was not destroyed; instead, its appeal has broadened. While I doubt any muscle car will rust away unloved these days (as it isn’t 1987 anymore), you proved there’s a beauty that comes from the freedom of expression via vinyl wrapping. Frankly, I wish more folks would follow your lead.

And when you take the plunge, doing a bright color is a great choice for most any vehicle. The sheer volume of boring gray, silver, white, black, and red colors we see on the roads today suggest that standing out is a great move. And it’s an easily reversible move, if you decide a concours-quality restoration is merited in the future. Now imagine how many less-desirable classics could be saved with this technology, like the ’49 Packard sedan I previously discussed:

So many vehicles from the 1940s have lost their luster, but I hope someone hit the “Buy It Now” button and spent a couple grand on vinyl material, and fuel/ignition/brake parts to get this Packard looking and running like a champ. This beautiful piece of history may otherwise wind up in a scrap yard, even though Packards are crafted to a standard that can be appreciated even to this day.

Classic/antique/specialty cars of all shapes and sizes deserve a bigger audience, as our country’s enthusiasm for automobiles is anything but blended and homogenized. To wit, imagine the day when many Gen Xers and Millennials say, “Remember when you could get a clean, big-body Buick sedan for $1400 on Facebook Marketplace?”

I will miss these days, and not because this particular car garnered me a free trip to Prince Edward Island. The Buick Lucerne was never a credible threat to the Lexus ES when new, but it lived to embody the notion of an authoritatively-styled American sedan ruling the roads with grace and style, cutting a beautiful profile against a background cluttered with CUVs and monster trucks. It, much like Jeremy’s brown GTO, can become much more than what’s before our eyes.

The Pontiac GTO has a much larger and loyal following than any front-wheel-drive Buick, but remember there was a time when society deemed muscle cars as disposable as a Ford Focus or Chevy Equinox. So instead, let’s be mindful of unique stories unfolding right under our nose. And remember that new audiences are found thanks to a shiny coat of paint roll of vinyl.

I challenge people to see how Jeremy’s GTO can inspire their future automotive endeavors. What vehicle(s) are worth this effort? I reckon the answer is almost all of them. 

Have a question you’d like answered on Piston Slap? Send your queries to pistonslap@hagerty.com—give us as much detail as possible so we can help! Keep in mind this is a weekly column, so if you need an expedited answer, please tell me in your email.

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Waking up a long-stored car is almost never boring. Some of us do it every year with our own fun cars. That is just one car though, and more than likely the process is pretty simple because street cars are often easy to store and wake up.

Race cars on the other hand have all kinds of problems that can pop up since they were never engineered to sit. They were built to do the opposite. So how hard is it to get a pickled NASCAR stock car back up to ready-to-race condition? The Richard Petty Museum staff recently woke up the 1987 Pontiac Grand Prix that Petty raced nearly 40 years ago and brought everyone along for the adventure via YouTube.

Waking a car like this tends to go one of two ways: Quite simple and easy, or a mental torture test of small thing after small thing cropping up preventing any steady forward progress. Restoration manager for the Petty Museum Brian Witcher easily rattles off what tasks were done on the car but that nine seconds of audio is radically different than actually completing the tasks.

For instance, the video starts with Witcher reassembling the fuel cell. Safety measures can have odd side effects when put into storage. Fuel cell foam is the prime example of this as it is possible for the foam that was meant to keep fuel from sloshing and spilling will break down during long periods of sitting and then clog a fuel filter or pump. Hardware doesn’t tend to loosen up just sitting, but considering this Petty Blue racer is headed for the Goodwood hill climb it’s worthwhile to take the extra step of putting the car up on a lift and checking everything front to back one good time. They are likely camouflaging a suspension tuneup under the guise of a “nut and bolt check” but that’s fine by us.

This car has a small-block Chevy that is likely in the 357 cubic inch range and makes north of 600 horsepower. It certainly sounds great through the boom tubes tucked tidily right under the rocker panels. What doesn’t fit as well is Witcher in the driver’s seat. Nothing points out how tailor-fit these cars are quite like someone other than who it was built for attempting to drive it. Regardless, we at least get to see the car run a few laps of the parking lot to shake down the chassis and get some temperature into that fire-breathing small-block. We will have to wait until the video from Goodwood Festival of Speed comes out to see it run with the throttle anywhere near wide open, but even just a taste is nice. It’s also good to know that even the pros face the same problems as us common folks when it comes to bringing cars out of storage. His is just capable of 190mph when it does. Mine, not so much.

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Mattel, the owner of both Hot Wheels and Mega building blocks, is now offering an 843-piece building set of a custom 1977 Pontiac Firebird. The set, which comes with a traditional 1:64-scale die-cast Hot Wheels toy of the car, is in the same vein as Lego’s line of kits aimed at adult collectors. Like those kits, this one also has a similar scale, with the completed car coming in at just over one foot long.

The set isn’t a numbers-matching replica of a Firebird, but rather, appears to be modeled after a custom Trans Am. It has a shaker hood, naturally, but it wears custom rockers and the screaming phoenix on the hood doesn’t match any factory decal that we can recall.

The model features plenty of detail, with a functioning hood, doors, and trunk. The engine even seems to have an accessory drive belt! Hot Wheels notes that the Pontiac V-8 engine is removable, although there was no mention of an LS-swap kit available separately. Give them time.

This kit is available exclusively at Target and it’s priced around $80. If this one’s a hit, maybe we can get more models to round out the collection and keep Lego on its toes.

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Starting out as an imaginary band in a make-believe television show about “four insane boys” trying to make it in the music business, The Monkees—Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz—eventually became an authentic, chart-topping band. Their famous car, however, has been the real deal all along.

The Monkeemobile, an iconic custom car that takes a back seat only to the Batmobile among ’60s TV cars, was the creation of Dean Jeffries and is now considered a cultural icon. Getting to know the Monkeemobile first requires getting to know The Monkees.

Contrary to popular belief, Jones, Nesmith, Tork, and Dolenz weren’t actors who became musicians; they all had musical backgrounds. Jones starred as the Artful Dodger in the Broadway musical production of Oliver!, Nesmith had been recording music in Los Angeles since the early ’60s, Tork was performing folk music in New York’s Greenwich Village, and Dolenz was a former kid actor who played guitar and sang in a couple of bands, including The Missing Links.

In other words, the four already knew the challenge of making it in the music biz.

The idea for The Monkees was first suggested by aspiring filmmaker Bob Rafelson in 1962 but never gained momentum. Rafelson and collaborator Bert Schneider revived the idea after the Beatles found movie success with A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Help! (1965), and Screen Gems Television bought the idea in April 1965.

Jones was the first to be cast for the show, since he was already under contract with Screen Gems. Nesmith, Tork, and Dolenz were among 437 aspiring actors/musicians who answered this ad in Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter in September 1965:

Madness!! Auditions. Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series. Running parts for 4 insane boys, age 17–21. Want spirited Ben Frank’s* types. Have courage to work. Must come down for interview.

*A popular late-night hangout in West Hollywood.

Nesmith was the only one of the future Monkees who actually saw the ad; Tork learned of the cattle call through his friend Stephen Sills, while Dolenz heard about it from his agent. Although Jones was a good drummer, he was only 5 foot 3, and the show’s producers thought he’d look even more diminutive sitting behind the drums, so they made him the frontman.

Nesmith and Tork could both play guitar and bass, and since neither was interested in playing the drums, Dolenz was tasked with learning to play from scratch.

Regardless of The Monkees’ musical talents, Don Kirshner, Screen Gems’ head of music, originally had the four fake their parts and used studio musicians for the show while bringing Jones and Dolenz into the studio to record vocals. Jones had a strong voice and sang ballads like “Daydream Believer,” while Dolenz handled the rest. Nesmith often said Dolenz’s voice defined The Monkees’ sound more than Jones’ did.

The first episode of The Monkees aired on NBC on September 12, 1966. It was an immediate hit, ran two full seasons, and won two Emmy Awards, but before long The Monkees’ music was more popular than the show itself.

After Screen Gems Television released the group’s first album without indicating that the instruments heard on the record were played by studio musicians, Nesmith and Tork were embarrassed and infuriated, and The Monkees successfully fought for control of their own music.

“Everyone was accomplished,” Nesmith once told Rolling Stone. “The notion [that] I was the only musician is one of those rumors that got started and won’t stop—but it was not true … We were also kids with our own taste in music and were happier performing songs we liked—and/or wrote—than songs that were handed to us.”

On January 16, 1967, the band held its first, full-fledged recording session. The group’s “second” album, More of the Monkees, spent 70 weeks on the Billboard charts and was No. 1 for 18 weeks. It was certified quintuple platinum, selling more than five million copies, and was the third-highest-selling album of the 1960s. The Monkees sold 75 million albums worldwide during their career.

Only Dolenz is still alive. Jones died in 2012, followed by Tork in 2019 and Nesmith in 2021.

As The Monkees—both the show and the group—vaulted into television and music history, so did the amazing, instantly recognizable Monkeemobile. Who knows what the car might have looked like if designer Dean Jeffries hadn’t received permission from his employer to build it.

When he received the request to build the Monkeemobile, Jeffries was under contract with Model Products Corporation (MPC). He approached CEO George Toteff and shared the offer that he’d received. Toteff was immediately supportive—in fact, he turned it into a win-win.

Toteff reached out to Pontiac advertising exec Jim Wangers, who is often referred to in the classic-car community as the godfather of the GTO, arguable the world’s first muscle car. Two worked out a deal that was mutually beneficial. Wangers took advantage of the promotional opportunity and sent Jeffries two 1966 Pontiac GTO convertibles, both powered by a 389-cubic-inch, four-barrel V-8 mated to an automatic transmission.

Meanwhile, MPC was given exclusive rights to produce toy Monkeemobile model kits and went on to sell seven million of them.

The first Monkeemobile that Jeffries built for the show was completed in 10 days. The second, slightly different and used for promotional appearances, was finished in four.

Among each car’s distinct features were a split two-piece windshield, stretched nose and tail, swooped hood, flares in back, exaggerated headlamps and taillamps, touring-car convertible top, four bucket seats and a third row bench seat where the trunk was originally located, rear-mounted parachute, and GTO emblem on the front grille. In addition, side pipes protruded from just behind the front wheels, and a GMC 6-71 supercharger stuck out of the hood.

The promo version was also equipped with a solid rear axle (without springs) and was given extra weight in the rear so that it could pop a wheelie.

When the NBC show ended in March 1968, designer Jeffries was offered the opportunity to own one of the Monkeemobiles for $2000 (or less, depending on who’s telling the story), but he thought he could always build one of his own, so he passed.

Later that year, the TV Monkeemobile accompanied The Monkees on a world tour and was somehow left behind in Australia. It eventually showed up in Puerto Rico, where it was used as a hotel courtesy car, but when the hotel went out of business in 1992, the Puerto Rican government auctioned it for $5000 to a collector in New York, who restored it in time for a Monkees television special in 1997. It was later displayed at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The car remains in the John Norris family—it’s owned by Norris, his three sisters, and an uncle—and now resides in New Jersey.

Another custom car icon, George Barris, the creator of the ’60s Batmobile, bought the second Monkeemobile and added a few modifications of his own, including new paint and a modern sound system. In 2008, Barris auctioned the car at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale, and Michigan’s Mel Guthrie purchased it for $396,000. He has no regrets.

“I’m very proud of this car. I’ve loved it since I was a little kid,” Guthrie told a Hagerty film crew in 2014. “I used to watch reruns of the show after school … I just thought this was the coolest car ever … I never dreamed that I would own it.”

And few could have dreamed that—nearly six decades later—the show, the band, and the Monkeemobile would become so beloved that they still draw adulation from fans from all over the world.

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Of all the General Motors brands that built muscle cars from the mid ’60s through the early ’70s, Pontiac seemed to have the most fun. Chevy had its big-block brutes, Buick its 455-powered sleepers, and Oldsmobile brought big torque and understated looks with the 4-4-2. Pontiac, on the other hand, matched its powerful V-8 GTOs with hood-mounted tachometers and graphics that could be described as both outlandish and campy. We love all of it.

The Ram Air IV GTO convertible, with its 370-hp 400-cubic-inch V-8, was offered in 1969 and 1970 only and is among the most sought-after Pontiacs of the era. Collectors looking to get in on the brand’s muscle car charm have two opportunities at Mecum’s upcoming Indy sale (May 12–20), where one Ram Air IV GTO from each year is available: a 1969 in Cameo White and a 1970 Judge in Palladium Silver.

Pontiac’s Ram Air IV V-8 paired the “041” camshaft from 1968’s Ram Air II engine—308/320 degrees of duration and .469 inches of lift—with improved round-port heads. Most Pontiac V-8s used D-shaped exhaust ports. Placing the two center exhaust ports close together with the mirrored D-shaped ports sharing a port wall made it difficult to achieve proper exhaust flow at high engine speeds. Round-port heads enabled tuners to build headers that really woke the engine up. However, the cast-iron Ram Air IV exhaust manifolds are surprisingly good at their job and are much closer to a cast header than a typical log manifold that just dumps all of the exhaust gases abruptly into a common collector. The excellent low-end torque of the engine and its 370-hp top end make it one of the most beloved muscle car engines of the era.

Both of the drop-tops are equipped with a Turbo 400 three-speed auto transmission, and both have a hood-mounted tach, but they do differ in design and equipment. Choose either the wide twin grille of the 1969 model or the angry snout of the ’70 Judge. The Judge’s sharp graphics complement the GTO’s bulging creases, while the ’69 GTO in Cameo White is quite understated for a GTO.

1969 Pontiac GTO

The ’69 model, lot F191, comes with its two original exhaust manifolds—one is currently installed, the other is included—as well as its original heads, distributor, and alternator. It won Best Restored at the 1990 GTOAA Nationals, before going into the Otis Chandler Collection from 1992 to 1999. The car is fitted with a blue interior and equipped with a 3.90:1 Saf-T-Track limited-slip rear axle, power steering, and power brakes.

1970 Pontiac GTO Judge

The ’70 model, lot F149, is one of just seven Judge convertibles ordered with an automatic, and its frame-off restoration helped it win a Concours Gold award at the 2015 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. It comes with Rally II wheels and a black interior. This car’s rarity, along with its desirable engine and the fact that it’s a Judge, all make it one of the most valuable Pontiac muscle cars ever.

Both GTOs cross the block on May 19, and either one would make an excellent addition to a muscle car collection, so we’ll be watching to see where they end up. Given their similar underpinnings and drivetrains, which GTO look is the winner in your book?

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There’s nothing quite like an unassuming car that can leave high-power metal for dead at a stoplight. “Sleeper” cars are just plain old fun—unless you’re the one left staring at the taillights unexpectedly.

Last week, we asked you to shout out your favorite sleeper cars of all time. Nobody mentioned the 1994–96 Chevy Impala SS explicitly, but that would be our vote. Nonetheless, your responses covered an incredible range of vehicles across all decades and makes. This was a lot of fun to comb through. We grabbed an oodle of your responses for this story, but if the one you’re thinking of didn’t make the list, let us know in the comments.

We have a lot to cover, so let’s hop right in.

Late Model Pontiacs

Be it front- or rear-wheel drive, the final days of Pontiac gave us more than one “sleepy” way to enjoy LS V-8 power. Oh, and the sistership Chevrolet SS, which absolutely deserves to be on this list.

@George: 2008/2009 Pontiac G8 GT. I’ve owned my 2008 since new and to this day almost nobody knows what it is. Thank God for Google. The 2006 GTO was also severely underrated for sure.

@Glenn: I’ll second that. I’ve owned an ’09 G8 GT for several years. Only the most die hard gear heads actually know what it is and what it is capable of. Most people think it’s just another FWD 6 cylinder 4 door typical of what GM has put out for years. What the unwashed masses do not know is that this rebadged Holden Commodore SS has more in common with a Camaro SS than it does a G6/Malibu/Impala.

@jal11180: Chevrolet SS – perhaps the most underrated SS vehicle that Chevrolet had made, even more so than the Cobalt SS, HHR SS, this badge swapped Holden Commodore was truly a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

@Bill: 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix in silver with the GXP badges removed. Totally invisible!

@MJ: I’ll say the new GTO. LS motor in a Cavalier body? Yeah, that would catch you off guard.

Volvo Turbos/V-8 Swap

Whether it’s the stock turbocharged versions or the V-8 swapped monsters that occasionally surface, Volvos in all shapes and sizes make for great sleepers.

@Tim: Somebody help me with the exact model. I remember there was a Volvo wagon that was quite the performer for it’s time. I can’t recall if it was a late ’80s or ’90s model. I know there have been later higher-performing Volvos, but this one I’m thinking of was definitely a sleeper.

@Mike: Tim, I think you’re referring to a 740 Turbo…

@David: The Volvo wagons Paul Newman and Letterman had. The slowest vehicle I have ever driven was a Volvo wagon, those should have surprised anyone.

@Vijay: How about the unassuming, Volvo 850R wagon?

Turbo Chryslers

Quite frankly, I was surprised at all the recognition the turbo Chryslers garnered from our question. Surprised, but very thankful indeed:

@Johnathan: The Dodge Omni GLH Turbo, and even more so, the Shelby GLHS version. These cars looked like econoboxes (which they were at their core), but would outrun almost any contemporary vehicle … at least up to 100 mph.

@My Kismet: The ultimate sleeper would have to be the 1992 Dodge Spirit R/T in Silver. The 91 & 92 Spirit R/T were all sleepers but the red or white wheels on red or white cars made them stand out a little. But the only other physical difference was a tiny trunk spoiler. So these cars and especially the Silver 92 (only 30 made) looked mostly like every other grocery getting Spirit. But they were the quickest production car when it came out in 1990. I had one and even by today’s standards you wouldn’t be shamed by most cars on the road. Back then it was scary quick.

@Norm:  I’ll go along with Carroll Shelby’s favorite Q-Ship (in fact he said it was his favorite Shelby-produced vehicle of all time): the 1986 Shelby GLHS Omni Turbo. A blacked-out 4-door little bottle rocket that was in the top 5 quickest mass-produced cars in the world (not just the US) for that model year. I refer you to the April 1986 cover story of Hot Rod Magazine, “Shelby GLHS Whips GT350” at the race track.

@DUB6: We owned a 1988 Chrysler LeBaron GT Turbo Coupe once, and although it was a little fancier-looking than your ordinary K-car, it was an absolute bullet when your foot ticked that turbo into action. I surprised plenty of Mustangs with it.

@Cason: I feel the Spirit R/T deserves a spot on the list. Sure, it was a performance variant with delightfully 90s color-keyed wheels; but essentially no one knew about it and, well, it was Dodge Spirit and maybe slightly understated vs. a Galant VR-4 (which is always worth a look).

@Gary: How about the first generation Chrysler minivans with the turbocharger and 5 speed manual trans?

Turbocharged HHR and PT Cruisers

We always remember the HHR and PT Cruiser as fashion statements that fell out of favor almost as quickly as they rose to popularity, but they also had a sleepy side:

@hyperv6: The best that I have owned was my HHR SS. I added the GM tune that pushed boost to 23 PS1 and power to 300 hp and torque 315 lb-ft. I just loved the time a Mustang next to me took off and I was door handle to door handle with him. The next light he rolled down the window and said, “how are you doing that?”

@David: So true about the HHR SS. I’ve thought of mine (owned for 14 years) as a sleeper, because the ‘SS’ moniker back in the day was so sadly abused, it wasn’t taken seriously. I enjoy surprising the unsuspecting out in the twisties when they try to keep up. Nurburgring indeed…

@Zoey: I drive a 2005 Chrysler PT Cruser 2.4 Turbo GT. Surprise! It is a sleeper. I love this car and I am 73 years old.

@Gary: Like the turbo Chrysler Minivans, another good one is the PT Cruiser turbo 5-speed.

Sneaky V-8s from GM

General Motors made a lot of sleepers that aren’t easy to pigeonhole, so we just put them in a singular category of “sneak” for this article:

@DUB6: I had a ’56 Chevy pick-up that had been a ranch truck, so it had all of the requisite dings, scratches, rust spots, dull paint, cracked side glass, and dog dish hub caps. After dropping a 325 horse 396 and 4-speed in it with 4:11 rear gears, it fooled a lot of people at the red lights downtown.

@jal11180: 1969 Chevrolet Biscayne—do you want to have a Chevrolet Chevelle SS but also lack the money to get one outright? Why not save some money and get the exact configuration of that vehicle for the fraction of the price, as in the 454 LS6 version of the Chevrolet Chevelle SS, and put that into the Chevrolet Biscayne?

@JAS 73: Many years ago, a friend of mine had a 1969 Impala station wagon with a 427 as a tow car for his drag Corvette. The only clue was an emblem on the fender.

@Walt: I have a 1966 Chevy Impala 4 door sedan. It has dog dish hubcaps and looks like a family car. However, it has the factory 396 under the hood, 4 barrel carb, and headers. Puts out about 375 horse. I have high performance tires with the lettering turned inward. Love to have little bubble cars think I am driving grandma’s car on the interstate until I open it up and…well, you know!

@EP: A pea green 427 Chevrolet Biscayne with 327 emblems!

@Darrel: There was a guy in Crawfordsville, IN “back in the day” that had an all-black 63′ Biscayne 2-door sedan base model. vinyl seats, rubber floor mats, black walls with chrome center wheel covers. The only thing that gave it away, was if you had a chance to look inside it had a 4-speed and the tach in the dash like a SS. It had a dual-quad 409 under the hood.

@jal11180: 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Station Wagon/Estate Car—what? The Chevelle not only had a station wagon/estate car variant, but that it also had an SS package? Yes, it might not be as powerful as the 1968 to 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, but all of the options for that car could easily fit under the hood of this vehicle, but, even in this guise, there is a lot of potential for engine and transmission upgrades to honestly make the more well known variant of that vehicle look slow.

@NovaResource: Well, any “big engine” 1968+ Nova would be an SS and not a sleeper (in my opinion). But the 1966 and 1967 Chevy II 100-series 2-door sedan with the 350-hp L79 327 would absolutely be a sleeper.

@Barry: Pontiac T37… most don’t know what it is. Ask some old timers from the late 60’s, very unassuming car, I believe a 4-speed and a 455 was what it had. (Agreed. – SM)

@Ron: How about a 1963 Bonneville with 421 Super Duty? 421 cid with Tri-Power and 425 horse and a 4 speed, had a convertible. Perfect sleeper, looked like a grandma car. Ran great when I got those 3 deuces working together.

@Not Old Not Grumpy: On that note an original 62 Catalina Super Duty is the ultimate plain Jane sleeper…. Until the cutouts are unbolted!

@snailish: The 55 Pontiac Chieftain modified by Vic Hubbard (or his shop – story is murky?) with a 421 SD Pontiac engine in the early ’60s.

@Mark: A car that is a true sleeper is the late ’50’s Eldorados with the standard Dual Quad or Tri-Power set up. I owned a ’59 Eldo with the standard 390 V-8 and 3 Deuce carburation. When I floored it, the car would leap forward like it wanted to fly. No one would believe it was a stock engine.

@TG: The mid-80s 4-door Malibu came off the assembly line with V-6s or gutless V-8s. But in most cases making one with a little enhancement would make a pretty effective sleeper.

@Charles: The best sleeper I ever made was a ’72 Skylark 4 dr. with the 340 hp 400 cu.in. Pontiac engine from my wrecked ’70 Grand prix. In the early 80’s when I did that, the car was a consistent high 13 second runner. That easily outran just about anything from the factory and was such a plain wrapper that no one gave it a second look.

1987 Callaway Twin-Turbo Corvette

You could say that no Corvette is a sleeper, but how many of you think a C4 Corvette is truly special? Not enough of you, and parking one next to a 1980s Porsche 911 Turbo, Ferrari Testarossa, Lamborghini Countach, etc. back in the day would get you laughed out of the lot. Until others realize you have RPO B2K, and that means you can destroy your competition with ease:

@hyperv6: The First Callaway Corvettes were very understated. The only real external clue was a boost gauge in a AC vent. Or if you were lucky the Dynamag wheels if optioned. Back in 1988 the Vette was not all that fast but it was the best thing around. But the Callaway was good for 200 MPH and much faster 1/4 miles.

Big Block Mercedes-Benzes, AMGs

You need not own a 6.3-liter, a 6.9-liter, or a modern Mercedes-AMG product to see the appeal of a sleeper luxury car, as the car chase in the movie Ronin makes it pretty clear:

@Frank: Undeniably it would be a Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 or more recently a Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG, preferably a wagon. The former was a 150-mph sedan–in 1970! The latter (2005-2006) goes even faster and does 0-60 in 4.1 seconds. Mine has 125,000 miles behind it and has surprised quite a few muscle-car owners. To make it an even better sleeper, simply remove the E55 AMG logos. Even cops never give the wagon a second look.

@Kenny: I would say any real AMG Mercedes, especially if de-badged. They look like any ordinary Mercedes with AMG wheels, but pack a considerable punch. The 2 I’ve been fortunate own have been a 1999 E55 and a 2004 CL55. The CL has the supercharged V-8. Looks like a big, comfy coupe, but will move when you hit the gas.

Turbo 3.8-liter Buicks/Pontiacs and 4.3-liter GMCs

General Motors made something very special in the 1980s for Buick, and in the early 1990s for GMC. Turbochargers on V-6 engines are great, but these particular examples had so much more to offer, provided you knew what you were looking at:

@jef bockus: I have a white 87 Buick Turbo Limited with a bench seat and landing lights. Even in stock form it a blast to drive and dead quiet and smooth, love it.

@Scoupe: The 1989 Turbo Trans Am. Sure the Buick Grand National is the Vader of the streets, but Pontiac decided to revise the 3.8T’s heads and added the usual other supporting mods. The least suspecting and likely cheapest way to hit 160 mph in the ’80s, and no one says a word about them.

@Rich: I vote for the Buick T-Type as a classic sleeper. Most looked at it and figured it was just a standard V-6 Regal and not one of those Grand Nationals . At the time there was a wealth of information available to implement significant performance upgrades which I took full advantage of. My standard line after many stop light adventures when asked “what the heck do you have in that car” was this – “This is my fathers Buick” that tended to receive many interesting comments.

@Scoupe: Surprised, no mention of the Sy/Ty GMC twins in here. (Thanks for that! – SM) 

Modern Turbocharged GMs

These new Turbo GMs don’t get the love of the aforementioned 3.8- and 4.3-liter examples, but that just makes them even more of a sleeper:

@Jack: I have a 2017 Buick Regal Premium II that’s tuned along with a larger turbo and CNC milled head and that little 2.0-liter moves put! Surprises most everyone, and if I don’t want to be passed on the interstate I just drop the pedal down a little bit. Understated and a comfortable ride along with a little pep! That’s my Sleeper! Especially after owning various Mustang GT’s and Shelby GT500’s all my life!

@Dean: The neighbor’s kid has a Chevrolet Cruze with a 2.0T stuffed into it out of a Buick Verano. It looks bone stock and kind of beat up. He’s pushing about 350 hp. No will race him because no one in their right mind believes it could possibly be fast.

V-series Cadillacs

Modern-day Cadillacs are nothing like the bold, flashy, audacious examples from decades past. Whether or not that’s a good thing is debatable in the comments section, but there’s little doubt that your average motorist knows just how special the V-series examples are for the enthusiast looking to perform without making a statement:

@Bob: 2009 Cadillac CTS-V 4 door with no badges showing. Unbelievably fast for only 556 hp. GM had to rate it below Corvette’s blown models.

@Scoupe: The first generation (2004–2007) Cadillac CTS-V. Own one as we speak, and it still gets the gamut of ridiculous questions after stoplight shenanigans have ended. “No it does not have the Northstar.” “No it is not FWD.” “Yes, it really came factory with a stick.” Truly a stealthy high-12s Q-Ship out roaming the streets.

@Warren: The ultimate “sleeper” is my 2013 CTS-V Wagon, 556 hp and 551 lb-ft of torque. I tried to find a baby blue metallic [example] but found out that only 4 were made. I had to settle for black. Some fellow in a BMW was aggravating me as I was driving to Houston from Temple, Texas. He kept passing me and slowing down on the two lane rode. Finally I had enough of him and passed him and kept my foot on the gas, never saw him again. Must have embarrassed the guy to be outrun by a “family station wagon”.

Sneaky V-8s from Ford

Much like our list for General Motors sleepers, let’s consolidate a lot of sleepy, sneaky Fords in this list:

@Bob: I had a stock appearing 1937 Ford Business coupe (this was in 1954) with a 281 CID flathead V-8, 4 carbs, track cam, etc. It ran best on a heavy load of nitro and never lost a street race. It turned 104 mph at Orange, MA back in the day. It was a real money maker. One exhaust was short and hidden from scrutiny.

@Gayle: Best sleeper ever from the early ’60s: My mother had a ’54 Lincoln Capri 4-door sedan (317 c.i. Y-block) into which my father added a solid lifter cam, dual 4bbl Holleys (the old teapot type), Mallory ignition and dual exhausts (quiet though). Surprise!

@Postman: My 1973 Ford Maverick 2 door. It had a 302 and white walls. Surprised a lot of folks back in the day.

@David: I don’t know if it’s the best, but one of my favorites is the Mercury Marauder of the early/mid 1960s. It’s not just your basic Monterey or Montclair…

@TG: I bought an 1989 Mustang LX that started life as a 4-banger but was 5.0 swapped. Shortly after I bought it, one of the tail pipes fell off of the hastily installed dual exhaust, so I picked it up and threw it in the back. I rode around in this very 4-cylinder looking mustang with one tailpipe out the back for a couple of months before I finally got around to putting it back on. I surprised quite a few folks at the green light. I was also going to mention the Ford LTD/LX that Sajeev wrote about—the very hum-drum looking 5.0 capable Ford

@jal11180: Mercury Marauder (Last Generation)—say what you will about the Mercury Marauder of the 1960s, as it certainly is an underrated road beast, but, even in the current configuration, the early 2000s itineration of this vehicle is a pretty good muscle sedan in its own right, and, with a bit more work, those numbers can go up considerably.

Oldsmobile Quad 442

This one has a lot of validity. To be honest, the Cutlass Calais Quad 442 is a little bit of that 1960s muscle car magic applied in the early 1990s. What a shame so few people see this car for what it is:

@Scoupe: The 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais Quad 442 W41. Put your pitchfork down, I don’t care if it’s FWD. I’d be more ashamed of the 17-second quarter miles the G-body cars laid out at the same time. 2550 lbs of nasty little coupe paired with a close-ratio 3.94FDR 5MT, sport suspension that actually was worth a damn, and glorious RPMs, all 7500 of them. I had a warmed-up W41 around 10 years ago and the races it won were hilarious.

V-6 Fords: Taurus SHO & Thunderbird SC

While the 5.0 Mustang of the era was winning races around the country, Ford was doing the same for other models. But they weren’t getting the same amount of credit for it:

@Chris: Loved my 93 SHO. That stick had a very unique feel. And when pushed, that car pulled! Bright red exterior was fun too…

@Mike: Having owned a few I have to vote for 89-95 Taurus SHO. Especially my 90 in black. Invisible.

@Mike: I loved my ’95 SHO, or at least the engine! It freaked people out to see a stick shift in a Taurus and it was always fun to surprise folks by dropping it into 3rd gear on an approach ramp and nailing it.

@Gary: Of course the first Taurus SHO is the ultimate sleeper (had one in 88)

@John: 1991 Taurus SHO!

@Charles: I had 2 Taurus SHO’s. The 89 blended in with every other “jellybean” car on the road with few visual clues. The 92 was not as stealthy. Both were quick for the day.

@jal11180: 1989 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe – basically, this vehicle was a street version of the NASCAR version of the Ford Thunderbird of the time, and this Seventh Generation version of the vehicle is arguably the highest performance version of the entire history of this vehicle. Alternatively, getting similar upgrades to the same year Mercury Cougar could also be a cheaper, as well as more viable, and, obtainable, option.

@Cason: I must mention is the 1989 to 1990 Mercury Cougar XR-7. This offered 100% of Thunderbird Super Coupe performance and manual shifting in a more subtle package, including the more “formal” Mercury rear window. Say no more!

Underrated Infinitis

Considering the number of these Infiniti rear-wheel-drive sports sedans and coupes I see in my neighborhood being piloted by the Gen Z crowd, I wonder if they truly are sleepy sleepers. But still, this is power in the hands of the few, and it deserves to be highlighted here:

@Pickle: Another more modern sleeper are G35/G37 sedans. They are literally 350z/370z cars with 4 doors. They blend in with the all the Camcord style sedans, yet in the case of the G37, you get a 330-hp V-6 and rear wheel drive. Get the G37S and you get an LSD, 4 piston calipers with 14 inch rotors, a quicker steering ratio, and fantastic sport suspension. Unless you really know what you are looking at, it is hard to distinguish the S from the regular G37. I’ve dropped a number of back country road tailgaters who thought 5-10 over wasn’t fast enough, yet they couldn’t hang when the road got twisty. When I bought mine, the wife thought it was, and I quote, “a grandpa car.” Then she drove it…

@Tinge of Ginge: Y’all are missing the point. Anything with an SHO or SS badge is not a sleeper. Marauder gets close, but its Vader-esque nature almost shows its hand. If you want sleepers, have to go Japanese sedans from the late 90s/early 00s: 03-04 Infiniti M45

Triumph TR8

Did you know the Rover V-8 has a slew of performance parts available? And did you know you can drop them all into a vehicle much smaller than a Land Rover?

@Brian: In 1979 or 1980 I recall being a passenger in my best friend’s 1970 “worked” 350 Chevelle SS with a 4:10 rear end and both of us feeling pretty invincible should anyone decide to challenge us on the street that day. At a traffic light in Chicago, a Triumph TR7 pulled alongside of us and indicated that he was up for the challenge, at least we thought it was a TR7. Unfortunately, we were able to determine it was a TR8 by the callouts on the rear of the car as it drove past us in the short straightaway we had.

Pentastar V-6 Minivans

If you’ve ever rented one of these back in the day, you know they make fantastic sleepers. The Pentastar V-6 is no joke, this van will humiliate a lot of seemingly high-performance vehicles in a drag race, as @JimInTheSand says:

“Not the best sleeper by any means, but something you would not expect to be so snappy are most recent Dodge Grand Caravans. Stock with 283 hp, 6 speed automatic… not grandpa’s mini van.”

Austin Mini

Sleepers aren’t necessarily just the fastest accelerating things, are they? As @Arthur put it:

“My little Austin Mini was a sleeper in a different way. They did not sell them in the U.S. for many years while still available in Canada, and on a trip through New England I surprised a fellow in a Vette coming down a mountain. He was surprised when I passed him and disappeared down the mountain through the tight bends; he did not catch me until we got down onto the regular roads. That’s when he went roaring past with a look of disgust at this little car which he could not match on the twisty bits.”

“S” Code Mercury Cougar

@David said it well when he suggested this particular Cougar is actually a sleeper Shelby:

“Best Sleeper Car of all Time, hands down, is a 1967 Mercury XR-7 GT. The “S” Code got you an FE big block with a 4 speed in what looked, at a stop light, like a bone stock luxury car. 428 cubic inches or 390 cubic inches, your choice. It’s a Cobra, without the Shelby badges. And this true sleeper would also be painted Black, of course. Motor Trend thought so too: 1967 Car of the Year. They said it should be called King Cougar.”

BMW 2002

And just like the tiny Austin Mini, the Germans came out with something that was a force to be reckoned with:

@Mike: Go back to 1968, when a little boxy German sedan started showing up in the US, with a blue and white badge that said “BMW.” If you were driving any import sports car other than an XKE, a 911, or something exotic and Italian, you quickly learned not to engage in stop light grands prix with one of ’em. Nor could you keep up with ’em on a twisty back road. Especially when painted an innocuous white, beige or silver, at least for fellow import enthusiasts, the BMW 2002 was a real sleeper, and proved you could have sports car handling, room for four, and their luggage.

Sneaky V-8s from Chrysler, other Americans

It’s truly amazing how many sleepers were made by American automakers, even more so when considering how their owners souped them up to make them even faster:

@Kurt: The 1957 Rambler Rebel. Who would think a 4-door Rambler would be perhaps the fastest car you could buy in 1957?

@Roger: Yes Kurt!! l was looking for someone to mention the ’57 Rebel! The ultimate sleeper, perhaps! 0-60 in 7.5 seconds—factory stock! Naturally aspirated.

@JimB: In 1966 a fellow engineering college student built a heavily modified ’57 DeSoto Firesweep. He chose this model for its light weight in spite of its large size. He began by stripping more weight. He probably removed a few hundred extra pounds. Nothing was left untouched, except it looked stock from the outside, like he was driving his dad’s car. He installed a well-built 392 Hemi, 727 TorqueFlite with a moderate stall converter, quiet exhaust, and higher ratio differential. There were some minor suspension mods. He sometimes ran cheater slicks, the only giveaway. He ran it once at a local drag strip, just to get a time slip. I would really like to know what this mild mannered car did on the strip, but never did.

@Danders54: The best sleeper I can think of was my dad’s 1966 Coronet 4-doors with a factory 426 Street Hemi. His was the 4-speed. Lore says 4 of these sedans were originally ordered for the FBI but ended up with ‘civilians’ instead. Dad gave it a good tune and removed the Hemi emblems and would go ‘hunting’ for fast looking cars. He also installed a Road Runner ‘beep-beep’ horn to add insult to injury as drove away from who he raced. He also has several trophies from the local MN dragways drag strip. When he was not terrorizing the street or strip it was my mom’s grocery getter that she drove us kids around in.

@Al: Much like the ‘66 Hemi Dodges four-door cars, one of our NHRA club members had a black ‘67 two-door Coronet sedan. It was a competition option package that didn’t even have carpets or a heater as I remember. Total sleeper.

@Cy: I once had a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere 1 station wagon with a hemi automatic. White with dog dish hubcaps. I had fun with it.

@wolfgang: I would like to add the Modern (2012) Chrysler 300 SRT8 with the 6.4 Hemi under the hood. I have surprised quite a few Mustangs and Camaros that didn’t know what it was. Also the 6.1 liter Dodge Magnum wagons from 2006–2008.

@Steve: One of the best factory sleepers ever would likely be one of the few ’66 Belvedere 4-door sedans that got Hemis, especially if it only got the inscrutable “HP2″ fender emblem. My own best effort at the genre was a fairly ratty Duster that hid a 512 [cubic-inch] Indy-head big block and ran low 11s. What it needed was a set of basic steel wheels, and quieter mufflers to complete the deception.

@Doug: The sleeper-est car I’ve ever had (and I’m a classic car dealer) was the one I sold in order to start my business. It was a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda 340 Formula S notchback, finished in Spanish Gold and green interior. It was also a 4-speed AND a stripe delete car. Other than 3 round emblems on the car, you couldn’t tell what it was…..until you put your foot into it. That car would LITERALLY rip the knobs off the dashboard while trying to find grip. It destroyed stock 383 and 440/4 Mopars with regularity—yes, at the strip. An absolute torque monster, and with manual steering, manual drum brakes, No AC, and flat-as-pancake bucket seats, the single-most uncomfortable long-trip cruiser I’ve ever been in.

@jal11180: AMC Hornet – basically, this vehicle is the more high-performance version of the AMC Concord and, with a little bit of work, it could be a true street beast.

@Roger: consider a ’64 Studebaker Commander or Challenger (yes, Studebaker used the name in ’64) 2 door with a supercharged R3 engine and 4 speed with the right rear end ratio. About 400 hp at the rear wheels and 0-60 in well under 7 seconds. Factory stock and nothing except a couple of inobtrusive badge to give it away.

The post According to you: What’s the best “sleeper” car of all time? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

In today’s episode of Our Two Cents, we dig into our staff’s best picks for the best classic/antique/special interest vehicle. Except we’re gonna mix it up and only consider what they’d buy 25 years from now. The magic 25-year mark exists because that’s when any vehicle can be imported to the USA as a classic, therefore skirting U.S. safety and emissions regulations for new vehicles. So forget about what you can get right now, imagine what you can do when you’re 25 years older?

Let’s find out what car our staffers will buy in 2048. Precisely 25 years from now.

Alpine A110

Starting with me, I’ll pick the lowest hanging fruit from the 25-year-old tree, as the 2017+ Alpine A110 is a pure case of “I want it because I can’t have it.” The performance is gonna be worse than a comparable C7/C8 Corvette, but I don’t care; the Alpine must be mine because its achingly beautiful and has adequate performance. Now if only we could LS-swap it, as that’d be a complete game changer.

Camaro SS 1LE

Senior Editor Eddy Eckart picks a car that will likely become an unquestioned classic in 25 years. Perhaps its one that slides under the radar of all its Mopar competition and turns better to boot?

“Who knows what fanciful ideas I’ll have about cars when I am 68! I’ll probably want one more manual transmission. Fast won’t matter, but handling will. At that point, joy in the drive will supersede tinkering for me, so no projects. Something noticeable, but not look-at-me outrageous. Needs a healthy soundtrack. Seems like I’m headed back to where it started for me: GM’s pony car, though one a little newer and nicer than the ’92 Firebird I bought in 1997. I’ll go with a pre-facelift, sixth-gen Camaro SS 1LE in Hyper Blue.

4×4 Sprinter Camper Van

Ben Woodworth, our Senior Video Lead, knows that he’s still gonna want a van a quarter century from now.

“In 25 years, my four kids will be out of the house (hopefully) and I will (again, hopefully) be on the verge of retiring! Given those two things, I’ll be buying a 4×4 Mercedes Sprinter camper van. It’s probably the only automotive-related purchase that my wife and I agree on, and it’s basically been our retirement plan since we got married. We want to spend our time traveling the continent camping, biking, skiing, and adventuring. Sprinkle in some visits with grandkids along the way and I’m set for life. There are too many cool places in this world and fun things to do to spend retirement sitting on the front porch yelling at youths as they pass by on their hoverboards and flying cars.”

Pontiac G8 GXP

Editor Kyle Smith picked the last—possibly one of the best—vehicles to wear the red Pontiac arrowhead emblem. Hard to argue with his logic!

“Let’s assume my lack of financial responsibility will turn around in the next 25 years, and I’ll have a little more to spend than I do now. If so, that means I will finally be able to buy a 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP. White please, no sunroof, six-speed manual transmission. With only 299 white 2009 model year G8 GXPs out there, I think I’ll start saving now—mainly because I have to. Regardless, I think history will treat these well even if a lot of folks think it has two too many doors. Practicality, muscular styling, and big muscle under the hood will always be cool.”

Genesis G70 Shooting Brake

Associate Managing Editor Grace Houghton chose the same path as my wish for European importation. But instead of sport, she went looking for a stylish station wagon-ish vehicle that’s unlikely to ever come to America. Well, at least not on its own accord (sorry).

“If it’s 2048, I’ll be chasing down this South Korean beauty, the wagon version of Genesis’ G70 sports sedan. Currently sold only in Europe, the G70 Shooting Brake offers the same twin-turbo, 3.3-liter V-6 found in the sedan, which is genuinely sporting but comfortable enough to road-trip. Perfect combo. The wagon’s fantastically good-looking and, in contrast to the equivalent German, fresh and off-beat. The interior is posh enough to flatter—quilted leather seats; yes, please—but clean lines, subtle textures, and physical buttons keep it from being fussy. Sure, it only comes with an automatic transmission, but I’ll have a manual Corvette by then, so who cares?”

Pontiac Trans Am

Managing Editor David Zenlea proves that the more things change, the more they stay the same. An extra 25 years won’t stop him from wanting what he wants right now.

“I can confidently say that 25 years from now I will want a second-gen Trans Am with a Pontiac 400 engine. That’s what I wanted 25 years ago and it’s still what I want today. The world will surely look very different in a quarter century, but I will likely be the same idiot who likes t-tops and large decals.”

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Today, the terms “mid-engine sports car” and “affordable” aren’t terribly compatible. Sure, the Corvette Stingray is a fantastic bargain relative to its peers, and the Porsche Cayman is an absolute delight, but they’re still a big reach for the average enthusiast. However, for a brief time in the 1980s, there were multiple mid-engine cars in the North American market that were legitimately affordable.

The 1970s brought the mid-engine platform from racing to the road, most notably with exotics from Italy, like Lamborghini’s Miura and Countach and Ferrari’s 512 BB. More affordable options came to the masses with the likes of the Fiat X1/9. It wasn’t until the ’80s, though, that major players in the U.S. market got in on the act.

The Pontiac Fiero debuted in 1984 to much acclaim, and the Toyota MR2 joined the U.S. market a year later. These were both mainstream brands that primarily churned out more staid layouts—front-engined, front- and rear-wheel-drive cars aimed toward everyday transportation. Sure, Pontiac and Toyota had their existing sporty models, but the fact that the MR2 and Fiero were so radically different from their respective stablemates is why we’re still talking about them today.

Prices for both models are creeping up, and today, buyers will pay a premium to relive some of that mid-priced, mid-engine magic, especially for the most desirable versions.

Our own Jason Cammisa’s dive into the Fiero’s origins is definitely worth watching. The basics: GM brass gave Fiero the green light based on the assumption that it would be an economical commuter. As a result, Pontiac borrowed heavily from GM’s parts bin to keep costs low. Cribbing the front suspension from GM’s compact RWD Chevette and repurposing the front suspension of GM’s front-drive Chevy Citation/Pontiac Phoenix for the rear, the Fiero’s underpinnings might have saved money, but the car’s performance didn’t match its eye-catching styling.

Unfortunately, the Fiero never received the powertrain it deserved. The 2.5-liter Iron Duke was the car’s sole powerplant at its launch. Known for dogged reliability and simplicity, it was a 92-hp economy-car engine that fit the Fiero’s stated mission, if not its looks. The 2.8-liter V-6 that became optional with the GT model in 1985 was significantly more powerful, with 140 hp, but still hardly the stuff of sports-car dreams.

Despite its lackluster powerplants, the Fiero managed to be fun. It was compact, rigid, and relatively lightweight (around 2600 pounds), and Pontiac made tweaks every year to incrementally improve it. The GT model, along with its improved power, brought wider tires and, for 1986, a new pseudo-fastback look. A five-speed manual transmission made its debut in June of that year as well.

The Fiero’s steel spaceframe construction and fiber-reinforced plastic body panels made styling updates a breeze for Pontiac and also contributed to the Fiero’s popularity as a donor vehicle for faux-exotic kit cars of the era. Pontiac dealers even got in on the action by selling the Mera, a Ferrari 308 clone made using a new Fiero, in 1987 and 1988.

The Fiero sold incredibly well at launch, but sales tapered as the years went on, even as Pontiac added power and introduced the sporty GT fastback. The final year of Fiero production, 1988, saw its lowest sales despite the car finally receiving the improved suspension it needed to live up to its sporty looks. A second-generation Fiero was planned, and a prototype was built, but the sagging sales numbers spelled Fiero’s end.

While the Fiero was an economy car that would look and eventually drive like a sports car, Toyota’s MR2 was a sports car that happened to deliver good fuel economy.

Toyota offered the public a peek at its mid-engine intent when it showed the SW-3 concept in 1983, and it introduced the MR2 in North America in early 1985. The entry price, including destination, was $11,195—about $31,000 in today’s dollars. The MR2 reaped praise for its sharp handling, crisp-shifting five-speed gearbox, and finely constructed, 1.6-liter, 112-hp powerplant.

In other words, the MR2 delivered the driving experience that its looks promised. Several buff books placed the MR2 into their various “best of” lists, including Car and Driver (10Best) and Motor Trend (Import Car of the Year).

The MR2 received an engine upgrade partway through its first generation: the addition of an intercooled supercharger. That boosted the little 1.6-liter to a peppy 145 horses. Though available to Japanese buyers in 1986, Americans had to wait until 1988. Enthusiasts got just one angular body style on the MR2, but Toyota made yearly changes to make aero bits, trim, and mirrors match the body color, bit by bit. Time has been kind to the MR2’s design—it’s basically a rolling representation of how we like to remember the 1980s.

For collectors, the supercharged version of the MR2 is the most desirable, with the average #2 (Excellent) condition value of a boosted model coming in at $31,200. That’s 44 percent higher than their naturally aspirated counterparts in #2 (Excellent) condition at $21,700. Even more impressive, it’s a 161 percent increase compared to its value just five years ago. In addition to rising interest for the MR2 on the model’s own merits, the rise of the Japanese segment as a whole may well be a contributing factor to MR2 values’ steep growth.

Fieros have been on the march too, just not to the same degree. Five years ago, values for 1988 GTs, the most desirable model, were similar to those of its supercharged Toyota counterpart. Today they’re up 50 percent, with #2 (Excellent) models coming in at $19,600.

That’s a 58 percent premium over the mechanically similar 1988 Formula at $12,400 for #2 (Excellent) condition. Other desirable Fiero models include the 1984 Indy Pace Car, the most valuable Fiero powered by the 92-hp Iron Duke.

Our insurance data suggests that these cars have a solid future, as younger buyers are interested in both of them. Sixty-five percent of the people who called us last year for an insurance quote on a Fiero were Gen X or younger (compared to that generation’s 61 percent market share for all enthusiast vehicles). The overall number of insurance quotes for Fieros grew faster than the collector car market as a whole in 2021–2.

The news for the MR2 is similarly optimistic. For the 1984–9 Toyota MR2, the share of quotes from Gen X and younger in 2022 was 82 percent, and interest is also outpacing the growth of the market as a whole. However, based on sheer volume of quotes, the Fiero is nearly three times more popular than the MR2.

That popularity shouldn’t come as a surprise. In the North American market, Pontiac sold 136,840 Fieros in 1984 alone. That’s more than Toyota’s entire run of the first two MR2 generations through 1995. In this foray into affordable, mid-engine runabouts, the Fiero emerged victorious in the battle of ’80s mid-engine coupes by sheer volume.

However, the relatively rarer MR2, the more fully developed sports car from the get-go, brings in higher prices. And since the MR2 survived long enough to fight on in the ’90s, you might also say it won the war.

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Remember when General Motors made cars? No, really. Back in the 1970s, GM offered not only sedans, but wagons, sport coupes, plush full-size hardtops (with Landau tops? You betcha), and even personal luxury coupes in the form of the popular Grand Prix. No small SUVs, no combovers. Oops. I meant crossovers. And even if you chose a compact GM product back then, they didn’t have to be a no-frills penalty box. Case in point: The Pontiac Ventura SJ.

The Ventura nameplate went back to the 1960s, when it was essentially a deluxe interior trim package, available on full-size Catalinas. They were particularly colorful, and cars so equipped received “Ventura” nameplates instead of “Catalina.” This lasted through 1970.

But starting with the 1971 model year, the car became Pontiac’s version of the compact X-body, which up until then consisted solely of the Chevrolet Nova. But that would change. The Pontiac was the first corporate sibling, but both Oldsmobile and Buick added their own versions, the Omega and the Apollo, respectively, in 1973.

The Ventura continued with little change between 1971 and ’74, other than gaining 5-mph “safety” bumpers (and appearing in the 1973 classic The Seven-Ups—better chase scene than Bullitt, in my opinion), but in 1975 the car—and all of its corporate siblings—were completely redesigned.

While the Ventura continued with its traditional split grille (but of course!) the ’75 Ventura had a more upright, somewhat European profile, with a taller greenhouse and more glass area.

The 1976 Venturas were much the same, except for a revised grille insert, but the ’77s got a mild facelift with a larger squared off grille that now encompassed both the headlights and the side marker/running lights. The front turn signals, as before, were hidden within the grill bars.

While the SJ got the plusher interior and exterior trim, as before, the seats were now much Broughamier, with a diamond-pattern, button-tufted design on the backrests. The Ventura SJ was available as a two-door coupe, two-door hatchback, and four-door sedan.

SJ sedans like our featured car had a base price of $4012 (about $19,800 today); the basic Ventura sedan started at $3650 ($18,020). Not many ponied up for the SJ extras; only 4339 sedans were built, along with 3418 SJ coupes and 1100 SJ hatchbacks. Most popular ’77 Ventura was, unsurprisingly, the aforementioned base sedan, with 27,089 sold.

SJ niceties included a stand-up hood ornament, wide ribbed rocker panel moldings with rear quarter extensions, deluxe wheel covers (the turbine vane wheel covers seen on our featured car were an optional extra, as were the famous Rally II wheels), wider taillights, and bright wheel lip and side window moldings.

Inside, SJ owners got fancier seats, luxury cushion steering wheel, added sound insulation, padded door panels with map pockets, a passenger assist handle above the glovebox, woodgrain accents on the dash, a day/night rear-view mirror, and cut-pile carpeting.

As with all the other X-body GM compacts, these rode a 111.1-inch wheelbase. The Pontiacs were 199.6 inches long, regardless of body style. The 3.8-liter (AKA 231-cubic-inch) V-6 was standard equipment, with a three-on-the-tree, column-mounted manual transmission. A 2.5-liter four-cylinder was optional (really), and 301 and 350 V-8s were available for buyers who wanted more oomph. A 5.7 was available only in California and high-altitude counties, per my 1977 Pontiac deluxe brochure.

The expected options could be had, such as bucket seats with center console, air conditioning, power windows, power door locks, cruise control, AM/FM stereo, and—of course—a CB radio. Hey, it was the year that Smokey and the Bandit came out.

As uncommon as these were, a couple friends related some Ventura stories. Freddy Hollingsworth remembered, “These were beasts! Super strong metal. We beat one up on the farm in the early ’90s. I couldn’t believe how stout the B-Pillar and doors were. These were extremely well-built cars! To this day I still have the Pontiac grill emblem.”

My friend and Brougham partner in crime, Jim Smith, related that his sister owned a Ventura back when they were just late-model used cars. At the time he worked for a Chrysler-Plymouth dealer in greater Chicagoland. “I took a really clean gold one in trade in 1987. I sold it to my sister and she drove it for a couple of years and replaced it with a new ’90 Jaguar.”

Our featured car is a remarkably clean SJ sedan, painted in what appears to be Buccaneer Red, which was available on all ’77 Venturas, Firebirds (including the Trans Am, naturally), Astres, and Sunbirds. I remember seeing it in an online auction several years ago and saved the pictures to “The Vault.” It turns out that ’77 Ventura SJ was owned and sold by a friend of mine, Anthony Rose. After I posted some pictures of the car on social media some time ago, he mentioned, “Hey, that was one of ours!” He found the photo file on his computer and emailed it to me, resulting in even more pictures of it than I had. It really is a small world.

As for the Ventura, 1977 was its swan song. Midyear, Pontiac introduced a more luxurious version of the car with a more squared-off nose and trendy rectangular headlamps, dubbed Phoenix. Starting with the 1978 model year, all the Pontiac X-bodies became Phoenixes.

The Ventura nameplate quietly faded away. And starting with the ’80 model year, Phoenix would become drastically different, with front-wheel drive and an all-new look. But that’s a story for another time.

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I grew up in a family that exclusively bought General Motors vehicles. Why this was the case, I can’t really say. We lived on the East Coast, and no one we knew worked for any of the Big Three. Nowadays any kind of loyalty carries a tinge of hyper-partisanship; back then, it felt more like a simple fact. Just as we happened to be Jews and happened to be from New England, so we happened to always have a front-drive GM blob in the driveway.

I was brought home from the hospital in a Chevrolet Celebrity, which was traded for a Pontiac Sunbird and then a procession of Bonnevilles. I spent middle school climbing into the back seat of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo (the two-door Lumina variant), which was upgraded—thrillingly, to me at the time—to a Pontiac Grand Prix GTP.

All of this is a long way of explaining my joy at seeing a 1993 Pontiac Bonneville SSE Supercharged sell for $6061 (including fees) on Cars & Bids.

“Supercharged,” in this and practically every other case for General Motors in the 1990s and early 2000s, referred to a boosted version of GM’s venerable 3.8-liter V-6. It was, even in 1993, far from state-of-the-art—an OHV, iron-block engine that dated back to 1960s Buicks. Yet it produced 205 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque, which was a whole lot in 1993.

By the time this “3800” powerplant officially left the scene, in the 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix GT, it made 260 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque. Readily available bolt-ons, namely a smaller pulley, easily pushed output past 300 hp with little risk to the engine (the transmission was another matter).

I’ll come right out and say it: These were great engines.

Lest I get ahead of myself (or in case I already have), it’s worth adding that the Bonneville SSE was not a great car, and neither were any of the other GM front-drivers of the era. By 1993, Japanese automakers had utterly perfected the family sedan—one could make the case that the 1991–96 Toyota Camry, a Lexus in all but name, is the greatest front-drive family sedan of all time. Ford had battled back with the best-selling Ford Taurus and even Chrysler, under the auspices of Bob Lutz, was rolling out slick-looking, “cab-forward” LH-platform cars. GM was otherwise occupied.

In the 1980s the General had thrown billions at front-drive cars that, even when new, failed to match the refinement of class leaders. It entered the 1990s posting losses that were, at that point in the company’s history, unprecedented. The hard times manifested themselves in hard interior plastic panels and overall poor fit and finish. (I can recall, even as an eight-year-old, noticing paint runs in our white 1993 Bonneville SE).

Although practically all GM brands and cars suffered, few fared worse than the once-proud Pontiacs, which continued to be marketed as performance cars but increasingly failed to keep up with competition. These Bonnevilles accelerated well and cruised the highway with languid ease but lacked the agility of a contemporary Nissan Maxima, to say nothing of the era’s BMWs.

Not that my parents—or hundreds of thousands of other parents—were really cross-shopping 5 Series and the like. GM was losing market share, but still built more than one out of every three cars sold in the United States when this Bonneville found its first owner. Since then, this beige and brown family sedan has clearly lived a pampered existence, racking up 167,000 miles and showing only minor wear to its heavily bolstered driver’s seat. The 1990s GM gimmickry gadgetry, including a head-up display and primitive trip computer, now lend a distinct time-capsule feel, although it’s hard to say if they all work going just by the photos.

Hagerty fielded only a handful of calls from people interested in insuring 1992–1997 Bonnevilles in the past year. The median value cited is $6000, making this sale right on the money. Even the best American cars of this era have by and large been left behind as 1990s vehicles appreciate. These front-drive GM sedans, far from the best, are and remain an automotive underclass of a sort. And yet, they were always there, serving honestly in the background and, more specifically, in my family’s driveway.

It’s nice to see you, old friend.

***

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Let’s not kid ourselves: Being a car enthusiast can be a pricey endeavor. Like any hobby that involves expensive gear and gadgets (golf, photography, skiing, boating …), keeping a fun weekend car is often dauntingly expensive.

We’ve found 12 vehicles made in 1993 or later, each of which costs less than 20 grand in running and driving condition. Each has plenty of creature comforts, and some have real handling prowess. All are vehicles that you can enjoy owning, tinkering with, and possibly showing off at your local car show or caffeine-adjacent cruise-in.

We know that $20,000 is not cheap, but we’ve selected vehicles that are well-preserved for their age, with values based on the Hagerty Price Guide’s 1-to-4 vehicle-condition rating system. (For the full breakdown of our scale, click here.) Vehicles in #3, or Good, condition are very well maintained and ready to hit the road, though they will have cosmetic flaws visible to the naked eye. #2 condition, or Excellent, vehicles drive and present like new.

Let’s get started.

2006 Dodge Charger SRT8

#3 (Good) value: $16,900

It sure doesn’t feel like Dodge returned to Hemi-powered muscle cars 17 years ago, but here we are. The 6.1-liter Hemi in the early Chargers is down a bit on power compared to the current crop of 6.4-liter beasts, although the 425-hp output and snarling exhaust are enough to make you forget the comparison rather quickly. Also, the tall, aluminum intake manifold on the 6.1-liter easily makes it the best-looking third-gen Hemi to ever go into a Charger, so pop that hood every chance you get.

The earlier Charger models have just the right amount of brawny flair to make them stand out in a sea of FWD sedans. They’ve got to be some of the best buys in muscle sedans today.

1995 Subaru SVX L AWD

#2 (Excellent) value: $16,600

There were many strange and interesting vehicles to come out of Japan in the ’90s, so we’ll forgive you if you’ve forgotten—or never even knew—about the Subaru SVX.

The two-door, four-seat grand tourer was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, who also penned the DeLorean DMC-12 and original Golf. The SVX has a striking greenhouse dominated by curving side windows that necessitated a rather unique solution to allow the vertical portions to roll down. We drove one of these quirky coupes and enjoyed the smooth, 240-hp 3.3-liter flat-six and the stares that the rare coupe drew from confused onlookers.

Considering the SVX was a low-volume car and the sole recipient of its flat-six engine, this car might be expensive to maintain long-term. On the other hand, it does turn a lot of heads for 16 grand.

1993 Ford Taurus SHO

#2 (Excellent) value: $10,300

Who doesn’t love a sleeper? Ford pumped out hundreds of thousands of boring, reliable Tauruses every year, making it the most popular car in America from 1992–96. The majority of them were equipped with an automatic transmission and a 140-hp, pushrod, 3.0-liter Vulcan V-6. Optional on sedans and standard on the heavier wagon, the 3.8-liter Essex V-6 brought additional torque (but no additional power) thanks to increased displacement.

The SHO (Super High Output) model, on the other hand, featured a DOHC version of the 3.0-liter with an improved block and an all-new top end developed by Yamaha. Doubling the number of valves meant the V-6 could breathe a whole lot better, allowing it to rev to a peak of 220 hp at 6200 rpm. The additional 80 horsepower completely transformed the SHO and enabled it to sprint from 0 to 60 mph in under seven seconds when equipped with the manual transmission. In 1993, an automatic was optional for the first time and nearly 3 out of 4 buyers preferred it, with contemporary reviews from Motor Trend praising the automatic version’s smoothness.

Whichever SHO you pick, five-speed or auto, expect it to fly under the radar and bring a smile to your face.

1999 Ford Mustang Cobra SVT

#3 (Good) value: $16,000

The Ford Mustang GT has been a great performance bargain for years. For that reason, it’s easy to forget that, in the early days of the Modular V-8, the standard GT wasn’t terribly exciting. With its “Performance Improved” two-valve cylinder head, the 1999 Mustang boasted 260 hp, an increase from 225 hp the year before.

There was clearly more in Ford’s Modular V-8, and the 1999 SVT Cobra unlocked it thanks to DOHC, four-valve heads. The massive heads and imposing intake, topped with a coiled cobra, looked great under the hood, but owners were disappointed with the model’s performance. Ford recalled the cars and replaced the intake manifold, stating that the initial run of manifolds had been miscast and didn’t flow as intended. The factory made good with a new intake, cat-back exhaust, and a new tune, making the 320-hp 4.6-liter the most powerful naturally aspirated Mod motor to go into a factory Mustang until the fabulous Coyote debuted for 2012.

We’ve got good news for fans of convertibles: The droptop Cobra is even more affordable, with a #3 (Good) condition value of $14,900.

2000 Chevrolet Corvette

#3 (Good) value: $17,400

Corvette made several big moves when the fifth generation (C5) launched for the 1997 model year. Not only did chassis and layout improve by leaps and bounds, with the switch to a torque tube and rear-mounted transmission, but the fifth gen ushered in the LS1 V-8. This was the first application of the third-generation small-block, the only engine that had any chance at dethroning the original Chevy small-block as the go-to V-8 for the average Joe’s engine swap.

Low-mileage, well-preserved Z06s of this generation still provide excellent value, but enthusiasts have known about them for quite a while. It’s no secret that this 2023 Bull Market pick is a fantastic track machine. However, the base C5 still offers plenty of road-hugging grip, and it has a hatch that makes it a practical grand touring machine. (The trunk is pretty well known, at this point, for its ability to swallow two golf bags.) Plus, if you are so inclined, the Z06 suspension goodies are a bolt-on affair. Prices have softened a bit on the entry-level C5s, with values down 11 percent since October of 2022.

1991 Honda Civic Si

#2 (Excellent) value: $15,600

With a standard manual transmission and manual steering, the original Civic Si was a pure, mechanical joy. Later models added more finesse, but even with smoothed edges, they are still a visceral experience. We’ve seen prices for Honda hot hatches and coupes skyrocket over the last several years, and the prices for the 1991 model have gone up 25 percent since this time last year. For buyers of a certain age, these are prime collectibles. Get behind the wheel and you’ll understand why.

2004 Porsche Boxster S

#3 (Good) value: $18,000

Let’s not put too fine a point on this: It’s a droptop, mid-engine Porsche that you can drive for less than $20,000.

2009 Pontiac Solstice GXP

#2 (Excellent) value: $18,500

The Pontiac Solstice was made during a time when General Motors was taking risks and putting quite a lot of low-volume vehicles into production. Enthusiasts should take advantage of the spoils.

Yes, there’s a serious lack of luggage space thanks to some interesting packaging decisions that make this car rather impractical for a long trip, much less a daily driver; but the Pontiac Solstice and its Saturn Sky platform-mate are quite fun to drive, often described as smaller Corvettes. The Solstice GXP and its cousin the Sky Redline are powered by 260-hp, turbocharged Ecotec 2.0-liter inline-fours and their generous wheelwells can fit a decent amount of tire to provide lots of grip.

Values for these attractive convertibles are holding steady and a #3 (Good) condition GXP can be had for just about half ($10,700) of this list’s $20,000 threshold.

2006–2007 Subaru Impreza WRX

#3 (Good) value: $15,300

Subaru finally gave American buyers the chance to own a rally-bred WRX in 2002 and a generation of buyers has reveled in the nimble, AWD performance compact in both sedan and wagon versions.

WRX fans have lots of opinions on whether the Bugeye (2002–3), Blobeye (2004–5), or Hawkeye (2006–7) version looks best, and we can make arguments for all three of them. However, it was only the Hawkeye that got a displacement boost, using the 2.5-liter EJ255 rather than the 2.0-liter powerplant used by its predecessors. There’s a downside to the increase in displacement and torque that came from this new engine, as the mill is notorious for head-gasket issues. Hopefully by now these cars have enough miles for their owners to have sorted those out, and you’ll be able to find a driver-condition (or #3) car and enjoy AWD turbo motoring.

If you prefer a different look, and a bit more luxury, the badge-engineered Saab 9-2X Aero wagon uses the same 230-hp turbo four and has an identical price tag.

2002 BMW Z3 3.0

#3 (Good) value: $15,500

Sometimes Miata is not the answer. The most powerful non-M version of the classic BMW roadster, the 3.0-liter iteration of the Z3 packs an M54 inline-six that delivers a smooth 228 hp suitable for spirited driving or for road-tripping. Where else are you going to get an inline-six roadster at this price and with looks this striking? Prices are up just over five percent compared to a year ago, perhaps pulled in that direction by the less common Z3 coupe, whose values are up by more than 25 percent.

2006 Pontiac GTO

#3 (Good) value: $19,800

Imported from Australia, the 2004 GTO brought a capable chassis with independent rear suspension, a powerful V-8, and a comfortable interior—available in quite the color palette—to fill in while the Camaro was on hiatus. The GTO’s detractors bashed it for being a hot-rodded two-door version of a family sedan with some hood scoops thrown on, completely forgetting that the original 1964 GTO was a hot-rodded two-door version of a family sedan with some hood scoops thrown on.

Contemporary reviews from buff books were positive and the rather sedate design has aged nicely. While the car was launched in 2004 with a 350-hp, 5.7-liter LS1, 2005 and 2006 models received a 400-hp, 6.0-liter LS2, making them the most desirable models in the short production run. This one barely squeaks onto the list: Enthusiasts know a good thing when they see it, and prices have remained steady.

2003 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon

#3 (Good) value: $19,300

Not everyone’s idea of a weekend drive includes a road, so we couldn’t finish this list without a 4×4. The inaugural Jeep Wrangler Rubicon seemed like the perfect vehicle to wrap things up.

The 2003 model year saw not only the introduction of the Rubicon package, with its beefier Dana 44 axles, dual lockers, and 4:1 low-range, but also a mid-cycle update across the TJ Wrangler lineup that included an automatic overdrive transmission replacing the prior three-speed auto. Of course, a five-speed manual was also optional and the Rubicon’s deep low-range would make three-pedal crawling a much simpler affair. It’s been 20 years since Jeep launched the Rubicon trim, and the prices on the TJ (1997–2006) Rubicons continue to scramble up, so it might not be long before spending $20,000 on a TJ Rubicon means a trail-battered example that requires serious repair.

For those of you who want to spend less than $20,000, there are still plenty of viable project vehicles, especially if you don’t mind sacrificing some late-model conveniences. If you prefer to do some wrenching and restoring of your own, your options are even more vast. Scored a good deal on a modern collectible such as these? Let us know in the comments below.

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Can a substitute ever be as satisfying as the real thing? It’s a question with which we all seem to struggle from a young age. It’s not always broccoli versus ice cream, either—often, the comparison is much closer, like Matchbox versus Hot Wheels. Each has its high points, and though you may prefer one, and all the hype tells you that it’s superior, the other just might impress if you give it a chance.

Take the 1987 Buick GNX and the 1989 Pontiac Trans Am 20th Anniversary Edition: they’re the protagonists in what might be the ultimate ’80s domestic-substitution challenge. Since the Black Buick’s prices remain stratospheric, could it be that the best alternative comes from cross-town Pontiac?

We can see the furrowed brows of the Buick faithful through the screen. Yes, you’ve got a point—despite nearly identical drivetrains, the differences between the Buick and the Poncho are black and white, much like the sole color choice offered on each car. Besides, wouldn’t a lesser-trim Regal scratch that GNX itch without the GNX price tag? Buick built thousands of the turbo Regal variants between 1978 and 1987, from the super-niche 1987 Turbo Regal Limited (1035 produced) to the more garden-variety Grand Nationals and T-Types, and they cover a broad price spread, too. But, if you want a range-topping, Ferrari-eating, force-fed piece of ’80s American history, and you like your cars ultra-rare, it’s either the GNX or the ’89 turbo T/A.

This turbo turf war has its roots in 1978, when Buick made quite the pivot. Hailing from the city that forged the formula for the V-8 muscle car, the Regal Sport Coupe’s fancy turbocharged 3.8-liter V-6 debut signaled a new path to power. Sure, its 165 hp and 245 lb-ft of torque did little to evoke the tire-evaporating 455 in Buick’s departed GS, but it was a step in the right direction. (It was also the only turbocharged domestic on the market that year, with Porsche, Saab, and Mercedes-Benz the only others with turbocharged models in the U.S.)

Oldsmobile and Chevy experimented with turbos in the ’60s, but they dropped the comparatively complex, boosted engines from their lineups relatively quickly. Pontiac would add a turbo to the 4.9-liter V-8 in the 1980 and ’81 Trans Am, but of GM’s brands, it was Buick that committed to the technology.

Sticking with forced induction led to increasingly powerful—if outwardly mundane—Buick Regals roaming the streets in the early ’80s. The Grand National nameplate emerged in 1982 as an aesthetic and interior celebratory package for Buick having won the Manufacturer’s Cup in the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National Series. Available on base-engine Regals or the Regal Sport Coupe with the turbo, the ’82 Grand National was the first step in building the bad-boy visual for Buick’s turbo coupes.

Though you could pick out a Regal T-Type (the turbocharged trim that replaced the Sport Coupe) in a variety of colors, 1984 marked first year of the black-only Grand National, its 200-hp and 300-lb-ft rating, and its TV ads with a Buick-ized version of George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone.” People took notice. Buick subsequently made incremental improvements in engine management, intercooling, and ignition to pressurize their variety of turbo Regal trims until the blown Buick crept into into Corvette power territory in 1987 with 245 hp and 355 lb-ft of torque.

By then, word was out. In addition to the turbo Regal’s reputation for speaking softly and cruising with a big stick, 1987 would be the final year for rear-wheel drive Regals. Turbo Buick fans came out in droves to snap up 27,590 units across all trims, or more than three times those sold in 1986.

Ahead of this sunset, Buick decided a commemoration was appropriate and got going on the ultimate second-gen Regal—the GNX. It reached out to Automobile Specialty Company (a division of American Sunroof Company, whose initials also spelled ASC) and McLaren Engines (not to be confused with McLaren the automaker) to aid in building a limited run of high-test, blacked-out turbo goodness. One look at a GNX and you know it’s different than the standard GN, though not obviously so—subtle badges, fender vents, and flares surrounding black mesh wheels are the tells.

ASC/McLaren’s effort on the engine was more a thorough massage than a complete working over: Boost increased to 15 psi and flowed through a larger turbo with ceramic turbine wheel, and the computer got a more aggressive tune. A new, large-diameter dual exhaust helped the turbo breathe better while revised intercooler piping offered greater thermal efficiency. The result was an almost certainly underrated 276 horsepower and 360 lb-ft of torque, managed through a 200-4R transmission with a new valve body and put to pavement by a reconfigured rear end featuring an F-body-style torque arm, Panhard bar, and strengthened differential cover.

All that power launched the GNX to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds and a then-brutal quarter-mile result of 13.5 seconds at 102 mph in Car & Driver’s testing. On the strip, this was good enough to place Buick’s bruiser at the pointy end of the fastest production cars available. It’s best to keep GNXs on the straight and narrow, though: “Clearly, the engine and the chassis are in separate leagues,” wrote Tony Assenza in the May 1987 issue of Car & Driver. “What we have here is a great powerhouse of a motor looking for a nice place to live.”

That criticism and underwhelming chassis didn’t matter a lick. Enthusiasts knew what these cars were about and loved every inch of them. Buick produced a mere 547 GNXs, and buyers scooped them up in a frenzy, often paying well over the $29,389 MSRP. Between the brawny motor and badass reputation cultivated by the Grand National that preceded it, the top-dog GNX has enjoyed a strong secondary market from the beginning and its legendary status has long been secure.

Younger readers might be surprised to learn GM didn’t always have a reputation as a monolithic corporation. For the first 50 years of operation, its many brand divisions operated semi-autonomously, each division utilizing and developing technology that was at times shockingly distinct from that of its corporate compatriots. In other words, Oldsmobile did its own thing, as did Cadillac, Buick, Chevy, GMC, and Pontiac. By the 1980s, GM chairman and CEO Roger Smith’s cost-cutting overhaul ushered in extensive tech trade and sharing between the GM siblings, but there was still significant internal competition.

So, while Pontiac was probably sick of its halo, 305-cubic inch, tuned-port injection Trans Ams losing drag races to Buick’s personal luxury coupes, it wasn’t above harnessing a bit of Buick’s turbo magic to remedy the situation. Pontiac decided to inject the turbo V-6 into the 20th Anniversary Trans Am, and started the project with its top-trim GTA model and all the WS6 handling upgrades.

Unique shocks and shorter front springs were swapped in to match the engine’s lighter-than-small-block weight, and larger brakes from the race-oriented 1LE package found their way behind the front wheels. A T-top roof configuration was an option, as were leather seating surfaces—though tan was the only interior color. Most turbo T/As came fully optioned with leather and the removable roof; finding a cloth interior or a hardtop is a challenge, much less finding one with both. Since the car paced the Indy 500 that year, pace-car door decals were included and installed by the dealer at the buyer’s discretion.

Despite a smaller footprint than the third-gen Firebird’s existing 305-cubic-inch V-8, the 3.8-liter six presented a fitment challenge. The Firebird’s strut towers made for a less accommodating bay than the larger Buick’s, so Pontiac swapped in compact cylinder heads from the 3800-series engine and selected shorter pistons to achieve its desired 8.0:1 compression ratio. Like Buick, Pontiac outsourced these tweaks, using Performance Automotive Systems to build the engines and complete final assembly.

The remainder of the engine components were a mix and match of existing Buick parts and Pontiac-specific selections, yielding 250 horsepower and 340 lb-ft of torque—figures that, like the GNX, are considered substantially underrated. Despite being down 26 horses on paper against the GNX, Car & Driver reported that the turbo T/A was a tenth quicker both to 60 mph and through the quarter mile. Pontiac had bragging rights on a technicality—these straight-line numbers are effectively a dead heat, and it was anyone’s bet at a Woodward Avenue stoplight.

Fulfilling C&D’s wishes, the T/A’s chassis was a better fit for the Buick V-6’s prodigious power. The F-body exhibited greater balance and grip, and was overall a more complete performance package, if a bit less comfortable on the boulevard.

Sources put production at around 1550 turbo Trans Ams—still a very limited run, but nearly three times the amount of GNXs that reached showrooms. While it briefly stood at the top of the heap of domestic performance, it never gained the cult following that the GNX had. Add in the 20th Anniversary Trans Am’s lack of visual differentiation from the lesser Trans Am GTA, and you’ve got the proper mix to make it less valuable to collectors—and simultaneously an opportunity for those who want a usable, affordable classic.

As with many Radwood-era rarities, pristine examples of both cars have increased significantly in value, though the Buick stands head and shoulders above the Pontiac. Ten GNXs have sold on Bring a Trailer for $200,000 or more, and that’s not just from the hot heyday of the pandemic market—the first one on BaT to cross that mark did so in 2019.

Granted, these are almost exclusively museum pieces with minimal mileage and delivery plastic covering the seats, but they slot neatly in between the Hagerty Price Guide‘s #1 condition value of $288,000 and condition #2 (Excellent) $179,000 value. Even driver-quality, #4 condition GNXs sit at the $80,000 mark. Values have softened ever so slightly for all but the top-tier—prices peaked in July last year and have remained stable at slightly lower levels since then.

About 70 percent of quotes for the GNX come from Gen X, which is nearly double that generation’s share from three years ago. Boomers have seen their share of quotes taper to about 20 percent. Millennials are becoming more interested in the GNX, but their share is still only about 5 percent. Insured demographic shares are similar: Gen X leads with 59 percent, 26 percent are owned by boomers, seven percent are owned by millennials, and eight percent by pre-boomers.

In contrast, you could take home four (!) #1-condition turbo T/As for the price of a single #1-condition GNX, or one pristine example for less than a driver-quality GNX. Across all conditions, the Pontiac’s prices continued to rise for one quarter longer than the Buick’s. Unlike the GNX, which throttled back its values slightly before leveling off at the end of the year, the turbo T/A has held steady as the market has begun to cool. This lag and hold does suggest the possibility for a substitution effect, or at least for greater market recognition.

The T/A finds itself sought after by the two dominant generations in the market: boomers and Gen X. It’s not particularly surprising for a rare, niche model to appeal most to those who were alive when it debuted. Together, the two generations almost evenly split nearly 90 percent of the quotes sought for the turbo T/A. Millennial interest is slight. Policies indicate that Gen X owns 52 percent of the turbo Trans Ams insured with Hagerty, with boomers coming in at 38 percent. Millennials have a two percent share, and pre-boomers make up an eight percent share. The average insured value of ’89 turbo T/As is a staggering 4.8 times less than that of the GNX.

What does this massive delta in values come down to? Mythology and sinister looks that are the last gasp of the muscle-car-era silhouette—the big, bad Buick has those in spades, and they certainly help its appeal. Three-figure production numbers don’t hurt the GNX’s desirability, either. As for the Trans Am, it might be handsome but it’s not nearly as mean, and aside from some badging, it looks identical to its V-8-powered GTA-trim sibling. The pace car decals that adorn many of the cars are an acquired taste as well.

Still, there’s something to be said for the GNX’s affordable cousin. On today’s SUV-filled roads, it’s hard not to be drawn to the ’80s white-on-gold wedge that is the turbo T/A. It might not intimidate the way the GNX does, but its looks are similarly representative of its era. Between the two, the turbo T/A is objectively the better all-rounder, even if the GNX gets the win for comfort and has a stronger following. While few are likely to pursue a top-flight 20th Anniversary Trans Am Turbo over a concours GNX as an investment, for those who drive their collector cars and take pride in owning a rare ride, the turbo T/A scratches that ’80s GM turbo-dominance itch well.

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Via Hagerty Insider

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Sitting in traffic can be boring. There often isn’t much to look at. A few personalized license plates to decode, or maybe a pretty sunrise or sunset to soak in, at best. I find myself often trying figure out what the badges on the back of the cars in front me you mean.

While the badging on modern cars is largely meaningless, there was a time when automakers peppered alphanumerics all over a car’s doors, fenders, pillars, and bumpers. It was a form boasting that showcased the car’s technological advancements and performance to anyone looking.

Those signals could be quite complex. You might need a decoder book, an engineering background, and an MBA to make sense of these four- or five-letter jumbles. These acronyms and initialisms pertained to the car’s transmission, engine, all-wheel drive system, or maybe a modest option code that sounded more like a radio station you’d pick up in the far corners of Kansas.

Thanks for tuning in to 94.3 SH-AWD! Up next we have a brand-new track off Sting’s new album!

We put our heads together and came up with a selection of badges—some well-known, some more obscure—and hunted down what each one meant. Should you stumble across one of these examples while gridlocked, the list below should provide you with some neat trivia to impress (or bore) your passengers.

LTD

While cars can sometimes seem like a Life Time Decision, that is not what LTD stands for. Nor does it stand for Love, Togetherness, and Devotion, but we could all benefit from being Back in Love Again with a quality automotive emblem like the Ford LTD.

No matter, when trim packages were introduced, the labels needed to create a hierarchy, clearly outlining which models were the feature-packed examples. Ford thought the best way to do so would be to make plain that one particular trim was Limited, which shortened nicely to LTD on the 1965 Ford Galaxie. Apparently it worked; by the late 1970s the Galaxie moniker was gone, and the LTD became the King of Dearborn.

RS/SS

Just as Ford wanted to distinguish one trim as “Limited,” Chevrolet sought slice up the Camaro lineup in the late 1960s. Buyers could step up from the base trim to the RS, which stood for Rally Sport. Making the leap scored you hidden headlights, revised taillights, and some additional brightwork. From there, you could step up to the SS package, which was short for Super Sport and was targeted at buyers wanting additional power and handling capability.

4WS

When numbers enter into the mix, you know things are getting complicated. Four Window System? The emblem was mounted on the B-pillar, after all!

But wait, that doesn’t make sense because this bit of tech debuted on the two-door Honda Prelude coupe. It’s actually a shorthand for Honda’s four-wheel steering, first introduced on the Prelude for the 1987 model year. The entirely mechanical system dialed in a relatively small amount of counter-steering to the rear wheels at slow speed to improve the turning circle, and it could also angle the rear wheels in the same direction as the fronts at higher speeds for better stability.

OHC/FI

Five letters with a slash. Things are getting serious now! Or at least, Pontiac thought its tech was getting noteworthy with the combination of an overhead camshaft and fuel injection on the 1.8-liter fuel injected engines found in the J-body based Pontiac Sunbird. (This Opel-derived motor was also used in the Oldsmobile Firenza and Buick Skyhawk, but without Pontiac’s unique emblem.) Did many/most vehicles of the era feature at least one overhead camshaft and fuel injection? Well, sure. But were they advertising it on the front of the fender? Gotta respect Pontiac’s hustle.

SVT

Super Very Torque? I mean, you do only see this badge on quick cars. Born in 1991, Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) was a skunkworks division dedicated to niche high-performance vehicles. While not particularly a creative initialism, the team was responsible for some heavy-hitting machinery including the 1993 Mustang Cobra R, 2005–2006 Ford GT supercar, and the first Ford Raptor pickup. Ford formally closed down SVT in 2015, but the legacy of this badge will be remembered fondly in the hearts of Blue Oval fans everywhere.

ALB

Another Honda entry to the list, like the 4WS emblem, also appears on the B-pillar. While ALB sounds like a minor-league baseball organization, it’s not (we think). On Hondas, ALB was just a simple abbreviation for anti-lock brakes that predated the commonly used ABS (anti-lock braking system). Of course, ABS is ubiquitous and thus nothing to brag about, but ALB marks a time when it was something to be proud of.

HICAS and Super HICAS

Whoa, that’s a lot of letters! HICAS stood for High Capacity Actively Controlled Steering, a rear-wheel steering system that Nissan first introduced on the 1986 Skyline GTS coupe. The system utilized the power steering pump to push fluid through a hydraulic circuit that would adjust the angle of the rear rollers based on input data from speed sensors. Starting with the R33 (1993–97) Skyline, the system swapped out the hydraulic controls for an electronically actuated system, which Nissan subsequently dubbed Super HICAS.

XR4ti

Where do we even start here? It is often safe to assume that ‘X’ is representative of ‘experimental’ in the land of European Ford and 1960s Lincoln-Mercury products—just pay no attention to the fact that Nissan came out with the Xterra and BMW stepped in with X-branded crossovers to muddied everything up. This particular string of letters does indeed start with ‘experimental,’ though it was only truly experimental for the North American market. From 1985 to 1989, Ford imported the three-door Sierra XR4i model and labeled it a Merkur XR4ti.

Long story short, XR4ti stood for Experimental (X) Racing (R),four cylinders** (4), Turbocharging (t), and fuel injection (i). That makes for a pretty cool package, but when shortened it looks more like a letter salad. Bob Lutz probably coulda been a little clearer with this one. That said, the 4 originally meant that it was the high performance version of the Ford Sierra, which was called the XR4.

You might be more likely to see these particular emblems at a RadWood event than in an everyday traffic jam, but knowledge is power nonetheless. We do occasionally have to eat and sleep, so we admit that what we’ve discussed here is a fraction of what is out there in wild, waiting to be decoded. Help us expand the list with a comment below and share your knowledge!

**There’s some intentional confusion here, as the “XR4” in XR4ti was originally designated as the largest of the three experimental racing creations from Ford of Europe. There was the smaller Escort XR3 and Fiesta XR2 before it. So you can either refer to it as four cylinders in American parlance, as it makes complete sense with the “t” and the “i” after, or the original definition of it being a larger hatchback in Ford’s performance portfolio. 

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We recently asked about the worst engines you’ve experienced in your lifetime, and you certainly delivered. Perhaps too well, as the responses were overwhelming. How on earth could we cover all the bad engines made over the years? Our solution to this (wonderful) problem was thus: we thinned the herd down to responses that specifically included personal experiences that add a little more value than just the usual re-hashing of the same stories you’ve heard elsewhere.

Let’s get right to it!

The Iron Duke four-cylinder

Charles A Parent said that the worst engine he ever owned was a Pontiac Iron Duke that “constantly ate Throttle Position Sensors and cracked the cast iron exhaust manifold three times.”

While the inclusion of TPS sensors suggests it might be the later TECH IV design, combining that with a four-speed shifter “that was prone to locking, in or out of gear” caused him to Lemon Law the car.

VW Type 412 1.8-liter flat-four

Hagerty Community user lasersailor came in strong with this one:

“I’ve got you all beat. 1679cc flat 4 in my parents 1972 VW411 wagon with a wimpy 3-speed auto transmission. Two fires caused by improper fuel injection repair at the so-called dealer in Florida. The 2nd fire caused near total immolation. Plus it was slower than a Pinto or Vega.”

Toyota 3VZ-E V-6

Hagerty Community member John Nichols gave a very balanced perspective on one of the more desirable and durable engines from Toyota, because sometimes tearing into something can turn into quite a shock:

“I recently got involved with a 1992 Toyota V-6 rebuild. The truck had a blown head gasket, the oil was full of water. Obviously these vehicles have a huge cult following of being amazingly reliable which I’m sure is well deserved.

HOWEVER when things do start to go it will cost you and assembly must be performed like a surgical operation. Parts and pieces and shrouds, crossover exhaust converters not to mention miles of vacuum lines weird little filters and of course the timing belt alignment are all part of the problem, not to mention the famous under the manifold sensor wire.

Ordinarily working on engines can be kind of fun be it a small block or an English roadster, although you have to make little tweaks often and pay attention to detail the reward of a few hours attention is measurable performance improvement.”

Chrysler 2.2-liter four-cylinder

This one might spark some controversy, as Chrysler’s 2.2-liter engine was designed specifically for a new platform and a new automotive reality. That said, Hagerty Community member David likely had an older model, but his experiences are certainly worth a read:

“As I recall memories of the early 80’s K Car with that darn 2.2 liter I feel a tension headache coming on. That engine had more use as a boat anchor, and I remember my poor dad spent more time and dollars repairing shoddy engineering design.

Crazy but true, when I got my licence and started to drive – I took that K Car to town and the engine actually fell out of the car! The front motor mount failed in the middle of an intersection. I guess even the car itself was sick of that engine and tried to spit it out.”

I reckon that A. Raymond had it even worse, but at least the dealership asked him a rather hilarious question:

“I had a Chrysler 2.2 non turbo forced upon me as a young fellow. Driving home from work in rush hour traffic, the engine decided it was time to digest itself. (It had 25,000 miles on it at the time.) The dealership accused me of ‘racing’. I laughed long and hard at the suggestion and told them I wouldn’t be doing too much racing with 88 hp.

After begrudgingly replacing the motor under warranty, I drove it another 3 months before selling it to another unfortunate schmuck. It was the worst thing I have ever had the displeasure of having to drive. I look back now and still laugh at that ‘you must have been racing’ suggestion.”

Oldsmobile Quad 4 four-cylinder

Brian was pretty sick of the Iron Duke in his 1985 Cutlass Calais, noting it was reliable but also “noisy and weak.” So imagine his delight when the Quad 4 made a splash in 1987:

“I was so excited to get one of the first Quad 4s. More power and much quieter. My love affair ended at 67,000 miles when it had a complete meltdown out of warranty. My very last GM car.”

And then we heard from Tom:

“Yes, I had the Quad 4 in a Pontiac Grand Am. Delightful, until the head gasket failed. Dealership near my work (different state from purchase point) tried really hard not to cover the failure but, after showing how much coolant I was adding, did a cheap fix. Probably tore it down to only replace the head gasket because it failed again, just out of warranty.

At that point, I was back where I bought the car, and they repaired it again, but it still didn’t seal. Any time I got in traffic, it would overheat and blow out the coolant. Tried checking the cooling system (radiator, etc.) without finding any issues. Aluminum head must have been significantly warped by that point. Finally sold that car. Too bad as it was fine as long as it was moving.”

Honda CVCC four-cylinder

Dan T Man takes us over to Honda, a brand we don’t usually hear about in this context. But he noted that the “1751 CC engine in the original Honda Accord was known to develop a head gasket leak between the #3 and #4 cylinders every 30,000 miles.” He said that it ran fine otherwise, and learned that “when the engine lost about 50 rpm at idle it was time for another change” of the head gasket.

AJD went further:

“My first brand-new car was a 1977 Honda Civic CVCC. Within 60K miles it had eaten 3 water pumps and blown its head gasket. The head gasket had been recalled but would not be replaced until blown. It really blew up nicely and the engine never ran right again.”

Buick 3.8-liter (Malaise Era) V-6

Don’t take this as a slam on Buick’s tried-and-true, 90-degree, 3.8-liter V-6. Odds are the problems that Dwayne Wertman experienced came from the Malaise Era engineering mounted to its induction and exhaust systems.

“I bought a new 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass V-6. The engine would ping and rattle just trying to keep up with traffic. Often times it would stall in the intersection. I returned to the dealership on many occasions. It was a really good dealership, [because] after eight months they bought back and all I lost was tax and license.”

eagerdever drives home the point of this being an issue from the 1970s and early 1980s:

“I experienced oiling problems accompanied by valve train noise and the engine light in a 3.8 V-6 in a ’79 Olds Cutlass wagon. I’d stop and let the engine cool down, and then be on my way. The crankshaft finally broke in half. Because it broke on the diagonal, the engine continued to run, though poorly. A co-worker had similar problems with that engine in a Grand Prix, replaced under warranty. Another co-worker lost the engine in his Buick Skyhawk (the Buick version of the Chevy Monza). All three were due to poor oiling.”

Mitsubishi 4G54 four-cylinder with Mazda sprinkles

While the Buick was a victim of engineering mandates of the era, apparently Mazda shot themselves in the foot with a half-baked design made with no third-party intervention!  Check out Arthur Hill’s fascinating tale of deceit:

“In 1988, as my family grew to 4, I needed to trade my Toyota 4X4 Pickup for one of the new ones with actual back seats to hold the two children. Unfortunately Toyota did not produce one until a few years later, but Mazda had a very nice looking B2600 4X4 that had back seats. This truck had the worst engine I ever had to deal with.  I quickly discovered that if you really put your foot into it under a load, the engine would stutter and almost stall. Many trips to the dealer failed to solve this issue.

Finally a mechanic took me aside and admitted that Mazda rushed the truck into production without having an engine big enough, so they used a Mitsubishi 2.6 engine instead, but to make it easier to work on for their service people, they adapted their own accessories including the carburetor. Under load the only way the engine could get enough fuel was to link both barrels together all the time.

Needless to say, Mazda dropped this truck and you never see any on the road. Terrible truck with a terrible engine, but the actual Mitsubishi 2.6 engine was probably fine in their own vehicles.”

Mitsubishi 4G54/Chrysler HEMI 2.6-liter four-cylinder

No, not that Hemi. Or that one. We’re talking about the hemi-headed Mitsubishi 2.6-liter used on the Chrysler K-car and its derivatives. Chris Harshman said that the “worst engine I ever had was a 4-cylinder Mitsubishi engine in my 1982 Dodge 400. I used to joke with my friends that I could accelerate from 0-to-35 in 12 seconds.”

Subaru boxer flat-four/flat-six

BobJ chimed in with one of the more offensive engines in modern history: the head gasket-munching Subaru boxer. But unlike other stories here, he made the same mistake twice.

“Had a 2005 and a 2010. Both blew head gaskets. Out of warranty but I complained and Subaru of America paid for half. Everyone complains about poor head gasket design & construction but I also wonder about open deck block design.”

GM 2.4-liter Ecotec four-cylinder

Hagerty Community member Rob keeps us in a more modern era, with a problem with the Ecotec 2.4-liter mill in his 2010 Chevrolet Equinox.

“Here’s a counterpoint for everyone who marvels at the reliability of modern cars. Launched just after GM’s bankruptcy, I should have known they probably cut corners on validation but couldn’t pass up a nice sized SUV that cracked 30 mpg.

It went through numerous high pressure fuel pumps. The timing chain tensioner went bad. The variable cam timing system went out and timing chain would slap like crazy when you started it. It had a bad heat treat on a pin in the cam shaft. Started burning over a quart of oil every 1000 miles and was rebuilt under warranty just before 50k Powertrain warranty expired. And I never got anywhere near 30 mpg on the highway.”

Ford 1.5-liter Ecoboost four-cylinder

Steve notes that his 2015-vintage, 1.5-liter, Ford EcoBoost engine is “absolute garbage compared to every other engine I’ve had the pleasure (or displeasure) of operating.” His example needed a new long block after 60,000 miles, and this helped him create a visionary notion about the EcoBoost’s promise of power and efficiency in a single engine:

“The reality is that you can’t have it all and ultimately lose out due to the extra complexity and stresses on the engine. I am not sure if the other EcoBoost variants are like this and I don’t care to find out personally.”

Holden Starfire four-cylinder

Mr. Nigel Utting takes us to the Land Down Under, reminding us that “GM Holden came up with an abominable 1.9 liter 4 cylinder named the Starfire.” The lack of power likely made Nigel’s comments far from the minority, with fuel economy numbers there were disappointing to boot:

“Based on a cut down six, this god-awful thing used to have a couple of seconds delay between hitting the accelerator and responding, a bit like downloading revs of the internet with a slow connection.”

Ford Cologne V-6

While Ford of Germany contributed greatly to the automotive landscape in Europe and the USA alike, Patrick Abbott reminds us that the Cologne V-6 wasn’t necessarily one of them. His example “regularly destroyed rocker arm assemblies and main bearings” while Richard Eaton was truly cursed with a lemon:

“I purchased a new, 1990 Ford Ranger with the 2.9-liter V6. Should have seen this coming when the transmission had to be replaced 4x for porous castings, and then both heads cracked under a recall. But then less than 50k miles after those heads they were again cracked sufficiently to turn the oil white in 1000 miles. Never again will I buy Fords.”

The Oldsmobile Diesel V-6

TerryTwoUtes picked up an example of an engine that history hasn’t looked too favorably upon: the Oldsmobile diesel.

“My parents had a ’78 Oldsmobile Delta 88 diesel, the dreaded 350 diesel engine derived from the gasser engine. After about 5–6 blown head gaskets and even one full short block replacement, it was finally traded off. Only good thing was GM trying to save face and all of those repairs were covered under extended warranty.”

Cadillac HT4100 V-8

Speaking of obvious punching bags, Hagerty Community member Coffeyclan reminds us all how low Cadillac went upon the introduction of this “High Technology” motor:

“The worst was Cadillac’s HT4100 engine. Acceleration was at a snail’s pace, the timing chain went bad twice, etc, etc, etc. I sold this car before the warranty ran out!”

Detroit Diesel “Fuel-Squeezer”

The one, the only, the legendary DUB6 threw us a curveball, thanks to his experience driving commercial trucks:

“In the mid-’70s, I drove longhaul truck for a fleet operator that leased their rigs. Most of the trucks had Cat engines and either 13 or 18 speed transmissions. As fuel prices rose during the embargo period, the leasing company offered up a Kenworth needle-nose with Detroit Diesel “Fuel-Squeezer” and 6 speed tranny to test out. Guess who was low enough on the pole to get picked to drive it for what was supposed to be 3 months?

That thing was so gutless – and the gear ratios so far apart – that even on the slightest grade, I was lucky to be able to manage 20 mph, loaded. Empty, it might get to 50 downhill, but then of course, there would be a corresponding upgrade. Fuel squeezing? Hardly. Most of the big Cats were averaging 4.5-5 mpg. This little longnose managed about 6.0 – mostly because the throttle had to be just about wide open all the time just to maintain forward momentum.

Maybe would have been fine for a flat-land operation, but in the mountainous WEST, it was pretty sad. My trips started taking up to twice as long as was projected, and several appointments would be missed every week. After about 8 weeks, the truck went back to Kenworth!”

Toyota 18R-C four-cylinder

Let’s be clear on one thing: This isn’t a slam on all Toyota 18R engines, only the California-spec motor aimed at reducing emissions. Pete notes that the 18R-C was never designed for durability:

“I am a car guy and former auto mechanic. By far the worst designed and engineered engine was a Toyota 18R-C. I have had experience with more than one, and they all burned valves every 15,000 miles even after Toyota did a factory upgrade to “fix” the problem (which it did not). I drove the car for 75,000 miles and did 5 valve jobs before I woke up and sold it for $500, it did have a good clock though.”

Chevrolet 2300 four-cylinder

Of course the 2300 motor would make the list, as there were three negative comments to this effect. It didn’t help that the early Vegas weren’t the most reliable dance partner, and NCB chimed in with a personalized tale of ownership:

“I owned a 1973 Vega GT. Yes, I’m dating myself. First, and worst car I ever owned. Engine overheated due to poor cooling system design which led to scored cylinder walls in the aluminum block. It drank oil! Bad valve stem seals and “rusting away to nothing in 5 years” were icing on the cake. MotorTrend Car of The Year in 1971!”

 

The post According to You: The worst engines you’ve experienced appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It’s two words composed of six letters and if you are of a certain age the term is synonymous with great racing: We are talking Trans-Am. Not the Pontiac, but the race series that gave the Poncho its name. Starting in 1966, Trans-Am events became a proving ground for muscle and pony cars as manufacturers attempted to ratify the “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” mantra. While the on-track action did indeed help sales figures, there is a whole lot more to the story. To discover the rest of the tale, Jay Leno gathered a trio of Trans-Am race cars and invited race announcer Mike Joy and racer Ken Epsman onto the show to discuss the history of the series and its cultural impact on the American automotive scene.

The Trans-Am series spooled up in 1966 thanks to John Bishop and the SCCA. The class was designed as a professional series for sedans and was governed by a rulebook that required the competing cars to have more similarities with showroom cars than with the high-powered racers people might have been used to during an era of high-downforce, wildly designed Can-Am cars and all sorts of experimentation in other racing disciplines. As current NASCAR commentator Mike Joy points out when chatting with Jay, teams could remove the carpet and headliner, but otherwise, the interior had to stay. That meant race cars with back seats and roll-up windows—things that are all but unimaginable in today’s competition machines.

Changes were more common under the hood, but not how you might expect. The displacement cap was set at 305 cubic inches (5 liters) for V-8 cars and 122 cubic inches (2 liters) for four-cylinder cars. Competitors had to get creative to squeeze extra juice out of their engines. The rulebook stated that as long as the displacement didn’t change, any part that had a manufacturer part number on it was fair game, so some of the top teams quickly began swapping heads, adjusting oiling systems, and more.

The series eventually split the two displacement classes into separate races held on the same weekend at the same track. The relatively stock nature of Trans-Am allowed amateur drivers to upgrade to a professional license and run with the factory-backed teams if they had a car that met the loose technical requirements. Thanks to exciting racing and perfect timing with manufacturer support, the Trans American Challenge Series took off and quickly became a household name.

What really helped with the name recognition was Pontiac’s introduction of the model bearing the name in 1969. Using the Trans-Am name came with a $5 per-car fee that Pontiac would pay to the SCCA. The car sold well, and that naming fee became the largest single source of income that the SCCA had. In fact, that revenue stream lasted far longer than the series did. In 1972, the largest stock-bodied race series in the U.S. changed the rulebook, and the cars that rumbled through every car person’s daydreams for six years were suddenly obsolete.

Although the series burned hot and fast, its long-tail impact eventually precipitated a race at Lime Rock Park in 1990 that featured 20 historic Trans-Am cars. The success of that race prompted similar events on the West Coast, helping return these cars to their nostalgia-soaked glory. Now, the thundering Camaros, Javelins, Mustangs, and Firebirds are staples of big motorsports reunion events like the Monterey Historics, where period-correct cars still run wheel-to-wheel, just like the old days. The cars might be a little older, but the racing is just as strong as ever. And we love that.

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Challenging the staff at Hagerty Media with loaded questions has become a thing here at Our Two Cents. The mission is to inform and entertain the reader, and this time is no different. I asked everyone for their opinion on the most underrated vehicle currently on the market. Not a very loaded question, you say?

Consider the fact that we are staffed with several overachieving over-thinkers. There were concerns, as it wasn’t clear if I meant a new, used, or properly classic vehicle. Okay fine, you guys can pick one or give me all three. We have experienced some seriously underrated new vehicles, we all know what we’d buy if a used pre-owned car was in our future, and we all believe there’s a classic that’s clearly in need of more recognition.

Sam Smith: C5 Corvette

The mythical man himself, Editor-at-Large Sam Smith, came in hard with one of the most underrated performance cars on the market. Nicely done, Sam:

“Most underrated vehicle new or used? For real people? The C5 Corvette. Period, bar none, full stop. If you know, you know; if you don’t, you probably read that line and made a face.

There are cars with better steering and more refined ride and handling, cars with interiors that don’t feel ported over from some forgettable 1990s GM SUV, cars quicker off the line and more forgiving at the limit. But in dollars per horsepower, in reliability, in all-out (and accessible!) pace, in moddability, in the ability to make you feel special at the wheel. They should be more expensive. The only reason they aren’t: GM built a lot of them, and Corvettes carry a certain…image. Which not everyone wants.

Whatever. Great car. And they’re everywhere, at reasonable prices, in good shape.”

Conner Golden: Lexus LC, Shelby GT350, Bentley Continental R

Our Features Editor decided to present a new, used, and classic offering for this episode of Our Two Cents. His points are rather convincing:

“New: I can’t really think of an underrated new car, considering you are still unable to walk into a dealership and purchase a new, enthusiast-oriented vehicle without additional dealer markup or some other hassle on the showroom floor. Maybe the Lexus LC 500? It’s very much an Aston Martin as told by Lexus. Incredibly special interior for a mass-production car, distinctive and original design that borrows from nothing, incredible fit and finish, and a wonderful high-revving, free-breathing V-8.

Used: pre-owned metal that’s underrated has to be 2016–2018 Shelby Mustang GT350. It’s an incredibly cool car that absolutely will be a collector’s favorite in the near future. Cars with modest miles (sub 30k) are still “only” hovering at or around $5000 above original MSRP. Get ‘em while you can, folks…

Classic: The most underrated collector car has to be the 1993–2002 Bentley Continental R. My God, this was the most expensive production car for a few years, and you can purchase a nice-ish example for between $35,000–$50,000. These things were $271,000 when new—in 1992 dollars! They have incredible road presence, and were handcrafted at every detail. They drive like the nicest, softest F-150 you’ve ever experienced, but I can’t think of a better trans-continental bruiser for road trips. It’s ruinously expensive to maintain, but for $45,000 or so, you should have plenty in the budget left to keep it chugging along.”

Eddy Eckart: 1993–02 Camaro/Firebird (F-body)

Senior Editor Eddy Eckhart hit the same nail that Sam Smith did, only at a more affordable asking price, with an extra pair of seats for kids. (Or very compliant adults.) Not showing appreciation for these F-body products would be a crime, even the earlier models with the LT1. Perhaps especially the LT1, as they are much less desirable but still pack a helluva punch. No matter, here’s what he said:

“Fourth-gen F bodies are one of the most overlooked used/near-collectible performance cars right now. The highlight—for me, anyway—is the 98–02 Camaro SS (I’ll take a ’99 in Hugger Orange with t-tops and a six-speed, please). Third-gen cars, led by the IROC Z, have seen values take off, but the better-in-every-measurable-way 93–02 cars have remained relatively steady. They’re excellent cruisers, and with the manual transmission can get close to 30 mpg on the highway. Go to a drag strip or a road course and you’re bound to see one—Camaros and Firebirds of this era are excellent platforms for any kind of racing. And who doesn’t like T-Tops?

The only downsides are that they’re a little under-braked and the looks—especially the WS-6 Trans Am—aren’t for everyone. Go get you one before the word gets out!”

Kyle Smith: Honda XR650L

Editor Kyle Smith does a good job representing motorcycles amongst the car-obsessed masses here at Hagerty Media, and he certainly picked a winner in our book:

“For me it’s the Honda XR650L. I admit my bias as I am a documented Honda XR fanatic, but the tried-and-true nature of an air/oil cooled 650cc thumper that can still be purchased right off the showroom floor for $7k is pretty amazing. It’s a go-anywhere, do-anything machine that (for someone with a tall enough inseam) can be a one-bike solution for any two-wheel fun you seek. Throw in that the 650L has been relatively unchanged since its 1993 introduction, so parts and knowledge are plentiful, and suddenly low-mile used 650Ls become an amazing deal.

New or used, I just can’t see a situation where an XR650L is a bad choice for a person looking to have fun on a motorcycle.”

Nathan Petroelje: Honda Element

Associate Editor Nathan Petroelje has utility on his mind. It’s snowing at his house in chilly northern Michigan right now, and we’ve had to deal with him complaining about subjecting his Mitsubishi Montero‘s carpeted interior to the salty, sandy mix of crap underfoot more than we deserve. But we’re starting to think all of his whining was just him setting up the long game to swoop in and pitch this loveable toaster—well played, sir.

“I tend to think of underrated as it relates to the whole ‘you don’t know what you have until it’s gone’ sentiment. Yes, the Honda Element was nearly peak toaster-on-wheels (though the outright throne belongs to Scion’s xB in that department), but it was also deeply utilitarian, friendly as the day is long—this was a Honda, after all—and neat and funky in its own way. Folks drove the wheels off these things—several hundred thousand mile examples are commonplace. But if you could find a low mile example, particularly one with all-wheel drive? Between four driven wheels (with good winter tires!) and those plastic floors, and you’ve got yourself a wicked little winter warrior that will put a smile on your face perpetually. They’re not terribly expensive—four-figure ones are plentiful, and a great daily driver can be had for right around $15,000.

They have cult followings in certain areas, but by-and-large, I think they’re overlooked and underappreciated by society in general—for the mindset of the product planners, and for how useful they were.

Now, if only we can get big H to gin up a modern take on this quirky design!”

Sajeev Mehta: Elantra N, Aztek, Mark VIII

Okay here’s the deal: I don’t think my beloved co-workers are taking my questions seriously enough. A Corvette’s depreciation curve very rarely sinks low enough to reach that true “bargain” status. Everyone’s gonna want a Bentley in theory, and there are plenty of repair shops that will keep them running for a reasonable fee (considering the asking price for parts, that is). My beef stems from underappreciation via depreciation and neglect.

New: The Hyundai Elantra N has all the car guy cred needed in its track-tested bones, and they come with a manual transmission and a wicked pair of front buckets. But will people line out the door for one like a Mustang, VW GTI, or more expensive metal that provides no more fun per dollar than the little Korean that could? Well, perhaps that’s a possibility. But while all new cars seem to hold their values better these days (when’s the last time you saw an advertisement for Truck Month?) it’s a safe bet that the N-spec Hyundais will depreciate harder than anything else in its class. Which leads to neglect . . . and scrappage . . . and a seriously rare and underrated classic in the coming years.

Used: Do you think all crossover utilities are kinda awful? If so, how much worse was the Pontiac Aztek? Sure, the styling is disturbingly crude, which is what we all focus on. But the absolutely vulgar commitment to functionality and practicality cannot be understated. It’s based on a GM’s ubiquitous U-body minivan platform, so the seats pop out with ease. The Aztek was designed for camping, for crying out loud! Be it classic Fiat Multiplas, Malaise-y AMC Pacers, or the Pontiac Aztek, these underrated statements to neglect and depreciation usually get their day in the sunlight—eventually. But the Pontiac can’t get there soon enough, because I reckon it’s aging better than your average crossover utility from the 2000s. Simply put, it deserves better than a death next to an early Ford Escape in the junkyard.

Classic: The Lexus LC reminded me about my personal bias toward the Lincoln Mark VIII. I’ve owned two, and my current one feels as good as a new car (ancient four-speed gearbox notwithstanding) in terms of performance and eye-catching styling. Yet these minimalist, 280-plus-horsepower machines lack the classic car cache of their wood-paneled Lexus and Mercedes counterparts. I reckon they sell for less than a Northstar V-8-equipped Cadillac Eldorado that’s about to munch on a head gasket, too. If I’m right, that’s the textbook definition of an underrated automobile.

The post Our Two Cents: The most underrated vehicle on the market? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It’s always nice to have choice when you’re shopping, and Mecum’s 2023 Kissimmee sale, the world’s largest collector car auction, certainly delivered this year.

Take a look at these numbers: 211 Camaros, 119 Chevelles, 60 Pontiac GTOs, 43 Porsche 911s, 23 Hemi Mopars, 16 Boss Mustangs, and five genuine Shelby Cobras, all among the 4000 vehicles to cross the auction block over the past 12 days. Consignments ranged from bad (like this 1987 Renault Alliance) to badass (like this Ford GT40) and from weird (like Elvis’s rickety old airplane) to wonderful (like this handsome Chrysler Ghia ST Special).

We’ll be crunching numbers and sorting out trends from Mecum’s Kissimmee mega-sale and the Scottsdale auctions in the coming weeks, but Kissimmee’s immediate aftermath does offer one clear theme: Despite the market’s recent cooling, demand for top-tier American muscle, even from long-defunct brands like Pontiac and Plymouth, is still high and records are still breaking.

One such record was the $1.43M price for a Hemi-powered, four-speed Dodge Charger Daytona, the same car David Spade bought for $900K in 2015. One of 19 Mopar Wing cars (Plymouth Superbirds and Dodge Daytonas) offered in Kissimmee this year, it broke a record for the model set just last May when the market was still accelerating.

Even more remarkable, though, was this 1970 GTO convertible. At $1.1M, it’s one of the most expensive muscle cars ever sold at auction and the most expensive GTO, period. Well, Pontiac GTO, anyway.

This Orbit Orange droptop was the star of a nine-car collection that consisted of nothing but Ram Air IV “Goats.” And for Pontiac folks, IV is a magic number. “Ram Air” designated the hot 400-cubic-inch V-8s in Pontiac’s GTO and Firebird starting in ’67, followed by an improved Ram Air II in ’68, and then a Ram Air III in ’69–70. Then, the IV took things furthest in 1969 with redesigned intake ports and special aluminum intake. The 1970 Ram Air IV engine nominally posted just four ponies more than the Ram Air III (370 hp vs. 366), but it was almost certainly underrated on purpose.

A Ram Air IV was the fastest GTO you could buy in 1970 as well as the most expensive, so few were built. The orange record-setter is one of just seven convertibles fitted with an automatic (another ten cars got a four-speed manual).

It’s also a Judge, which. If you’re not old enough to have been watching TV half a century ago, know that this was a package named after a skit on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. GTO Judges came with a Ram Air 400 engine, Rally II wheels, Hurst T-handle shifter, a rear spoiler, and of course, those graphics. Other options on this car include a Formula steering wheel, hood tach and tinted glass.

But what truly got the muscle car maniacs—and bidders—oohing and aahing is this car’s triple threat: Ram Air IV engine, Judge package, and convertible body style.

In addition to its gotta-have-it specs, Mecum’s was reportedly used as a factory exhibition car, and eventually received a restoration good enough to win several concours awards in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The condition #1 (Concours) value for a 1970 Ram Air IV GTO Convertible in the Hagerty Price Guide is $562,000, and others have sold in the past for big money, including one for $682,000 back in 2010. But $1.1M is nearly twice that #1 value.

The eight other Ram Air IVs out of this collection (all coupes) had estimates near or under $300K, but Mecum perhaps wisely didn’t put an estimate on this convertible. Only one Pontiac has sold for seven figures before, and that was the 1954 Bonneville Special, a one-off Motorama concept car, that brought $3.3M in 2015. In the world of muscle cars, meanwhile, seven-figure price tags are usually reserved for Hemi ’Cuda convertibles, ZL1 Camaros, or movie star Mustangs. Not anymore.

We’ll be taking a closer look at more of the most interesting cars from Mecum Kissimmee 2023 later in the week, so keep an eye on this space.

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it.

The post All Rise for the Judge: $1.1M Ram Air IV is world’s most expensive GTO appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Pontiac established itself as a performance brand in the early 1960s, kicked off the muscle car era with the 1964 GTO, and fed the pony car frenzy when it offered the Firebird’s “Trans Am performance and appearance package” starting in 1969. Fewer than 700 1969 Trans Ams were built, and this sterling WS4 example, one of just a handful known to exist with its original and desirable drivetrain, is set to cross the stage at Mecum’s Kissimmee sale this month.

The WS4 option code for the Trans Am included unique fender trim that mimicked heat extractors, a decklid wing, a front spoiler, a dual-scoop ram air hood, and Cameo Ivory paint highlighted with Tyrol Blue stripes and tail panel. Those cosmetic and aerodynamic upgrades were met with a limited-slip differential, a heavy-duty suspension with a 1-inch diameter sway bar, and front disc brakes, just to name a few of the standard performance bits.

Pontiac buyers had several performance engine options to choose from in 1969, including several V-8s and a spicy version of the 250 overhead-cam inline-six, the latter good for 230 hp.

The Trans Am, however, brought the heat. It came standard with a 400-cubic-inch Ram Air III V-8 that produced 335 hp. The only engine option was an upgrade to the Ram Air IV V-8, with an identical displacement.

While the Ram Air III V-8 was nothing to sneeze at, the Ram Air IV V-8 took the power to the next level with improved intake ports matched to a four-barrel aluminum intake manifold. It used round exhaust ports like the Ram Air II heads, while the standard 335-hp engine employed the more common D-ports that crowded the exhaust routing a bit. The Ram Air III and IV used the same performance camshaft, but the Ram Air IV took better advantage of it thanks to an increase in rocker arm ratio—1.65:1 compared to 1.5:1—that netted higher valve lift. Pontiac claimed those improvements in airflow were good for 345 hp in the Trans Am and 370 hp in the GTO, but it seems that those numbers were sandbagged a bit.

Just fifty-five Trans Ams were produced with Ram Air IV power in 1969, forty-six of which were equipped with a four-speed manual, as is the case with this recently restored beauty that retains its original interior.

Low production numbers mean that it’s rare to have one come up for sale. Mecum has noted an estimated sale price of $375,000 – $450,000. That closely follows the current #2 (Excellent) to #1 (Concours) value for a Ram Air IV 1969 Trans Am, which saw a big increase in the summer of 2022.

We’ve noted some ho-hum results for muscle cars in the last few months, perhaps this rare and beautiful piece of Poncho power will wake bidders up at what has become one of the top locations for big muscle car sales. We’re not going to place too much import on just one Trans Am transaction, but it could be an interesting barometer for the muscle market going into 2023.

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The Pontiac Grand Ville was only available for five model years, but it made an impression on your author from an early age. I loved domestic land yachts starting around the age of 2 or 3 years old, believe it or not.

As the 1975 Pontiac brochure advised: “Don’t even consider it, unless you have a taste for luxury. A well-cultivated taste. Because this is Pontiac’s most luxurious car. Ever.”

Yes, folks, this is another column full of Broughamage! If that’s not to your liking, feel free to flee now. Flee for your lives!

But wait, you may be thinking. What’s a Grand Ville? Wasn’t the Bonneville top-dog?

Well, yes, for most of its life. But there was a brief period during which the Grand Ville snuck in above it. The Bonneville remained, but was just a little bit less fancy, had just a little bit less chrome, and got slightly less ostentatious seats.

Although the Bonneville remained in the lineup throughout the ’70s, it was bumped a notch with the appearance of the Grand Ville in 1971. But for whatever reason the name never really found a following, and starting in 1976 the Bonneville Brougham would return as the flagship. The Bonneville would remain Pontiac’s nicest car until its demise in 2005, with the exception of the Caprice-based Parisienne somewhat outsizing it during 1983–86.

1975 was the last year for the Grand Ville and at its last appearance, it became the Grand Ville Brougham, rather than just the plain Grand Ville.

Well, it was 1975 …

The ’75 models were handsomely restyled with a squared-off nose with new quad rectangular headlamps, which gave it a very Cadillac-like appearance from the front. Some of our younger readers may not be aware, but square headlights were a really big deal circa 1975 and ’76. Before ’75, everything had round lights.

Out back, handsome dual-level wrap around taillights dolled up the rear deck. The nose and tail were shared with the Bonnevilles, but plainer Catalinas retained round headlights, a less flashy grille, and shorter taillights out back.

And inside, perhaps the Grand Ville’s best feature (or was that the exterior?) were the sumptuous velour button-tufted seats that you could just sink into like your favorite recliner after a hard day at work. They were also available upholstered in Morrokide at no extra charge.

By the way, Morrokide was Pontiac’s incredibly durable vinyl upholstery that dated back to the ’60s. But I’d have chosen nothing else but the velour, oh yes! And the red is just perfect with this car’s Cameo White paint and matching Cordova vinyl roof.

The ’75 Grand Ville Broughams were available as a four-door hardtop, two-door hardtop, and a convertible. In addition, there was the related Grand Safari station wagons that came in six- and nine-passenger versions. They had Grand Ville noses and button-tufted seats but weren’t strictly Grand Villes.

Grand Ville coupes, like our featured gorgeous, white-over-red Brougham Coupe, had a base price of $5729, weighed 4404 pounds, and only 7447 were built. So you didn’t see many even when new.

You see even less now, naturally. In fact, this was the first coupe I ever saw in person … so far!

In addition to the coupes, 15,686 four-door hardtops and 4519 convertibles were built. The topless Grand Ville was the last full-size Pontiac convertible ever built, though Sunbirds, Sunfires, and Firebird convertibles would last into the 2000s. And with that, the Grand Ville came to the end of the road.

The 1971–76 GM B- and C-body full-size cars were the biggest GM built. Along with their Bonneville and Catalina siblings, they had an overall length of 226 inches, of which 123.4 were wheelbase.

A 400-cubic-inch, four-barrel V-8 was standard on Grand Villes, with a four-barrel 455 V-8 optional. Of course, GM’s terrific Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic transmission was standard equipment.

The 1975 Pontiacs debuted on September 27, 1974, and in all 523,469 Pontiacs were built for the calendar year. Not bad, especially considering it was a recession year. But the bulk of sales were not Grand Villes, despite their gorgeousness and luxury and fine appointments.

Oops, rambling a bit there. But I warned you I love these!

I spotted this one at the Pontiac-Oakland Club International (POCI) meet held at the Isle of Capri in Bettendorf, Iowa, back in the summer of 2016. It was great having a national meet right here in the metropolitan area. I haunted the show for all three days, taking way more photos that I needed. I believe I was walking around with a stupid look on my face the whole time. It was great!

There was also a very nice ’75 Grand Ville convertible at this show, but my favorite was the coupe, complete with cornering lamps, Pontiac Rally II wheels, and that decadent red interior. I’m happy to finally share its sheer Broughaminess with you all!

The post 1975 Pontiac Grand Ville Brougham Coupe: Pontiac’s Cadillac appeared first on Hagerty Media.

I miss Pontiac. Like my other much-loved departed GM make, Oldsmobile, Pontiac had a long line of impressive cars, especially during the salad days from the 1950s to the ’70s. Bonneville. GTO. Grand Ville. Ventura. Star Chief. So much gorgeous rolling stock. But I’d better get on with the program before I digress too much. Today’s topic: the 1970 full-size Pontiacs.

I love ’em. Most folks don’t seem to get too excited with the 1970 neoclassical facelift—right down to faux horn grilles like your great grandfather’s Hupmobile. References to “1970 Edsel” have been known to be uttered. But I love them. Back in the late ’90s, I got hooked on collecting vintage brochures. Ebay was in its prime then, and probably 80 percent of my collection came from there. One of my earliest acquisitons was the deluxe, 52-page 1970 Pontiac full-line brochure.

As the 1970 Pontiac brochure extolled, “Face it folks. The 1970 Catalina is all wrong. For the money, you should get a car of so-so size with hee-haw styling. But no. Catalina is big. Lots of room for heads and legs. And lots of engine. 350 cubic inches and 255 horses. Order a convertible or wagon, and the numbers get bigger: 400 cubes, 290 hp.”

This was during the final years of the terrific Van and Fitz Pontiac artwork, and the ’70 Pontiacs were in fine form in dealer literature. The Catalina, of course, was Pontiac’s lowest-priced full-size car—and very popular. A total of 193,986 Catalinas were built for the model year. By this time, pretty much all Catalinas had automatic transmission, despite it still being an option. Only 579 had the manual transmission!

If you really want to seek out something rare, try finding a ’70 Catalina station wagon with the manual transmission: only 113 were built. The Catalina Convertible was priced at $3604 ($27,681 today), weighed 4027 pounds, and 3686 were built. Convertible sales had been on the downswing for several years, thanks to hardtops, air conditioning, and simple changes in consumer tastes, and 1972 would be the last time you could get a brand new Catalina ragtop.

As previously mentioned, standard engine in Catalina coupes and sedans was the 350 V-8 with 255 horsepower and 355 lb-ft of torque, breathing through a two-barrel carb; Catalina convertibles and wagons came with the 290-hp, 428-lb-ft 400.

That was one of the things you got when buying a full-sized Pontiac over an equivalent ’70 full-size Chevrolet. While certain Chevy models made do with a standard six-cylinder engine, every big Pontiac had a V-8.

Of course, if you still wanted even more power, you could get ever increasingly powerful engines, all the way up to the vaunted Pontiac 455-cubic-inch H.O. engine with a four-barrel carb, 370 horsepower, and an impressive 500 lb-ft of torque. As long as you didn’t mind Chris-Craft style fuel consumption.

As much as I love this Catalina convertible, it would have been even better if it was a Bonneville. Bonnevilles are my favorite Pontiac, with the possible exception of the 1971–75 Grand Villes. The 1970 Bonnies would have had the Broughamier grill, fender skirts, fancier seats and door panels, and maybe even an AM/FM stereo with an 8-track player. And all the extra chrome gingerbread that I love.

This car was spotted at the Oneida, Illinois, car show in July 2022. I’d never been to it before, but I had been at a show the previous weekend in Bishop Hill, Illinois, and a guy I spoke to mentioned that the Oneida show was pretty good and encouraged me to attend the following weekend.

The morning of the show, I checked a couple websites that list local car shows, and there it was again: Oneida … 45 miles away … Hmm …

My car was already coated with bugs from driving to Iowa City and back on Interstate 80 the previous Friday, and the weather was great—low 80s and low humidity. So I went. Why not?

All in all it was a great show, and I’ll probably be back next year. There were some really great cars there, including a 1976 Continental Mark IV, 1956 Imperial, and a copper-colored 1986 GMC Caballero, the seldom-seen GMC equivalent to the El Camino. It was really hard to pick a favorite, but as you may have surmised, this car was my  choice. A perfect summer cruiser!

The post 1970 Pontiac Catalina: Red Rover, please come over appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Even though the brand has been retired for more than 12 years, Pontiac fans are still loyal and make up a big portion of the muscle car and classic car market. We have several Pontiac owners on the Hagerty media and valuation staff, so the watercooler chat frequently includes mentions of Poncho project cars and potential future project cars thanks to the Hagerty Marketplace. We skimmed the listings to find some prospects that span a wide variety of enthusiast niches, from light and sporty coupes to big and comfy cruisers. Being realistic, we started with the most affordable and worked out way up. Which one of these five, each under $20,000, is your kind of driving excitement?

1977 Pontiac Trans Am

Asking price: $6500

Yeah, this one’s rough, and it doesn’t have an engine, but bear with us. This is a real Trans Am and its asking price of $6500 could make it a good place to start on the ’77 Trans Am of your dreams, especially if numbers matching isn’t your bag. Want to build a Bandit tribute? Here it is. Looking to welcome the aftermarket with open arms and build a Pro-Touring beast to conquer canyon roads and your local track? This could be the one.

1985 Pontiac Fiero

Asking price: $8,000

GM’s first production mid-engine car, the Fiero was billed as an economical commuter but its light weight and mid-engine design naturally made it a fun driver, too. This well-preserved 1985 model is equipped with the largest, most powerful engine option, a 2.8-liter V-6. GM’s 60-degree pushrod V-6s of the era weren’t known for incredible performance, but the Fiero made the most of it. We love the red and tan combo here, and just know it would look amazing at RADwood. We’d find every excuse we could to get behind the wheel of this little beauty of it found its way into our collection.

1968 Pontiac Grand Prix

Asking price: $10,000

We’ve always advocated for late-’60s and early ’70s full-size coupes. Many of them had great lines and came with the same burly V-8s that turned mid-size coupes into muscle cars. This 1968 Grand Prix is a great example, as it packs a Pontiac 400 V-8 behind its stylish perimeter grille and hidden headlights. The engine bay is almost as clean as its white-upholstered interior and the asking price is right at the current #4 (Fair) value. This was the last year for Grand Prix on GM’s B-body platform, but the chassis lived on well into the 1990s and saw lots of suspension and brake upgrades over the years, so OEM plus modifications are a piece of cake.

2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP

Asking price: $15,000

The Solstice created quite a buzz when it was launched, with its design translating nicely from concept to production. It sold well and received solid reviews thanks to its spirited handling and solid grip. While its 2.4-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder base engine wasn’t anything special, the GXP model received a direct-injection 2.0-liter turbo four good for 260 horsepower that gave the compact roadster a solid shot of performance. GM Performance Parts also offered a warranty-backed Stage 1 kit that included a MAP sensor and a tune to add 30 more ponies and a boatload of torque for those that wanted to really surprise the pony cars of the era. This GXP comes with relatively low miles and some fitted luggage, which is good considering the convertible’s strange trunk situation. It’s an awful lot of top-down fun for $15,000.

1972 Pontiac Grand Prix

Asking price: $18,000

Pontiac moved the Grand Prix to a long-wheelbase version of the A-body platform in 1969, giving its personal luxury coupe unique proportions. Chevrolet would follow suit with Monte Carlo in 1970. Like the Monte Carlo, the Grand Prix would offer upscale interiors and some powerful V-8 engine options. This clean example is powered by a 250hp version of Pontiac’s 400 V-8 and its interior, chrome, paint—possibly Lucerne blue—and vinyl top look to be in great condition. This one needs nothing, so if you’re looking for a turn-key cruiser it might be your best bet.

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it.

The post 5 potential Pontiac project cars under $20K appeared first on Hagerty Media.

We have all been wondering how long the collector car market’s historic hot streak can carry on, and what the inevitable fall-off might look like. Well, the latest Hagerty Price Guide—updated each quarter—is giving us some clues. Although there were still some surprising gains, we are starting to see decreases, as well.

The cooling off is the muscle car market, which reached all-time highs this year. Now, several of these 1960s and ’70s classics have posted declines.

Some of the reasons for this have to do with supply—we’ve seen lower-quality examples hit the market in recent months. Yet there’s no doubt the broader economy is having an impact. Inflation is hitting us all in the wallet while uncertainty in the stock market is hitting us all in the 401(k). Although classic cars, like many tangible assets, can be a hedge against such bad news, they are also, like other discretionary purchases, subject to pressures on consumers. That’s particularly true for relatively attainable vehicles like muscle cars, which by and large are bought and sold by people of ordinary means.

Note that the drops in the latest guide haven’t erased the gains from the last couple of years. Also, remember that a correction is inevitable and, to a certain extent, healthy, as it indicates the market is being driven by rational buyers and sellers, as opposed to speculators. There’s no doubt, though, that this is a change from the rapid appreciation we’ve all become accustomed to in recent years.

1968-1972 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 W-30 -12%

This generation 4-4-2 is without a doubt peak Oldsmobile muscle. While Oldsmobile’s more visually-reserved approach may not have sold as many cars in an exuberant era of colors named “Plum Crazy” or wild Judge decal packages, the 4-4-2 was no slouch. Looking past the deluxe interior and comparatively staid styling, the W-30 code packed a punch. Peaking with a 455-cubic-inch engine that debuted in 1970 with a respectable 370-horsepower and torque in the 500 lb-ft range, these cars were not to be trifled with.

Over the course of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, the 4-4-2 experienced increases with the rest of the muscle car market. After spring, it started to lose value while most other top-tier muscle cars held their own. The fact that they have dropped in value two quarters in a row needs to be taken seriously. The net increase over the past 12-months now only stands at a few percent. It is important to keep in mind that we are in a typical lull for this segment, as big players in the muscle car market save their best cars for the upcoming January auctions in Scottsdale and Kissimmee. Nonetheless, the 4-4-2 could very well be a glimpse into the future for the broader muscle segment.

1970-1973 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 -9%

Late second-generation GM F-bodies have long been a talking point this year, with Bandit-era Trans Ams and Z/28 Camaros being big movers publication over publication. The early-second generation has so far been pulling up the rear, appreciating just behind its younger siblings. To the uninitiated, it might seem odd that these cars would be so widely segmented. The reality is that despite sharing the same generation, they are very different cars. The early Z/28 remained incredibly capable, using the high-compression Corvette-based LT1 350 and hewing closer to Trans Am series roots. The later cars followed the Mustache Muscle theme in that their performance didn’t really live up to their more flashy aesthetic.

Later Z/28s have held fast to their gains over the year, but 1970-73 model years experienced a downturn. This doesn’t negate earlier gains, but it may be a warning sign of things to come for their more popular siblings from the late 70s, and may even have implications for second generation Trans Ams, which usually hold a similar market trajectory.

1964-1967 Chevrolet Chevelle SS -9%

Chevrolet’s Chevelle experienced one of the more interesting transformations over the course of the Muscle Car era. With the hottest version sporting a 327 in 1964 and through much of 1965, it seemed meek compared to the GTO’s 389 and other early entrants into the segment. That changed in late 1965 with the introduction of the 396 big block to the Chevelle’s engine bay. Actual promotion of the more potent plant wouldn’t happen until 1966, but this set the stage for the fire-breathing Super Sport Chevelles that would roll out through the early ’70s.

While the ’68–72 Chevelles held on to their gains much better, ’64–67 Super Sport models experienced a broad softening. Some of the difference could be related to the popularity of the later models, and we are monitoring those cars for signs of a turning tide. As with the other models on this list, these losses don’t negate gains from earlier this year, but it does shine a light on where things could be headed.

1964-1967 Pontiac GTO -7%

Pontiac GTO reigns among Muscle Car royalty as the genesis of the performance segment. Huge interest in the model as well as its historical significance even landed it on our 2022 Bull Market list. It was a heck of a pick as well: the GTO exploded in value, gaining an average of 32 percent in the first portion of the year.

Once late summer arrived, however, prices began to flatten and dip slightly. The seven percent reduction in GTO values is likely attributed to the declining quality of examples hitting the market as well as satisfaction of market demand. As mentioned earlier, due to the sales cycle for these cars, we may not have a real sense of where things are headed until the auctions in January.

1966-1977 Ford Bronco -8%

It’s not a Muscle Car, but we’ve discussed the first generation Ford Bronco for a very long time. Never, though, in terms of softening values. In fact, the first-gen Bronco has been one of the hottest collector vehicles to emerge over the past few years. Values of exceptional, stock examples have regularly tipped the scales at the six-figure mark in 2022.

Broncos have now gotten to a point where the average collector is priced out of the market, and $100,000+ starts to look like a lot of money for a utilitarian vehicle with few amenities. But let’s be honest here, we don’t buy classic trucks for the amenities. In the grand scheme, an 8-percent loss on early Broncos isn’t that much. However, zoom out to the rest of the model series and take note: later generations also experienced declines, with some models even seeing value losses in consecutive quarters. While it takes more than one publication to make a trend, it certainly looks like we could finally be at the end of the first-gen Bronco’s unprecedented hot streak.

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Station wagons went from butt of jokes to legit collector cars that fetch big bucks in modern society. I personally remember listening to people rant about the rear-facing seats in these modified family sedans, and I was one such detractor. As a kid, my first time in a minivan was filled with pure joy. No longer was my third-grade body stuffed into a tiny hole, as the minivan democratized the notion of a three-row seater—one that treated everyone with respect, while sipping fuel and effortlessly slipping inside your average garage.

The concept has such long legs that minivans now thrive as limousines in many parts of Asia. The rarified air of vehicles like the Buick GL8 prove that the minivan’s superior engineering and universal appeal is real. We should the love and respect GM’s GMT-199 platform, as it became a global brand ambassador for the Buick brand.

If anything, the minivan design allowed middle-row passengers a superior experience to front-seat occupants. To wit, how on earth can you deny the luxury available to center-row passengers in the latest GL8 from Buick? Station wagons lived in our hearts and minds for several decades, but the minivan’s tenure in the limelight was marred by the advent of car-based crossovers: reskinned minivans that destroyed their ergonomic space efficiency to replicate the success of the SUV. Which is a damn shame, because the most space-efficient vehicle deserves more than its current market share in these United States. Considering all the effort that went into their creation, minivans are ripe for a revival worthy of a woody wagon.

That said, we should probably give credit where it’s due: the Renault Espace took inspiration from the defunct Matra P18 and continues to sell in acceptable quantities to this day.  Its front-engine, front-wheel-drive configuration mirrored the template of American interpretations. Sadly, the first yank-tank (i.e. Chrysler Minivan) was designed by the same folks that gave us the boring 1981 Dodge Aries K, so the advanced design was hidden by traditional notions of a large chrome grille, hood ornament, and a thoroughly normal A-pillar. Not so with General Motors, as it went full Espace (and partially Aerostar) when making the all-new Oldsmobile Silhouette, Pontiac Trans Sport, and Chevrolet Lumina APV for the 1990 model year. It was first seen in concept-vehicle form back in 1986, as a Pontiac Trans Sport styling exercise.

I propose that the first minivan to cross the threshold from rolling scrap to collectable artwork shouldn’t be the original Chrysler design, but rather all derivatives of the GMT-199, as they were the best design for hauling a large family on America’s high speed interstate system in comfort and bullet train-worthy style.

Even if the styling doesn’t set your heart aflutter, the number of interior configurations afforded by its unique seating modules were like nothing else on the market. Heck, the GMT-199’s long-term versatility is likely one reason why it is still a not uncommon sight in China.

Be it the Chevy, Pontiac, or Oldsmobile, the GMT-199 was the product of the same concept of the Renault Espace. Acres of flush-mount glass were mandatory, while the floating A-pillar provided a panoramic view forward. The GMT-199 sported a the bullet nose that extended the A-pillars’ dramatic slope downward into a modest bumper (a stark contrast to modern day SUVs that grow more upright with every product cycle). Unlike the French MPV, this design earned it the “Dustbuster” moniker: a sad comment considering just how much time and money GM’s prodigious R&D department burned to create a revolutionary minivan with plastic body panels hung on a spaceframe.

Perhaps its a moonshot, but there was commitment to the theme thanks to GM’s investment in the standalone Saturn brand. The engineering goes back to the Pontiac Fiero, but both were ironically hamstrung by the mediocre powertrain performance in early iterations. The vans had mandatory 3-speed automatics (in North America) with only 120 horses and throttle body fuel injection from GM’s 3.1-liter, 60-degree V6. Motorweek tested the first “Dustbuster” and 12.3 second runs to 60mph were acceptable, but will be concerning when carrying a full load of passengers and cargo. Not a dealbreaker by any means, only proof that perfection lies in future refinements: the sheer volume of functionality in both interior and exterior design cannot be overstated, and Motorweek did an admirable job promoting the whole package.

The fine folks at Motorweek tested the Dustbuster for model year 1992, when GM dropped-in the venerable 3.8-liter, 90-degree V-6 with port fuel injection and a four-speed automatic. The dash to 60 dropped to 9.6 seconds, but there was no fuel economy penalty in the testing. So not only do the GM Dustbusters prove that there’s no replacement for displacement, but there’s clearly no drawbacks when calling for a cubic upsizing?

While later versions of the GMT-199 platform (now called U-body) were wholly mediocre and ultimately unsatisfying to General Motors’ beancounters, at least one such example lived to see an aftermarket LS-4 swap. Rest assured, doing the same to a proper Dustbuster of GM’s original intent shall create the best minivan of all time. More to the point, LS-4 swap the original Oldsmobile Silhouette …

How could you go wrong with the Cadillac of Minivans after it receives a mid-2000s powertrain upgrade with LS4-FTW? The answer is obvious: There is no wrong that a V-8 restomod a Silhouette can right with the click of a button or a stomping of the accelerator.

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The automotive enthusiast community has a love-hate relationship with station wagons over time, but is it actually a hate-now-love relationship? Because what was once the butt of many a joke in the 1980s and ’90s fizzled into obscurity, only to arrive in the classic car realm with a new name: Longroof.

Indeed, the vehicles that look like a family sedan but with a far longer, far more practical roof are fully in vogue. No longer beaten down by minivans, SUVs, and crossovers, these station wagons are not only part of a bigger trend in longroof appreciation, but surprisingly obscure examples (of an already modest automotive genre) exist, surviving a seemingly-expected fate atop the scrapheap. So here are four examples of such longroofs on Hagerty Marketplace, none of which are the usual players in this space. And who doesn’t love having an obscure example of an under-appreciated automotive genre?

1978 Dodge Aspen

Asking price: $11,500

The Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volaré made their mark on society with several major quality concerns, but do you remember they also came in a longroof with Chrysler’s legendary slant-six “Leaning Tower of Power” under its downsized hood? This Aspen wagon has an automatic transmission, power steering, and air conditioning. The colors are pure Malaise-era perfection, as the seller lists its hue as “Tahini Tan” with a dark tan vinyl interior.

The interior looks very clean and original, only with a bluetooth-enabled radio as both a modification and concession to modern times. The Magnum 500 rims also come with the original hub caps, making this Aspen wagon one of the best ways to embrace the downsized lifestyle of the late 1970s.

1986 Pontiac Parisienne

Asking price: $27,500

How could a General Motors station wagon be named after female denizens of France’s capital city, be sold in the United States and Canada, and get away with it? It probably has to do with the great bones underneath and the fact that it’s a catchy name no matter what. The Parisienne started life in Canada, but became a staple in stateside Pontiac dealerships by the time it was affixed to GM’s B-body as a coupe, sedan, and (wait for it) station wagon. Offering a bit more luxury and swagger than your average Caprice Estate, but not the ostentatiousness of the Buick Electra Estate Wagon, the Parisienne Wagon was perfect middle ground in a market that was rapidly contracting after the 1984 introduction of the Chrysler minivan.

But Pontiac persisted, keeping it around with a new name (Safari) until 1989. This example from 1986 sports a rather unconventional color scheme of sleek black paint, maroon cloth, and aftermarket wood-toned vinyl with blonde highlights. The list of expected interior features includes a rear-facing third row of seating, and is propelled by a 305-cid V-8 with a four-barrel carb. The seller states that every electronic assist works as intended, aside from the radio and cruise control, which is “spotty.” Like many GM products of the era, the bumper fillers need replacement, but a set of repair manuals are included with the wagon.

1963 Pontiac Catalina Safari

Asking price: $42,000

Wait, we have two Pontiac station wagons on Hagerty Marketplace? While Pontiac made the previous example into a throwback “Safari” towards the end of production, this 1963 example is a better representative of what made Pontiac’s longroof more appealing in the wagon’s heyday. This particular Catalina body was a big stylistic influence for the second-generation Pontiac Tempest, which became the GTO. (You can see it most in the split grille and stacked headlights.) Who wouldn’t want a family hauler with the style and street presence of Pontiac’s seminal creation for muscle car fans around the world?

This example sports Pontiac’s 389-cubic-inch “Trophy” V-8 with the standard two-barrel carburetor and an automatic transmission. The seller states that 18,446 Catalina Safaris were built, and he has collected significant amounts of documentation to prove the vehicle’s authenticity. There’s fresh paint and a redone interior, along with a promise of further improvements, as the owner states that items “like the dome light don’t work, but I’m slowly addressing things.”

1987 Mercedes-Benz 300TD

Asking price: $4600

No list of obscure station wagons for sale in America is complete without a diesel Mercedes-Benz wagon, right? But unlike your average, chrome-laden Germanic oil burner from the 1970s (the ones that put the brand on the map in America), this is a later 300TD based on the modern W124 chassis. Cutting edge at the time and still a stunning drive by modern car standards, adding a longroof and a turbo diesel engine to the W124 only makes it cooler. Maybe even cooler than the high-performance 500E?

This example has a whopping 425,000 miles but sports its original paint and interior. The owner stopped using it as a daily driver in 2013, but it comes with many restoration parts and previously serviced it with a “local Mercedes Specialist.” At this price, this W124 could make for a great project car that will take advantage of the diesel longroof’s long term profit potential, as they seemingly become even more popular over time.

HI-TOP LONGROOF: 1997 Chevrolet Express

Asking price: $5000

Clearly this isn’t a wagon, but it’s one heckuva long roof. The fullsize van has one of the best ratios of roof to (engine compartment) hood in the universe, and this one has the “high top” conversion that includes enough headroom for most folks to stand up inside the van’s massive cabin. The 1995-up Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana take all the best of van culture and pair it with modern day truck hardware.

While this older example lacks the LS-series engines, the Vortec 5.7-liter V-8 is no slouch for family hauling and can easily be souped up with bolt-ons, if a hot-rod long roof is in order? This example does need some attention after 289,000 miles and 25 years on the road, but the hi-top roof has a power-operated rear bed/seat, rear HVAC, wood trim, and accent lighting under its elevated cover. You can make a scene with a longroof these days, but there’s only one way to literally raise the roof at a car show.

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The Ford Mustang, besides being an incredible sales success, is also a cultural icon. The 1965 Mustang burst into the scene in April of 1964 just days after the Plymouth Barracuda. Even though the cars were competitors, and each aimed at the same market, the Mustang stole the show. There’s a reason that compact, sporty, highly customizable vehicles are called pony cars and not fish cars: Ford’s Mustang shaped the market.

However, though it’s the archetypal pony car, the Mustang is definitely not the only one worthy of praise. Here are five pony cars from Hagerty Marketplace that would make for a great project car or weekend driver—and, as it happens, none are Mustangs.

1969 Mercury Cougar

Asking price: $8500

Mercury stepped into the pony-car market a couple of years after Ford paved the way with the Mustang. The more upscale Cougar eventually became a personal luxury car, with gradual moves toward that shift with each new generation, making the 1967–1970 models the closest in spirit to the Mustang and the rest of the pony-car class. As such, the first generation Cougar was nimble, sleek, and offered powerful V-8 options.

This car needs upholstery and bodywork to repair some front-end damage from a fender-bender, but besides the front seats, a lot of the interior still looks to be in good condition, and the body should be a solid candidate for restoration. Considering it shares a chassis with the first-gen Mustang, there’s no shortage of options when it comes to choosing parts for either a correct restoration or a restomod with a bit more handling prowess.

1985 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

Asking price: $11,900

Third-generation Camaros seem to be resurging in popularity as kids that loved them when they were in high school are now old enough to add one to their collection. It’s a familiar pattern that led to the incredible boom of muscle cars in decades past.

This 1985 Z28 has just 76,000 miles on the odometer and a complete, seemingly immaculate interior that’s a rare find in a vehicle of this vintage. It’s powered by the second most powerful engine offered in 1985, a TBI 5.0-liter V-8. 1985 marked the first time that port injection was available, and both inductions were available. The TPI was known for generating incredible low-speed torque; off-the-line acceleration was fantastic, thanks to the system’s long runners while the TBI engines could easily pass for a carbureted model .

1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

Asking price: $13,000

One of the few pony cars that could challenge Mustang for popularity and pop-culture presence is the Pontiac Trans Am. The huge hood graphic, cast aluminum wheels, and shaker hood scoop are all iconic. Of course, a black and gold “Bandit” is likely the first example of a second-gen Trans Am that comes to your mind, but this candy red example also looks amazing with its gold wheels and red interior.

The short-deck 301 Pontiac V-8 was the least-powerful Trans Am engine option in 1979 when both Olds and Pontiac 6.6-liter V-8s were available. Unfortunately, the 301 used a unique head design with lackluster intake ports (only two per head) and it won’t accept the high-flowing factory or aftermarket intake-manifolds due to the port mismatch and lower deck height. The only consolation here is that, in terms of pony cars, the Trans Am’s least powerful offering in 1979 was more powerful than the Mustang’s top engine for 1979, although the Ford did have the advantage of its new, Fox-body platform. Even with its modest powerplant, this is a stunning car that brings so much ’70s style to the table.

1969 AMC Javelin

Asking price: $18,000

American Motors cars from the late ’60s and early ’70s are some of the most underrated designs of the era, in our opinion. Take this 290-powered Javelin SST. Early Javelins are more subtle than their aggressively flared successors, yet the elegance of their design doesn’t make them any less sporty. If you’d like an all-original AMC, this car looks quite complete.

If, however, you’d like to build a day two car with a hot-rodded engine and some Keystone Klassic wheels, well then, this is also a great choice. (In hot-rod lingo, a “day two” car is mildly modded with aftermarket wheels and bolt-on speed parts—the accessories that an enthusiastic owner would naturally install the day after buying the car new.) Just look at that yellow paint! A couple of weekends spent detailing and touching up the engine bay would make it a real head-turner at car shows, where it could make a big splash among the typical classics from the Big Three.

1970 Plymouth Barracuda

Asking price: $35,600

There’s good news and bad news about this beautiful ’70 Barracuda. The bad news: It’s not a Hemi four-speed convertible. The good news is that it’s not priced like a Hemi four-speed convertible.

Despite the publicity that all of the high-dollar ‘Cuda sales get, it’s cars like this 318-powered model that make us remember that some gorgeous Mopar pony cars that don’t break the bank. The burnt-orange paint shines brightly, and the black and white interior looks as it did when it rolled off the assembly line. E-body Barracudas are among the most revered Mopars of the muscle car era, and their sharp design leaves little to critique. This one is priced just above its #3 (Good, or daily-driver) value, which may be just right considering what looks like a solid restoration.

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Let’s give credit where credit’s due. Pontiac was trying really hard in the 1990s to differentiate itself from its GM stablemates, and post John DeLorean, the Pontiac division wasn’t given much in the way of flexibility and funding to make production cars with enough appeal to satisfy America’s diverse demographics. By the time SLP Engineering got its hands on the Grand Prix sedan, sales figures were far south of the Honda Accords of the world—closer to the likes of Nissan’s Altima. But then something magical happened.

Meet Pontiac’s 300 GPX concept and silently weep for its inability to make production. The supercharged 3800 V-6 made about 75 more horses than stock, along with a delightful 330 lb-ft of torque, probably thanks to a smaller supercharger pulley allowing for 10-psi of boost. These power figures are disturbingly close to the LT-1 small block Chevy of the era and were backed up by a Torsen limited-slip differential—an item almost as necessary as the 255-width tires for a front-wheel drive Poncho with this much grunt. Of course, Pontiac’s engineers tweaked the suspension and brakes to differentiate the 300 GPX from a luxury or fleet-spec Grand Prix on the showroom floor, holding it all inside, thanks to a body kit worthy of vintage wide track references (5.5 inches wider up front, 7.25 inches in the rear).

The package was wrapped up in an executive-style, quad-bucket-seat configuration with a rear console not unlike the earlier GM-10-based coupes, or the 1974 Cadillac Fleetwood Talisman. Pontiac’s family sedan was cool, even though it drove the “wrong” wheels—so cool that this 300 GPX, had it made production, coulda stolen the 2005 Chrysler 300C’s glory, elevating the General’s star-crossed GM-10 platform from wanna-be Taurus sales disappointment to a proto Chrysler LX superhero. The two even have the same number in their name!

And now imagine the 300 GPX treatment for sedans elsewhere in GM’s W-body fleet, radical takes with names like Lumina Super Sport, Buick LeSabre Ultra, and Oldsmobile Holiday 88 … but I digress.

We’ve discussed SLP Engineering in the past (here and here), but now we see how their efforts make a mainstream sedan far less yawn-inducing. This is how the 300 GPX goes from Auto Show stage queen to a GTX Ram Air that’s an easily-financed mode of transportation for Middle America. Power is down from the concept, but a still-impressive 260 horsepower came from SLP’s high-flow induction and cat-back exhaust, while beefier 17-inch rubber optimizes the supercharged package.

Performance was impressive for the late-1990s, as Motorweek tested the GTX Ram Air and reached 60 mph in 7.1 seconds. A 15.3-second quarter-mile time was more than respectable back then, too. And the GTX Ram Air clearly looked the part, as the hood so closely resembled the 300 GPX concept that you’d be forgiven for postulating that SLP Engineering made it for General Motors in the first place.

But sadly, the changes are far too modest relative to what you can bolt-on elsewhere for the supercharged 3800. And that’s because of the W-body’s impressive aftermarket following, of which SLP used to support in a big way. Which is a bit tragic, much like the GTX’s Ram Air performance when viewed against today’s family appliances. Even worse, Motorweek suggests the GTX Ram Air hood/intake/exhaust/emblem/floormat package was a $2499 standalone option for any Grand Prix, even naturally aspirated examples like the one below. Oof.

Unfortunate for sure, but we know that flash sells cars better than understated assertions could ever accomplish. Ordering a handful of GTX Ram Air packages for a local Pontiac dealership’s stock was likely a great way to garner foot traffic, to move more SE-grade Pontiacs off the lot. But the GXT Ram Air (or any supercharged W-body, for that matter) needs far deeper aftermarket upgrades to truly impress, or to stay ahead of the likes of a new Nissan Leaf.

And yet something special happens when you do just that. You make that mainstream sedan (or coupe) into the vehicle that General Motors’ engineers wished they could produce if they weren’t working with one hand tied behind their backs. The original concept of the Pontiac 300 GPX that pre-dates all modified W-bodies proves it, and replicating it wouldn’t be too hard if you found one of SLP’s Ram Air Grand Prix GTXs for sale.

The post The Grand Prix GTX Ram Air was a concept car for the streets appeared first on Hagerty Media.

The Bonneville Brougham. Most primo Pontiac of them all. And my buddy Jason Bagge (you may remember him, as I’ve written about several of his cars over the years) found one in Spokane, Washington. He posted pics. He bought it. I got excited. Because I love these. Absolutely. Love. Them. Let me tell you why.

First of all, I have always loved the bigger is better 1971–76 GM B- and C-body cars—especially the fancier versions. It all started at the rod and custom show in downtown Rock Island, Illinois, in early 1991.

I was 11. My dad took me and my brother to the show. It was January, so car show-wise it was the only game in town at that time. We checked out the classic cars and hot rods, and wandered around at the Expo Center. There were always a few vendors there on the fringe, selling automobilia, and one guy had a bunch of old car brochures.

As a domestic luxury car connoisseur even then (my grandparents owned Thunderbirds, LTDs, and Continentals—I imprinted on them), I immediately zeroed in on the 1971 Cadillac and 1971 Lincoln brochures. What size! What Broughamage! What cars! What happened?

I mean the then-new 1991 Cadillacs were nice and all, especially the Brougham and Brougham d’Elegance, but man, those ’71s! Wow. Awooga!

Well, 1971 was kind of the last hurrah for “bigger is better” over at General Motors Corporation. The 1971 biggies were brand new, Broughamtastic, and fully full sized. It was kind of the end of an era. Never again would an all-new GM full-size car be so large, in charge, and dimensionally extravagant. The 1971 B-body Pontiacs were smooth, comfortable, and powerful. And unlike today when your choices are sedan (maybe), combover, and SUV, a variety of body styles were available.

Yep. Four-door hardtop! Two-door hardtop! Convertible, sedan, wagon! No combovers or truck versions. Trucks? Heck, those were for plumbers, farmers, and tradesman—or maybe outdoor adventurers in Montana. You needed a CAR! And a loaded, luxurious sedan, coupe, or convertible was just the ticket. And the bigger the better. Hey, gas was cheap, wages were great, and the USA was the biggest, bestest place to live, bar none! Why not have a car to match?

From 1971–75, the biggest, bestest Pontiac was the Grand Ville. So Broughamtastic, it even eclipsed the former top-of-the-line Bonneville, with its C-body roofline and spectacular interior and luxury appointments. Of course it was the top of the line—it had “Grand” right in its name, for Pete’s sake!

However … For whatever reason, the Grand Ville name, despite its premium luxury, its velour, its power everything, and its sumptuous ostentation, just didn’t have the same brand recognition and familiarity as the vaunted Bonneville name.

Fun fact: the final full-size Pontiac convertible was the ’75 Grand Ville Brougham. Two door coupes and four door hardtops were also offered. I personally love the coupe. Squint a little and it could be a Coupe de Ville. Despite its beauty and sheer luxury, the Grand Ville disappeared after model year 1975, never to return.

But it didn’t really disappear, for the same car essentially returned for 1976—just with Bonneville Brougham emblems instead, a model name that had last appeared in 1970. Yep, as had been the case from 1957, its inaugural year, through 1970, the Bonneville was once again the most premium Pontiac.

And it showed. From the button-tufted velour interior, same as the outgoing Grand Ville Broughams …

To its opera windows and Bonneville etched-glass model identification …

And the all-important cigarette lighters in the backs of the front seats. If you lived through the 1970s, you know lighters and ash trays were as important then as cupholders and power points are in cars today.

And look at all that glass area! Yep, you could actually see all around you, and you didn’t need any backup sensors or backup cameras. By George, you looked behind you and judged for yourself whether or not the coast was clear, rather than hoping you didn’t miss something that you couldn’t see on the camera, like today.

Yes, the Bonneville Brougham was back! And in 1976, it was your last chance to get it in full-blown, seriously full-size fashion.

As I mentioned earlier, my friend Jason Bagge, The Brougham Whisperer himself, snapped up this Buckskin Tan Bonnie Brougham back in July 2018. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve written about his 1972 Bonneville, ’74 454-powered Monte Carlo, and ’70 454 Caprice previously.

As is his usual M.O., Jason planned to keep the car for a while. But then he found more cool old cars, like a 1973 Imperial LeBaron, and his priorities changed. In the approximately eight years that I’ve known him, I conservatively think he’s bought and sold 50 1970s land yachts of various marques and body styles.

So, despite its magnificence, the Imperial and another new acquisition, a police-package 1976 Catalina four-door pillared sedan (and more recently a 454-powered 1973 Caprice coupe) entered his life, and the Bonnie was sold.

So, the photos offer a close look at an excellent 1976 Bonneville Brougham, mostly original, with 400-cubic-inch V-8 power, power windows, power locks, power steering, power brakes, and pretty much power everything else., with 66,000 miles on the clock. And it’s a Brougham. Velour. V-8. Comfort.

Button tufted velour. And lots of stretch out room!

After 46 years of attrition, you don’t exactly see these on every street corner. In 1976, a total of 20,236 Bonneville Brougham four-door hardtops and 10,466 Bonneville Brougham two-door hardtops were built. No convertibles, as the previously-mentioned final Grand Villes spelled the end of topless Broughamage in ’75.

Despite my efforts to talk Jason into keeping this fine example (he doesn’t care for the color, Buckskin Tan—go figure), he sold it to a gentleman somewhere in the Midwest. And as always, I shall keep you all apprised of Jason’s latest acqusitions. Like the Post Office, you know there will always be more. Until next time, stay Broughamy and always tip your bartender.

The post 1976 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham: Last call for truly large luxury appeared first on Hagerty Media.

When GM president Rick Wagoner succeeded Jack Smith as CEO in June 2000, he knew he desperately needed an effective product leader—with a proven track record—to turn around the company’s aging portfolio. At this time, GM cars and trucks were reasonably competitive on quality but hobbled by ho-hum styling, cheap interiors, and dated powertrains. GM needed all three flaws fixed—ASAP.

Wagoner turned to Bob Lutz, who had resigned as Chrysler president after then-CEO Lee Iacocca snubbed him as his replacement to hire Bob Eaton (from GM Europe) instead. Lutz had started his auto career at GM Europe, then BMW, then in leadership positions at first Ford, then Chrysler. He had a stellar product-guy reputation, but he was languishing as the CEO of battery maker Exide. There was also the matter of Lutz’s age; at 69, he was four years past GM retirement age. Wagoner went to see him.

Wagoner’s first question: “Who do you know who’s just like you but 50 years old?” Lutz could think of no one. Wagoner asked if he would be interested in consulting. Lutz declined, since a consultant has no power to get things done. Then: “I don’t suppose you would consider rejoining us full-time.” Lutz said yes, provided he would have the necessary title and decision-making authority.

Lutz came on board as product vice chairman on Sept. 1, 2001 and over the next several years transformed GM’s product culture. He unleashed and empowered GM Design to spread its wings. He convinced reluctant finance leaders to invest sufficiently in better interiors, engines, and powertrains. He also had ideas on some exciting niche products—including a new GTO.

“When I was still at Chrysler, and later at Exide,” he later related, “I kept reading U.S. car magazines. And every now and then one would have an article on the Holden Commodore. They would say something like, ‘Commodore is the GM car that can take on a BMW M5 … the best car General Motors has ever made.’”

Holden, GM’s Australian brand, had a long history of rear-wheel-drive performance that was born and bred Down Under. When Lutz arrived in 2001, the company was making waves with the recently-introduced Monaro coupe, based on the VT Commodore. “Almost the minute I came to GM, I got in touch with Holden and said, ‘We could use a few of those Monaros over here as Pontiac GTOs.’ And I exchanged emails with some people in GM who were floating the same idea.

“I arranged to borrow a Commodore SS sedan, which had the same Corvette engine and gearbox as the Monaro, from GM’s U.S. engineering fleet, and we loved it. My wife got used to driving on the wrong side of the car, and I couldn’t pry her out of it.”

And when Lutz got a chance to drive a Monaro CV8 in early 2002, he was very impressed. “The more we looked at it,” he said, “the more we realized that, for the first time in 30 years, we actually had the basic structure to create a car worthy of the name GTO.”

When the Firebird died after 2002, Pontiac lost its last V-8, effectively stripping GM’s former hot-car division of that image. “It’s no secret we had a rebuilding job to do,” said the general marketing manager (soon to be general manager) at the time, Lynn Myers. “To reestablish our credentials as a performance division, we wanted cars that people would lust after. We wanted people buzzing about them on the Internet and young people hanging pictures of them on their walls.”

GM’s North American Strategy Board green-lit the program in March 2002, partly because of how quickly and inexpensively Lutz said it could be done using Holden’s excellent Monaro as a foundation. The order came for it to be market-ready in just 18 months—by late 2003—in advance of the January 2004 Detroit North American International Auto Show.

Design

Given the accelerated timeline, there was no time for new sheetmetal or major appearance alterations aside from a new composite front fascia for a proper Pontiac face. Most GM leaders felt that would be OK, since the Monaro already wore a tightly stretched, cleanly sculpted Euro-coupe skin that would blend well with Pontiac’s growing family of cleanly restyled products. (The smooth G6 and Solstice would arrive for 2005 and 2006, respectively.)

John Mack, who was design director for GM international joint venture programs, coordinated the visual transformation. “For reasons of both tooling and timing,” he said, “[GM] wanted to keep as much of the existing car as possible.”

Michael Simcoe, who headed Holden Design in those days (and is now GM’s Global Design VP), oversaw the project at Holden under chief designer Richard Ferlazzo.

The GTO’s new front fascia incorporated Pontiac-signature twin-port grilles, projector-beam headlamps, large fog lamps flanking a wide underslung air intake, a Pontiac badge on the nose, and GTO lettering on the left-side honeycomb grille. Wide W-rated tires on 17-inch five-spoke wheels and integrated “ground effects” along the sides helped give it a low, aggressive stance. A GTO front-fender badge and a rear spoiler set off the profile, while somewhat wimpy-looking twin left-side exhaust outlets and wraparound tail lamps with embedded backups completed the rear look.

Why twin exhausts on just one side? “The Monaro has asymmetrical body structure in the rear, and there was not enough time to move the right-side exhaust system to the other side,” chief engineer Bob Reuter explained, “even though it is a true dual exhaust system.”

The Monaro’s luxo-sport interior was carried over largely intact, and it could be color-keyed in red, blue, or purple to match three of the seven available exterior colors for 2004. “We also did custom-embroidered seats with GTO lettering, machine-drilled metallic pedals and a number of other things to take it where [it] needed to be,” Mack added.

One unfortunate feature for North America was the unhandy (right-hand-drive) Aussie radio—with its volume knob on the right.

Engineering

The Monaro’s dynamics were fantastic, vehicle line executive (VLE) Jerry Gillespie asserted, “so we didn’t change any of that character because it was already so good. But we needed more of a muscle coupe, which has a very different character. We wanted it to have more power, to be faster and to have an exhaust system that when you started the engine, you didn’t have to look at the tachometer to see if it was running.”

The engineering team’s top priority was improving performance and to “do whatever it takes to get that right … to make it a legitimate GTO,” Reuter said. “We made it breathe better [with a] much freer-running intake … and we put in a higher-lift cam to provide more torque. The ‘64 did zero to 60 in about 7.3 seconds; we’re two seconds better and it goes around corners better. Every way you look at this car, it’s clearly superior to the ’64.” They even benchmarked the ’64 GTO’s muscular exhaust rumble and came close to matching it.

As launched for 2004, the U.S. GTO’s Corvette-based 5.7-liter LS1 V-8 delivered 340 hp and 360 lb-ft of torque (though some later reports stated 350 hp and 365 lb-ft) through a choice of six-speed manual or four-speed Hydra-Matic transmission. And, because the Monaro’s ride/handling balance was already so good, all the chassis needed for the North American market was a set of performance-capable all-season tires instead of the summer skins it wore at home.

Similarities aside, the conversion to left-hand drive proved complex and there was considerable time and added cost necessary to make the GTO U.S.-legal. “We had to revise the interior trim, the knee bolsters and some of the garnish trim to pass federal safety requirements,” Reuter said, “We moved the fuel tank from under the rear compartment into the trunk [which reduced cargo space], made structural modifications to the longitudinal members and added a brace to load up the rear impact bar to the differential. All told, we changed about 450 parts on the car, which is roughly 20 percent of the overall content, including much that you can’t see, like seals and corrosion protection.”

Market thud

GTO assembly kicked off at Holden’s Elizabeth, South Australia plant in Sept. 2003 with a target of 18,000 units for the ’04 model year, and the U.S. launch followed soon after. Media reviews praised the car’s performance and handling but slammed its styling as too conservative for a proper GTO. Without muscular flanks, hood scoops, and bigger, more macho-looking dual exhausts, it looked more like a coupe version of the mid-size G6 sedan that followed for 2005. It didn’t help that its base price was about $34,000 ($11,000 over target), partly due to the Australian dollar’s strong growth vs. the U.S. dollar, and some foolish dealers asked for even more.

Standard equipment included a limited-slip differential with traction control, four-wheel disc brakes with standard ABS, 2 + 2 bucket seating with black leather seats and optional color coordination with exterior paint, and a premium sound system with integrated six-disc CD changer.

The hood scoops planned for 2005 arrived early as part of an ‘04 Sport Appearance Package that also brought a taller rear spoiler and more deeply inset front grilles. A late-year W40 package featured a special Pulse Red color with “GTO” embroidery on black seats and a grey gauge cluster. It was a rough start; just 13,569 GTOs were sold of the 15,728 imported for 2004.

The hood scoops became standard for ’05 along with split dual exhausts in a new rear fascia, optional 18-in. wheels, bigger brakes, a strengthened drivetrain and interior upgrades. Most importantly, a 400-hp, 400 lb-ft 6.0-liter LS2 V-8 replaced the LS1, dropping zero-60 times to well under five seconds. Still, ’05 GTO production slumped to just 11,069 cars. Hagerty features editor Conner Golden once owned a 2005 GTO, calling it “an alternate-reality, muscle-bound BMW M3. Or maybe a Corvette in an Australian fat suit.”

More changes followed for ‘06, but by then everyone knew that this reborn GTO was a lost cause. Just 13,948 examples were built in that final, bringing the three-year total to 40,808 before the last one rolled off the line on June 14, 2006. As had happened too many times before, GM leaders put timing ahead of market readiness and were unable to overcome a lame launch with later improvements. As many have said, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

The GTO did, however, whet Pontiac’s appetite for Australian muscle. For 2008, GM unleashed the VE Commodore-based Pontiac G8 with more dramatic styling and more engine options to fit a variety of budgets. The 415-hp GXP’s combination of a free-breathing LS3 and six-speed manual remains one of the most memorable sport sedans of the millennium. But even the G8 couldn’t escape low sales and the global recession that would end Pontiac altogether.

The post How GM revived the GTO with muscle from Down Under appeared first on Hagerty Media.

If you love the iconic automotive artwork of Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman, you’ll love a recently released video documentary featuring author Rob Keil’s interviews with the man they called Fitz.

Keil, who wrote a 200-page retrospective about the dynamic duo that was released last fall, had originally planned to use the 2010 interviews in a full-length documentary, but he and Fitzpatrick couldn’t agree on a format. So, years after Fitz died in 2015 (Van passed away in ’95), those conversations became the backbone of Art Fitzpatrick & Van Kaufman: Masters of the Art of Automobile Advertising.

“I knew how I wanted to do the video, but I also wanted to do it the way he wanted—he was my hero,” Keil said of Fitzpatrick in a September 2021 interview. “That didn’t work out, but it evolved into this book, which is the best way to present it anyway.”

Keil decided to edit the Fitzpatrick interviews to create a 12-minute companion video, which was released on Vimeo in May.

“The footage I shot of Fitz back in 2010 (when Fitzpatrick was almost 90) is really special … Hearing the story from him in his own words is a treat, even for those who own the book,” Keil says. “I felt there would be value in making this short documentary available to anyone interested. And for those who don’t know about the book, it’s a nice introduction.

“I was really lucky to get to know Fitz, and I’m glad I had the foresight to shoot lots of video of him. He was a fascinating character, and his personality shines through nicely in the video.”

With Keil using chapter headings to break up the interview, Fitzpatrick shares the story of his amazing ride from teenage designer to legendary illustrator. Growing up in suburbs of Detroit, he started going to art school, where he became aware that “there was such a thing as designing cars.”

His first job was cutting blueprints at Chrysler Engineering, working the night shift so he could continue attending art school during the day. He later worked at Briggs Manufacturing, which built car bodies for Ford and Chrysler. When Fitzpatrick’s father, also an artist, scored a job at Disney, Fitz went along to California.

“I was driving down Sunset Boulevard one day and I saw this custom-built Packard sitting in front o this shop,” he recalled. “The sign on the building said ‘Darrin of Paris,’ so I stopped, went in, and talked to Dutch Darrin. He hired me on the spot.

“So I spent a year doing cars for (Hollywood legends) Errol Flynn and Al Jolson and Clark Gable. For a 19-year-old from Royal Oak, Michigan, that was a very heady year … It was a lot of fun. I didn’t make much money, but I had a ball.”

Fitz went on to work at Hudson and Packard before the U.S. entered World War II and automakers turned their attention to military production. After joining the Navy, Fitzpatrick worked on warplane engineering and training literature while moonlighting in the advertising industry. By the time he left the military, he’d already secured the Mercury advertising account. It was through Mercury that Fitz was paired with Kaufman, and the rest is history. The two created ads together for Mercury, Buick, Cadillac, and finally Pontiac, where they set the standard. People not only wanted to buy a Pontiac, they wanted to live the lives that were depicted in the ads.

Fitzpatrick says other advertising agencies tried to duplicate the elegant illustrations that he and Kaufman were producing, but “they never understood the key to an emotional, sophisticated approach. It was why we went to European backgrounds. Most of them looked kind of elegant … but what we were really doing was offering something different from the Plaza Hotel in New York (or) the Fontainebleau in Miami, which is where Lincolns and Cadillacs went to get their pictures taken.”

Fitz and Van’s work was definitely different, and the two created an image through art that sold a lot of cars. Keil’s well-crafted video offers a taste of their majesty; don’t be surprised if you go looking for more.

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Our latest quarterly update to the Hagerty Price Guide has wrapped. After parsing a rich swath of large auctions and individual reference sales, the data proved the volatile collector market still has gains—and gaps—to explore. Some rising stars in this latest refresh illustrated a rubber-band effect in full swing: With the average prices of more popular collector cars still riding sky-high, some enthusiasts and savvy investors turn to parallel alternatives, inflating values of models that weren’t exactly hot-ticket items prior to the pricing surge of their more popular siblings.

Let’s look at the most noteworthy gainers of this edition of the Price Guide.

1977–81 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Special Edition: +34 percent

It seems Smokey and the Bandit still cashes heavy nostalgia checks for the collector car crowd, with multiple big sales of Burt Reynolds–adjacent, black-and-gold screamin’ chickens raising the floor for the rest of the field. Everyone cracks at least a small smile when they see Pontiac’s peacocking muscle car, so it’s no surprise they’re willing to pay, too.

Sticking with the iconic Special Edition, you can expect to pay $63,100 for a 1977 in #3, or driver-quality, condition (up from $48,500); $97,500 for a Trans Am in #2, or Excellent, condition (up from $75,000); and a Smokey-beating $144,000 for one ready for the big screen (up from $103,000). That’s a lot of Coors.

1986–95 Suzuki Samurai: +34 percent

The Suzuki Samurai, a member of our 2022 Bull Market list, has come home to roost. 34 percent seems relatively huge when discussing valuation—and in most cases it is—but the spunky Samurai is still quite a steal, even after the boost. A 1988 Samurai in #3 condition moved from an average of $7200 in April to $8500 in this update. For a #2 condition example of this king-size Power Wheels, what was $15,100 is now $17,100. Models in #1 condition didn’t budge an inch.

As to what’s causing this jump, it’s likely a combination of standard Japanese car market growth mixed with segment newcomers who are looking for something different to complement the other clean classics in the garage. It seems the tiny Suzuki has done well to shake off its cheerleader vibe.

1966–67 Dodge Charger 440: +36 percent

This one came as a bit of a surprise, but we can explain. Certain iterations of the first-generation Dodge Charger are up an impressive 36 percent in the latest update after showing zero growth in the market since the beginning of the year. That prior stagnation is perfectly understandable, as the first-gen Charger is profoundly less popular than the second and third generations.

With the muscle car market launching nearly as hard as values for Japanese collector cars, however, some increase-by-association was expected. Then, we have the 30- to 40-percent increase in values for second-gen, big-block Chargers since late 2021, and a recent sale record broken for a Hemi Charger Daytona. So, Chargers are hot, hot, hot—and first-gens have been comparatively cheap, cheap, cheap. As a result, Charger fans are getting while the getting is good—if it’s not already too late.

The main winner is the 1967 Charger with the iconic 440-cubic-inch V-8: Values for #3 condition cars leapt from $27,800 to $38,900 this month, the latter amount swapping neatly with the prior value for a #2 condition 440 Charger, which now sits at $54,500.

1966–69 Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider: +40 percent

It’s a bit odd to see such a collector staple as the cutesy Alfa Romeo Spider as the second-highest gainer of this update, but the curvaceous first-generation Duetto soared 40 percent since April. Stranger still is the Duetto’s value plotline since the beginning of this year. After a three percent decrease across the board in January, April’s update nudged average prices up 8.6 percent. That’s inline with—or even below—the pressurized collector market, but 40 percent since April? What, did everyone suddenly discover the romantic merits of Alfa’s iconic barchetta?

Not really. “Likely, the market had been ready to spend as much on a Duetto, but the right car(s) hadn’t appeared on the market yet,” explained Hagerty’s manager of valuation analytics, John Wiley. “The flat price guide values reflected that scarcity of excellent cars available.” A bevy of excellent cars—including one with 50 years of ownership history—recently went up for sale, commanding requisitely strong prices and correcting our data.

Now, those wishing to breathe that aire libre can expect to say ciao to $59,900 for a Duetto in #3 condition, or $125,000 if a concours-level (#1 condition) Spider is what they’re after.

1990 Nissan Skyline GT-R Nismo, N1 (R32): +94 percent, +100 percent

Surprise! A JDM superstar leads this update’s gainers, with the R32-generation GT-R Nismo up 94 percent and the enigmatic GT-R N1 showing a cool 100 percent growth. Skyline GT-Rs of any generation remain white-hot, but values of the 1989–94 R32s are on a tear, returning an 18 percent rise on average.

“We’re talking a market repriced weekly right now,” said Price Guide editor Greg Ingold. As the standard R32 rises, the rare variants rocket: The homologation-focused Nismo and N1s are some of the most sought-after JDM cars trading hands behind the scenes, Ingold explains. “We observed a concours-quality Nismo sell for $330,000 recently, and on the same weekend it was listed. My sources tell me this sale is legit, and not an outlier.”

As of this update, a standard R32 GT-R sells for an average of $65,000 in #3 (Good) condition, $100,000 in #2, and $160,000 in #1. Making the leap to the Nismo lands you in a whole different bracket: The 560-unit homologation special commands $190,000 in #2 condition and a gut-busting $320,000 in #1, a spike from $96,300 and $159,000, respectively.

The N1 is another exotic animal entirely. Only 245 R32 N1s were built, further delineated into standard N1, V Spec N1, and V Spec II N1. The V Spec II N1 is the rarest of the bunch, with just 63 units produced, and consequently the most valuable, with a 170 percent price increase; a #3 condition V Spec II N1 sits pretty at $200,000 (up from $92,700), requiring a wild $540,000 (up from $271,000) to score one ready for the concours green.

The post 5 classics posting the biggest gains in 2022 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A former SEMA show vehicle is crossing the auction block on Bring a Trailer. This customized Pontiac Vibe “GT-R” was shown by General Motors at the 2001 SEMA show, previewing the production 2002 Pontiac Vibe and highlighting some of the upgrades that could enhance the mini wagon’s looks and performance.

The most noticeable modifications to the Vibe’s exterior are its unique body kit: aggressive fascia, new wheels and tires, no fewer than two rear wings, a set of tinted headlights, and the addition of a ram-air scoop positioned on the driver side of the hood. These modifications are rather tame compared to some of the wild builds for which SEMA is known, and 21 years later, it has aged quite well. Inside, you’ll find red MOMO bucket seats up front and a custom subwoofer enclosure in the back. The 1.8-liter four-cylinder is mated to a six-speed manual transmission and breathes through a custom intake that draws air through the aforementioned hood scoop. An exhaust from APEXi also helps the inline-four churn out a bit more oomph.

Kit aside, though, what exactly is this thing?

The Pontiac Vibe was a rebadged Toyota Matrix/Voltz that used the same platform as the Corolla. It was built in the Fremont, California, factory that now cranks out Teslas. Because of its Toyota roots, you probably won’t find too many Pontiac fans clamoring to own it. The fact that it appears to be a pre-production model that didn’t get a full VIN also means it’s not viable as a daily driver because it can’t be registered for public roads. That explains why there are fewer than 1000 miles on its odometer.

We can’t help but wonder what will a future owner might this thing for. Will it remain as-is, keeping the history of a SEMA show vehicle? Our thoughts immediately turned to a race car conversion, since it’s not suitable for the street. If the buyer is from the Pontiac camp, perhaps they’ll consider swapping in one of the strangest front-wheel-drive powertrains Pontiac used in the brand’s final decade, the LS4, the only transverse application of a GM LS V-8. It might be fun trying to scratch for traction with a mighty V-8. If, however, they’re a Toyota fan, maybe they could adopt the all-wheel-drive system that came shortly after the Vibe’s launch and lean into Toyota’s rally legacy and Celica GT-Four heritage.

While the build may be a niche piece of Pontiac and Toyota history, the auction hasn’t yet eclipsed $8000 despite opening on July 3, so this may yet prove a bargain for the buyer. Our silly racing daydreams aside, this Vibe is a time capsule of SEMA customization where OEM meets aftermarket.

The post SEMA-built Pontiac Vibe may be the coolest Corolla wagon ever appeared first on Hagerty Media.

From a performance car enthusiast’s perspective, the mid-’70s and early-’80s didn’t have much going on. High-compression big blocks were a thing of the past, and burning rubber right off the showroom floor proved increasingly challenging. That didn’t keep American cars from looking the part, though. Despite the oil crisis, regulations, and insurance rates neutering cars for the better part of a decade, automakers didn’t stop building cars with all the appearances of being able to lay down long streaks of rubber at any impromptu stoplight drag race.

Gimmicks and graphics, decals and doodads ruled the day, and thanks to the facial hair fashions of the era, “mustache muscle” is the term we like to use.

Always attention-grabbing but rarely worth much money, mustache muscle has nevertheless gotten pulled up by the recent growth elsewhere in the classic car market. Several of them, including some of our favorites, have surprised us. Here they are.

1977–78 Ford Mustang II Cobra II/King Cobra

Ford’s OG pony spans six generations and counting, but the Mustang II is the one many people would rather forget. This compact, Pinto-based coupe didn’t even have a V-8 option when it debuted in 1974. Having gone from the likes of the Mach 1 and Boss 429 to this in just a few short years is as emblematic of American muscle’s quick demise as anything. To be fair, though, the Mustang II was the right car for the time, selling over a million units before the Fox-body came along in 1979.

Few Mustang IIs raced between stoplights, but there were at least a couple of peppy-looking V8 models to choose from. First came the Cobra II: available with either a V6 or 302/134hp V-8, it was, in the true spirit of mustache muscle, an appearance package. To trick people into thinking it was fast, the (fake) hood scoop, spoilers, quarter window louvers, stripes and Cobra graphics mimicked the original Shelby GT350 from the ’60s .

Next was the V-8-only King Cobra, introduced for the Mustang II’s final model year in 1978. The air dam, stripes, and a massive look-at-me Cobra decal on the hood aped Pontiac’s “screaming chicken” Trans Am styling cues, although it offered even less performance.

Nobody ever paid much attention to Mustang IIs as “classics,” but prices for the loud and proud Cobra models started to shoot up in late 2020—way up. Over the last three years, condition #2 (Excellent) values Cobra IIs with the six-cylinder engine are up 102 percent (to $19,600) and V8s are up 160 percent (to $30,700). King Cobras are up 110 percent (to $29,000). The most expensive ones we’ve seen were a ’76 Cobra II for $45,360 and a King Cobra for $36,300, both sold last year.

Quoted insurance values for Mustang IIs are up significantly as well over the same period and, surprisingly, they're popular with young car enthusiasts. These decal-driven pony cars date from Gen X's youth, but they're disproportionately more popular among Gen Z, who quotes 16 percent of Mustang IIs despite representing just 7 percent of the market.

1979–80 AMC Spirit AMX

Bearing little resemblance to the original '60s two-seat AMX or the baroque 1971-74 Javelin AMX, the Spirit-based AMX of 1970–80 was American Motors' last real go at a sporty car. AMC delivered on the era's expected tacked-on look-fast bits: the Spirit AMX sported a front air dam, rear spoiler, fender flares, side graphics, and a giant hood decal that looks like a temporary tattoo you'd buy from a vending machine. There were also some genuine driving enhancements: mild suspension modifications, quicker steering, and better brakes all gave the AMX better handling than the standard Spirit, and the eight-gauge dash, unique steering wheel, and bucket seats implied serious sporting intent. Press the accelerator, though, and you'd quickly discover the 125 lazy horses under the hood with the 304 cid V-8 (or 110 hp with the 258 cid six).

Despite the flame decal on the hood, the AMX didn't set any sales figures on fire. Just 3,600 Spirit AMXs left dealerships in 1979—Ford managed to sell over 10 times more Mustangs that year. Sadly, few Spirit AMXs have survived the ravages of time. One of them, likely the world's best, has been to auction several times over the last few years, selling for a then-staggering $24,200 at Spring Auburn in 2019, at Mecum Chattanooga last year for $31,350, and then for $35,750 in Kissimmee this January. That's the high-water mark, though. While these late AMX have gotten pricier in recent years, Hagerty Price Guide values still put condition #2 cars in the teens and #1 values at under $30,000.

1978–81 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

1978 saw the third and final facelift for the second-generation Camaro, and top-mustache status in the lineup went to the Z/28. Adorned with fender louvers, hood scoop, spoilers, decals and optional T-tops, the Z/28 screamed for attention. A close-ratio M21 4-speed and dual exhaust attached to the tried and true 170-190-horsepower 350 V-8 did their best to provide some entertainment, if not outright speed.

Late second-gen Z prices have steadily increased over the last five years, but the most substantial bump has occurred in the last 18 months. Average condition #2 value for a 1978-81 Z/28 is up 79 percent since 2017 to $43,400 (about the cost of a brand-new, 455-hp Camaro 2SS), but driver-quality #3 cars can still be found in the mid- to high-$20,000 range. A fixture of high school parking lots through the 80s and early 90s, these stickered-and-scooped Z/28s are unsurprisingly most coveted by Gen Xers: they make up 38 percent of Z/28 quotes even though they constitute 32 percent of the collector car market.

1977 Pontiac Le Mans Can Am

Named after a then-popular racing series that Pontiac had no involvement with (see also: Trans Am), the one-year-only '77 Can Am came at a time when Pontiac sold a lot of Firebirds but had little else in the way of sporty offerings. The 455-cid V-8 ceased production the previous year, and the GTO was retired after 1974. This was not a good look for what was traditionally considered GM's performance division, so Pontiac cobbled together the LeMans Can Am in an effort to preserve its performance image across more models. Even though the Can Am had little in the way of driving excitement, ads for it encouraged potential buyers to "Remember the Goat," suggesting GTO-like intentions.

The $1214 Can Am Option Package included variable ratio power steering, power front disc brakes, sport mirrors, Grand Prix instrument panel, and an optional Safe-T-Track limited-slip. Most cars came with a 400/200hp Pontiac V-8, but California and high altitude cars came with the wheezier 403/185hp Oldsmobile engine. All Can Ams came in Cameo White with orange, red and yellow graphic accents, and attention-grabbers borrowed from the Trans Am included the standard shaker hood and optional snowflake wheels.

Unfortunately, the Can Am name would not last long. Motortown Corporation was responsible for adding the appearance items on the car, and the tooling used for creating the rear spoiler broke after only about 1,300 Can Ams were produced. Rather than find any kind of workaround, Pontiac threw up their hands and canceled the model.

Despite their loud appearance, Can Ams are a rare and obscure piece of mustache muscle lore. Perhaps because of that, they've nearly doubled in value over the last five years to a #2 value of $29,900. Even that might be conservative, as one sold back in February on Bring a Trailer for $48,300 and another just sold at Mecum Indy for $70,400.

1983–84 Oldsmobile Cutlass Hurst

If mustache muscle cars are about visual excess, then the interior of the 1983-84 Hurst/Olds absolutely nails it. With the famous "Lightning Rod" shifter, Oldsmobile answered a question nobody was asking:"what if my automatic had not one, but three shifters?" The Lightning Rod's first lever is used for most driving, but if the need for speed arises you can pull each of the other two levers back to hold the transmission in first. Then, pushing one of the auxiliary levers puts the car in second, and the other shifts into third. This drag-style box seems a tad silly for a car with just 180hp from its 307-cid V-8.

As for the rest of the Hurst/Olds, it leveraged the heritage of the original '60s version without offering big speed. The engine did at least get a specific cam, distributor, and valve springs, as well as a Rochester four-barrel carburetor for more oomph over the standard Cutlass. A limited-slip was also optional both years. The '83 versions are finished in two-tone black on top of silver with 15th anniversary decals and dash plaque, while '84 cars reversed the paint scheme with silver on top of black. Just 3,001 were built for 1983 and 3,500 left the factory in 1984.

Prices for the triple-shifter Olds haven't spiked like they have for other members of the mustache muscle club, but they saw a modest 15 percent bump with Hagerty's latest pricing update. $26,500 will fetch a 1983 car in #2 condition, and $25,800 should grab a #2 condition '84 model. Naturally, they're popular with Gen Xers, who remember when they were new, and make up 36 percent of insurance quotes. Surprisingly, though, Millennials represent 35 percent of quotes for this Oldsmobile even though they make up just 21 percent of the market. Maybe it's the Lightning Rod gimmick, or maybe the Hurst/Olds is a shoo-in for Radwood.

1977–78 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

We can't think of a car more closely associated with a movie than Burt Reynolds' black and gold Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit. "Bandit era" has become the descriptor for late '70s Firebirds, and when we say "mustache muscle," Burt's upper lip is the one that comes to mind.

Of course, "screaming chicken" is another term associated with these cars, although the massive bird decal on the hood is more turkey or eagle-sized. T-tops, snowflake wheels, spoilers and bright interiors also draw your gaze, but the cars still had reasonably good performance for the era. Although Pontiac's 455 engine was no more, buyers could get a Trans Am with 400/200-hp or 400/220-hp Pontiac engines as well as a 403/185-hp Olds V-8. The WS6 Special Performance Package became available on Trans Ams in 1978 and featured wider wheels and tires as well as a beefier rear sway bar, making the car a competent handler for its time.

These are probably the most famous and most loved mustache muscle cars, and they're also the most valuable. Collectors have had their eyes on low-mile and restored Trans Ams for several years, but these cars have still gone up in value significantly over the past 24 months, with condition #2 values up around 18 percent. The #2 value for a standard 1977–78 Trans Am is $52,600, but cars equipped with the Special Edition Package (like the one in Smokey and the Bandit) are worth more than twice as much. An ex-Burt Reynolds car sold at auction in 2019 for $391,000.

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Your take on rising values in the car market over the last two years may depend on perspective. What you had in your garage before COVID versus what you’ve wanted to add to your garage in the intervening years can be all the difference between a positive outlook and a slightly more skeptical one. If you bought a 996-gen Porsche 911 in early 2020, congratulations are in order. If you were excited at the prospect of the C8 Corvette debut lowering values of C7 Grand Sports, well, the pandemic had news for you.

Fortunately, despite all the activity on the market, there are still cars out there for all interests that haven’t been party to the dramatic rise we’ve seen in other models. Truth is, in any given update to the Hagerty Price Guide, the plurality of cars (and sometimes the outright majority) do not change in value.

This cadre of collectibles have all seen their median #2 Hagerty Price Guide values stay relatively flat from May, 2020 through April, 2022. Note we said median. Some top-flight examples of these cars have brought more money, but one or two big sales does not necessarily reset a car's price. Looking at the median value helps provide a clearer picture of the model valuation as a whole. Also, we noticed that #3 (driver) Condition values of the below examples generally tracked with the trends reported here. That’s because the larger pool of cars within center of the bell curve for quality tend to lag the more pristine cars when values change.

1975–1980 Volvo 242

0 percent change

Unlike its long-roof sibling, which graced our 2022 Bull Market list and has seen its #2-condition (Excellent) median value increase 7 percent over our subject period, Volvo’s two-door 240-series has yet to take off in value. Perhaps owing to Volvo's wagon-rich identity, these quirky coupes remain the darlings of Volvo nerds (a group to which this author belongs) and not many others.

You’re not likely to win any stoplight drags with the modest power coming from the factory 2.1-to-2.3-liter red-block four cylinders, but the engine does take to turbocharging well if you want more power. The 242 was also a fixture in SCCA club racing and even won the 1985 European Touring Car Championship, so they can be made to handle as well. If cruising is more your speed, the 242 is a perfect companion. They’re bulletproof, have the classic, clean lines we’ve come to expect from Volvo, and won’t break the bank: median value has stayed flat at $8200.

1962–1964 Buick Wildcat

-2 percent change

Let’s face it: There are always a lot of bow ties and blue ovals at classic car shows. The Impala SS and Galaxie 500/XL are awesome, but sometimes it’s nice to mix things up a bit. Buick’s 1962–64 Wildcat presents a prime alternative in the sporty, mid-luxury car market that was just beginning to hit its stride in the early 1960s.

Kicking off life in 1962 as a submodel of Buick’s Invicta, the Wildcat featured a 401-cubic inch Nailhead V-8 sporting 325 hp and 445 lb-ft of torque along with bucket seats and styling accents to set it apart as the sportier large Buick. 1963 saw the Wildcat become its own model, offered in two-door coupe, convertible, and four-door hardtop and sedan bodies. Tasteful aesthetic updates kept the car fresh each year, and in 1964 Buick added some more muscle under the hood in the form of an optional 425-cubic inch V-8 with either 340 or 360 hp. Buick’s Wildcat carried the sporty large platform mantle for Buick until the Centurion was introduced in 1971.

While value trajectories are consistently flat or slightly negative across body styles, early Wildcat convertibles and coupes claim more money than their four-door counterparts. Across this first generation of Wildcats, median #2 value clocks in at $19,000.

1969 Pontiac Trans Am

0 percent change

Yep, this one surprised us, too. Muscle cars have been on a tear, and the debut year for the Trans Am is a rare bird, with only 697 copies made in 1969. That, coupled with some very desirable features, has ensured that the ’69 Trans Am has been one of the most valuable F-bodies GM has ever produced. Yet those values haven’t shifted, even as other GM muscle leads the Big Three in value increases. Median #2 condition for these first-year T/As has held steady at $204,000.

Then-head of Pontiac John DeLorean had originally pushed for the Trans Am to be powered by the marque’s overhead cam six cylinder and have a slew of handling improvements over the base Firebird and its Camaro sibling. The six was shelved for Pontiac’s 400-cubic inch V-8, providing 335 hp in Ram Air III trim and 345 hp when buyers stepped up to the Ram Air IV. The chosen engine displacement rendered the Trans Am ineligible for the series for which it was named, but that was ultimately irrelevant. DeLorean wanted to create a halo Firebird model, and within a decade the Trans Am’s legendary status was secured.

1975–1980 MGB

1 percent change

MGBs frequently find themselves overshadowed by other British cars of their era, and of course there’s the undying assertion that the Miata is the perfected version of the little British convertible. To add insult, the dapper chrome grilles of the earlier cars were replaced in 1974 to meet U.S. impact regulations, taking away some of their classic charm. Nevertheless, the plentiful MGB remains a popular choice for car nuts who want to experience one of the brands that introduced affordable sports cars to the U.S.

The rubber bumper cars represent an excellent entry point to the model. The median #2-Condition price of a 1980 MGB is $15,100, an increase of only $200 from two years ago. Even though the B survived into what we might call the Radwood era, the vibe is more "1960s sports car on a budget." Their looks may no longer evoke the Swingin’ Sixties, and the later cars ride a bit higher than their forebears, but the essential slow-car joy remains. Eighty-five horsepower is not a lot (California cars made do with a mere 70), but the MGB typifies a momentum car that’s fun within legal speeds.

1999–2005 Ferrari 360

1 percent change

The Ferrari 360 stands firmly in the analog era while beginning to offer a hint of the technology that’s come to define modern sports cars. By replacing the 355, which itself dated back to the 348 introduced in 1989, Ferrari’s 360 took the company’s mid-engine sports car into the new century with a completely new design and aluminum chassis. The 3.6-liter V-8 screamed to a 8700 rpm redline, and you had a choice of the traditional Ferrari gated shifter for your six-speed manual or paddles tied to a single-clutch automated manual. In addition to increased performance, a more modern interior as well as normal and sport settings gave the 360 a step up in livability over prior generations. What’s more, engine-out services were greatly reduced by access panels and thoughtful packaging, saving money on operating costs. The 360 was truly a step forward.

The 360’s inherent goodness, coupled with the surge in popularity of sports- and supercars immediately preceding our current era, make it a bit surprising that this Ferrari hasn’t seen a more significant median price increase. Across the Modena (coupe) and Spider versions, the #2-condition median is $96,100.

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Glimpse Acura’s newest, baddest race car

Intake: Acura has released the first images of its ARX-06 prototype endurance racer ahead of its competition debut at the 2023 24 Hour of Daytona next January. The prototype is built to the new LMDh specifications, which were codeveloped by IMSA and the WEC to enable this top echelon of endurance-racing cars to compete without modification in both series—a single car could run the 24 Hours of Daytona in January and then head overseas in June for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. (IMSA has since rebranded the LMDh name to GTP, resurrecting a historic class name from the series’ 1981–93 heyday.) The LMDh prototype regulations require a gas engine with four, six, or eight cylinders integrated with a hybrid system. Power goes to the rear wheels exclusively. Acura’s new ARX-06 utilizes an ORECA chassis just as its predecessor, the ARX-05, did and incorporates Acura styling cues found on the marque’s road-going products. (The headlights are the strongest tie here.)

The new car has big shoes to fill; the outgoing ARX-05 swept all three major IMSA championships—manufacturers, drivers, and teams—in 2019 and 2020, notched wins at Daytona each of the last two years, and is currently the defending champion in the season-long IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. Acura will once again enlist Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing as its team partners to campaign the ARX-06 in the coming season. While the announcement only states intentions of racing in IMSA, don’t be surprised if an Acura prototype ends up blitzing a certain French countryside come next summer. The ARX-06 will do battle stateside with Cadillac—whose new contender will debut June 9—and Porsche, the latter of which will offer its LMDh chassis to customers alongside its factory efforts in WEC and IMSA. Other brands, such as Alpine and BMW will also run LMDh cars, but it’s not clear whether they’ll expand their focus beyond the Europe-based WEC series to North America’s IMSA.

Exhaust: There are no details about the powertrain, but we’d expect another rendition of the twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 currently found in the ARX-05—this time supplemented by a hybrid element in accordance with the new LMDh regulations. Modern prototypes look wicked and working within the constraints of the class while still getting a bit of your brand’s flavor in the styling is no small task, but it looks like the folks at the Acura Design Studio have managed to achieve just that. We’re just hoping that somewhere deep in Acura’s accounting department, someone is sketching up a travel budget to France. Acura has been there before, back in 2010 with the open-cockpit ARX-01 prototype, and although it didn’t have much success at the 2010 event, we’d love nothing more than to see them return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Whaddaya say, Acura?

UPDATE: Hours after Acura released this teaser, Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing confirmed to Sportscar365 that neither would contest the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans with the ARX-06.

Burt Reynolds-owned 1978 Firebird hits the market again

Intake: A custom 1978 Firebird in Smokey and the Bandit black and gold is up for bid on Bring a Trailer. Restore a Musclecar built this 1978 Firebird for Burt Reynolds in 2016 and bestowed upon it a host of aftermarket upgrades. The engine is a 505-cubic-inch Pontiac based on a Butler Performance iron block, producing more than 600 horsepower. That big-bore engine is mounted to a Tremec five-speed manual that sends power to 18-inch RaMC wheels that are modern representations of classic snowflake alloys. Inside, you’ll find a CB radio and black-and-gold upholstery that matches the exterior paint and graphics. This car was sold in 2017 for $275,000 before being seized by the U.S. Marshalls and sold again in 2019.

Exhaust: There’s nobody that’s more synonymous with the Pontiac Trans Am than Burt Reynolds. Not even Trans Am racer Jerry Titus can compete with the star power Reynolds brought to bear on the ultimate Pontiac pony car thanks to Smokey and the Bandit. This may not have numbers-matching rarity, but it’s still a Pontiac V-8 at heart, unlike a lot of restomods that opt for the lighter, more modern LS. Considering it has been built with some of the best parts available, it should drive like Bandit could only have dreamed of back in the ’70s. The Burt Reynolds provenance has already helped bring bids of over $100,000 and there are still plenty of days left in the auction, which is set to wrap on June 8.

Spec your 911 GT3 to near race-spec and keep your warranty

Intake: Want to lap the Nürburgring in a record 6:55.737? Then you’ll need to specify your new Porsche 911 GT3 with a Manthey Performance Kit. The performance pack features a wider rear spoiler with bigger endplates, a bigger carbon-fiber diffuser, a revised front spoiler with added flicks, and aerodiscs for the rear wheels. Four-way adjustable coilovers with stiffer spring rates, lighter forged alloy wheels, braided brake lines and upgraded pads are also included, and you can opt for the stickiest Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires. The Manthey Performance Kit is available to order at Porsche Centers, with deliveries starting in the fall, but no prices revealed just yet.

Exhaust: As a Porsche Tequipment option, this kit allows your near-race specification GT3 to retain its full manufacturer’s warranty as you rack up lap personal lap records. If you need further convincing then watch the video below—it’s seven minutes of your Friday well-spent.

100+ motorcycle collection from Vintage Trail Bike Museum for sale

Intake: Jim Hoellerich was a collector who never sold. His passion for off-road motorcycles spiraled until his hobby became a museum full of beautifully restored machines housed in a hilltop building. The Museum of Vintage Trail Bikes was appointment-only and garnered 400 to 500 visitors per year; each tour was free and allowed guests to peruse the likes of OSSA, Penton, and Bultaco bikes. Those bikes (a preliminary list is linked here) are now set to be auctioned on July 30 in an on-site event hosted by J Wood and Company at the dairy-farm-turned-museum in Cheshire, Mass.

Exhaust: Hoellerich’s passing came just a day after a final open house at the museum that drew roughly 300 visitors, according to ride-ct.com. If that is any indication of sale attendance next month will be, there will be some serious buyers looking to own a piece of the Museum of Vintage Trail Bikes history or to round out their own personal collections with one of Hoellerich’s restorations.

Ineos plans a pickup and a plug-in

Intake: Ineos is going to expand its rugged off-road offering, first with a smaller electric version, and then with a longer-wheelbase pickup based on its Grenadier. “We need to embrace the future, which clearly, in an urban environment, is going to be electric—but even in a country environment, if you’re a farmer, you probably will have an electric vehicle you can drive around on tracks,” CEO Jim Ratcliffe tells Autocar. “What we’re looking at quite carefully at the moment is a smaller version of the Grenadier—electric,” he added. The new model would significantly undercut the $75,000 Grenadier but, with its 127-inch wheelbase, a future pickup, which was confirmed earlier this year, would likely be priced even higher.

Exhaust: Ineos was born out of Ratcliffe’s desire to continue production of the original Land Rover Defender, but when the 4×4 firm wouldn’t sell him the rights, he decided to build his own version. Now Ratcliffe looks set to go beyond Land Rover with his flat-bed and EV ambitions.

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Allen “Al” Blatter was an avid Pontiac collector and restorer for most of his life, starting when he was just 14 years old. When he passed away in 2021, he was in the process of restoring several and left quite a collection behind. We spoke with Yvette VanDerBrink of VanDerBrink Auctions who told us she’s still cataloging the vast assortment the cars and parts from Blatter’s collection that will be part of a sale on July 23 in Wilton, North Dakota.

More details will be coming to the VanDerBrink site later this week, but Yvette told us there are dozens and dozens of complete, restorable project cars—along with a couple of body shells hardly seem worth keeping. Al wouldn’t let anything go to the crusher if it could still lend a part or panel to help restore another car and get it on the road. He kept a notebook of all of his friends’ cars and the parts they needed and, as he hunted for parts at shows across the country, kept the list with him. Often he’d return home with a cargo load of hard-to-find items for his fellow Pontiac enthusiasts.

“I didn’t run into anyone that didn’t think he was pretty cool,” Yvette says.

Among the collection of nearly 90 Pontiacs are plenty of LeMans, Tempest and GTO projects, as Blatter was a big fan of ’64 through ’72 Pontiac A-bodies in particular. There’s also a huge trailer filled with body panels as well as stockpiles of engines, rear axles, and Pontiac’s signature Tri-Power intakes.

Sandy, Al’s wife of 39 years, plans to keep at least a couple of the cars, including a ’67 GTO convertible of Al’s and a ’70 he was restoring for her. After this sale of projects and parts, we’d wager that quite a lot of Pontiacs will get back on the road for the first time in a long time, just as Blatter had intended.

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On a moody fall Saturday, the last bit of sunlight flitted between Rocky Mountain peaks, flashed across the glacial valley and through thick aspens crowding the Trans-Canada Highway, and exploded through the water-streaked windshield right into my retinas. Kaleidoscopically orange, green, white, black—the sunset was backed by the primal 3000-rpm beat of the 1967 Pontiac GTO’s 400-cubic-inch V-8. The wipers added no rhythm though, because, naturally, they were broken. Instead, the afternoon showers, dispersed by Rain-X, formed rivulets that wobbled up the windshield to gather in pools, fluttering in the airflow like the vocal sacs of chirping frogs. From here, they leaked onto our laps, courtesy of the weathered 55-year-old top seal. But the wipers weren’t the only system on strike; so were the temperature and oil pressure gauges, the brake-light switch, the driver’s door lock, and the parking brake, plus, eventually, something even worse. We were flying fast and loose in a powerful and achingly loud muscle car, and it felt sketchy, exciting, and alive. And suddenly damned familiar, because I’d been here before, 40 long years ago.

Summer 1981: In a rural backyard near a stand of sweet-smelling conifers in South Lake Tahoe, California, sat the sorry ragtop. Running but crippled by a blown clutch, it had been pushed into the meadow like an old glue horse led to pasture and left to wither three years prior. Only by chance had I seen the classified ad in the Tahoe Daily Tribune: “1967 Pontiac GTO convertible. Manual transmission. Needs work, $650.” Random travels had stranded me with a one-speed Schwinn Cruiser, an unlikely candidate to ride 450 miles over 8000-foot mountain passes to Los Angeles. I needed a car, and the GTO needed a savior. Sold!

Entering my life between a 1965 Cadillac hearse, a 1976 Checker New York City taxi, and a raging case of wanderlust, the GTO stood little chance of becoming a long-termer. To use a social analogy, it was like hitching a ride home with somebody you met on vacation, having a one-nighter, and never seeing that person again. “I used her, she used me but neither one cared/We were gettin’ our share,” sang Bob Seger in 1976’s “Night Moves.”

Midmorning on that Tuesday, August 4, a tow truck hoisted the front of the GTO, plowed through the tall fescue and up to the street, hooked a right and then a left onto the local highway, and ambled three miles to Kingsbury Automotive & Supply. A new clutch for $217.40, an F70-14 bias-ply whitewall pulled from a gas station’s used tire stack for $15, a check of radiator water, engine oil and tire pressures, and I was on my way, with the Schwinn stashed in the trunk.

Barely into my 20s, I’d already owned two dozen cars and motorcycles, and thus I knew the GTO was special. Which is why, two months later, after a summer of surfing, partying, and burnouts, a nagging feeling accompanied selling the convertible. But there was stuff to do, namely retrieving my possessions from the Big Apple, and a taxi purchased from a Haitian cabbie seemed way better for that job. But that’s another story. Anyway, the GTO vanished like that one-night stand.

Nearly four decades after dispatching the GTO, I answered the phone. “This is Andrew,” a voice said. In 1974, I met Canadian Andrew Morin in an English youth hostel while vagabonding around Europe. Both crazy about cars, bikes, and adventure, we got along great and stayed in touch afterward. “I found your GTO,” he said. “It’s in Calgary.”

The words froze me like a door hinge creaking in the night. “Are you kidding me?” I answered, grasping for focus. “Who? Where? How?” As Andrew rolled out the info, I could see it clearly. The guy I’d sold the GTO to in British Columbia parked it for 28 years before selling it to another Canadian, an engineer named Rob who is coincidentally a friend of Andrew’s. One day last year, Andrew asked Rob about the car. The story goes that after Rob and another owner, it went to Steve Bacovsky, a Canadian collector, whose email Andrew tracked down and provided. After connecting and sending Steve my vintage photos, I found myself typing the words every car guy knows: “If you ever want to sell it …” The letters—common ones, not even decent Scrabble points—coalesced into words slowly, haltingly, like forbidden fruit budding on that ancient tree. The GTO was tempting but a temptress, virtuous but a vixen. I knew it was right. I knew it was wrong. I clicked “send.”

Months passed, and the GTO reversed to back of mind, just as it had many times before. But one morning the creaky door blew open when Steve wrote back. He’d found a Hemi Belvedere and, on his game board, a Mopar trumped a Poncho. The GTO’s sudden availability forced some deep soul-searching; I’d long hungered for the car but really didn’t need it. Money’s always a thing, space is always limited, and there’s never enough time. I walked into the garage, sat on the stairs, and pondered my internal-combustion geode. And the more I thought about it, the more complicated the GTO seemed.

In your 20s, life is simple. If you want it, make it happen—and if it can’t happen now, well, you can always do it later. But now that it was later, well, the opportunity seemed rather pressing. Candidly, I felt selfish pursuing the car. The unknowns, including whether an old Goat could drive 2000 miles and across an international border, were also concerning. It all seemed like a big hassle. But contemplating who I’d become if I didn’t at least try was more terrifying. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be loose on the land in a Pontiac GTO, thundering across the Rockies and down the Pacific coast? As it turns out, “YES” earns more Scrabble points than “LATER.” I said yes.

During that long-ago summer, I had liked the GTO immediately. It was fast, the Muncie four-speed shifted great, and the new clutch made sublimating the rear tires into heinous, glorious, acrid smoke easy and fun. On the two-lane linking Tahoe and LA, all was bliss, despite the torn original top flapping overhead, the rear window yellowed to opaqueness, and the rusted exhausts rumbling below decks. Yes, the GTO was wounded and probably so was its driver, in between school and jobs and searching for direction in life. Weirdly, we were perfect together, two castoffs on an open road. And the Pontiac’s big-block omnipotence made this freedom even better.

Driving through the eastern Sierras felt divine. Jagged snowcapped peaks thrusting to 14,000 feet above my right shoulder, sharp sunlight on my face, and the effortless torque produced an unexpected sense of command. Maybe that was life’s tonic, being in command. However, the car drove like a bus with a race engine, meaning fast in a straight line and elephantlike in the turns, thanks to its manual steering and brakes. But so what? Because GTO.

Reuniting with the car in a Calgary storage facility, I was surprised to see the Route 66 water transfer I’d placed on the right vent window in ’81. It still had the same convertible top that Robbins Auto Top in Santa Monica had installed for me, and a small crack in the steering-wheel rim, a flaw felt every time the wheel was shuffled during one of the GTO’s long, lazy turns. But the biggie was a charred edge of the woodgrain instrument panel where, years earlier, a driver’s cigarettes in the ashtray below had exacted their toll. These oddities, which would mean demerits in show judging, heartened me because I craved evidence that the car had lived, that it had a past, that I had been a part of it, and it had been a part of me. Largely, restoration had erased those signs in pursuit of perfection. I was glad a few remained.

When I first bought the Pontiac, it was just 14 years old and its odometer showed under 90,000 miles. Now it read 92,894 miles, meaning it was about to drive farther than it had since Richard Nixon was president. On a sunny morning in late 2021, the old Goat steered west, from flat-as-a-pancake Calgary toward the Canadian Rockies, those formidable sedimentary bulwarks softly wooded by spruce, fir, and trembling aspens now at peak foliage. The forests and roadway here are sculpted by numerous lakes and rivers, some spectacularly green from suspended minerals. Road signs warn of moose, deer, mountain goats, and avalanches. It’s a wildland here; nature still runs the show.

The car needs a five-speed to soothe the big motor on the highway, so copilot Andrew and I kept it to about 3300 rpm, or 65 mph. That was just as well, because with the vainglorious mufflers, the interior sound pressure measured 89 decibels, a perfect cocktail for hearing loss. The rebuilt, hot-rodded engine also occasionally misfired, a disconcerting hiccup in an otherwise stout mill. Despite assurances that the car was road-ready, it had a lot of other issues from the get-go, including the non-op temp and oil pressure gauges and dead wipers. With care and diligence (and some luck) we got to Vancouver, 650 miles down the road, in two days. There, Andrew and I stayed at a mutual friend’s house and spent Day Three of the trip tackling problems. New sending units rectified the temp and oil pressure gauges. I drained the supposedly clean oil to find really dark, old oil instead, and so we replaced that and the filter. A disconnected wiper-switch ground under the dash explained the stalled blades, so I soldered up a shunt using a copper washer and grounding wire that worked. At last, we were in motion again.

At the U.S. border near Vancouver, the agent questioned why the GTO’s Alberta plate didn’t match my U.S. passport. After I explained, he asked, “So you’re buying it?” Then he sent me inside an office that seemed frighteningly paramilitary. But I had the right paperwork, and Customs clearance took only about 10 minutes. Then we were free to go.

After inching through crowded Seattle and Tacoma, we happily swung west toward the Washington coast and soon were among calm Northwest waterways, woods, and farmland, with tidal flats to the right and hay bales standing like the Queen’s Guard in autumn fields to the left. Rain again struck the windshield, this time great, fat drops that spattered like miniature asteroid strikes.

All the while, in fits of indecision, the two-lane threaded left and right, up and down, and finally to the Pacific. Lazing along in third gear, the GTO passed groves of stunted cedars, hunched over rock faces in the onshore wind like toiling peasants, and forsook tangles of plump blackberries, ripe for picking. Among the sporadic oceanfront towns, some looked purposeful, prosperous, and well-maintained, while others seemed poorly planned, seedy, and disjointed, their raison d’être, fishing or logging, long since abandoned. The Goat could make mincemeat of this humble highway, but there was no point. As with a photographic image slowly emerging in a darkroom’s developer tray, when traveling, a sedate pace deepens appreciation.

Pontiac GTO s/n 242677B108879 drove off Pontiac Motor Division’s Baltimore, Maryland, assembly line in early November 1966, destined for Lawless Cadillac-Pontiac in Worcester, Massachusetts, and carrying a sticker price of $3834.80. Painted Silverglaze over a black vinyl interior, it had the 335-hp, 400-cubic-inch V-8 with a four-barrel Rochester carb, bolted to a wide-ratio gearbox powering through a Safe-T-Track differential with 3:55 gears. The black roof was power-operated, and inside, under the dash and optional Rally gauge cluster, hung a factory eight-track tape player. “Eighty minutes of uninterrupted stereophonic sound-in-depth,” promised Pontiac’s 1967 brochure.

Quick-ratio steering, manual drum brakes, and Rally I wheels were fitted, along with special ride and handling springs and shocks. Whoever ordered the car was likely a good-time Charlie who wanted the most fun for his money. Or maybe a good-time Charlene; I don’t know which.

But I do know that on March 14, 1970, the gent I first bought the Goat from purchased it used from Bancroft Motors, likewise in Worcester. He paid $1995 and traded in a 1968 Dodge Coronet 440 hardtop, for which the dealership kindly credited him $1395. In early 1973, the GTO migrated to San Jose, California, where it lived until moving to Lake Tahoe. Soon afterward, its clutch scattered and it got parked, its race run. From hero to zero in a decade, such was the life of ’60s muscle cars.

Almost without warning appeared the Columbia River, where Lewis and Clark culminated their long trek from St. Louis in 1805. The Big River is eponymous in that it looks more like a bay, but we sailed easily over it thanks to the Astoria-Megler Bridge, North America’s longest continuous truss and coincidentally one year older than the GTO. Mercifully, the daily rain showers abated in the afternoon, which brought dappled sunlight, raking through the forest canopy and dancing off the lissome fender lines and hood scoop. Occasionally, the winding route allowed glimpses of the craggy coastline, the ocean restless and pounding against obstinate rocks, attacking the continent and tearing it apart, grain by rocky grain, a century at a time. Once, when Andrew arced through a long sweeper, still wet in the shade, the back end stepped out. He countersteered quickly but it was a good reminder: There’s no stability control here—just the BFGs and the driver.

From Alberta and British Columbia to Washington, Oregon, and finally California, the Beaver State definitely showed the GTO appreciation. At the Tillamook Air Museum, middle-aged Barbara made a beeline to the car, her hippocampus redlining as she recounted driving her boyfriend’s ’66 GTO with a 389 and a console shifter, and how just tipping the gas pedal had snapped her head back. Then, later that afternoon, a young, burly and wildly inked Jason at a gas station commented, “Nice Goat!” Although sighting a GTO in the wild is rare today, people still know and remember.

Coos Bay, a former logging town, is on a protected inlet along Oregon’s southern coast. We found that Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine’s boyhood home was just a few miles off our route, and being a masochist—er, being a runner myself—I was drawn to seeing it. In front, neighbors were talking. One was Pre’s friendly sister Linda, once a nationally ranked athlete as well. She revealed her famous brother was a car guy, too. He had two MGBs, and earlier, a black Tri-Five Chevy with a Hurst shifter, in which he enjoyed cruising Coos Bay with his high school buddies. “A lot of people run a race to see who is the fastest,” Prefontaine once said. “I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then, at the end, punish himself even more.”

The GTO’s niggling problems—including the persistent misfire, the driver’s door lock that failed when a linkage clip slipped off inside the door, a barely working parking brake, and the leaky top—meant that maybe this trip had something in common with Pre after all. That afternoon, under pastel skies, we proceeded farther south, still hugging the coast. Inspired by Pre’s life, Oregon’s spectacular bluff-top views, clear streams flowing seaward, and driftwood piled on the wild beaches, I parked and scrambled down a trail to run on the sand, smooth and hard-packed, pitching gently toward the Pacific.

Entering California soon brought us to Trinidad for gas (12.8 mpg trip average), a fish and chips dinner, and a Steelhead ale. Unexpectedly, the GTO attracted more attention here. A fast-talking surfer fueling his diesel rig announced with hubris that he wanted to steal it. Sketchy but whatever; insured! Then a hippie lady, Sandi, floated up to us. Wearing a tie-dyed shirt and curly Janis Joplin hair, she wanted to know what year the Goat was. Then while we were dining, a slickster wearing a Hawaiian shirt, a gray ponytail, and a smile approached. “I don’t have a business card,” he cooed. “But I have cash and would like to buy your car.”

Good thing the Redwood Highway was constructed in the early 1900s, because it would likely be impossible today. Call it sacrilege or spectacular—or maybe both—but driving through this living cathedral with the top down was simply otherworldly. So was the realization that 40 years ago, I’d headed north beneath the same trees in this same car to deliver it to its next owner. Same road, different directions, different centuries. My mind whirled trying to comprehend it all.

Now as then, it’s dead silent in the forest, where tree canopies stretch skyward to mesmerizing heights. The cool and damp air, the deep, cushiony duff underfoot, and the shadowy light filtering to the ground are surely Tolkien-esque. And the dimensions of the old-growth redwoods are equally mind-bending, with trunks up to 20 feet in diameter, reaching 28 stories high and surviving since the Middle Ages. Comparatively, man counts for nothing—except for our historic ability to screw nature over. GTO Owners & Tree Huggers, unite! Nearing wine country, we hatched a plan to peel toward Bodega Bay (to hunt for the Aston Martin DB2/4 from Hitchcock’s The Birds), navigate San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and, in one more day, glide home. The Goat never made it. Negotiating a parking lot in little Garberville, the GTO’s retrofitted power steering pump suddenly groaned, low on fluid. I killed the engine, shimmied under the front bumper, and found the circlip, dust washer, and seal displaced from the Saginaw steering box, and the pitman arm covered in fluid.

After consulting with two repair shops, I decided to remove the pump’s V-belt and proceed. At this point, the GTO felt reminiscent of the famous World War II B-17F named All American, which, after colliding with an enemy Messerschmitt over North Africa in 1943, managed to limp home to base with her tail nearly severed. Our strategy worked acceptably until a gas stop in equally tiny Hopland, a few hours hence, where the steering coupler alarmingly began ratcheting on the steering box’s splined input shaft.

While we investigated, Craig Frost of nearby Shadowbrook Winery stopped in his pickup. He owns a classic 1966 Toyota FJ40 and, recognizing that an old car with its hood up meant trouble, kindly offered the GTO safe haven in the winery’s nearby barn. Here, further inspection revealed the steering coupler’s pinch bolt was inexplicably loose. At this point, recalling how a broken steering column caused Ayrton Senna’s fatal accident, and an ambulance ride of my own after a brake failure caused a racing crash, I called the trip. I’d been OK driving sans power steering, but not with potentially damaged steering splines. We’d made it 1600 glorious miles, and my only regret was seeing the Pontiac on a flatbed. But the roads are still there, the Goat is still in one piece, and, most important, so are we. As Chuck Yeager drawled, “If you can walk away from a landing, it’s a good landing.”

Poetically, the GTO’s failure perfectly restarted our relationship, because it entered my life wounded in 1981 and it reentered my life wounded in 2021. So perhaps this little GTO actually still needs me. Which is good, because now, I definitely need it.

1967 Pontiac GTO Convertible

Engine: 400-cubic-inch V-8
Power: 335 hp @ 5000 rpm
Torque: 441 lb-ft @ 3400 rpm
Weight: 3522 lb
Top speed: 124 mph
Price when new: $3834.80
Hagerty #2-condition value: $82,250–$105,500

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Do you find yourself lost when trying to learn concours-caliber details about cars? Are you filled with self-doubt when checking out a car for purchase, especially from afar? You’re not alone, fellow enthusiast! But rather than focus on the nitty gritty that’s out of your league, why don’t we hone on the things that are easy to discern and go from there?

Below are several examples of common restoration mistakes that crop up with popular cars, particular in the muscle car world. Some may be considered negligible, but even the smallest thing that doesn’t add up with a car could be a sign that some deeper scrutiny is in order.

1967–68 Pontiac Firebird and its many stripes

The 1967 Firebird was introduced several months after the Camaro. Unique to the Firebird was five models marketed for different kinds of drivers:

• Firebird
• Firebird Sprint
• Firebird 326
• Firebird H.O.
• Firebird 400

Within these five there was the Magnificent Three, a trio of Firebirds to garner the most desire from enthusiasts: Firebird Sprint, Firebird H.O., and Firebird 400. The sleeper of the bunch was the Firebird H.O. (“High Output”), which consisted of the 4-barrel 326 H.O. for 285 horsepower; for 1968, the H.O.’s engine was bumped to 350 cubic inches and horsepower rose to 320 horses. For both years, the H.O. came standard with a longitudinal stripe with “H.O.” script on the front fender. A similar stripe was optional for other Firebird models but it was continuous without any script.

In recent years, you may have happened across a 1968 Firebird 400 with the H.O. stripe—even in books—but that would be incorrect for the period. The reason for this blunder may have something to do with a new engine upgrade introduced for the 1968 Firebird called the 400 H.O. As the first step-up option for the Firebird 400, this 335-horse engine was essentially equal to the 360-horse 400 H.O. available for the GTO.

However, the Firebird H.O. was its own distinctive model, so the application of the H.O. stripe on a Firebird 400 would be a no-no for purists.

Pontiac decals that never appeared on Pontiacs

Mecum’s recent auction in the Phoenix, Arizona, suburb of Glendale featured a first-generation Firebird with an air cleaner decal that’s commonly seen on Pontiacs at cruises and shows. You may have seen it on Pontiacs with engines ranging from 350, 400, 428, and 455 cu. in.

Perhaps it will surprise you to learn, then, that Pontiac never ever used a decal like this back in the day.

It gets even stranger. If the decal looks somewhat familiar yet you can’t put your finger on why, there’s a reason for that: it was adapted from a Buick design that first appeared in 1969 and lasted through the mid-1970s.

Despite this fact, many restoration catalogs feature this decal for a myriad of Pontiacs, though such example concedes that, “These air cleaner decals for Pontiacs are aftermarket-style only.” Other catalogues are not so forthcoming.

1968 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 stripe

Nineteen sixty-eight was a big year for the 4-4-2 for a number of reasons: a complete redesign brought all-new styling while becoming an actual model instead of a performance package. Additionally, a new long-stroke 400 replaced the short-stroke 400 that had been used since 1965, plus 1967’s Turnpike Cruiser option jumped from the Cutlass Supreme to the 4-4-2 series.

Visually, there was a nifty “W36” Rallye Stripe that was standard on cars equipped with the W30 package and optional for other 4-4-2s. This interesting stripe, which was available in white, black, red, and orange, ran vertically on the front fenders. In recent years, when people apply or paint the stripe, they often do it incorrectly. Witness this example:

Notice how it hits the wheel arch at the bottom? The factory never did it that way. In fact, for cars equipped with the stripe, Oldsmobile moved the 4-4-2 badges slightly towards the door so the stripe could extend uninterrupted to the bottom of the fender. A properly applied stripe will never hit the wheel well, though even that is no guarantee the stripe has been applied to factory specs. Just do an online search and notice the variations.

1969 Plymouth and Dodge 383 engine colors

It seems every other Mopar guy or gal will tell you that the 383 as installed in a 1969 Road Runner was painted orange. Ditto the Super Bee. However, that’s not quite true.

Let’s begin with some history. Both the Road Runner and Super Bee came standard with a 383 rated at 335 horsepower. It was painted orange. Non-performance models like the Belvedere, Satellite, Sport Satellite, and the Coronet Deluxe, 440, and 500 could be equipped with a 383 4-barrel rated at 330 horsepower, and this engine was painted turquoise. The main difference between the two engines was the camshaft.

However, if you ordered a Road Runner or Super Bee with air conditioning, Chrysler downgraded the engine to the milder version, meaning AC-equipped Road Runners and Super Bees featured a turquoise 383. This fact was hardly publicized (though the Dodge dealer album mentions it), but today we have supporting documentation from build sheets and the enthusiasts who understand the archeology. Even more interesting—Chrysler handled this dynamic differently in 1968 and 1970 … though perhaps a story for another time …

What other common, model-specific restoration gaffes can you think of that may serve as red flags? Post them in the comments below.

The post Know these 4 common muscle car restoration gaffes to save yourself a costly mistake appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Hertz unleashes 900-hp Shelby GT500 in select rental markets

Intake: Starting this summer, Hertz and Shelby American are kicking off a three-year partnership program by offering custom-built GT500 models with more than 900 supercharged hp alongside naturally aspirated Shelby GT-H models. (That’s a 140-hp upgrade from stock, for those counting.) The GT500-H cars will be available for rent at airports in Florida at the Fort Myers, Tampa, Miami, and Orlando airports; in Phoenix, Arizona; and in Shelby America’s home in Las Vegas. Only 25 will be built, 19 of which will be finished in black, with the rest wearing Oxford White to celebrate Shelby American’s 60th anniversary. The 5.0-liter Mustang–based Shelby GT-H convertibles and fastbacks will be available in Atlanta; Dallas, Texas; Tampa, Miami, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, and Fort Myers, Florida; Las Vegas; Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco; and in Phoenix, Arizona.

Exhaust: The 1966 Shelby GT350-H was Hertz’s first pairing with Shelby and the two brands have worked together several times since, offering hot-rodded Mustangs to eager renters in 2006, 2007, and 2016. These latest GT500-based models are Shelby’s most extreme offerings yet, and the low production volume bodes well for their collectibility—those examples that are released from Hertz’ lots without major abuse, that is.

VW may bring back Scout as Rivian rival

Intake: Volkswagen is reportedly looking likely to revive the Scout brand to front a new range of rugged electric pickups and SUVs. The German firm is voting on the plan today, reports TechCrunch. If given the go-ahead, the Scout would return as a C-segment competitor by 2026. VW gained the commercial rights to the Scout name in 2021, and the Maverick-sized trucks would be the first to wear the Scout badge of honor since the company’s demise in 1985. TechCrunch says VW is ready to invest $100 million in the new venture as part of its efforts to double its U.S. market share and dominate EV sales.

Exhaust: Only days ago we reported VW’s ambition to bring an electric truck to the United States. While there’s still talk of a pickup version of the ID Buzz, such vehicle wouldn’t appeal to those seeking an off road–capable workhorse or rugged recreational vehicle, which is where Scout could fit in nicely.

Harley-Davidson counters skeptics with $15K electric bike

Intake: Ever since Harley-Davidson spun the all-electric LiveWire One off into its own brand, we have been keenly awaiting  the announcement of a second act. That finally came yesterday, with the launch of the Del Mar. Leaning heavily on H-D’s flat-track roots, the Del Mar is centered around a set of 19-inch wheels, wide handlebars, and a slim tail section. Power comes from a 59.6-kW battery and range is expected to be around 100 miles. Target weight is 440 pounds. Pricing starts at $15,000, with deliveries expected to begin in spring of 2023. 

Exhaust: The 100 “Launch Edition” models, which wear unique wheels, hand-painted details, and serialized number plaques on their “gas tanks,” sold out in just 18 minutes. Indian has been selling the gas-powered FTR—which has similar styling—for a few years now, but that bike has lost some of its flat-track flair through the years. With a relatively limited range, the Del Mar can likely pack a more hooligan-style punch without concern for highway or long-distance manners. Critics of LiveWire were vocal about the One being too expensive; the Del Mar seems to be a direct answer. Will customers step up now that Harley has called their bluff?

Sport trim dresses up Honda’s Odyssey for the beaten path

Intake: While “sport” and “family vehicle” are two words that rarely find themselves next to each other, Honda is determined to bring a little edginess to its venerable Odyssey. The newly announced Sport slots right in the middle of the six available trims and equips the minivan with a host of black exterior pieces and Berlina Black 19-inch wheels. The interior gets a black headliner and red accented lighting. Power comes from the same 280-hp V-6 and 10-speed automatic transmission as found in the other five trims. Buyers looking for this extra flair will need to shell out $42,505 (including $1295 destination charge).

Exhaust: Minivans tend to be a love it or loathe it situation. In terms of functionality, they are hard to beat, but they rarely win on swagger. This trim adds some flair to the Odyssey—and is more dignified than the Sienna’s off-road Wilderness play—but we would have loved to see that sportiness blend over into the chassis or powertrain. Do we need a 400-hp minivan? No. Do we want one? Yes. 

Daydream believe it, there’s a Monkeemobile for sale

Intake: Why take the Last Train to Clarksville when you could drive a Monkeemobile instead? This perfect recreation of the Dean Jeffries–designed, 1966 Pontiac GTO–based quirky convertible was built for the Monkees in 2011 by New York’s James Benken. Mickey Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones marked 45 years of monkeying around by touring the U.K. in the V-8 drop-top, and the car remained there afterwards in the ownership of the tour driver. It has been signed by the band and comes with a selection of tour photos. Offered for sale on May 21 by Historics auctioneers at the U.K.’s Ascot Racecourse, the Monkeemobile is estimated to fetch between £60,000 and £90,000 ($74,000–$111,000). Hey! Hey!

Exhaust: Want to get the funniest looks from everyone you meet? Bid now on this Monkeemobile and you might even bag a bargain. An original fetched $360,000 at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction in 2008, while Historics reports that similar replicas have sold for more than $240,000. Fans clearly don’t monkey around. This may be a GTO in name only, but it clearly boasts desirability independent of Pontiac lore. 

The post Rent Hertz’ 900-hp GT500, Harley’s $15K electric bike, Monkeemobile for sale appeared first on Hagerty Media.

In classic car circles you hear a lot about the difference between collectors and investors, as if they’re warring tribes. Truth is, most of us are little of both—it’s possible to love Old Car Smell and at the same time be savvy about what things are worth. The sharper distinction is between everyday investors, who primarily look for stability, and those who are purely chasing growth. You know, speculators. It’s the difference between the family who takes out a mortgage to buy a house and hopes they’ll make a bit when it’s time to sell in a decade and subprime mortgage bundlers.

The vast majority of car collectors—including those who work here—fall into the former category. Which is why the current market, in spite and because of its astronomical appreciation, can make us a bit jittery. Appreciation is nice, but what about stability?

In fact, there’s a lot of stability in the classic car world. You just need to figure out where to look. Hagerty Insider does this regularly by calculating vehicles’ annualized volatility score. Considering vehicles that have run in the Hagerty Price Guide for at least 3.5 years, our data analysts plot percent changes in value over time.

A lower score denotes the car’s market value is fairly stable, with higher scores indicating volatility—they can swing wildly from one price guide update to the next. Keep in mind that volatility—or lack thereof—does not indicate the car in question is a good or bad buy. In fact, these are often the cars on which you can make out like a bandit. And if you’re willing and able to hold through the dips, you can simply wait for the right time to cash in. These are not, however, the ones to bet the farm on.

Most volatile

1986–1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SL

Annualized volatility score: 28.3 percent

The rising values of 1980s Benzes continue to keep us entertained. The creamy, cushy R107-generation 560SL is one of the hotter buys right now, as evident from its increased inclusion on major auction dockets across the country. The biggest spike in value occurred back in 2015 when we saw a 100 percent increase, but the plot graph shows a wild variance of values as we continue through 2022.

Vehicle condition factors heavily here. Pristine examples (Condition #1) have dipped less often than the basket cases (Condition #4). However, the complexity of these vehicles means that turning the latter into the former typically doesn’t pay. The old adage applies here—buy the best example you can afford.

1988 BMW M5 (E28)

Annualized volatility score: 38.6 percent

Another factor in the volatility of newer collectibles is that not every seller has gotten the memo that they are, in fact, collectible. That applies to the 560SL and also to the runner up on our volatility list, the 1988 BMW M5. Those of us who refresh Bring a Trailer every morning know they're growing in value, but away from the spotlight, there are still retired dentists selling tired M5s to twentysomething enthusiasts for fun money. The price realized for any given M5 thus can vary depending on who is selling and who shows up to buy.

1989–1991 Chrysler TC by Maserati

Annualized volatility score: 31.1 percent

At the risk of getting all Warren Buffet here, one of the things to consider with any investment is its intrinsic value. Assessing that can be tricky when it comes to cars—we all love what we love—yet there are factors to weigh. Beauty. Performance. Racing pedigree. Historical significance. The cars that peg the needle on all those are worth the most money and also tend to be the most stable. Come what may, a Mercedes-Benz 300SL will always be worth a lot of money to someone, because it has intrinsic value.

A Chrysler TC by Maserati, to put it very kindly, has less intrinsic value than a 300SL. The tarted-up K-Car has, like fanny packs and compact discs, benefited from a combination of Gen–Xers' nostalgia and Gen–Zers' appreciation of irony to the tune of some major increases in recent Hagerty Price Guide updates. But it's also taken a few dives, which makes sense.

That's not to say the TC can't be desirable. The optional 2.2-liter turbo four-cylinder was something of a screamer, with Mahle pistons and a Cosworth head. Better still, it came with a five-speed manual transmission. Not bad for a ride that can still be bought in decent shape for four figures. But if you're betting on future appreciation, be aware it's just that—a bet.

2017–Present Ford GT

Annualized volatility score: 29.6 percent

The new Ford GT’s volatility index graph paints a cautionary tale for would-be speculators. For the most part, it appears the people scraping the most cash off the GT’s carbon fiber hood are original owners who sell their low-mileage cars for double—and sometimes triple—the original purchase price.

We’d also reckon a portion of the volatility rides on spec differences and special editions, along with Ford’s periodic announcements of extended—or ending—production of its second-generation supercar.

Of course, the above factors really only matter in the short term. Down the road, it's hard to imagine these LeMans-winning supercars going anywhere but up.

Least volatile

1961–1964 Pontiac Bonneville

Annualized volatility score: 2.2 percent

This big-body Pontiac might not have the same fervent following as the later GTO, but the third-gen Bonneville is one of the most stylish and elegant American cars from the early 1960s. It’s also one of the most predictable on the market, with just a 2.2 percent volatility rating. Aside from a recent mini-spike in value, the ‘ol Bonnie is sturdy and stable; outside of the rare 421 Super Duty, these fall into the “cruiser” category, with most owners opting for casual drives rather than explosive light-to-light pulls. As such, the pool of Bonneville buyers is familiar and unwavering.

1955–1957 Pontiac Star Chief

Annualized volatility score: 1.6 percent

Another show cruiser from Pontiac. A quick glance at the plot graph might have you thinking values of the Star Chief are all over the place, but those variances show a slide of only around 1.6 percent when averaged out.

1953–1955 Triumph TR2

Annualized volatility score: 1.7 percent

As we noted in a recent Sale of the Week, British roadsters are common, affordable, well-known, and the merits of ownership have long been established. So, you know what you’re getting when you get one, and so does the enthusiast on the receiving end when you decide to sell.

1957–1972 Lotus Seven

Annualized volatility score: 1.8 percent

Funny, we wouldn’t have pegged the peaked-out, hard-nosed, ultra-spartan Lotus Seven to be associated with anything remotely “stable.” But, our updated Hagerty Price Guide shows a tidy 1.8 percent rate of volatility; likely another case of cars sought by a fixed pool of buyers, as these are hardcore cars with absolutely nothing in the way of creature comforts. Most of the sinusoidal action on the Seven’s market chart rises (or falls) between baseline (zero) and a peak of five percent, but keep an eye on Sevens going forward—our January update saw a four percent boost.

The post Which classics are the safest bets and which are risky business? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

We all know the story of the GTO. While others argue whether or not it was the first real muscle car, few can deny its influence on the muscle car era, starting in 1964. The formula was simple: take a midsize car and put a big-car engine in it. But not too big, though, so as not to step on the Corvette’s toes.

By 1970, the GTO was a well-known and popular commodity. It seems like everybody of a certain age either had one or knew somebody who had one. My dad had a 1967 GTO, white with black vinyl top and black interior. It had the standard four-barrel carburetor, but he almost immediately added a Tri Power setup.

Sadly, that car came to a bad end. My dad and his then girlfriend (before he met my mom!) and another couple were driving someplace for the evening. The roads were icy, the car slid, and it ran into the abutment to a bridge over the Rock River.

The engine actually partially breached the interior of the car. Everybody got knocked around pretty well, and my dad broke off the Hurst shifter with his knee. Everybody went to the hospital and got patched up. But the GTO was totalled. My dad still has the top part of the broken-off shift lever though. It broke right around the “R” in the Hurst lettering that ran vertically down the lever.

In the meantime, my grandfather let him use a 1965 Ford Custom company car that had been sitting for a while. Plain Jane in the extreme! But not too much later, my dad graduated high school, and his folks, patrons of Bob Neal Ford and Bob Neal Lincoln-Mercury, got him a brand new 1970 Grabber Yellow Mustang Boss 302. But I’ve digressed enough, so let’s get back to our featured car.

The ’70 GTO was a facelift of the semi-fastback A-body Pontiac coupes that had first appeared for 1968. While the Endura color-keyed nose remained, hidden headlamps—an option on 1968–69 GTOs—were no longer available, though the new quad headlamps and grille were pleasing. Out back, the taillights moved into the bumper and wrapped around the sides.

Standard features included bucket seats, a padded instrument panel, Deluxe steering wheel, dual exhaust, hood scoops, and a three-speed floor-shifted manual transmission. The standard engine was a four-barrel 400-cubic-inch V-8, producing 350 horsepower at 5000 rpm.

Four models were offered: $3267 two-door hardtop, $3492 two-door convertible, $3604 Judge hardtop, and $3829 Judge convertible. The Judge package added as standard a 400-cu-in Ram Air V-8, Rally II wheels, rear spoiler, and very loud Judge-specific striping and decals, among other extras. The Judge package added $337 to the GTO price tag.

Our featured car is one of 32,737 GTO hardtops, by and far the most popular model that year. The GTO convertible sold 3615 copies, the Judge hardtop 3629, and the Judge convertible a mere 168 units. All ’70 GTOs rode a 112-inch wheelbase and had an overall length of 202.9 inches. For comparison, a 2022 Malibu is 194.2 inches long with a 111.4-inch wheelbase. I was surprised how close the dimensions are, since the current Malibu is about as close as you can get to the vintage GM A-bodies of the late 1960s and early ’70s.

This particular GTO was spotted at the monthly Classy Chassy club’s cruise night at the Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville, Iowa, almost 10 years ago. I usually drive up monthly and meet my Uncle Dave so we can see the cars and go to dinner afterward. I was particularly smitten by this one, due to the triple-green color scheme—meaning the paint, interior, and top were all color keyed.

As usual, when I see a show car I’m particularly smitten with, I take a ton of pictures. And it’s good that I did, as I only saw that car once. Oh, I see 1968–72 GTOs fairly regularly—it’s hard not to when you go to as many car shows as I do—but I really liked the colors on this one, and the standard hubcaps that are usually replaced with the ubiquitous Rally II steel wheels these days.

One final anecdote … As I was taking notes for this column, I unearthed my deluxe 1970 Pontiac dealer brochure. Family friend Dave Myers and his wife, Sue, had a 1970 GTO hardtop back in the ’70s. It was, as I recall, their honeymoon car, and they kept it until they started having kids and got something more practical. This memory popped into my head because 20 years ago, I got the brochure on eBay and happened to show it to Dave while we were up at the lake one summer, and he told me about theirs. Of course, it was just an old car when they sold it, not the collectible it is today, but they later bought the 1995 Jaguar XJS convertible for their 25th anniversary that my parents now own. It just reminds me how cars can be such an important part of our lives and memories. I’m sure this green GTO has them too, but unfortunately, the owner wasn’t around on that warm summer night in 2012, so your guess is as good as mine!

The post 1970 Pontiac GTO: Green Machine appeared first on Hagerty Media.

With the last of the snow melting up north, it’s time to shut off the heat, open up the garage, and declare that driving season has finally arrived. Once spring has sprung, what better way to enjoy the open road than in a convertible?

We’ve updated our price guide twice since last winter began, and it should come as no surprise that just about everything fun on four wheels is more expensive that it was a year ago. Values of some traditional “budget” or “underappreciated” collector cars even stretched past what we would consider entry-level territory. Cheap classics are a good thing for the hobby, so this development was somewhat concerning—but fear not. We ran through the data and found a plethora of vehicles that, even in #2 (Excellent, or like-new) condition can still be bought for under $20,000. And because spring is here at least, here are seven convertibles.

1962–80 Triumph Spitfire

Median #2 value: $15,600

Cheap and cheerful motoring is what old British roadsters are all about. This being 2022, though, things aren’t quite so cheap, even if the cars remain plenty cheerful. Over the past few months, condition #2 values for chrome-bumper MGBs and early Sunbeam Alpines slipped past 20 grand, and these days even driver-quality Triumph TR3s and TR4s are in $20K territory. Fortunately, anybody on the hunt for a cheap English two-seater is still spoiled for choice, especially if they’re willing to think a little smaller.

Take the Triumph Spitfire, for instance. Carrying the name of a Battle of Britain–winning fighter plane and wearing shape penned by Giovanni Michelotti, this roadster is just plain cool. With over 300,000 built over 18 years, it’s also plentiful, and parts are easy to find. Thanks to a clamshell hood and simple engineering, it’s easy to work on if (erm, when) it breaks. It’s always more fun to drive a slow car fast, right? Well, you can drive a Spitfire like a bat out of hell in the right lane even as CR-Vs and Outbacks breeze past in the left. And even though median values for #2 examples are up 34 percent over the past two years, they’re still affordable. Scruffier, driver-quality Spitfires can still be had for well under five figures.

Although the Spitfire changed significantly over its nearly two-decade run, #2 values are broadly similar, holding steady in the mid-teens (add a few hundred bucks for a factory hardtop) because each version has its pluses and minuses. Earlier ones with swing-axle rear suspension have tricky handling at the limit, but they look better. Later models have better suspension and more creature comforts but aren’t quite as handsome.

Other open-air Brits under $20K include the Lotus-powered Jensen-Healey, Morris Minor 1000 convertible, TVR 280i, and Series II Sunbeam Alpine. The equivalent MG Midget/Austin-Healey Sprite also offers a similar experience to the Spit but commands a few grand less.

1997–04 Porsche Boxster

Median #2 value: $18,500

Alas, there are almost no cheap Porsches anymore. The 996-generation 911s (1999–05) have started to appreciate, 944s have crossed the $20K mark, and even four-cylinder 914s carry a #2 value of 40 grand or more. So it seems strange that clean examples of early base-model Boxsters, which started at over 40 grand when new, are still so cheap in 2022. Sure, the Boxster isn’t the best-looking thing to wear a Porsche crest—and it has been the butt of many a joke—but you could say the exact same thing about the 914, a car that’s now twice as expensive as its droptop relative.

Boxsters are well-balanced and fun to drive but still comfortable, and with one trunk in the front and another behind the engine, they’re more practical than they might appear. Their reputation was tarnished by the infamous IMS bearing failure issue, but after two decades any blown engines are unlikely and some cars have had their motors preemptively fixed.

Other sub-$20K German droptops that rubbed shoulders with the Boxster include base model (non-Kompressor) Mercedes-Benz SLKs, early BMW Z3s, and Audi TT Quattro Roadsters. All have their strengths, but the Boxster is the enthusiast's choice. Comparing it to the Benz and the Bimmer, Car and Driver concludes: "If there has been a contest going on among BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche to see which German automaker could build the best-performing small roadster ... Porsche should be passing out cigars right now."

1985–90 Alfa Romeo Spider Graduate

Median #2 value: $18,400

Even more so than the Spitfire, the original Alfa Spider is one of those cars that kept factories buzzing for decades. Running from the 1966–94 model years, it's also one of a precious few made-in-Italy two-seaters that an average enthusiast could dream of parking in their garage. That said, #2 values for even the cheaper, later Alfa Spiders have surpassed 20 grand over the past couple of years. In fact, there's only one version left under our $20K ceiling, and that's the Spider "Graduate."

Named as a nod to the 1967 film in which Dustin Hoffman's most memorable costar (other than Mrs. Robinson, maybe) is his red Duetto Spider, the Spider Graduate was introduced for 1985 as a cheaper entry-level Alfa. It came with steel wheels, manual windows, and vinyl seats, but it's powered by the same famously eager 2.0-liter twin-cam four as the better-equipped Quadrifoglio and Veloce models. Same style and same driving experience, but at a tempting discount.

1985–95 Suzuki Samurai

Median #2 value: $15,100

You don't need racing pedigree and a storied badge on the nose to enjoy a top-down drive. You don't need roads, really, if you have a capable rock-hopping 4x4 like the Suzuki Samurai (called the Jimny overseas). An affordable, reliable pint-sized 4x4 with similar dimensions to the original WWII Jeep makes a whole lot of sense, and yet nobody sells anything quite like the original Samurai in the U.S. anymore. That's one reason why we picked the Samurai as one of the car most likely to appreciate in value this year.

And appreciate it has. Median #2 values jumped 22 percent with the latest update of the Hagerty Price Guide, but that stat is still just $15,100 (add $1000 for a hardtop). As of this writing, the most expensive Samurai in our price guide is $17,100.

Samurais may have been popular with '90s sorority sisters and surfer dudes, and they may need a tailwind to get a speeding ticket, but they are tough little things. With a curb weight barely over a ton, a Samurai weighs less than almost any sports car on the market today, and with twin live axles on leaf springs and a hi-lo transfer case, it can hang with the big guys in the rough and tumble. Clean examples are getting hard to find, but they are out there.

1982–85 Buick Riviera Convertible

Median #2 value: $17,650

If the noise of the Triumph and the spine-stressing ride of the Suzuki don't sound appealing, then there are plenty of good ol' fashioned American luxo-cruisers to waft you down the boulevard. Unfortunately, many of the big Cadillacs and Lincolns that come to mind exceed our budget in #2 condition—but there are alternatives.

Take the Buick Riviera convertible, for example. The sixth-gen Riviera shared its E-body platform with the Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado, and for 1982 Buick introduced a soft-top version. It was the first-ever Riviera convertible and, in fact, the first convertible from any GM brand since the '76 Eldorado.

Droptop Rivieras started life as standard coupes before they were shipped to ASC in Lansing, Michigan, for an extensive conversion process. The two-part process and shipping costs helps to explain why they were so expensive; At nearly $24,000, a droptop was $10K more than a base coupe. Riviera convertibles were only available in White or Red Firemist with either a Claret or a Maple interior.

The sixth-gen Riviera has the unenviable title of Buick's first front-wheel-drive car, but who cares where the power's going when you're on a cruise listening to tunes? Only about 4000 convertible Rivs were built, so if you can't find one that hasn't been trashed or turned into a slab, other domestic convertibles under $20K include the 1971–75 Pontiac Grand Ville, 1988–91 Buick Reatta, and 1987–93 Cadillac Allante.

2006–10 Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky

Median #2 value: $14,800 for Solstice; $18,500 for Solstice GXP; $14,900 for Sky; $18,000 for Sky Redline

The list of American sports cars that don't end in 'vette is, sadly, a short one. GM in particular has always been unease about building two-seaters, scared of buyers straying away from Chevrolet's precious two-seater. And even though Pontiac was supposed to be GM's performance division, its only real sports car was the 2006–10 Solstice.

GM's Miata-fighting four-cylinder drop top isn't perfect. Its 2.4-liter Ecotec four was never designed for track duty and instead came from boring GM front-drivers like the Pontiac G6 and Chevy HHR. Its five-speed gearbox hailed from the Chevy Colorado pickup. The interior is standard 2000s GM: cheap plastic everywhere. It is a fun driver for the price, however. Road & Track concludes "it's not perfect, but it's a pure, satisfying roadster for 20 grand."

On track, the Solstice won the SCCA Showroom Stock B and Touring 2 championships, and in 2007 the lineup got a higher-performing Solstice GXP model. For only a few grand more, it ditched the 177-hp Ecotec for a new 2.0-liter dual-scroll turbocharged engine with 260 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque and got a limited-slip differential. Meanwhile, GM jazzed up the ailing Saturn lineup with a reskinned version of the Solstice called the Sky. Neither lasted long, however, as both fell victim to GM's Great Recession bankruptcy.

As memories of both Pontiac and Saturn fade, the median #2 values for the Solstice are up 19 percent for the Solstice and 14 percent for the Sky. Those increases are real, but compared to some other formerly "cheap" sports cars, they are neglibile. And compared to some of the more beloved Japanese roadsters out there, the homegrown Solstice/Sky twins offer a tempting value. Or you could do the boring, predictable thing and buy a Miata.

1990–98 and 1999–2005 Mazda Miata

Median #2 value: $18,300 for 1990-98; $15,900 for 1999-2005

... and nobody would blame you if you did do the boring, predictable thing and buy a Miata. There's a reason why it's the king of cheap sports cars and why the "Miata is always the answer" meme exists.

The story of the Miata and why it's so darn good has been told a million times. The trend of clean examples becoming frustratingly pricy, however, is a somewhat recent phenomenon. A few months ago we bemoaned the end of the cheap Miata. Looking back at #2 values over the past five years: First gen (NA) Miatas are up 118 percent. Second-gen (NB) cars, 83. The fact that a 1994 Miata in #2 condition is worth the same as a 1994 Corvette still has us scratching our heads.

Let's take a deep breath here. A nice NA or NB isn't as cheap as a lot of us feel it should be, but nothing is lately. Doesn't matter whether we're talking about convertibles or houses. Four-figure Miatas still abound, and even if cars in excellent condition are still nowhere near as cheap as they used to be, anything less than 20 grand for an iconic do-anything roadster that's endlessly fun and customizable is still a great value in the grand scheme of things.

The post 7 clean convertibles that are (still) under $20K appeared first on Hagerty Media.

BMW’s new 7 Series is more than a big set of kidneys

Intake: Brace yourself, BMW loyalists. The 2023 BMW 7 Series has officially been released, wearing many of BMW’s seemingly mandatory design cues: elephantine kidney grilles, highly visible running lights with recessed headlights, aggressive body surfacing, a classic Hofmeister kink in the daylight opening, and impossibly thin taillights. While a fully electric model (dubbed the i7) is available, turbocharged I-6 and V-8 mills are still in the mix. No matter the powertrain, BMW’s new flagship is 5.1 inches longer, and sports a 2-inch bump in height. The minimalist interior is on par with modern luxury vehicles, but the jeweled surfaces (where wood trim once lived) are an unexpected upgrade. And, of course, BMW’s hallmark iDrive controller keeps the new interior technology easily at hand.

Exhaust: Sometimes beauty is skin deep … and sometimes it’s regrettably misleading. The seventh-gen 7 Series is boxier and sports a very polarizing grille but what’s inside truly counts. More to the point, its guts are the stuff of flagship-sedan dreams, and the bevy of internal-combustion models continues its appeal to a traditional, global customer base that hasn’t fully embraced electrification. Have a look at the full press release to see why the new BMW 7 Series is more than just a pair of big grilles.

Supply chain woes offer reality check for EV production

Intake: While industrialized nations are moving at a furious pace towards vehicle electrification, we are hearing even more warning signs than before from top automotive executives. A new report from Reuters quotes BMW CEO Oliver Zipse saying the push toward EVs will “increase dependency on very few countries” since, for example, a large amount of raw materials used for batteries come from China. Supply-chain issues lie elsewhere, too. R.J. Scaringe, CEO of Rivian expresses anguish with the hurdles experienced to acquire semiconductors for his startup operation in a competitive market for parts and materials. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Scaringe noted that “90 to 95 percent of the supply chain does not exist.” And if the reality of what’s on the ground can’t meet the expectations of governments around the world, BMW CEO Zipse notes that “if you are not selling combustion engines anymore, someone else will.”

Exhaust: Sometimes good intentions are just that. As the pandemic affects the global labor market, as the supply chain faces countless external and internal threats, and as rare-earth availability remains subject to high international tensions, the truth of EV production may not be able to match many governments’ electrification intentions. Perhaps the timeline is too aggressive, but the reality of EVs isn’t dead yet: The Biden Administration’s loan guarantee for a graphite supplier for Tesla and the Stellantis/LG battery plant in Canada front-loads expenses for a long-term vision that is likely to become a reality. Just perhaps not as quickly as some wished.

This is the U.S.-spec electric Microbus in disguise

Intake: Don’t let the modern-day Transporter skin fool you: This is actually VW’s retrotastic ID. Buzz. More importantly, for the U.S. audience, it’s a test mule for the long-wheelbase version, the only configuration that the states will get. As VW promised at the New York auto show, proportions won’t be sacrificed for the additional cabin room; the extra cubic inches will come courtesy of a stretch between the axles. In addition to three rows of seating instead of just two, the North American version will offer the option of all-wheel drive, delivered via a second motor on the front axle. So far, we only know power output for the single-motor version: 201 hp and 299 lb-ft of torque. The all-wheel-drive ID.4 may offer a clue, since it rides on the same modular EV architecture (MEB) as the reborn Bus. The amorphous little crossover makes 295 hp and 339 of torque from two motors and offers between 245 and 251 miles of range. 

Exhaust: Americans still have two more years to wait before the electric Buzz arrives in 2024, but there’s every indication that VW has a hit on its hands. Unlike its ID. 4 stablemate, which looks like approximately every other electric pillbug roaming the streets, the Buzz will look like nothing else, making it instantly recognizable in and out of the enthusiast community. Can this spacious, stylish hauler capture the hearts of a new generation like original Microbus did? 

Yoke or no yoke: How would you spec your Lexus EV?

Intake: The swishy Lexus version of the Toyota bZ4X will be available with controversial yoke steering. However, unlike the system fitted by Tesla, the Lexus RZ 450e employs steer-by-wire which should avoid all the awkward arm-twirling as there is no mechanical connection between the One Motion Grip yoke and the wheels. Instead, electric motors change the front wheel direction based on the driver’s inputs on the yoke and other factors such as speed. The yoke only turns a maximum of 150 degrees so you need never cross your hands to make even the tightest turn. For those not taken by the technology the good news is that drive-by-wire will be an optional extra.

The Lexus RZ 450e sits on Toyota’s e-TNGA platform with the battery pack sitting low in the chassis. A 150 kW (204 hp) electric motor drives the front axle and an 80 kW (109 hp) unit serves the rear wheels. There’s an intelligent AWD system called DIRECT4 which monitors vehicle speed, steering angle and g-forces to supply the appropriate amount of torque to each axle at all times. With a 71.4 kWh battery pack Lexus says that the RZ will be able to drive more than 250 miles on a charge (as calculated by the European WLTP cycle).

Design-wise, there’s clearly a lot shared with the bZ4X, but the Lexus has its own accents. Moving on from its “spindle grille” Lexus says it has applied a spindle theme to the whole body. There are more elegant, gloss wheel arch trims and side skirts, and available two-tone paintwork to set it apart from it’s less expensive relative. Inside, alongside more premium materials there’s a large clear panoramic roof which can be dimmed electronically if the sun gets too bright. There’s a new Lexus Link UX which is promised to be faster and more intuitive with cloud-based navigation and conversational voice recognition. Prices are expected to start at around $50,000 when the car is released later this year.

Exhaust: Lexus says that its drive-by-wire system “still provides feel and feedback at all times, maintaining a strong connection between driver and car.” The proof will be in the driving, of course.

BMW 2002 reborn as an electric restomod

Intake: The big news from BMW today may be the new i7, but a small German specialist has quietly introduced a battery-powered 2002. Bavarian Econs Tech Gmbh offers its electric restomod 2002te in two flavors: Elektro and Econ. Elektro ditches the engine and transmission in favor of a 161 hp rear-mounted electric motor which is enough to see the 2,535-lb BMW to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds. Top speed is 150 mph and the range is up to 180 miles–rather less if you deploy all the power. Bavarian Econs says it won’t limit production of the Elektro and, EV swap aside, will leave the car alone. The Econ version pushes power up to 250 hp, and gets a hand-built body with an interior design tailored to each of the five customers it will be offered to. Prices on request.

Exhaust: Compact and light, the 2002te is the antithesis of the current crop of EVs and all the more appealing as a result. Perhaps even our own 2002-owning Sam Smith would approve?

U2-chasing Pontiac G8 GT for sale

Intake: GovDeals.com is auctioning off a Pontiac G8 GT that was used to help U2 reconnaissance planes land safely. The chase cars followed the planes and helped provide an extra set of eyes for the pilots, and the cars used for this particular mission were selected because of their high-performance attributes. This particular Air Force veteran has just under 40,000 miles and has a bid of $24,200.00. When in service, the chase vehicles had a light bar on the roof, but this one has been repaired and repainted. It has less than a day remaining, so we’ll see if its price climbs higher than the $24,200 current bid, which is a bit higher than the #2 (Excellent) value.

Exhaust: With its short production run, capable chassis, handsome lines, and V-8 power, the Pontiac G8 has all the makings of a fine collectible. The LS3-powered six-speed GXP made our 2019 Bull Market list and the automatic-equipped GT is also a fine V-8-powered sport sedan in its own right. We’re not sure that this G8’s military career will add much to its auction value, but at the least, it gives the next owner a great story to tell to the car’s admirers. 

The post BMW’s new 7 Series, U.S.-spec Microbus EV in disguise, spy plane–chasing Pontiac appeared first on Hagerty Media.

In 1987, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was appointed Time’s Man of the Year. The magazine noted that, although his leadership remained rooted in the tenets of communism, his reforms were starting to bring hope for a more open Russian society. More than that, his increasing dialogue with the West meant an easing of cold war tensions. Such work deserved the highest of global praise.

No, not the Nobel Peace Prize: something with wheels.

Gorbachev did eventually get the nod for the Nobel (in 1990), but before that he received the best the West could offer. Straight from the heart of Kansas came a wedge-shaped coupe. It was motivated by a V-6 that was five times as powerful as the engine in a Trabant, it had power front seats and an AM/FM cassette radio, it had a four-speed automatic gearbox and a digital dashboard that could shame the one in any MiG. It was the then-new Pontiac Grand Prix: luxury, power, and decadence.

And yes, this one was red.

To Russia, with available undercoating. In retrospect, gifting a front-wheel-drive Pontiac to the leader of a Marxist-Leninist superpower seems a bit of a stretch. (Where’s ol’ Gorby going to get snow tires for it? He’s going to need some snow tires.) But the Grand Prix was not an official gift of detente between two cold-warring superpowers. Instead, it was a clever advertising ploy by David Deutsch Associates, a New York–based firm that would go on to count goliaths like IKEA as clients.

In the 1980s, DDA represented Pontiac dealers on the eastern seaboard. Some bright agency bulb, possibly the hands-on David Deutsch himself, saw an opportunity to capitalize on Time’s announcement. You can imagine the Mad Men–style meeting.

Over the next few weeks, a 30-second spot showing the Pontiac being crated up was broadcast across New York. “In the spirit of international exchange and a demonstration of American know-how, please accept this gift,” read an actor, as Russian subtitles played below. The car’s vanity plate read “GORBY.”

The idea was simple: a Car of the Year for a Man of the Year. Newly introduced, the front-wheel-drive, fifth-generation Grand Prix had just been named 1988’s Motor Trend Car of the Year, joining illustrious predecessors like the Volkswagen GTI and, um, the Renault Alliance.

The fifth-generation Grand Prix was no GTI. But then, it was no wonky Renault-AMC, either. It was relatively quick for the time, with smooth torque; it was comfortable and modern-looking; it was crammed with high-tech options. It was arguably even more luxurious than whatever ZIL limousine ferried high-ranking Politburo members around at the time.

While the crated-up Grand Prix was primarily a stunt—it was photographed at the docks with a Gorbachev lookalike—DDA insisted that the gift was in goodwill. The shipment left America as promised and arrived on the far side of the Iron Curtain, to be delivered to Gorbachev himself. The man never drove it, but scuttlebutt holds that he showed up for the opening of the crate.

After that, the Pontiac was installed in the AZLK Moskvich factory museum, where it sat among a collection of boxy, Soviet-made cars. Even in such homely company, the Grand Prix might not have stood out for the average visitor. By this time, Moskvich was producing the Aleko, a faintly depressing but modern enough family hatchback, something like contemporary French economy cars.

There the Grand Prix sat, through the fall of the Berlin Wall, the unraveling of the U.S.S.R., the end of communism, and the resignation of Gorbachev. It spent 20 years without turning a wheel, an interesting little footnote tucked away in a decaying museum. But then, in 2006, one of Russia’s new class of businessmen purchased the entire museum collection. Mikhail Slipenchuck had served as an officer in the Soviet army when Gorbachev was at the country’s helm, and he later graduated with a doctorate in economics, going on to amass a half-billion-dollar fortune. His purchase of the Moskie collection was an act of charity, however, and the bulk of those cars went to another Moscow museum. The Grand Prix, however, was returned to Gorbachev. He still has it.

This March, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev celebrated his 91st birthday. His legacy as a political leader continues to be debated, but as a man, he had few vices: He was not a fan of vodka, and he did not smoke. But it’s nice to imagine him having just one birthday indulgence. A good breakfast, perhaps. Telephone calls and cards from friends and world leaders. And then, just before lunch, maybe a quick spin around the block in an old Grand Prix.

Mr. Gorbachev, tear up these streets.

The post When New York’s mad men gave the Russians a Pontiac appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Car magazines and car TV shows are filled with the stuff of dreams. In fact, popular media would lead you to believe that our entire hobby is devoted to ultra-expensive rolling sculpture. Unfortunately, this emphasis on the rare and costly gives a skewed view of the hobby and can cause many enthusiasts to feel left out of the fun—or even think that affordable cars are unwelcome at car shows. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I have been fortunate to have a career in automobile design (currently with EV-maker Rivian) that has allowed me to collect the cars of my dreams, mostly from Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Aston Martin. But that doesn’t mean I don’t also love many cars that can be bought for between $5000 and $10,000. Usually these less expensive machines deliver on the same key attributes we love about pricey collector cars—driving enjoyment, beauty, and the camaraderie found in car clubs or the local car scene.

I own two such affordable classics: a 1989 Pontiac 6000STE AWD and a 1990 Mercedes-Benz 300CE-24. An interesting thread connects these two cars with the others in my collection; each represents the best automotive thinking that was available from the countries that produced them at the time they were made.

There is no question that Mercedes-Benz made the most well-engineered cars of the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. The W124 line of midsize cars debuted in North America for 1986, the year of Mercedes-Benz’s 100th anniversary. They represented everything Mercedes had learned about building cars up to that point. They were superbly engineered, they exuded quality and refinement, and they were beautiful inside and out. I’d argue that no other car, before or after, had such a high degree of design cohesion between its interior and exterior. The same chiseled, geometric styling elements seen on its aerodynamic exterior were also found in the interior, such as the angled, planar dashboard, center console, and door panels.

North American variants of the W124 included a variety of silky smooth, inline-six-cylinder engines of varying displacements, and the 500E even featured a 5.0-liter V-8. Both four-speed and five-speed automatics were used in the W124, depending on the year, and a five-speed manual was available in the earliest cars.

The pillarless and perfectly proportioned 300CE was the ne plus ultra of the line. Looking at my 1990 example, I can hardly believe this car is now 32 years old and that the design itself is now nearly 37 years old. It is timeless.

The W124 perfectly represented Mercedes-Benz’s philosophy of luxury. It was about the luxury of having more safety, more reliability, and more finely honed build quality. They were not about more gadgets or more styling. The W124 gave you everything you needed and nothing you didn’t. The cars were very serious, very German.

You can still find a superb example of any of the three body styles (sedan, coupe, wagon) in the W124 lineup for under $10,000. And the driving experience still feels magnificent, even compared with today’s cars. On a nice summer day, the car you’ll probably see me driving the most is my $5000 Mercedes. It’s the perfect size, has the perfect level of performance, and the quality shines brightly, even at 215,000 miles. A W124 is a great way to own something special at a low cost, and the Mercedes-Benz Club of America is quite active, with a variety of events at local and national levels.

The Pontiac 6000STE (Special Touring Edition) appeared in 1982 as a 1983 model. It was GM’s first real attempt to emulate the sporty ride and handling attributes in a space-efficient package that defined the best mass-market sport sedans from Europe at the time, namely the Audi 5000 and BMW 528i. Although the 6000 shared its unremarkable-looking downsized bodywork with other GM A-body cars, its six headlights, two-tone paint, alloy wheels, and suede interior caused a sensation at its debut. The Pontiac was on the cover of every major car magazine, where it was favorably compared with the best from Europe. Few, if any, of those early examples survive in great condition.

My ’89 is a later, facelifted version, which lost some of the styling edge of the earlier car but gained one major improvement: optional all-wheel drive. Around 1300 cars were so equipped. The 6000 was the first General Motors passenger car to offer an AWD system, with an electromechanical center differential that could be locked with the touch of a button on the center console. Instead of a beam rear axle, it used a rear suspension that had a differential taken from the GMT400 pickup truck combined with a transverse composite single-leaf spring from the new-for-’88 GM10-based Pontiac Grand Prix. Power came from the well-known 3.1-liter 60-degree V-6, mated to a three-speed automatic transmission.

The 6000 faithfully expresses the design philosophy of the American car industry in that era, which was the opposite of the austere German outlook of the 300CE-24. Rather, the 6000 embodied the philosophy of luxury expressed as more stuff—not just more stuff, but more stuff you and your passengers could see and be impressed with. To that end, the 6000STE AWD was a true success. Within view of the driver are 72 Tic Tac–sized buttons to control everything a driver in 1989 could have wanted. The interior may be made of the lowest quality plastics, but the dashboard lighting, digital instrumentation, and the multitude of buttons gave the well-to-do 1980s buyer a feeling of excitement, as the Pontiac ads of the era so often reminded us.

It’s amazing to see the public’s reaction to the 6000STE AWD. I have rarely encountered a car that has drawn such positive reactions from enthusiasts at car shows and from passersby on the street. Nearly everybody had a relative who owned one, wanted one, was conceived in one, had their first date in one. It’s truly astounding to see how people—even non-car people—connect with their memories through this car.

With the growing popularity of the most interesting cars of the 1980s and ’90s, now is the time to find yourself an example of an inexpensive, fun car from this era.

The post These two affordable classics reveal ’80s America and Germany at their best appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Hagerty readers and Hagerty Drivers Club members share their cherished collector and enthusiast vehicles with us via our contact email, tips@hagerty.com. We’re showcasing some of our favorite stories among these submissions. To have your car featured, send complete photography and your story of ownership to the above email address.

Shawn Baird has been a Pontiac fan ever since his brother’s friend visited his family’s home in a 1970 GTO. “As the blue Pontiac GTO pulled up with a rumble, my heart started to race,” baird writes. “It was love at first sight!” He was only 14 at the time, but the menacing look of the dual headlights and Ram Air scoops made Baird a convert, and he has been hooked on muscle cars ever since.

As the youngest of seven in his family, Baird was surrounded by many classic cars, including his brother’s ’65 Impala, his sister’s ’69 Charger, and his mother’s 428-powered ’67 Catalina. Baird’s own cars included some memorable muscle as well, including a pair of Plymouth Roadrunners and a Dodge Demon powered by a 340 and a four-speed. Still, those cars didn’t quite scratch the itch. “In my mid-20s I restored a ’67 Malibu with a 283, but nothing matched that Ram Air GTO!” Baird’s first Pontiac, a 1968 Firebird 400, was purchased with the proceeds from selling that Malibu, but he wasn’t done. He’s owned several Pontiacs since, including some rarities, but this 1972 LeMans holds a special place in his heart.

When Baird first came across this car—a 42,000-mile survivor with the Endura bumper option that included the same hood and fenders used on the GTO—his first impression was that someone had swapped in a GTO drivetrain into a run-of-the-mill LeMans. There was a four-barrel 400 V-8 under the hood, along with a Turbo 400 transmission. After sending the VIN to Pontiac Historic Services, Baird learned that this LeMans wasn’t a Sport or a GT, and certainly not a GTO, yet it had been optioned with the performance V-8 from the factory. But that wasn’t all. The car was also equipped with a Positraction rear differential and dual exhaust. It even had the same handling package used on the GTO that included springs and shocks. It was a GTO in virtually everything but badging.

Despite knowing that the car’s list of options made it a bit of a rarity in the world of Pontiacs, Baird had to part ways with the car. When the new owner asked his thoughts on turning it into a GTO clone and painting it a bit flashier color, Baird suggested that it was more interesting, and likely more valuable, if it remained in its original Wilderness Green metallic hue.

His advice was heeded and the results speak for themselves. The car won awards at numerous shows, and the current and former owners remained in touch during the 12 years that have passed since Baird sold the car. This winter, Baird was given the first chance to buy back the car and he jumped at the opportunity.

“I once again own another rare piece of Pontiac history!” Baird says. This understated coupe, optioned just right to keep its performance a tight-lipped secret, makes it a fantastic sleeper and a great example of the muscle car era’s vibrant history.

The post Rides from the Readers: Carefully chosen options turned this LeMans into a clandestine GTO appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Considering the dark metallic brown 1979 Bonneville sedan that my dad had when I was about three years old—it was the first car I recall ever riding in—it probably won’t come as a surprise that I am a big fan of these premium Pontiacs. While they were not nearly as popular as their Caprice, Delta 88, and LeSabre brethren, when fitted with Brougham trim and ordered with an indulgent eye on the option list, these cars could do almost everything a Coupe de Ville or Sedan de Ville could, save snob appeal. Best of all: fender skirts.

Pontiac’s full-size cars sort of floundered during the ’70s. They were perfectly serviceable as daily drivers, but had lost the ’60s style, flash, and appeal for which they’d been renowned. Exactly what was a big Pontiac supposed to be now? A cut-rate Electra 225? An extra deluxe Caprice? A plus-sized Grand Prix? Even Pontiac didn’t seem sure, and suffered for it. But things started to pick up with the downsized full-size ’77 cars.

I think we all know that the 1977 General Motors B-bodies were introduced at the perfect time. Their clean, uncluttered “sheer” styling, efficient packaging, and unexpected room made for a lineup of fine family cars. Although the Chevrolets promptly blew the other divisions’ Bs out of the water, the platform’s inherent goodness helped increase the sales of all the GM full-sizers, including Pontiac’s.

By this time, the midsize segment, dominated by the Cutlass Supreme, claimed the vast majority of coupe sales. Although GM still offered full-size coupes, they were seen far less frequently than their sedan counterparts. The Bonneville (and its Canadian-kin Parisienne) was quite handsome though—perhaps so much so that by the late ’70s, the Catalina was no longer the biggest-selling full-size Pontiac. Buyers desiring a big Pontiac opted for the flossier Bonneville and Bonneville Brougham models, leaving the midsize LeMans to shoppers who just wanted a basic Pontiac sedan.

That was probably just fine with Pontiac, which certainly made a larger profit on a Bonneville over a Catalina. It was easy to distinguish the Bonnevilles, since they had a more “important”-looking grille, wider taillights, fender skirts, a gold sunburst hood ornament, and sunburst side badging on sedan C-pillars and non-Landau-roofed coupe B-pillars.

Frankly, the Catalina (and its Canadian Laurentian counterpart) was starting to look a whole lot like a fleet special that was more (recently departed) Bel Air than Impala—and even less like Catalinas of just a few years earlier. The Bonnevilles simply did “Brougham” so much better.

Between 1977 and ’79, Bonnevilles stayed pretty much the same, save the expected grille and taillight updates. The ’79s also lost the chrome divider between each set of rectangular headlights, which were moved closer together, and the cool snowflake alloy wheels had been moved to the option list.

I love those wheels. Of course, they’re more commonly seen on Firebirds, but I think they look excellent on Bonnevilles. Including the wagons.

The 1977–79 big Pontiac hierarchy stayed the same as in previous years, starting with the entry-level Catalina and moving up through the Bonneville and Bonneville Brougham coupes and sedans. One model that did not return for ’79 was the Di-Noc-clad Grand Safari, which was now dubbed the Bonneville Safari.

Other than the nameplate, little was changed, right down to its wood sides. And, sadly, the wagon didn’t offer the Brougham’s loose-pillow velour seating.

And, yes, the ultra-cosseting, floating-pillow velour, split-bench seating is the very reason you’d choose the Brougham. What’s more, this was when interiors came in real colors like red, green, blue, tan, black, and white, and not just black and beige. Properly equipped, these cars could be just about as luxurious as any Cadillac.

Load up your Brougham—add the snowflake alloys, whitewalls, Astroroof, and power everything—and you had an awfully nice car, all for thousands less than a Coupe or Sedan de Ville. About the only thing you couldn’t get on the Pontiac was a leather interior.

Still, many folks passed up the Bonnie in favor of the Caprice Classic, which offered essentially the same car (and luxury options) for less money.

Actually, the Pontiac occupied a sort of anti-sweet spot: It not only had a higher sticker price than the Caprice, but for just a few more dollars, Bonnie shoppers could buy a more prestigious Delta 88 Royale or LeSabre Custom. Even in the late 1970s, each GM brand retained a distinct identity that reflected one’s station in life, and buyers knew it.

While a Bonneville Brougham cost less than a Delta 88, it was ever so much more prestigious to tell everyone at work that you got a new Oldsmobile as opposed to a new Pontiac (“A Pontiac, huh? So then it’s basically a Caprice … right, Bob?”)

Hey, under the skin, all the B-bodies were all pretty similar. But for whatever reason, Pontiac’s versions consistently owned the bottom of the B-body sales charts.

Dad’s Bonneville was the very first car I can remember, and also the first car I remember riding in as a toddler. It was almost the same as the car in the above brochure picture, but Dad’s was a ’79 and had the standard chrome wheel discs instead of the wire wheel covers. That car really made an impression on me. Why else would I have such a serious jones for them 35-odd years later?

As expected, the Bonneville Brougham was the swankiest full-size Pontiac. Peppered with extra features inside and out, the biggest difference from the basic Bonneville was the interior. There was loose-cushion, velour seating with a 60/40 divided front seat, a fold-down center armrest, deep-pile carpeting, electric clock, custom chrome-trimmed pedals, and a ‘luxury’ cushioned steering wheel.

Yes, the Brougham was quite the cushy, well-equipped car, with poofy seats, extra sound insulation and a bright red arrowhead adorning its chromed nose, but it just didn’t sell like the Caprice. However, the 1977–79 Catalinas and Bonnevilles did sell significantly better than their 1976 predecessors.

Pontiac was quick to point that out in the 1978 sales brochure: “We called them ‘the right cars, at the right time.’ And we were right. Because America’s drivers purchased over 40 percent more 1977 full-size Pontiacs than they purchased 1976 full-size Pontiacs.”

And the numbers only got better. In 1977, 114,880 Bonnevilles were sold; 125,297 moved in 1978; and 1979 sales totaled 162,491. Not bad, but still a blip on the radar compared with Caprice sales of 284,813, 263,909 and 261,470 for those same years. While that isn’t good news for folks seeking an affordable collectible, perhaps it still will work in the Bonneville’s favor as time goes by. The relative scarcity may one day enhance both its value and survival rate.

Yes, these cars are my favorites, but sadly they’re quite rare here in the Midwest. With that said, by dumb chance and with the help of Lady Luck, I quite happily found this silver ’79 Brougham coupe about 10 years ago. Geez, where has the time gone?

While on my way to 16th Street in Moline, Illinois, I took a side street I rarely used to avoid congestion at a red light. When I glanced over at a parking lot while passing through an intersection, I spotted this Bonneville. Holy cow, a Bonneville coupe! It was even a ’79, like Dad’s.

There was a fresh-vegetable stand across the alley, so I parked and walked over to see if one of the customers knew anything about it. Dan, the owner, turned out to be a very nice guy who was flattered that I was interested in his old car. I told him my dad had owned one, and I asked if I could take some pictures. He said no problem.

Dan is the one-and-only owner of this Brougham, which he purchased brand-new at the now defunct Horst-Zimmerman Pontiac-Cadillac in downtown Rock Island, Illinois, trading in a ’73 LeMans to get it. He told me he had also looked at Bonnevilles at Perry Snower Pontiac-Buick, in Moline, but since they wouldn’t deal, the silver coupe in Rock Island was the one he bought. What I find interesting is that Horst-Zimmerman was right across the street from Illinois Casualty Company, where my dad worked.

It’s fascinating that at the same time Dan was doing the deal on his silver Bonneville coupe, Dad was most likely about 50 feet away, sitting at his desk, with his brown Bonneville sedan in the nearby parking lot. And yes, the company bought their cars from that dealer because it was so convenient. Small world.

Dan’s Bonneville is equipped with multiple noptions, including power windows and door locks, the gauge package, padded Landau roof, sport mirrors, and the classic Pontiac Rally wheels. He said the car cost about $10,000 new and that they’ve been through a lot together since then.

Dan related an amusing story of a hit-and-run in which the driver of an early ’80s Town Car took off after crashing into his car. Fortunately for Dan, the genius behind the wheel left his license plate behind in the collision, so Dan simply took it to the police station when he made his report.

At the time, Dan’s Bonneville had just shy of 90,000 miles on the odometer. It wasn’t a show car, but it was still pretty decent for a late-1970s Detroit cruiser, daily driven in the salty Midwest. Dan still had the fender skirts, too. As you can see, the interior was still very presentable—and comfortable.

After I took way more photos than necessary, Dan and I parted ways. It was great to check out his car up close and chat with him about it. Over the past decade, I still occasionally see Dan and the Bonneville in traffic. It’s good to know that they’re still together.

The post 1979 Bonneville Brougham and its original owner still together after all these years appeared first on Hagerty Media.

After nearly 60 years of collaboration, BMW buys Alpina

Intake: German tuning, tailoring, and racing firm Alpina has been acquired by BMW after almost 60 years of collaboration. Since 1964 BMW has honored the factory warranty on Alpina-modded models, and it will be business as usual until the end of 2025. After that date Alpinas will likely no longer be assembled at the company’s Buchloe workshops, just 59 miles from BMW’s HQ. Instead, the powerful and luxurious Alpina-badged cars will be built alongside standard BMW and M cars. It’s an about-face for the small manufacturer, which got its start building typewriters in the 1960s before switching to speed parts (starting with a carb kit for the 1500 in 1963). Alpina has has famously stressed its independence from BMW, even while being headquartered barely 50 miles from Munich and serving as the company’s de facto race team during BMW’s cash-strapped years in the ’60s and ’70s. Fun fact: During Alpina’s competition heydays in the 1960s, the team would buy wine in any town where they won a race. Now, the collection has spawned an entire business called Alpina Wines, which boasts a wine cellar with over a million bottles.

Exhaust: BMW and Alpina have always had a healthy, almost symbiotic relationship, so why change things now? It’s all down to electrification and emissions. Such is the dramatic change in the motor industry that small players like Alpina would seriously struggle to fund the technology and expertise required to build cars for the next decade and beyond. BMW will likely position Alpina models as a desirable, sporting lineup that sits between its standard models and the all-out M cars.

Your safari 911 is no match for this cornfield-crushing Pontiac

Intake: What to do with those too-far-gone American classics? It’s a timeless question that has befuddled many an enthusiast—including Shawn from Cleveland, Tennessee. Shawn found this old 1955 Pontiac sitting in his friend’s field, and after some convincing, managed to purchase it for $500. With a build budget of $5000, he set about taking this thing from rusty to righteous—but not in a conventional sense. The frame was soo rusted that he had to find a donor, and after some research, he landed on a 2000 Chevy S10 due to its similar wheelbase. With a raised floorpan and some other touches, the car finally had good bones, but that was just the beginning. A junkyard 5.3-liter LS V-8 from a Chevy pickup and some coilovers and 33-inch General Grabber tires later, the ’55 Poncho was ready to tackle the roads. And it’s not like he’s paying a price for the swap either—there’s air conditioning, cruise control, and other creature comforts. The killer paintwork was done by Shawn’s wife, and the added touches like the KC Daylights up top on that roof rack make this thing the perfect take on a budget safari build.

Exhaust: “I like to build cars that are outside the norm,” says Shawn. “Cars that aren’t necessarily going to command a lot of attention on the show stage.” All well and good, Shawn, but it sounds like your creative build goes far from unnoticed at gatherings. “When we pull up to the car show and park next to a brand new Camaro or Mustang, all the attention kind of drawn towards this ol’ pile of crap.” Not hard to see why. We’re seriously digging this build—we wish our pile of crap projects had this sort of flair.

Would you pay double for a 27-mile Porsche Carrera GT?

Intake: A 2004 Porsche Carrera GT has just gone on sale at $3.5 million. With the Hagerty Valuation Tool showing #1 Concours condition cars valued at $1.5M, this figure might seem a stretch; however, with just 27 miles on the odometer this GT is essentially as good as new. Numbered 154 out of 1270 the GT Metallic Silver car is trimmed in Terracotta leather inside and is “as perfect as the day it rolled out of the assembly line,” according to the advert on Dupont Registry.

Exhaust: Priced at $450,000 at launch, just a few years later Porsche Carrera GTs were trading for less than $300,000, but prices have rocketed since, with this $1,907,000 red example starting 2021 by breaking Bring a Trailer’s all-time sale record. (It didn’t stand for long.) A year ago the Hagerty Valuation Tool showed the very best GTs as being worth just under a million dollars, with values rising 50 percent in 12 months. Will someone really pay $3.5 million to add this V-10 analog beast to their collection?

The world’s longest car has been restored and stretched further

Intake: A Cadillac-based limousine that can seat 75 people has been brought back to life and recaptured its title as the world’s longest car. “American Dream” was originally built in the mid 1980s by California custom guy Jay Ohrberg using a number of Eldorados and a lot of welding. With a V-8 up front and another in the rear it was initially 60 feet long, but Ohrberg decided that wasn’t dreamy enough and extended it to 100 feet in length, adding a hinged middle so that it could negotiate corners. After some initially publicity, however, the car was put away in a New Jersey warehouse and forgotten, until one day in 2019 Michael Dezer showed up. The owner of Orlando, Florida’s Dezerland Park Car Museum and Tourist Attraction bought the American Dream and has spent almost three years restoring it.

The whole interior was refurbed and a new drivetrain installed, although how many of the 26-wheels are driven is unclear. The swimming pool and putting green were replaced, and so was the helipad. Yes, helipad. The restoration required six Eldorados, and Dezer says welding them all together “reminds you of the construction of a bridge.” During the build Dezer also managed to add an inch and a half to its length in order to reclaim a Guinness World Record.

Exhaust: Everything does trend bigger in America, and Dezer has even larger plans for the American Dream. “We’ve talked about turning into an electric vehicle, we have plenty of room for the battery,” he says. “Eventually we are going to extend it. I don’t know how long we’re going to make it, but I guess as long as we can . The sky is the limit … well, the road is the limit.”

Ducati Panigale V4 SP2 is the latest race bike for the street

Intake: Ducati has been on a tear when it comes to new model introductions in 2022, and the final announcement is the Panigale V4 Sp2. This is the most aggressive model in the current lineup and features a smattering of MotoGP and WorldSBK technology. The carbon-fiber wheels and STM-EVO SBK dry clutch are just the start, with the 1103cc V-4 engine churning out a massive 228 horsepower when equipped with the option Akrapovič exhaust. Each bike is serialized and if, after hearing the $39,500 price tag you just have to have one, get your order in quickly and expect delivery in Q4 of 2022.

Exhaust: Ducati’s sport-bike lineup is already a potent combination of insane power and capability, but this SP2 offers a whole new level of track-day domination. The “winter test” livery is subtle yet badass in its mix of matte black and raw aluminum, only hinting to the beast that it is. Most race replicas are splashy, with garish colors and logos aplenty, but this is an understated menace. We dig it.

Now with less camo: Aventador’s hybrid successor spotted from afar

Intake: Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann promised back in July that the $500K Aventador’s successor will be powered by a hybridized and all-new V-12, and spy shots from December show that the follow-up act is already testing. Now, the tester has dropped the bulk of its camo, appearing in these long-range spy shots in nothing but slim-fit, swirly-patterned wrap. The contours of the mid-engine car’s roof, rear, and nose are now much clearer. The proportions remain classic 21st-century Lambo, and that high-mount quad exhaust remains (hallelujah). Call us crazy, but we’re getting shades of C8 Corvette at the tester’s front thanks to the squintier headlights and Gallardo-esque dual air inlets. Out back, that shin-threatening diffuser is plain to see, as is the quad exhaust, and the taillights emerge with Y-shaped elements, rather than the octagonal elements in the rear lamps of the reborn Countach, that evoke the outgoing Aventador. Winkelmann promises that the Aventador’s new V-12 won’t use forced induction, even though you can expect this new twelve-cylinder’s output to surpass the 769 hp produced by the send-off Aventador’s mill.

Exhaust: There’s more at stake here than Lamborghini’s corporate environmental image. As European and British cities continue to crack down on ICE emissions in cities—London is expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone to the entire city in 2023—an electric-only mode is essential for Euro-market supercars, whose owners love to cruise through high-end shopping areas.

The post BMW buys Alpina, world’s longest restoration is a Caddy, hybrid Lambo spied appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Now that the dust has settled after Arizona Auction Week 2022, we’re scouring the results and trying to make sense of it all. Most of the Scottsdale headlines this year feature words like “crazy,” “expensive,” and “record-breaking.” Fair enough. Total sales were way up from 2020 despite fewer cars on offer, and the average price rose from $95,152 to $126,556. As always, however, there’s more to Scottsdale than the high-level view. With over 2100 cars on offer, there are always affordable ones and, yes, even bargains.

To focus in on some of them, we polled the Hagerty staffers to see which cars (or giant trucks, apparently) they would have bought in Arizona this year if given a fat sack of cash and permission to go wild.

The last time we did this exercise, the hypothetical budget was $25K, but this year we gave ourselves a bonus (we think we deserve it) and doubled it to 50 grand. Here’s what we came up with.

1975 Airstream Argosy motorhome and 1972 Honda Z600

Airstream sold at Barrett-Jackson for $44,000

Honda sold at Barrett-Jackson for $5500

As someone who’s constantly on the lookout for their next camper, I was blown away by this 1975 Airstream Argosy. Compared to what less-equipped and comparatively bland Sprinter conversions go for, $44,000 is a steal for this “Bambi of Motorhomes”—whatever that means.

Plus, it’s powered by a 350 V-8, so we won’t have to worry about dealing with rare parts or with the unreliability that plagues many oddball motorhomes of the era. At only 20 feet long, the Airstream is short enough to squeeze into any National Park, and the $5500 Honda Z600 I picked up with the left over cash would make a great dinghy for around town.

–Adam Wilcox, valuation analyst

1968 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV

Sold at Worldwide for $43,680

Nothing screams ’60s chic like an Alfa GTV. It’s got slinky Giugiaro sheetmetal, a rev-loving little four-cam four-cylinder, backroad-ready suspension, and an interior that’s oh-so-Italian.

This one boasts the Goldilocks 1750-cc powerplant, but that didn’t prevent one of its owners from boring the mill to 1870 cc and rebuilding it with high-compression pistons, new bearings, a ported cylinder head, and sidedraft Weber carbs. Reinforced engine mounts (smart) and slotted and drilled brake discs and rotors (also smart) balance out the driveline upgrades. Whoever this enthusiast was didn’t stop there, adding Koni shocks, an aftermarket sway bar, and even a limited-slip diff sourced from an ’88 Alfa Spider. Needless to say, it’s a manual, and the clutch and flywheel are both new. Count in the lovely leather- and wood-trimmed cabin, and this GTV promises a refined experience that complements the can of Italian whoopass underneath. This thing is begging to be driven, and I’d be happy to oblige.  Under $50K? Not too crazy.

–Grace Houghton, associate editor

2000 Chevrolet Camaro SS

Sold at Barrett-Jackson for $14,300

The advice we’ve been peddling in this superheated market is: Buy what you love. As anyone who has suffered through a few beers with me can attest, I love Camaros. Especially these Camaros. My father owned a ’99 Z-28 right around the time I got my driver’s license; the sound of an LS1 V-8 is the formative sense-memory I associate with “fun car.” This one sold for a bit under the Hagerty Price Guide’s condition #3 (Good) value, and 75,000 miles is about what I’d look for—plenty of life left, but not so low that I’d feel bad about tearing around in it.

Although I won’t pretend a clearly used-looking F-body in a boring color is an investment, I do predict fourth-gen Camaros are due for some appreciation. They are among the American performance cars that have curiously been left behind in the 1990s/early 2000s gold rush. I suspect a lot of that has to do with the fact that unlike many of the now-prized 2000s classics, the Camaro is still with us in essentially the same form you see here—rear-drive, V-8, optional stick shift. And, sadly, that’s about to change.

TL:DR: T-tops.

–David Zenlea, managing editor, Hagerty Insider

1965 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL

Sold at Barrett-Jackson for $48,400

This 1965 Mercedes-Benz 230SL sold for $48,400, below the condition #3 value of $60,300. The car appears to have a clean interior and exterior, and the four-speed manual is nice. The combination of red with a white hardtop and a similar interior might not be to everyone’s taste, but it definitely works for me. Also, because it sold on Wednesday, it is likely that few people interested in a 230SL were paying attention that day. Since the 230SL is also on our 2022 Bull Market List and poised to grow in value, it seems like an excellent deal.

–John Wiley, senior valuation analyst

1969 Chevrolet Corvette 427/390 convertible and 1983 Chevrolet El Camino

Corvette sold for $44,000 at Barrett-Jackson

El Camino sold for $8800 at Barrett-Jackson

It’s practically a crime to get a C2 Sting Ray convertible considering how great it looks as a coupe, but with the C3, the droptop has amazing lines and the optional hardtop is similar to the coupe, so it’s like getting two cars for the price of one. At least that’s how I’d justify buying this Daytona Yellow 1969 Corvette convertible that had a hammer price of $40,000. It has a three-speed automatic as opposed to the four-speed manual that would make it even more desirable, but it’s a 427! This droptop would still make for a fantastic summer road-tripper. Just pack light, there’s no trunk.

With $10,000 left to spend, how about a bit more utility to even out the Corvette’s lack of a trunk? This 1983 El Camino, in matching yellow, is powered by a Buick 3.8-liter V-6 rather than the optional 305 V-8. While it’s no hot rod, it should still get the job done with one of GM’s most reliable engines ever.

–Brandan Gillogly, senior editor

1997 Stewart & Stevenson M1078 cargo truck

Sold at Barrett-Jackson for $19,800

At $19K this stands out as a deal, and it has nothing to do with speculation or value or market trends. For me, it’s purely about living out a fantasy of owning a big military truck, building it into a camping rig, and taking off into the desert. All for half the price of a camper van!

There are tons of these for sale on government auction sites, and they usually command between $15K and $30K—but they come with all the unknowns earned by years spent sitting in a military storage yard. This one appears to be sorted, and for half the price of a Unimog with all of the features, I can’t go wrong. That $50K budget should put a nice camper on the back, too. And maybe even pay for the HOA parking fines …

–James Hewitt, valuation analyst

1967 Pontiac Bonneville station wagon

Sold at Barrett-Jackson for $36,300

This is just plain cool. It would be a lot cooler at a lower price but, hey, such is the world we live in. This big, blue-on-blue family hauler is from the first year of the Pontiac 400, which is a sufficiently potent engine to move a massive piece of iron like this. But it’s the details that really make this: The eight-lug wheels look perfect on a big Ponchos like this. You can’t ignore the hood tach, either. Practical or not on a wagon, hood tachs are just plain neat. The overdrive transmission is another nice touch, as are the (also blue) fuzzy dice.

–Greg Ingold, editor, Hagerty Price Guide

1972 Citroën SM

Sold at Bonhams for $44,800

I may have taken Spanish in high school, but truth be told I have a serious weakness for all things French, especially cars. And the Citröen SM is a favorite. The sci-fi shape, funky interior, punchy Maserati V-6, and innovative hydropneumatic suspension speak to me for some reason. This one, which sold for about its condition #3 value, also has the desirable five-speed manual and Weber carburetors (rather than Bosch injection).

Now, what could go wrong on a 50-year-old part-French, part-Italian car bought at an auction? Everything! That, however, is all part of the fun and sounds like a (probably expensive) problem for later.

Since I’m a glutton for punishment and hate to leave money on the table, I wanted to use the $5200 left over for a fun beater or basic project. Unfortunately, most of our hypothetical $50K budget went to my French fantasy, so the only option was a 1990 Dodge Colt at Barrett-Jackson. Hard pass. More money for Citröen parts.

–Andrew Newton, senior auction editor

The post How far did $50K go at Arizona Auction Week 2022? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Although they’re far more efficient and power-packed than their V-8 ancestors, most late-model cars just don’t have the same kind of under-hood presence as cars from the ’80s, let alone the ’50s and ’60s. We asked our community to tell us their favorite air cleaners, and we are happy to report that there is some clear consensus on what air cleaners look the best. Here are the top 11-ish responses, in no particular order.

Mopar Six-Pack/Six Barrel

Whether it was a Dodge Six Pack or a Plymouth Six Barrel, the monster air cleaner atop the 440 meant business either way. Heck, it meant business on the 340 too!

1963 Z11 Impala

While Chevrolet was still experimenting with the Mystery Motor 427 that was the predecessor to the 396, 437, and 454 big-blocks of the muscle car era, there was another 427 that would set the stage and help Chevrolet make the displacement memorable. The race-bred Z11 Impala, stripped and lightened for competition, packed a 427-cubic-inch version of the W-motor that took the already potent 409 into even more legendary territory. The cowl-induction was straight out of NASCAR and helped the big engine pump out 430 hp through a pair of four-barrel carbs. The engine pictured here was from a sublime example that sold for $340,000 at a Mecum auction in 2017.

Cadillac/Olds “Batwing”

We were a bit surprised we had to go to Facebook to find a comment mentioning the 1951–1956 Cadillac/Oldsmobile “batwing” air cleaner. The simple design of these air cleaners matches the mid-century design of the exteriors and the scoops hint at the performance that lies within. This design was so popular that multiple companies still manufacture reproductions. They look good on just about any ’50s car.

Camaro Cross-Ram 302

This one may be more about the intake than the air cleaner, but any intake that has a pair of carbs spaced that far apart and an air cleaner that spans them will draw some attention. Even the Crossfire Injection Camaro and Corvette managed to make twin one-barrel throttle bodies cool.

Hudson Twin H Power

Hudson made a lot of strides in car design and engineering, netting them multiple NASCAR manufacturers championships in the early ’50s. Some of Hudson’s racing knowledge made its way to the street when it offered a twin-carb upgrade to its 308-cubic-inch flathead six that resulted in 160 hp. Hudson embraced the new induction, calling it “Twin H-Power” and topped the twin one-barrel carbs with ornate canister air cleaners.

1967 Buick GS

This piece of automotive art has a bit of an architectural vibe to it. It’s come to be known as the “Star Wars” air cleaner because the two inlets do make the piece look a bit like some sort of sci-fi shuttle, or maybe a droid, we’re not sure. It can be found on the 1967 Buick GS400 as well as the 1967 Buick Riviera GS. The one-year-only intake seems to be a hard-to-find commodity for restorers, so seeing one in person is a rare treat.

Mopar Shaker

Mopar embraced the shaker hood scoop with graphics on the underside of the hood that nearly made you want to get your eyes examined. As if you needed more reason to stare at a Hemi ‘Cuda.

Ford Shaker

Everyone loves shaker hoods, we can’t forget that Ford used some beautiful and functional shaker scoops on Torinos and Mustangs.

Trans Am Shaker

Of course, GM also got into the shaker scoop action, but for Trans Am the scoop was mounted backward. While the shaker scoop was shared with the spicier Formula variants, it really became a Trans Am signature and was used for most of the second-gen Trans Am’s run.

1958 Mercury Monterey Super Marauder

The 1958 Mercury Monterey’s 383 V-8 used a gargantuan, round air cleaner that looked like a flying saucer. Huge and pretty cool in its own right, it got completely blown out of the water by the piece of art that topped the optional 430 Super Marauder V-8 and its triple carbs. The 400-hp engine deserved the gorgeous sculpture, no doubt, but just imagine the work that went into casting it in aluminum, polishing it, and painting it. No wonder we’d get accustomed to stamped air cleaners and eventually plastic airboxes.

Pony-car twin-snorkels

Pop the hood on an ’80s pony car and you may spot a round air cleaner with twin snorkels that lead to cold-air ducts. It could be a Mustang or a Camaro, as both featured similar looks. They’re simple, they can be effective, and they both are a bit of throwback that honors their SCCA Trans-Am heritage. Even if many of these engines were just coming out of the Malaise Era, they still offered solid performance for their day and a nice foundation for building real power with help from the aftermarket.

Of course, our community suggested these and many more, so make sure to visit the thread and add your favorite to the growing list. Who knows—with enough strong responses we may revisit this subject for a Part II post.

The post According to you: 11 cool air cleaners to spruce up your engine bay appeared first on Hagerty Media.

We’ve previously discussed the magic of Pontiac’s Firebird Firehawk, in which the automaker utilized a third party engineering firm to add a dash of spice to an already impressive package. While the formula of adding go-fast parts from SLP Engineering to factory-built Pontiac Excitement was set in stone, it appears the wonks at SLP also had a cosmetic trick up their sleeve to go with the transition from LT to LS small-blocks. They intended to make the Firehawk strikingly unique—relative to a standard Pontiac Trans Am—with a pair of sleek, exposed headlights.

While the 1998 Camaro wore headlights somewhat like these, the Firehawk was clearly influenced by the flagship Oldsmobile Aurora. These lights never made production (more on that later), but this uber-rare 1998 Firehawk prototype is memorialized on the Internet, thanks to the folks at Motorweek. SLP Engineering’s prototype possesses the performance upgrades we’ve come to love with the production 1999–02 Firehawk, but the difference was clear: Exposed headlights work surprisingly well with the redesigned front fascia.

It appears SLP Engineering wanted no part of the 1998 Firebird’s headlight change, as the design grew wider to accommodate the four sealed-beam headlights underneath. Instead SLP made these almond-eyed headlights, which start at the bumper-to-fender cutline and logically flow to the seam between the front bumper and the hood’s twin-snout grille. It has a logical flow, much like a fourth-generation VW Jetta but with far more attitude. Unfortunately, these parts never made production, and we can only guess that factors like R&D costs, federalization headaches, or even interference from Pontiac management ensured they never saw the light of day (so to speak).

Imagine a Pontiac executive’s face when realizing the top-dollar Firebird now looked more like a … gasp … Camaro! No matter, a total of six Firehawk prototypes were made in 1998. While at least two (here and here) sported the Firebird’s conventional pop-up lights, SLP Engineering’s press photos (above) suggest at least one red and one silver prototype had the exposed headlights. Clearly they had intentions of going all the way with the project, lest Motorweek would have received a pop-up headlight prototype instead for evaluation. Details on these unique headlights are sparse.

It’s unfortunate that Pontiac had no Firehawk to do battle with the 1998 Camaro SS (with SLP goodies under code WU8).

Reg Harris, SLP’s Marketing Director, set the record straight on Firehawk.org:

“SLP Engineering, Inc. did not produce 1998 model year Firehawks at its Montreal, Quebec, Canada production facilities. SLP did however add Firehawk content to six 1998 model Trans Ams and Formulas. That work was performed at our Troy, Michigan, facility. The six vehicles were purchased locally from Pontiac/GMC dealers, converted in Troy, then used for 1998–99 model year marketing and sales activities. In addition, it should be noted these vehicles do NOT contain the GM RPO WU6 option code. While these vehicles do contain Firehawk content, they are NOT considered production Firehawks by SLP.”

And now you know the truth about these mysterious Firehawks from 1998. While somewhat unfortunate, that’s not to say the production 1999–02 Firehawks were a disappointment. Far from it, as SLP Engineering shined bright, from the Ram-Air intake down to the sticky Firestone SZ-50 tires. You may never witness those headlights open, but you’re almost guaranteed to see those honeycomb taillights.

The post Exploring the prototype 1998 Pontiac Firebird Firehawk with eyes wide open appeared first on Hagerty Media.

How does a NASCAR track deal with rain?

Intake: Water on a racetrack can quickly turn a race into a demolition derby. That’s why during the latest paving of Atlanta Motor Speedway the team has chosen to bake in a handy solution: an open drainage layer. This more porous layer of asphalt allows water to run through it rather than over the surface like traditional pavement. The team behind the paving process says this should keep the track in better shape over the years because moisture will not get trapped and cause problems during extremely hot and unusually cold conditions.

Exhaust: Banked tracks beg for high speeds, and water running on the surface is just dangerous. This seems like a pretty cool solution to the problem and will hopefully make for safer racing in years to come. It’s also a delight to see just how the sausage is made when it comes to track reconstruction and renovation.

This 6×6 Mercedes pickup is the more practical alternative to a 6×6 G-Class

Intake: Classic Youngtimers, a Dutch auto broker, is selling this one-off creation inspired by the extravagant G-Wagon 6×6. This version is based on the Mercedes X-Class pickup, itself a derivative of the D23 Nissan Navara, neither of which were sold in the United States. A handsome pickup in factory form, this beast now rides on a four-inch lift and has an extra axle out back for added traction and what seems to be a fantastic departure angle. It’s powered by a 254-hp 3.0-liter turbodiesel and comes with a price tag, including VAT, of $157,190.

Exhaust: As amazing as this creation looks, we’re finding it hard to look back at all of the pickups we’ve driven and remember a scenario where we’d wished we had an extra axle. Oh, that doesn’t make us hypocrites—we’re not saying this vehicle is practical, simply that it’s “more practical” than its G-Wagon inspiration thanks to improved fuel economy compared to its gasoline-chugging counterpart. On the other hand, we didn’t say we wouldn’t want one of our own.

Jay Leno shows off his 1968 Pontiac Firebird Sprint

Intake: In the latest installment of Jay Leno’s Garage, Jay shows us all around his restomod 1968 Pontiac Firebird Sprint convertible. The 4.1-liter overhead cam engine, a Pontiac exclusive, was rebuilt by Ed Pink Racing Engines with custom-made rockers and is backed by a TKO five-speed. Jay explains that the Sprint was Pontiac’s go at a more European-style sports car and Jay’s car is even sportier now thanks to tubular control arms and a new steering box from Hotchkis Sport Suspension.

Exhaust: Pontiac Sprints are rarely seen these days and popping the hood on one of these is guaranteed to draw a crowd at just about any show. They’re one of the coolest pony cars of the ’60s and this one sounds amazing. Jay’s subtle upgrades only serve to enhance it!

Genesis’ G90 flagship grows edgier for 2023

Intake: In old-school fashion, Genesis’ flagship model is a sedan. Five years into the G90’s tenure wearing the giant shield grille, it’s time for a little visual refinement. Like its smaller G80 and G70 siblings, the 2023 G90 will adapt Genesis’ unique quad headlamp signature, emphasizing the design cue by picking up the parallel lines behind the front wheel. The rear fascia adopts severe though still elegant creases that ever so slightly echo those of the Hyundai Elantra. Genesis’ prioritization of elegance is also clear by the construction of the hood and fingers as a single clamshell to disguise distracting cutlines.

Exhaust: When our own Jack Baruth reviewed the V-8-powered 2020 G90, he pronounced it “a pure delight.” We know nothing more about the 2023 car than the pictures you see here, but unless Genesis decides to drop the 5.0-liter V-8 from the powertrain offerings, expect the G90 to offer more of the same poised, full-bore luxury. 

Special-edition Ram trucks shoulder Santa’s float load

Intake: Santa must like the idea of a 12-inch touchscreen running Uconnect for his Christmas Eve antics. Ram trucks pulled all the wild floats this year at the 95th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, headlined by a special edition Ram 1500 Limited (RED) Edition truck that pulled the float depicting Santa’s sleigh. Ram recently joined forces with (RED) to help fund life-saving programs that help treat epidemics such as AIDS and, more recently, COVID-19. The special-edition trucks feature unique red grille lettering and special badges for the door and center console.

Exhaust: There’s nothing quite like the background noise of the Thanksgiving Day parade while your in-laws fret over whether or not they brined the turkey long enough or whose fault it is that the cranberry sauce is conspicuously absent this year. Nevertheless, it’s neat to see the Ram brand proudly pitching in with pickups (and Promaster vans) to help put on the event—even if it’s a TV-only ordeal, like this year’s.

The post How NASCAR pavement copes with rain, a Ram made for Santa, Jay Leno sprints in a Pontiac appeared first on Hagerty Media.

I recently asked folks in the Hagerty Community to submit their candidates for the most undervalued classics, and I received answers that were both insightful and surprisingly varied. The results go to show the diverse backgrounds of our Community fans, but they also make for good content elsewhere in the Hagerty mediaverse. (If you haven’t joined our Community, it’s not too late.) That said, commentator Inline8OD was keen to my grift, so I had better give credit where credit’s due:

PS: You do realize Hagerty runs these me-too articles, fans these flames to get free consensus of current value because they’re an insurance company, despite the everything-for-everyone window dressing of this site and magazine.

Oh man, it would be sweet if your boy Sanjeev got mad Hagerty street cred for his online antics! In reality, the Hagerty Valuation team makes objective decisions on hard numbers generated from transaction data, not my crowdsourced/anecdotal data. Since this article won’t cause the Hagerty Price Guide to so much as shiver, I can proceed unabated to show you which cars “we”—yours truly and the Hagerty Community—think are undervalued.

2006–10 Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky

The GM Kappa twins were suggested by both JimR and hyperv6 in the Hagerty Community on the basis of their well-tuned chassis, handsome styling, and increasing obscurity (both belong to discontinued GM brands). While the Solstice’s short-term history was far less pleasant than that of the contemporary Miata, the fortunes of the Kappas twins could be due for a shift: Witness this rare, museum-quality GXP that in October of 2021 for $86,500. By itself, however, the sale won’t reset the Kappa-twin market. For right now, you can enjoy the thrills provided by either the Solstice or the Sky for a reasonable price.

1992–97 Subaru SVX

The Giugiaro-styled Subaru SVX has the chops to make it on the list, thanks to spaceship styling and a decadent interior worthy of a GT coupe. Performance was respectable thanks to a 230-horse flat-six, even if the automatic transmission was neither awe-inspiring nor particularly durable. But gearbox choice is not the point: Community user Gen2rt compares the SVX to the DeLorean-in terms of styling (same designer, window-within-a-window concept) and praises the low center of gravity allowed by its boxer engine. Even better, I’ve observed the trend of manual transmission/WRX powertrain swaps in person, and such creativity truly gives the SVX a new lease on life. A SVX-WRX is, in my biased opinion, the coolest vehicle to ever wear the Subaru badge.

1989 Shelby Dakota/ 1989–91 Dakota Sport Convertible

Community user pdprince offered a real gem that was unique when new and remains quite rare today. The 1989 Shelby Dakota and the related Dakota convertible were unexpected “halo” vehicles that injected more personality into Dodge’s mid-size truck, and hopefully got some tire kickers to pull the trigger on a regular Dakota instead. Pdprince also raised a good point when suggesting that Shelby should have offered the convertible with his hotted-up powertrain and tuning package, too. If the Texan did, these coulda been the early 1990s reincarnation of the Dodge Lil’ Red Express, which are currently valued at $25,600 in #2 condition (i.e. Excellent condition). But Dodge and Shelby didn’t combine both notions, and that’s probably why the halo Dakotas made the cut for this list.

1996–02 Pontiac Trans Am WS6

Hagerty Community user Talso4146 still feels that WS6 Trans Ams (and the Camaro SS?) are undervalued, especially the 1998–2002 models with the LS1 motor lurking beneath the sleek hood. How can you argue with that combination? The fourth-generation F-bodies had sleek proportions that looked far more American Muscle than their stocky, global-platformed successors. Both the LT-1 and LS-1 mills offered serious fun with the T-56 manual trans, and the WS6 came with even more power out of the factory-shipped box. Everything about these cars suggest they should appreciate to the values of older F-bodies, but they have not … yet!

1972–79 Lamborghini Urraco

Not all Lamborghinis are created equal, but a Lambo is still a Lambo, right? Community user Keefe thinks the Urraco is the car to watch, as it’s an original “Lambo under Ferruccio, entry-level and affordable!” Originally designed to be a more affordable, more competitive vehicle to the likes of the Dino, the Urraco continues to trail the values of sisterships Espada and Jarama by tens of thousands of dollars. Which is a shame, because I think it looks better than both and deserves a larger share of the limelight.

1975–96 Jaguar XJS

Among the XJS’ 21-year production run, Community user karofsky suggests that 1995 might be the best year for quality and reliability, and that the XJS “compares quite favorably to the Mercedes 450 SL of the same era. I suspect prices for ‘excellent drivers’ could be in the mid $20K [range] in a few years.” Indeed, we’ve asked ourselves why these classic Jaguars aren’t worth more, and perhaps its because of the costs of ownership paired with the deity-like legacy of its predecessor. But no matter, the XJS’s tough circumstances make them a bargain for the amount of performance and prestige.

1970–82 Alfa Romeo Spider (Series II)

Much like the Jaguar, the Series II Alfa Romeo Spider is somewhat overshadowed by its predecessor. Community user gator749 thinks their rarity (from attrition by rusting) should cause these models to appreciate in value soon, particularly the handsome early versions with chrome bumpers. Gator749 went further and pointed out that “a very high quality ’71 just sold for $37,000,” which makes sense, as this clean ’73 sold for $38,000. Could this Alfa be poised to appreciate quicker than the others on the list?

1990–95 Corvette ZR-1

“All years of the C4 ZR-1 Corvette” are under-appreciated according to 66427vett, and he’s got a good point. While C4s in general are a depressed market, the ZR-1 was called King of the Hill for good reason: It beat Ferrari Testarossas and completely outclassed its C4 brethren. And yet the ZR-1 is worth no more–sometimes much less—than the one-year only 1996 Corvette Grand Sport, which boasted far less performance (but far more retro striping). And with that in mind, I agree with 66427vette’s remark that the fourth-gen ZR1s “have shown modest increases recently but are still a bargain that are likely to appreciate.”

2017–20 Fiat 124 Spider

While I previously noted the resale value superiority of the Fiat 124 Spider over its Miata blueprint, Community user LionShooter suggests the prices are even more appreciative, to the tune of increasing “by $15,000 in the past year.” Is it possible that a ritzy Italian interior and a turbocharged engine paired with Mazda engineering is about to explode into the realm of the big-dollar modern classics?

1992–2000 Lexus SC

The appropriately named Lexusman offered an example that just about everyone appreciates: The flagship Lexus SC300 and SC400 coupes. Our man behind the prestigious L brand makes special note of the “original five-speed SC300s, I estimate there are 500 or less original unmodified five-speed SC300s still in existence, out of an original total of 3800 1992–1997 models.” And while values have likely increased since we last questioned this model’s unexplained affordability, the sheer long-term value of this stylish Lexus relative to other luxury coupes (cough, that Jaguar up there) suggests the SC300 and SC400 have far more headroom in the classic car marketplace.

2005–08 Dodge Magnum

“I like the 2005–2008 Dodge Magnum, especially the ones with the Hemi V-8,” says Hagerty Community user George-85. It’s hard to argue with the concept of a modern American station wagon with a taut suspension and eight cylinders of rumbling fury under the hood! We’ve noted that prices for the SRT model have skyrocketed (kinda like those of Cadillac’s CTS-V wagon, but that’s another story) and even a low-mile R/T for $17,000 this year. Which likely means prices are rising, collectors are on the hunt, and you better get one for cheap while you can!

1991–2007 supercharged 3.8-liter Buick V-6s

I know that’s not a car, but Hagerty Community user Seisen is on to something when they note “GM 3.8 Supercharged V-6 cars are neat but un-loved—many models of Buick, Pontiac, Olds and Chevy to chose from.” While classic car folks are supposed to be pining for V-8 Cadillacs of the era, the tarnished reputation of the Northstar V-8 likely scared off too many owners back in the day for that to ever happen now. Enter Buick’s venerable 3.8-liter mill with a huffer added on top, available in sporty flavors from Chevrolet and Pontiac, super-cushy examples from Buick, and unbelievably stealthy sedans from Oldsmobile. Even this low-mile, naturally aspirated 3.8-liter-equipped Buick Park Avenue sold for impressive money, which suggests a supercharged Park Avenue Ultra in the same condition would sell for far, far more. In your author’s opinion, it’s only a matter of time before this happens, marking one of the few instances when a Buick blows the doors off a Cadillac of the same vintage.

1977–95 Porsche 928

Forget about the internationally famous movie car that sold for disgusting money, as Hagerty Community member Michaelmotorcyc has a valid point for other Porsche 928s on the market. He suggests that a “well-maintained, driver-quality” Porsche 928 checks off a lot of boxes for classic car ownership, and anyone who has driven one will agree. Of course, he notes the “928 GTS is already sought after” but there are only so many of those later, low-production examples available. At some point the cheaper ones, especially the 5.0-liter S4s, will appreciate in value like their big brothers. It’s only a matter of time, so enjoy the regular 928s while you still can.

What did “we” collectively miss? I’d love to read what you think, because as stated above, that’ll help me give Hagerty more free information to boost my credibility within the organization. Do it for Sanjeev me!

The post According to you: 13 undervalued vehicles you can enjoy on the cheap appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Tony writes:

I have a 1974 Pontiac Grand Ville convertible, with the 455. The power-window motors for both front windows need to be replaced. One is now stuck 4 inches from the top, the other one is really slow and the doors sag.

1. Can the hinges be adjusted to reposition the door or do I have to get new hinges?
2. How do I replace the window motors? The rear windows have a cover I can remove to replace the rear window motors, but the front ones don’t have this cover. There is a large hole in the door that I can reach in, but it’s really awkward. I can’t see what I am doing.

I’m not a gearhead, but I try to do as much work on the car myself. Basic things like fluid changes, tune ups, brakes, some part replacement I can do, but I have never had to work on the doors/windows until last summer.

Sajeev answers:

You can absolutely do this work yourself! Well, you probably need another set of hands for the door hinge repair, but that’s your call. And while a set of factory shop manuals is unnecessary for these tasks, this is a good time to mention their intrinsic value in classic car ownership.

With that in mind, let’s answer your questions:

1. Neither of your intended repairs likely apply here—instead you’ll replace the door-hinge bushings. These are sacrificial parts in all(?) door hinges that wear out over time. Dorman products makes a replacement kit, and a good video detailing the process is found here. If you undertake this and are not happy with the end result, the hinge can be loosened/realigned/tightened to the body either by yourself or a local body shop. But odds are that new bushings are all you need.
2. Power-window motors are somewhat easy to change, as three bolts attach the round “head” of the motor to the window regulator assembly. But GM often refuses to give easy access to the bolts, so you may want a smartphone-enabled endoscope to find the location of each bolt. This video (intended for G-body vehicles) suggests cutting holes in the door panel to access bolts you might not be able to reach. It has merit, as I ain’t too proud to admit I’ve done this before. (I used progressively larger drill bits and a rotary grinding tool to carve out a hole big enough for my socket wrench.)

One last point—I believe you are indeed a gearhead! You just need the motivation to leap from basic maintenance to full-on body and interior restoration. Finding local mechanics to undertake these labor-intensive (and less-profitable) tasks is often difficult, but they are something any skilled hobbyist can tackle themselves. All it takes is sourcing the right parts (and repair videos!) online, mapping out all the little steps that need to happen, and taking the plunge yourself.

Trust me, it’s worth your time to make this happen. Best of luck!

Have a question you’d like answered on Piston Slap? Send your queries to pistonslap@hagerty.com, give us as much detail as possible so we can help! If you need an expedited resolution, make a post on the Hagerty Community!

The post Piston Slap: Pontiac’s Grand portal enhancements? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

By the mid-1950s, performance and dynamic design had become the thing in American cars, and Pontiacs were deemed too conservative. After years of disappointing sales, General Motors considered dissolving the brand into Oldsmobile. Instead, in a stroke of genius, GM president Harlow Curtice appointed 43-year-old Semon E. “Bunkie” Knudsen, the youngest general manager in the corporation’s history. Knudsen would revolutionize Pontiac with power and style, shooting it up the sales charts in just a few years.

Even 65 years later, there’s nothing conservative about mid-’50s Pontiacs—those big, proud, optimistic machines dressed in as much chrome as paint, with elaborate grilles and rocket-inspired taillights. They were exclusively powered by Pontiac’s first V-8, the Strato-Streak. Even the base Chieftain models, the 860 and 870, got the 173-hp overhead-valve 287-cubic-inch mill with a two-barrel carburetor and 7.4:1 compression. Buyers had a choice between GM’s Hydra-Matic and a column-shift three-speed manual. Power steering, power brakes, and air conditioning were options.

The Chieftain got even stronger in 1956. The two-door sedan, four-door sedan, and four-door wagon were joined by a sexy four-door hardtop called the Catalina. Pontiac bored out the engine to 317 cubic inches and bumped the compression ratio up to 7.9:1, increasing output to 205 hp. It improved the Hydra-Matic, now called the Strato-Flight, and beefed up the synchromesh manual. “The added acceleration is felt mostly in the upper speed ranges, or highway speeds,” Motor Trend wrote. But 0–60 performance also improved radically, down from 13.8 seconds to an impressive 11.4. According to MT, “Acceleration is smooth and rapid enough for anyone not bent on qualifying for pole position at Indianapolis.”

New shock valving, steering knuckles, and full-length rear leaf spring retainers improved the Chieftain’s ride and handling. Its styling was revised slightly, too. Chief Pontiac was no longer on the hood, replaced by a jet-inspired ornament, and its grille and front bumper got more angular.

A year later, a major restyle brought larger fins and more confidence. The new space-age “Star Flight” design included a rocket spear running down the side of the car. The grille, though still a huge hunk of chrome, was cleaner, and all Pontiacs lost the phony scoops above their headlights, as well as their traditional Silver Streaks, which ran down the hoods and trunks. Knudsen said the chrome strips looked like an old man’s suspenders and ordered them removed mere weeks before production began.

Knudsen also added more power. The V-8 now had a longer stroke and was up to 347 cubic inches. In the Chieftain, it was pumping out 252 horsepower—still with a two-barrel carburetor, which was more output than Chevy’s 283 with a four-barrel. Triple two-barrel (Tri-Power) setups bumped output to 317 horsepower.

Tri-Five Chevys will always be doo-wop cool, but for a fraction of the cost, a contemporary Pontiac Chieftain will turn just as many heads. Prices have been flat for a decade, and values are far more dependent on body style than anything else, with two-door models and wagons bringing more than the four-door sedans. See you at the hop.

1956 Pontiac Chieftain Wagon

Engine: 317-cid V-8
Power: 205 hp @ 4400 rpm
Torque: 297 lb-ft @ 2400 rpm
Weight: 3800 lb
0–60 mph: 11.4 sec
Price when new: $2648
Hagerty #3-condition value: $16,000–$23,000

The post With standard V-8 power, a mid-’50s Pontiac is the affordable alternative to its Chevy siblings appeared first on Hagerty Media.

I recently asked those in the Hagerty Community about the most insane interior they’ve ever seen. (You should visit our Community lounge, and not just because I’m the moderator.) Our users clearly did a great job, as their hard work motivated me to research this list of amazing automobile interiors. It was a collaborative labor of love amongst many of you, but I also dug up a few of my historical favorites. So let’s start from the early days of motoring and take a quick tour of 11 wild automotive interiors over the decades.

1901–07 Curved Dash Oldsmobile (Model R)

While it’s true that the first mass-produced car didn’t have much of an interior, what made this Oldsmobile unique for its time was the dashboard. Sure, that area looks like the front of Santa’s stereotypical sleigh, but that aggressive curve extends deep into the front passenger compartment. The Olds Tonneau body style has a nicely designed rear passenger section, complete with a shockingly well-padded rear door that, apparently, Oldsmobile was simply begging others to replicate. Perhaps this “Curved Dash” Olds is more than a configuration that protects occupants from “dashed up” (i.e. kicked up) debris from the spinning wheels—it might just be the first car with an interior designed for style and functionality.

1906–26 Rolls-Royce 40/50 Silver Ghost Limousine

Fully enclosed passenger compartments flourished in the nineteen-teens, and the more expensive brands obviously sported the most impressive interiors. This Silver Ghost from 1915 wears coachwork by H.A. Hamshaw with an interior worthy of an industrial magnate’s Pullman train car. Behold this Roller’s exquisite fabrics, overstuffed seats, retractable sunshades, wooden pull-out tray, decadent headliner, and exquisite door pulls. Combine the Pullman passenger experience with the durable and prestigious engineering of the Rolls Royce 40/50 chassis, and this car was likely one of the most expensive and beautiful ways to tour the countryside.

1922 Hispano-Suiza H6 Landaulet

There’s something about the Roaring Twenties and the landaulet body configuration that makes a perfect pairing. This Hispano-Suiza landaulet was crafted by Henri Chapron, and utilized the unique look of a roofless driver’s compartment plus an enclosed passenger compartment, with a folding top in place of a traditional C-pillar. This silhouette accommodated an interior made of wood door panels worthy of a high-end dining table, understated blue seat fabric with white-gray flecks, a rather revolutionary fold-down center arm rest, and a throughly conventional tuck-and-roll headliner … that became a theatrical thriller when you folded the C-pillar into the body. While there have been landaulet reboots in recent memory (Maybach, Lexus LS600h) there’s nothing quite the original ’20s execution.

1934 Voisin Type C27 Aérosport Coupe

Art Deco was an era of visual arts that joined geometry with wide-ranging, international style/color palettes across many forms of industries. One such outlet was in French textiles, which could be why the automaker Voisin chose the radical material seen here for the interior upholstery of this C27 Aérosport Coupe. While it’s clear that Voisin’s aeronautic background influenced the vehicles that bore his name, the interior fabric selections were just as modern, perhaps even cutting-edge for the Interwar period.

1947–48 Tucker 48 (Torpedo)

The Tucker 48, or “Torpedo,” was a star-crossed vehicle in its heyday but a flat-out winner in today’s classic car market. Speaking of flat, that perfectly level floor—courtesy of its rear-mounted engine and electro-vacuum-operated transaxle—allowed Tucker to accomodate a radical interior. The sheer width of the car was so equally distributed that both rows of bench seating could use interchangeable cushions.

The featureless, open-air passenger-side dashboard was reminiscent of the Curved Dash Olds, as the glovebox was relocated to the right-hand-side door. Postwar automobile production was less about radical design and more about kickstarting a dormant supply chain, but the Tucker proved that innovation was still possible at the time … both outside and inside.

1959 Pontiac Bonneville

Car interiors of the 1950s were boldly optimistic in their color palette, liberal use of chrome, and space-age details. There are plenty of winners, especially when trimmed out in optional two-tone materials to match the radical exteriors of that era. But what about three-tone interiors—fashioned out of leather, no less? Pontiac embraced the tri-tone interior treatment on its flagship Bonneville, and the notion continued until the Bonneville Brougham of the late ’70s.

That’s some lasting power! How many other brands stuck with an interior conceit for that long?

1964 Ford Thunderbird

All Thunderbirds from this era sported dramatic, elegant interiors. They sported some of the finest materials available before safety, weight, cost, etc. forced metal to make way for plastic paneling. This 1964 model sported a swing-away steering wheel that moved to the right when parked for easier entry/egress. The dash effortlessly flowed into the console while the door panels aped the same “fast” contours. While the four-passenger cockpit was flowing and futuristic for all occupants, there was even an optional tonneau cover to hide the rear passenger section and yield an even racier appearance. The 2002 Thunderbird reboot tried to embrace this style, but the sheer volume of plastic parts recycled from other Ford products meant this ‘bird would never fly quite as high as its ’60s predecessor.

1975 Cadillac Sedan deVille

There are so many great interiors from the rapidly evolving 1970s—the affordable modernism of a Renault 5, the Pasha fabrics in Porsches, or anything done to lend swagger to the Malaise Era in Detroit. Everyone was a winner, though there may have been more winning in the 1975 Cadillac lineup, as it was a good year for fans of wild and brash materials. There’s “Maharajah” cloth pictured here in the Cadillac DeVilles and “Morgan” plaid for the Calais models. The “Montecello” velour in the Fleetwood Sixty Special? Truly something else. Our own Jack Baruth has an undying love for the Medici velour in the top-spec Fleetwood Talisman, though it’s relatively tame in comparison to the materials in its cheaper stablemates.

1983–88 Chrysler New Yorker

Much like the rapidly evolving 1970s, the 1980s encompassed many diverse trends, so finding a single representative example is both difficult and disingenuous. That’s why I threw caution to the wind and chose an interior that blended elements of old- and new-school, complete with a voice-modulated warning system. Imagine this button-tufted, digital-gauged, graphic-equalized, fake-wood-appointed boudoir talking to you!

If you’re really bored, listen to a conversation between this particular E-body New Yorker and a worthy adversary, the Texas Instruments’ Speak and Spell. Do better examples from this era exist? Possible, but let me remind the anti-New Yorkers that your electrical system is malfunctioning—prompt service is required.

1995–96 Lincoln Mark VIII

While 1993 was the first year of the Mark VIII, the lack of contrast in its vinyl-coated interior panels feels a bit chintzy. Well, at least compared to the wood trim the Mark received in 1995 (above). While its interior might be influenced by the likes of the fourth-generation Honda Prelude, it sports forms so radical that even the gauge cluster is forced to stagger its instruments. The optional JBL tweeter grilles are mounted on sweeping door panels that look symmetrical, yet they are not mirror images: The dashboard sweep is thinner on the driver’s side.

Conventionalism came back (to some extent) by way of a new interior for the 1997–98 Mark. And, if the Internet forums is any indication, history has been kinder to it. Apparently many folks like more conventional interiors with more chrome and less swoops of polymer in their doors and consoles. But that’s kind of a shame, isn’t it?

2000–05 Pontiac Aztek

You know the drill: This Pontiac is hideous inside and out. And yes, the depressing plastics were par for the course for GM back then. While a common problem is dashboard delamination—if this were an Oldsmobile, consider it Curved Dash incarnate—the Aztek’s minivan-derived body gave designers an amazing canvas for a work of functional art. The integral air compressor/portable ice chest was a nice touch, as was the ability to camp inside with the optional tent and air mattress.

However, that minivan body meant removing seats was a breeze, and the (optional) sliding floor appearing from a tailgate/hatchback combination was perfect for grocery getting. The 2000s was the decade when the crossover-utility (CUV) began to assert its dominance, but most manufacturers did absolutely none of what Pontiac did for its customers. Even though the devil’s in the details (or lack thereof) the Pontiac Aztek coulda had class. It didn’t deserve this much hatred. As Terry Malloy in the movie Waterfront said: “I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it.”

2012–present Tesla Model S

Love it or hate it, the first Tesla to garner substantial praise also had an interior that dictated the template for upmarket electric-vehicle cabins. Would you need an electric car with a gigantic screen if it weren’t for Tesla having the stones to choose a display that didn’t exist for automobiles yet that wasn’t designed for an automotive application? And who would have thought combining a column-shifted transmission, a console-free center stack, and an optional rear-facing third-row seat into a luxury car?

It all happened with one seminal vehicle, and the new steering yoke on the flagship Plaid model is merely testing the waters for the next revolution in automotive interior design. That said, the Model S is rather long in the tooth, and it wouldn’t hurt to give it a total redesign for the 2020s.

Which radical interiors over the decades would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments below.

The post 11 of the most insane automotive interiors, by decade appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A helicopter and three Coast Guard cutters backed up the 35 federal marshals who swarmed Alcatraz Island on June 11, 1971, to end a 19-month occupation of the abandoned prison by Native American activists. An outgrowth of the 1960s civil rights movement as well as the general turmoil of the times, the Alcatraz occupation is today considered a cornerstone of a Native American awakening that included marches and mass protests in Washington, D.C., in 1972, at South Dakota’s Wounded Knee in 1973, and elsewhere throughout the 1970s.

Against that backdrop, American Motors launched the first Jeep Cherokee, basically a wagon version of the existing Gladiator pickup. At the debut in Burlington, Wisconsin, in August 1973, AMC president William Luneburg and CEO Roy Chapin Jr. presented the first truck off the line to John Crowe, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. In turn, Crowe and other tribal officials traded Luneburg and Chapin ceremonial headdresses. A pact was formed that, nearly 50 years later, has survived better than many of the failed treaties that litter America’s history.

Until this past February, when a prominent Cherokee chief issued a surprising statement to Car and Driver, urging Jeep to drop the tribe’s name from its vehicles. “I’m sure this comes from a place that is well intended, but it does not honor us by having our name plastered on the side of a car,” said Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation, one of three federally recognized Cherokee tribes. “I think we’re in a day and age in this country where it’s time for both corporations and team sports to retire the use of Native American names, images, and mascots from their products, team jerseys, and sports in general.”

Jeep produced 434,000 vehicles branded with the Cherokee name in 2019, making it essential to the portfolio and the corporation’s profitability. In 2013, when Jeep revived the Cherokee after an 11-year run with the Liberty, the tribe took no position on it. Hoskin’s statement rocked Jeep’s new parent company, Stellantis, as chipping the nameplate off the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee now would sink decades of brand heritage and marketing, forcing Jeep to start over with a new name in a crowded, noisy market.

Even so, Stellantis chief exec Carlos Tavares replied that the company was open to dropping the name. All parties have gone quiet now and the only statement we could obtain was from a Stellantis spokesman: “As you would expect, we have a respectful and direct dialogue with the leaders and members of the Cherokee community on this and on other important matters. These are discussions we value and are ongoing.”

That the Cherokee was ensnared in the latter-day controversies over Native American names seems inevitable as pro and amateur sports teams face mounting pressure to change their mascots. The auto industry carries some baggage in this department, too, from the Dodge Dakota to Indian motorcycles to Winnebago’s extensive line of RVs. They are holdovers from a time when Native American names were freely used to connote agility, nobility, or battlefield prowess. There’s a reason the Army continues to call its helicopters the Apache, the Chinook, the Black Hawk, and the Lakota—apparently with tribal blessings.

To AMC’s credit, even the Cherokee’s earliest ads were limited to the truck’s selling points while avoiding racist tropes—unlike General Motors when it created a new division in 1926 named after “the greatest Indian chief who ever lived on the American continent.” For Pontiac’s launch party, GM rented New York’s Commodore Hotel and renamed it “The Wigwam,” inviting dealers to a “powwow” for “heap big eats.” Some dealers hired local Native Americans to dress up and hang out in tepees in their showrooms.

Was Pontiac exposing Americans— albeit in a narrow, crude way—to our Native heritage or just ripping off a culture for profit? Nearly a century later, as sensitivities change, it seems that people are still debating the question.

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The Krinke family has been farming the same land in North Dakota for more than a century. In Neil Krinke’s many years of running the place, he’s grown a lot more than crops. He also collected a huge number of cars and trucks.

Now it’s time to bring the harvest to market.

In a massive automotive sale that has become something of a VanDerBrink Auctions trademark, the Krinke Collection of nearly 100 vehicles and antique tractors—along with engines, parts, signs, fuel pump globes, and other automobilia—will be auctioned on September 18. The sale will be held on the Krinke farm, located 14 miles north of Scranton, North Dakota. There is also online bidding available, which is already underway.

Born in 1932, Neil Krinke grew up working the farm with horses, and he was thrilled when his family bought its first tractor, an Allis Chalmers. Kids tend to grow up quickly on the farm—out of necessity—and at the age of eight, Neil had already mastered operation of a 1928 Chevrolet grain truck. He drove crops in from the field despite barely being able to see over the dash.

Neil’s father was a mechanic, and Neil was fascinated by how his dad “could make something out of nothing” when it came to cars. (No doubt this was a skill developed from lean years when the crop wasn’t ideal.) That fascination led to Neil’s love for automobiles and how they work.

Upon graduating from high school, Neil bought his first car, a 1949 Pontiac. He soon added a 1929 Ford Model A, and he was driving that car when he met the woman he would marry, Rosalie. The couple (and eventually, their three sons) worked hard to make a living on the family farm, and in Neil’s free time—what there was of it—he gained a reputation in the area as a big car guy. If a car was for sale nearby, it didn’t take long for Neil to hear about it. He particularly loved the style of Fords from his birth year, 1932, into the 1940s. A member of the early Ford V-8 club, Neil bought a 1941 Ford and spent six years restoring it.

He also got into hot rods, and there were plenty of dry western Dakota cars to choose from and mod out. Neil says he bought most of his vehicles “within a 50-mile radius” of his ranch.

As you might have guessed already, Neil Krinke has always been more of a buyer than a seller, so his projects began to stack up. When he and Rosalie retired in 1998 and left the farming to their sons, they planned to spend time “seeing the world” in their favorite 1930s and ’40s Fords. Neil’s retirement didn’t last long, however, as he wanted to lend his sons a hand during the transition. He and Rosalie still managed to drive their beloved Fords to club gatherings.

As the Krinkes grew older and began to slow down, their sons encouraged their dad to part with the majority of his cars and allow other people enjoy them. That’s when Yvette VanDerBrink arrived on the scene, and she soon learned the enormity of the Krinke Collection.

“While doing inventory, the memories came back and the stories started flowing about acquisitions and adventures,” she says. “The collection also revealed so much history of the area and its people. For every car, Neil had the story of who had it and when he got it.”

Auction highlights include that ol’ 1929 Model A, which was Rosalie’s favorite. She drove it one last time while VanDerBrink inventoried the collection. Also headed to auction are a 1932 Ford Coupe project that was found in a neighbor’s barn, several rare 1932 Ford Victoria Sedans, and restored, award-winning cars like a two-door 1934 Ford Victoria Sedan, 1936 Ford Cabriolet, 1934 Ford Roadster, and 1940 Ford Coupe.

In addition to the Fords, the sale includes a hard-to-find 1950 Mercury Convertible, a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner Retractable Convertible, a 1964 Mercury Montclair Marauder Hardtop that the family has owned from new, a five-window 1954 Chevrolet 3100 Series pickup truck, a 900+ AACA Junior and Senior Award-winning 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible, and a 1950 Pontiac Chieftain Convertible.

The Krinke Collection has something for every enthusiast and every budget, from memorabilia, parts, projects, and tractors to beautiful ready-for-the-road classics. Looks like the Krinke farm has produced another bumper crop.

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Almost everyone has an opinion about Pontiac Firebirds. Ours, for the record, is that they’re pretty great. Spanning 35 years, four generations, and myriad high-performance variations—not to mention three Smokey and the Bandit movies, Knight Rider, and countless other cultural touchstones—the Firebird transcends typical collecting considerations and cuts to the core reason most of us like old cars—they’re fun. Although most were relatively affordable when new and remain so today, a select few have appreciated into exotic-car territory. We looked at each generation, and here are the most expensive cars from each series.

First Generation (1967–1969): 1969 Firebird Trans Am Convertible

#2 (Excellent) condition average value: $1,000,000

1969 is when it all started, with Pontiac introducing the famous Trans Am to the Firebird lineup. Aside from the famous Cameo White body with Tyrol Blue stripes, the Trans Am included plenty of other upgrades. This included a standard Ram Air III 400-cubic-inch engine, with the optional Ram Air IV, heavy-duty suspension and quicker ratio steering. Trans Ams are very uncommon to start with.

Only 697 total cars were produced, so any car in excellent condition brings six figures. Convertibles are a completely different story, though, with only eight being produced. While all are equipped with the less powerful Ram Air III engine, a pristine T/A Convertible is easily a seven-figure car. Being even rarer than a Hemi Cuda Convertible, these cars come up for sale just about as infrequently.

Second Generation (1970–1981): 1970 Firebird Trans Am 400/370-hp Ram Air IV Coupe

#2 (Excellent) condition average value: $172,000

Although the second-gen Firebird achieved pop-culture fame in its later years—think T-Tops and screaming chicken—serious collectors prefer the high horsepower, tightly wound thoroughbreds of the early ’70s. It should thus come as no surprise that the most expensive of this era would be an early Trans Am. For the first few years of Trans Am production, numbers were the lowest and the most sought after engine options were offered—one of the rarest  the Ram Air IV. Pontiac offered this engine (distinguished by round-port, high-compression cylinder heads) in the Trans Am for only two years, producing only 88 of the cars. The Ram Air IV T/A is closely followed in value by the 455 Super Duty equipped cars in 1973.

Third Generation (1982–1992): 1992 Firebird SLP Firehawk Coupe

#2 (Excellent) condition average value: $61,000

GM discontinued production of Pontiac V-8 engines in 1981, forcing the third-gen Firebird to find other ways to distinguish itself from its Chevrolet twin, the Camaro.

The Firebird of this era that managed to do that well is the Firehawk, built by Street Legal Performance (SLP). While SLP was technically an outside tuning company, you could walk into your Pontiac dealer and order yourself a Firehawk using option code B4U. This got you a fire breathing Firebird making 350-hp out of it’s 350-Chevy engine and a number of additional braking and handling upgrades. With 25 cars produced in total, these represent the top end in terms of both performance and value, for F-Bodies. The very best of these cars can flirt with the $100,000 mark. Given how rarely they come up for sale, we wouldn’t be surprised to see these continue to climb.

Fourth Generation (1993–2002): 1997 Firebird SLP Firehawk 350/330-hp LT4 Coupe

#2 (Excellent) condition average value: $59,600

The final series of Firebird launched in 1993, lasting nine years with a final send off in 2002. Traditionally, the very last year of any significant car will bring the most money, but this is not the case with fourth-gen Firebirds. It takes a truly special car to make that happen and the 1997 SLP Firehawk equipped with the LT4 engine is it.

The Firebird would see a major facelift and a complete engine change in 1998 to the LS platform; however for 1997, SLP had a few tricks hidden up its sleeve. It sourced a number of LT4 engines used in the Corvette program, most notably in the Grand Sport. SLP would install the LT4 in just 29 cars Firehawks (and 100 Camaros). Like the third-gen Firehawk, these cars rarely come up for sale and are highly coveted by Pontiac enthusiasts.

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The land of engine swaps is an odd place filled with cars that deserved better than their OEM powerplants, re-powering projects done just to be different, and the crimes of opportunity. We aren’t sure which one this Jaguar E-Type falls into, but we are surprisingly OK with the final product. After all, it’s at least still an inline-six, right?

Like any car ever built, the Jaguar E-Type is not immune to a heart transplant. Even the most collectable cars today were once just steps above used vehicles. That is where scenario number one that might have caused the Pontiac OHC inline-six to be settled into the Jag frame rails. It’s certainly an odd swap at first glance, and it only gets weirder once you look a little deeper.

The OHC Pontiac is a cult favorite engine. The fans will tell you about how ahead of it’s time it was, that the man behind it was John DeLorean, and how it might have been based on the Chevrolet 230 inline-six but carried almost no identical parts. Those are all true. The valves of this engine were the same size as those found in the 389 V-8, despite this six-pot only displacing 230 cubes. The camshaft relocation allow significant reduction of the valvetrain weight, which allowed for higher rpm with less valve float. Total output was 165 horsepower with the standard single-barrel carb, but when fitted with the option Sprint kit it was advertised at 215 hp.

That’s nothing to sneeze at, but considering that small-block Chevy V-8s were being stuffed into E-Types long before the 1980s—which is when the Bring a Trailer seller figures this conversion was done—it makes for an odd choice, since power was clearly not the reason.

One explanation might be that the owner was a regular Car and Driver reader. Brock Yates wrote an article about re-powering an XKE in the July 1966 issue. The engine in that car was on the receiving end of some performance upgrades, not unlike the one for sale now. Side-draft Webers and upgraded clutch made for an interesting driving experience or, as Yates put it, “one of the zaniest, most intoxicating vehicles whole world.” Strong words from a man like Yates.

An interesting point worth noting is that the Pontiac engine allows the use of a manual transmission—often a Muncie four-speed—whereas a SBC swap is often paired with an automatic. Save the manuals, right? The interior also looks box-stock, down to the shifter. We really like that. The Pontiac engine is a little lighter than the DOHC Jag it replaces, so some weight off the nose might make for a fun driving experience. The exhaust note has to be just strange enough to really make folks look twice when this otherwise gorgeous drop-top drives by.

Overall, the car is proper weird and that’s a good thing. Sure, with minimal work you could return this back to a Jag-powered Jag, or you could revel in being an oddity just about everywhere you go. We know which way we lean here.

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Decades upon decades passed when General Motors could do no wrong, and the products rolling off its assembly line were proof positive of its business model’s supremacy. But nobody’s perfect, and mistakes had to be addressed to meet stockholder’s expectations. GM’s design and engineering teams made some great cars with serious potential that were packed with tragic flaws—and received heroic fixes that came right before their curtain calls. It’s all rather tragic, so here are nine examples to prove the point.

1993 Cadillac Allanté (Northstar)

You gotta give General Motors credit, because when it aims for the stars, it grabs a firehose full of ideas and shoots skyward. Take a shortened E-body coupe and turn it into a bespoke V-body, then deliver finished shells from Italy’s Pininfarina to Hamtramck via a convoy of Boeing 747s known as the “Air Bridge.” One of the biggest keys to the Allanté’s failure was the drivetrain layout (front-wheel drive does not a Mercedes SL competitor make) and the mediocre performance of Cadillac’s High Technology V-8 engines.

The lack of power was finally addressed in 1993, the Allanté’s final year, by the rocket-like thrust of Cadillac’s all-new Northstar V-8. The added grunt was competitive, but 1993 also included a heavily revised rear suspension, active dampers, and revised power-steering. As we previously mentioned, the 1993 Allanté was “finally, the internationally competitive luxury roadster its creators had envisioned … albeit six years too late.”

1988 Pontiac Fiero

One of the big problems with the Pontiac Fiero, aside from the engine fires of the early models, was the promise of sporty performance, which wasn’t realized until the last year of production. As we previously mentioned, cost-cutting sealed the Fiero’s fate well before 1988. There was simply too much parts-bin engineering: The compact X-body (Citation) front suspension was flipped 180 degrees and dropped in the back, while the front suspension was lifted from the T-body subcompact (Chevette). It’s a shame that in the Fiero’s final year the necessary suspension upgrades (new front control arms, knuckles, and an all-new tri-link rear suspension, plus a wider front track and, on WS6 models, staggered wheels) and improved brakes (four wheel vented discs) couldn’t alter the course of history. These bits were precisely what Pontiac engineers intended for the Fiero from the get-go. At least we got one year of mid-engine Pontiac Excitement.

2020 Cadillac CT6-V (Blackwing)

Hate to say it, but the Cadillac CT6 is not unlike the Cimarron before it. That’s because the last examples of Cadillac’s J-body experiment indeed improved when a 2.8-liter V-6 and five-speed manual transmission were standard equipment. Similarly, the CT6 never set the world on fire, because a flagship luxury sedan needs more swagger under the hood than a turbocharged four-cylinder could ever provide. (Yes, the CT6’s standard engine was 0.8 liters smaller than what’s on tap for a 1987 Cimarron.)

The CT6 didn’t receive a proper V-8 until the 2020 CT6-V hit the scene with the similarly star-crossed Blackwing motor. Because there is still a market for upper-crust luxury sedans (think Mercedes S-Class), the CT6 deserved an optional V-8 from the start. What happened when the CT6 got it all? Both the engine and the car unceremoniously met their maker.

1917–18 Chevrolet Series D

The Series D was truly a car ahead of its time, sporting a standard overhead-valve V-8 engine that came a full 38 years before the famous small-block Chevrolet V-8. A gentleman named A.T. Stuart designed a surprisingly lightweight chassis and a rear suspension with quarter-elliptic rear leaf springs mounted in a rather radical cantilever fashion. All of which should have meant a longer production run for the Series D, so what happened? General Motors happened. It’s a safe bet that the 1917 integration of Chevrolet into General Motors ensured the premium Chevrolet V-8 could never be a threat to offerings from Oldsmobile and Buick.

General Motors EV1 (NiMH upgrade)

This one is a no-brainer: Have a look at the photo that comes with the Wikipedia definition of compliance car. The EV1 was ahead of its time and yet destined for failure. We’ve discussed the truth about this car previously, but the fact remains: The EV1 only improved toward the end, when the second generation received nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. While NiMH aren’t nearly as good as the li-ion batteries that made Tesla famous, the EV1 proves that General Motors was dead-serious about electric propulsion. And it doubled down on its efforts by improving the EV1 … before they crushed (almost) all of them. 

1929–31 Viking

Based on one of GM’s first shared platforms (the ubiquitous 1926–96 GM B-platform), the Viking by Oldsmobile was a short-lived experiment in premium branding for an established automaker. While this notion was successful for Oakland (i.e. Pontiac) it didn’t work out here, or at Buick (with Marquette), or at Cadillac (with LaSalle). Well, perhaps it worked a little too well for Oakland. No matter, Viking was “built to meet growing public demand for an eight-cylinder car of General Motors quality at medium price.” Talk about irony: The Series D mentioned above was doing the same for Chevrolet a little over a decade before. GM knows market segmentation can only take it so far, but market research in the Herbert Hoover era was probably lacking a bit.

2006 Chevrolet SSR (LS2)

Chevrolet’s Super Sport Roadster was a truck with a folding hardtop, styled to be a hot take on the “Advance Design” pickups from 1947. The look was great, but it rested atop a revised GMT-360 platform (shared with the Trailblazer SUV) with a workhorse 5.3-liter V-8 (300 horsepower) that ensured the SSR didn’t perform as well as some hoped.

The combination of brilliant style atop mundane underpinnings is not unlike the Pontiac Fiero’s tragic tale, as looks weren’t enough to keep questions about SSR’s longevity at bay. The asking price was steep and sales were disappointing, but the penultimate year (2005) saw the introduction of the LS2 small block V-8 (390 horsepower) and an optional six-speed manual transmission. Could this be the reincarnation of the El Camino SS? Unfortunately not, as only 826 units were sold in 2006, even with a modest power bump (+5 for autoboxes and +10 for manuals). Perhaps the future coulda been brighter if the combination of LS2 LS6 and manual transmission was available from the get-go … or perhaps power was never the SSR’s problem.

1976–77 Chevrolet Vega

I come not to bury the Chevrolet Vega, but to praise it. The early models certainly had their problems, but like most American cars in the 1970s, a cornucopia of running changes happened behind the scenes and never got the attention they deserved. This isn’t just about big bumpers and catalytic converters, as there were presumably 264 changes in 1975 and 300 changes the year after. Our nation’s Bicentennial anniversary ushered in an honest-to-goodness five-speed manual transmission, corrosion-fighting improvements, cooling upgrades, revised chassis, larger brakes, and an upgraded rear suspension. The Vega’s final year (1977) was cleaner thanks to a revised secondary air-injection system, and the insides looked more upscale with color keyed steering wheels, steering columns, and a color-matched full console. While the Vega lived a long life (and spawned the sporty Monza/Skyhawk/Starfire/Sunbird) it’s safe to say that many of the best Vegas ever made were the last ones.

2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue

I’ll let you in on a little secret: General Motors’ long running W-body platform is rather underrated, and the best of the breed came from Oldsmobile. No other W-body has the clean, modern styling and sweated the details quite like the Intrigue. No really: I mean, just look real close at that nose!

While there was nothing particularly wrong with the Intrigue, unlike other Oldsmobiles that benefited from performance upgrades (think supercharged 3800 engines), the Intrigue died three years before the wicked 5.3-liter V-8 engine (LS4) was shoehorned into the W-body Pontiac Grand Prix GXP. If only the Intrigue GLS could have the LS4 V8 tearing up the streets, violently torque-steering its owners off the road with just a touch of the traction control button and a punch to the gas pedal. Iron fist, meet velvet glove: If only the Oldsmobile division survived long enough to make this happen!

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Today’s column (most of it, anyway) is actually written by Mike Massey, a friend of mine in Round Rock, Texas. Like me, he shares my love of full-sized, woodgrained domestic station wagons and owns a Roadmaster Estate Wagon, among other vintage GM rolling stock, today. I’ve always loved the 1977–79 B-body Pontiacs, especially the fancier versions.

Back when I was still a toddler, my dad had a metallic root beer brown 1979 Bonneville sedan with a beige vinyl top and beige interior. It was his company car and replaced a metallic ice blue ’77 Chevy Monte Carlo.

I loved that Bonneville, all the chrome, the fender skirts, just everything. Still do. I remember walking around it on weekends when Dad was washing the cars in the driveway. That car was also the subject of my first-ever car memory. Though I didn’t ride home from the hospital in it—that job fell to my mom’s dark blue ’77 Volvo 245DL wagon. Anyway, here’s the story of Mike’s dad’s special-ordered ’78 Grand Safari, a most Broughamtastic wagon.

Mike:

OK, I get lots of questions and comments about this car, so here is the long “novel” of our ’78 Pontiac Grand Safari, which we owned from 1978–86, and how we came to own it.

Dad really hated selling their pretty, chocolate brown ’72 Cutlass Supreme two-door coupe, but my younger brother was on the way at the time, and we had just moved from Amarillo, Texas, to Tulsa, Oklahoma (Dad with a Southwestern Bell promotion), and Dad had inherited his Father’s ’73 Cheyenne Super pickup for himself, so it was new car time for Mom.

Dad always liked Oldsmobiles, but he hated the woodgrain design on those new ’77–78 B-body Custom Cruisers, where the wood was only on the lower body, except where wood ran up and over the wheel openings. Dad thought that was just plain ugly. He considered a Buick, but I think that was still an “older-person’s” car to him. He also badly wanted a ski boat, and while reading that ’78 was going to be the last year of the Pontiac 400 engine wagon option—and that it was the most powerful motor offered in these wagons, that made him look toward buying a Safari. Dad went and looked at the Pontiacs (I always tagged along on our many Sunday-afternoon “car-lotting” trips, which continued all through my youth and beyond), and I remember Dad’s only real complaint with the Pontiacs was that they didn’t have the chrome/stainless lower-body trim on the lower body rockers, lower doors, and lower quarter panels like the Buick and Oldsmobiles did.

Dad finally went to Ernie Miller Pontiac, on Memorial Drive in Tulsa, and ordered a Grand Safari exactly how he wanted it—with as much power and luxury and as many options as he could check off the order form. He ordered that big Pontiac 400, the towing package with every heavy-duty option, and a Delco cassette stereo. (No 8-track for us; Dad was already addicted to recording American Top 40 every weekend on our living room stereo, and he wanted to listen to his Casey Kasem and mix-tapes in his new car.)

He chose the full dashboard gauge package (with the central electric clock and not the fuel economy gauge), power everything, and that wacky 1970s Valencia velour striped interior trim; basically he checked off every box. The car ended up costing well over $10,000, more than most Corvettes that year. It was really loaded.

Dad ordered cornering lights, a tilt steering wheel, power antenna, door panel courtesy lights, and wood-trimmed deluxe steering wheel—and all of those options were missing when the Safari arrived. He was so mad. He’s ordered every option but the sunroof, and it had none of it. I was a little kid then, but I can still remember him ranting.

The colors are what really stood out, and they were also a problem from the start. Dad wanted the extra-cost ($380) Valencia velour interior from the Bonneville Brougham, but he wanted a silver car, and the dealers said he could not order a silver car with tan Valencia interior—it wouldn’t look right. He wanted him to order the red Valencia interior, which was an “approved” color for a silver car. It’s not clear if it was Mom who didn’t like the red, Dad wanting a lighter color for the hot Tulsa summers, or just that Dad liked the tan, but he insisted on that tan interior, saying with the exterior woodgrain trim, it would look just fine.

The dealer put in the order, and Pontiac built the car, and to the dealer’s surprise it looked fantastic when it came in. The silver paint had a lot of metallic in it, and sparkled, and the dark wood with lighter tan outline trim contrasted wonderfully with that wild striped interior. They even put it on the showroom floor when it arrived. Dad said in the months soon after taking delivery, there were other silver-over-tan Safaris on the lot there at Ernie Miller. I guess he started a fad!

As mentioned, it was special ordered with the last of the real Pontiac 400 engines and with the towing package for the lower rear gearing (remember the boat … that Dad never got?). It would really scoot for a 1970s car. It was also geared so low that, when we came down the mountains in Colorado (we moved there in 1984), if Dad took his foot off the gas it would actually slow down, even on the steep mountain grades.

There were, however, some “issues” when the car finally came in. Dad had ordered the Pontiac “Snowflake” aluminum alloy wheels, but when it arrived it had wire-wheel hubcaps. Pontiac dropped the snowflake option from the wagons, saying the mags could not support the load the wagons might carry, so they were offered only on the sedans. I’ve also been told all towing-package Safari wagons got the steel wheels with hubcaps … but don’t know if that’s really the case or not. Dad refused delivery until the dealer swapped on the Rally II wheels you see in most of the pictures, but there’s one pic of Dad pre-delivery with the wire hubcaps (above). The Rallys were not what he really wanted—Dad was just 31 when he bought this car … no wire hubcaps for him—but it looked sportier, at least, with the Rally IIs.

Other mistakes by Pontiac that went uncorrected were: he ordered a tilt steering column and cruise control, as well as the pretty wood-trimmed Bonny Brougham steering wheel, and it showed up with a fixed, non-tilt steering column and base-level Bonny steering wheel with a single silver strip that ended in a Pontiac arrowhead emblem (in hindsight, the base-level wheel was better than the wood-trimmed version, as every wood wheel I’ve since seen has the wood rubbed off the outer wheel spokes from handling). The car did have cruise control, thankfully. Another issue is he had ordered the “light package” with cornering lights on the front fenders and chrome-trimmed red and white door panel lights … and the car arrived without that package too. Dad lived with it, but he never gave Ernie Miller any more of his business.

My dad’s good friend bought a brown ’78 Grand Safari for his family, and the wagons can be seen nose-to-nose in our back yard in Tulsa, with the proud owners posing.

We did have a bit of a nightmare trip when that Safari was basically brand new. My grandparents had just moved from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, to a big house in Waco, Texas, and they invited us down for Thanksgiving (about 350 miles away … six hours for normal folks, eight hours for my family, with 10+ bathroom stops). We set off for Waco in the freshly washed and gleaming Safari, with a big white Sears X-Cargo carrier strapped on the roof rack. Dad had cut foam to the exact size of the cargo area and with blankets had made a pallet bed back there for napping or playing (seatbelts were still for looks until the early ’80s).

We’d headed south with a Joe Walsh cassette in the stereo and sunny fall weather. About two hours south of Tulsa, the Safari began hitching and bucking and backing off. Finally it stalled, and Dad coasted to the side of the road. He was upset and boggled … this was a brand-new car! A trucker stopped, and the two of them looked over the car. Turns out, on the early B-body wagons, there was a mesh screen on the exhaust tip. I have no idea why GM did that, but that screen was totally blocked by what Dad guessed was burnt pieces of the catalytic converter. The car simply could not “breathe.” The trucker got a tire iron and proceeded to bash that screen out of the exhaust tip, then he had Dad start the car and rev the motor. Black chunks of screen and converter flew out … and the car ran perfectly the rest of the trip.

But the fun was not over. Upon arrival in Waco that evening, Dad parked the Safari nose-in to a basketball hoop in my grandparent’s driveway. The structure was made with two large wooden posts with various cross-braces, and the backboard was thick plywood (the photo above shows me climbing onto my grandad’s trail bike shortly after we arrived, and you can see the white basketball structure in front of the car). That night the weather changed and there were high winds and an ice storm. During the storm that basketball goal fell right onto our new wagon. We woke to find the world covered in ice, with that basketball goal laying on the dented hood and roof of the wagon, the windshield shattered. Dad was just ill, my grandfather was mortified, and we all tried to make the best of that Thanksgiving after they pulled the basket off the car.

We ended up driving all the way back to Tulsa that weekend while looking through a shattered windshield. Dad had the car repaired at the dealership soon after, but the paint on the hood and front of the roof faded a few years later, while the rest of the factory paint never faded a bit.

Another shorter story: When the car was just a few years old, we were traveling and I sat in the middle row, passenger side. I noticed the plasti-chrome tape on the door panel that outlined the wood trim was coming loose. I picked at it and then proceeded to pull if off the panel in long, thin strips, leaving the bare grey plastic trim. I then proceeded to throw the chrome tape at my kid-brother next to me, at which point my Dad was getting mad, and then some tape floated up front, where my Dad grabbed it, looked at it, looked back at me, squinted his eyes, and then opened them wide when he realized what the chrome fluttering around the interior was. He immediately slammed on the brakes and pulled over, after which I was hauled out of the car and spanked on the side of the road … in full view of passing cars. I learned not to pick at the plasti-chrome trim after.

When the phone company broke up in 1984–85, Dad found out he was moving to AT&T, and we were being transferred. Dad sold that Safari to a teenager down the street  in Denver, and we were moving to New Jersey. The Safari was still in nice shape and had about 90K miles on it then. The woodgrain under the door handles was starting to peel, and the hood and front roof paint was fading, and Dad said the rear differential had started growling a bit, but other than that, it was still in fine shape (minus some chrome trim on one door panel). I was 11, and when the kid pulled out of our driveway in the Safari I cried—no joke.

When we arrived in New Jersey, Dad bought Mom a silver 1986 Buick Electra Estate Wagon. It was a pretty car, with fancy pillowed grey cloth inside, and lots of wood inside and out, but it was gutless with the Olds 307, was never as special as that Safari was, and gave us a lot of trouble mechanically and cosmetically. The Safari had been such a wonderful and reliable car in comparison.

If any wagon nuts in Colorado ever come across a silver-over-tan ’78 Safari with wild-looking interior trim, please drop me a line. I hope that car is still alive somewhere!

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In the early spring of 1963, during a “what if” session at GM’s Milford, Michigan, Proving Grounds, a small team of Pontiac engineers led by John Z. DeLorean realized the 389-cubic-inch V-8 from the full-size Bonneville would fit easily in the new midsize Tempest. A week later, they were doing burnouts in the first prototype, and the car widely accepted as America’s first muscle car, the 1964 Pontiac GTO, was born. Though the marque is deceased, the model remains as popular as ever. Here’s a look back at the GTO’s many milestones during its initial 10-year production run.

01: Gas, tires, and oil

To name his new creation, DeLorean—welcoming a little controversy—took the name of a Ferrari legend. Although guys on the street said GTO stood for “Gas, Tires, and Oil,” it actually means Gran Turismo Omologato, or, in English, Grand Touring Homologated. The term was owned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) sanctioning body, which dictated how many cars a manufacturer had to build for the model to be legal, or homologated, for Grand Touring competition.

“Ferrari never built enough GTOs to earn the name anyway,” wrote Car and Driver in 1964. “Just to be on the safe side, though, Pontiac built a faster one.”

02: GOAT

GOAT Over the years, the GTO did gather quite a few nicknames. Many, including “The Tiger,” “The Great One,” and “The Humbler,” were created by Jim Wangers and his team of advertising copywriters responsible for the muscle car’s marketing. The Tiger campaign began in 1964, with The Great One appearing in 1967. The Humbler copy launched in 1970. Somewhere along the way, the guys on the street began to call GTOs “Goats.” Only it wasn’t a reference to “Greatest of All Time,” it was a play on the letters and a term of affection. By 1969, it even appeared in a corporately controversial GTO advertisement championed by DeLorean and Wangers.

03: Hidden headlights

In the late 1960s, hidden headlamps were all the rage, appearing on cars from brands including Ford, Dodge, and Chevrolet. In 1968, along with GM’s other A-body models, the GTO received its first major redesign. Unlike the Chevy Chevelle, Olds Cutlass, and Buick Skylark, the Pontiac got hidden headlamps. The optional feature lasted just two years, but the GTO’s impact-resistant color-matched Endura rubber front bumper stuck around through 1972. Developed by the Dayton Rubber Company in cooperation with Pontiac, it was exclusive to the GTO, but Pontiac also used the Endura bumper on the 1970–73 Firebird.

04: Most powerful

Unlike many of the GTO’s competitors, Pontiac never built a GTO with an output rating of over 400 horsepower. In fact, the most powerful production GTOs were the 1969–70 models with the optional Ram Air IV 400-cubic-inch V-8, which made 370 horsepower at 5500 rpm and 445 lb-ft of torque at 3900 rpm. During the final days of the Pontiac brand, the reinvented Holden-based GTO of 2005–06 was powered by GM’s 6.0-liter LS2, which was rated at 400 horsepower at 5200 rpm.

05: First functional hood scoop

“We find the GTO quite handsome, except for those phony vents that GM Styling’s Bill Mitchell insists on hanging on everything. Unlike the Stingray, the GTO has only the ones on the hood, so we can say it could be much, much worse,” wrote Car and Driver in that first road test back in 1964. Although every GTO from 1964 to ’74 had factory scoops, most were not functional. In 1965–66, however, you could order Pontiac’s Ram Air kit over the counter at dealers, and it came with a functioning scoop. GTOs with open hood scoops were available from the factory beginning with the 1967 model with the Ram Air 400 option. It cost an extra $263.30, and just 751 were built.

06: Least powerful

In 1974, you could still buy a true muscle car from Pontiac. It just wasn’t a GTO. It was the 290-hp Trans Am with the Super Duty 455. The ’74 GTO was packing only 200 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque, down from the 230-hp 400 and 250-hp 455 offered in 1973—making it the least powerful GTO. Interestingly, it had near-identical performance to the ’64 GTO; famed Poncho tuner Nunzi Romano ran the quarter-mile at 15.72 seconds at 88 mph in a ’74—a hair off the 15.64 seconds and 90 mph he did in a ’64.

07: Last convertible

When the GTO was launched in 1964, three body styles were available: coupe, hardtop, and convertible. Although the 1972 GTO was much the same as the 1971 model, the convertible version was discontinued. However, buyers could still get a LeMans Sport convertible with the same engines offered in the GTO. Both the 1973 and 1974 GTOs were one-year-only body styles, with no convertible offered, but you could order a rear-mounting tent for your ’74 hatchback, which—theoretically—converted it into a camping rig.

08: Worst-selling year

After a slight sales rebound in 1968 with the new body style, GTO sales continued to fall. In 1970, just over 40,000 GTOs were sold. And that number dropped sharply in 1971, to fewer than 11,000. The muscle car thing was winding down quickly. Only 5807 GTOs were sold in 1972, and the new 1973 model failed miserably, selling only 4806 and making it the worst-selling GTO of all time. Surprisingly, with sales of around 7000, the 1974 model, which was offered as a coupe or a hatchback, sold better than the two previous model years.

09: Best-selling year

From 1964 to 1966, the GTO basically owned the muscle market, while everyone else was playing catch-up. In 1967, however, the competition began to get fierce. Chevy launched the Camaro, and its big-block SS Chevelle had found its legs, along with Oldsmobile’s 4-4-2. Pontiac also had the new Firebird, and the Dodge Coronet R/T and Plymouth GTX were now in showrooms. The Plymouth Road Runner was a year away. As a result, Pontiac sold more GTOs in 1966 than any other year—96,946. In 1967, despite its larger 400-cubic-inch engine, sales fell to 81,722.

10: The Judge

Like the Plymouth Road Runner, The Judge was meant to be a budget GTO, a street racer special. But The Judge, launched in 1969, actually became the most expensive GTO. It was introduced to the press at California’s Riverside Raceway on the same day as the first Trans Am, December 8, 1968. The name, taken from a popular skit on the hit NBC TV comedy Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, was another DeLorean deal. It was originally going to be called the GTO E/T, as in Elapsed Time, but DeLorean thought that name was silly. The Judge lasted three model years, and a 1970 Judge painted Orbit Orange, provided by Pontiac, starred in the 1971 car flick classic Two-Lane Blacktop.

11: No replacement for displacement

For its initial 10-year production run, the GTO used four different displacement versions of Pontiac’s iron-block V-8. Unlike Chevrolet, Ford, and the Mopar brands, Pontiac did not have small-block and big-block engine architectures. From 1964 to ’66, the GTO’s engine displaced 389 cubic inches, or 6.4 liters, as it said on fender badges. In 1967, it grew to 400 cubic inches (6.6 liters). The 400 remained through 1973, along with a 455-cubic-inch (7.5-liter) version, which was optional. In 1974, only a 350 (5.7-liter) engine was offered.

12: Little GTO

In the early 1960s, many groups had hit songs about cars. Ever the marketer, Jim Wangers wanted a song about the GTO and started pitching the idea to record labels. John Wilkin, an employee at Buckhorn Music in Nashville, loved the idea and wrote a song. After a few suggestions from Wangers, Wilkin formed the group Ronny and the Daytonas with some studio musicians and released the single, “G.T.O.,” in spring 1964. By September, it was No. 4 on the charts, and more than 1 million copies sold.

13: The GTO that never was

On June 28, 1972, Pontiac announced the 310-hp Super Duty 455 engine and said it would be available in the Grand Am, the Grand Prix, the Trans Am, the Formula, and the GTO. Later that year, after driving a prototype SD455-powered GTO at GM’s Milford Proving Grounds, Martyn L. Schorr and Joe Oldham from Hi-Performance Cars magazine were so impressed, they selected it as the magazine’s Top Performance Car of the Year. They put it on the cover of the April 1973 issue and called it the new King of the Street. Schorr even ordered one for himself. But the car never happened. Pontiac never built a production SD455 GTO in 1973, and the magazine had honored a car that didn’t exist. The engine did see production, but only in the Trans Am and Formula in 1973 and 1974.

14: Most affordable

The average value of a 1973 GTO with the base 400 engine is $9700 in #3 (Good) condition, making it the most affordable classic GTO in today’s car market. Most buyers chose the automatic, so add 10 percent for four-speed cars and another 10 percent for air conditioning. Also expect to pay more for cars with the optional 455 under the hood. Only 544 were made, all with the automatic.

15: Most valuable

Today, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO is the most valuable car in the world. One sold privately in the past couple of years for a reported $70,000,000. The most valuable Pontiac GTO is the 1969 Judge convertible with the 370-hp Ram Air IV engine. A mere five were built, all with a four-speed transmission. Today, they have an average value of $430,000 in #3 (Good) condition, while the best in the world is worth about $550,000.

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In 1970, when General Motors rescinded its edict that limited mid-size cars to 400 cubic inches, it was like uncaging a predator that sat and watched from afar as cross-town rivals offered 7.0-liter behemoths. GM had done well with what it had, but now the corporation could exploit high-performance in more competitive terms.

Interestingly, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Pontiac all marketed 455s starting in 1970, and they were engineered from different philosophies and had different trajectories through the decade. How did they compare? Rick O. Rittenberg’s America Performance V-8 Specs: 1963–1974 (full disclosure: yours truly wrote the foreword) helps us note statistical differences:

Oldsmobile 455: It’s all in the cam

Oldsmobile (along with Cadillac) was the first, in 1949, to seize upon the idea of high-compression V-8s. This first series of Rocket V-8s lasted through 1964, topping out at 394 cubic inches; the second generation of the big Rocket continued in 1965 at 400 and 425 cubic inches, with the latter receiving a 0.275-inch boost in stroke in 1968 to become the Rocket 455. At the time, Oldsmobile only offered the 455 for full-size cars and Toronados, with the latter’s W34 package topping the range with 400 horsepower and 500 lb-ft. This engine included a scoop similar to those nifty under-the-bumper scoops on top-performance mid-size models.

Though General Motors had that pesky edict, Hurst helped bypass this rule by producing 515 examples of the 4-4-2-based Hurst/Olds, all with a 390-horse 455 with 10.50:1 compression. (It was later revealed that Olds flouted the rule and actually installed the 455 on the assembly line.) Of course, Oldsmobile released the hounds for 1970 and offered the standard 455 for the 4-4-2 plus a W30 package with 370 horses. Unlike previous W30s, which were cammed out of sight—as Oldsmobile expected owners to add headers and other mild mods to wake up the engine some more—Olds gave the automatic W30 a slightly milder cam that was more streetable. This was typical of Olds at the time, which had played around with cams for several years with the 400-powered 1968–69 4-4-2 automatic (with 25 fewer horses from than the stick) and the automatic-only 1969 4-4-2 W32, which was billed as a W-Machine “a mother could learn to love.”

Additionally, a new SX package for the Cutlass Supreme came standard with the 320-horse 455 two-barrel, then was replaced in February 1970 by the 365-horse 455 (10.25:1 compression) from the big cars; optional was the 365-horse W32 455 (10.50:1 compression) that was identical to the standard engine for the 4-4-2. Horsepower dropped in 1971 due to lowered compression and, aside from the W30’s swan song for 1972, an emasculated 455 lasted through 1976.

Buick 455: A tale of torque

Kids growing up in the 1960s–70s knew how fast Buicks could be thanks to riding along in Mom and Dad’s car as it easily powered away from stoplights. This was Buick’s modus operandi, as its engineers designed its engines for solid low-end torque. “Fast for the street,” Buick engine development engineer Denny Manner told us recently, at Buick GS Nationals. “That was our goal. Buicks were heavy, loaded with power everything. That’s how people bought ’em. Low-end torque was key because that’s how people perceive performance.” There was little interest in modifications. As such, the oversquare 455 (unique among the three brands here) in Stage 1 tune featured peak torque at a low rpm—2800 in 1970. Compare that with 3600 for the W30.

This 455’s genesis can be found in the 1967 model year when Buick replaced the “Nailhead” V-8 that had powered most Flint flyers since 1953. The new big-blocks measured 400 and 430 cubic inches, with the 360-hp 430 being reserved for full-size cars and the Riviera through 1969. Both engines produced peak torque at 3200 RPM (on the high side for Buick) but, when Buick added an extra 0.125-inch to the bore for 1970 to create the 455, 510 lb-ft of torque was available at 400 rpm less. This was true for all the 455s, from the 350-horse engine, standard on the GS 455, to the 370-horse engine available for big cars and the Riviera (though truth be told, the latter two were more or less identical in practice). Thanks to thin-wall casting, the 455 also weighed less than similar engines from General Motors.

The Stage 1 managed to live on through 1974, and the 455 maintained Buick’s trademark for low-end torque through 1976.

Pontiac 455: Using their heads

In contrast to Oldsmobile and Buick, Pontiac took a different path with the 455, both for 1970 and beyond. The GTO’s 455 was competitively rated at 360 horsepower, though it was not as powerful as its 400 Ram Air III and IV siblings, nor was it as fast as the W30 and Stage 1 from Oldsmobile and Buick, respectively. Why did Pontiac not go all-out like its corporate cousins?

Per Mike Noun in the January 2021 issue of Pontiac-Oakland Club International’s Smoke Signals, there was a corporate shake-up in February 1969 when John DeLorean was promoted to General Manager of Chevrolet. DeLorean was replaced by James McDonald, a gentleman known more for being a bean counter than an automotive enthusiast. McDonald demanded a review of upcoming 1970 model year equipment, and it seems he dropped the hammer on “pet projects started by his predecessor that he deemed unnecessary or counter-productive towards maximizing sales.” That meant the Ram Air V project was discontinued, leaving the upcoming 455 with little development and the carry-over Ram Air IV as the top engine.

Aside from the GTO, the 455 was only available for full-size models. A 360hp version came with 10.0:1 compression, while the 370-horse option, installed in the GTO and Grand Prix, used 10.25:1 compression. Why the all-new 1970 Firebird—introduced mid-year due to a strike—didn’t receive the 455 is another head-scratcher.

All that and more changed for 1971. While compression was lowered, the 455 was improved in ways that should have been done for 1970. In particular, Pontiac added the Ram Air IV’s round-port heads to create the 455 HO. Round-port heads first made their appearance mid-year in 1968 with the Ram Air II, and Pontiac marginally improved them in 1969 and again in ’71 with the 455 HO. Rated at 335 horsepower, it was actually faster than the previous year’s 455. The HO was available for all two-door A-bodies, plus the Firebird Formula and Trans Am. The “regular” 455 continued to be available, now at 325 horses, with both 455s continuing through 1972 with few changes.

Those round-port heads were key in the development of the 1973 Super Duty 455, which replaced the 455 HO. On paper it was rated at 310 horsepower, but what was actually emissions-certified put out 20 horses less (and for 1974 the SD 455 was properly rated at 290). For both years, the SD 455 was only available for the two performance Firebird models, though it was planned to be offered on A-bodies too. After 1974, round-port 455s were no more; the 455 soldiered on through 1976.

Although starting the decade off weak, Pontiac is to be commended for making the Dark Ages a little brighter through 1974.

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In a September 1967 feature story in Car and Driver, legendary columnist Brock Yates wrote, “Organized street racing was supposed to have turned hot-rodding into something as respectable as apple pie and as legal as little league baseball, but the truth is drag racing on public highways—street racing—is bigger than ever, and Detroit’s Woodward Avenue is the street-racing capital of the world.”

Yates knew it. Woodward regulars knew it. Automakers knew it. The cops knew it. So did General Motors’ advertising team, which had been prohibited from promoting racing or reckless driving of any kind.

So how do you produce a catchy ad for the 1968 Pontiac GTO—which in its most powerful form packed a 366-horsepower, 400-cubic-inch Ram Air II V-8—and not talk about its performance on the street? You get creative.

Pontiac’s advertising agency—McManus, John, & Adams, represented by Jim Wangers—came up with the perfect solution to the dilemma, or so it thought. On an early Sunday morning, the team took a new GTO out to a northern section of Woodward Avenue for a photoshoot. Aiming to create an image that looked like the car’s owner was waiting for his next challenger, a GTO was positioned in a turnaround lane under signs that left no doubt to its location. The signs there prominently displayed Woodward and US-10, and another marker was created and attached which pointed the way to nearby I-75.

Art Morat, who led the photoshoot, later explained that the crew never asked permission to post the additional sign, they just did it—much like the subtle message that made its way into the ad: “The Great One by Pontiac,” the left side of the two-page ad read. Then … “You know the rest of the story.”

Boy, did we ever. And so did GM. The ad ran just once, in December 1967, in Car Life and other enthusiast magazines—never to be seen again. That’s because, as retired GM designer and Pontiac enthusiast Jeff Denison explained in the May 2000 issue of Pontiac Enthusiast magazine, the brilliant advertisement immediately drew opposition from towns along Woodward Avenue for suggesting that Pontiac endorsed street racing. “GM wanted no part of that,” Dennison wrote of the controversy, and Pontiac immediately pulled it before it could run again.

The ad has not been forgotten, however. In fact, it’s still popular among Pontiac enthusiasts—you can find actual magazine copies for sale on eBay and digital prints elsewhere online. When it comes to automotive advertising, it’s arguably the greatest ad that most people never saw. And now “You know the rest of the story.”

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The mid-’70s were a great time to be alive if you loved giant, American, V-8-powered, rear-wheel-drive cars. GM alone had a wide variety of B- and C-body coupes, sedans, and wagons to tempt you, from plain-Jane pillared Bel Air sedans to majestic Fleetwood Talismans. Somewhere in between fell the Pontiac Bonneville.

I learned about Bonnevilles from an early age, as my father had a 1979 sedan when I came onto the scene. I remember riding in it. So I always liked them, and as I got older and my knowledge of cars widened, I noticed the earlier ones too. The 1971 full size Pontiacs were all new and a bit more formal looking than their 1969–70 forebears. Available models were Catalina, Catalina Brougham, Bonneville, and the all-new Grand Ville, which displaced the Bonnie from its top-dog spot for the first time since 1957.

These would be the biggest Pontiacs made, and they lasted until 1976. Body styles were diverse, with coupes, sedans, hardtop sedans, a convertible, and six- and nine-passenger station wagons available. Between 1972 and ’74 only minor changes were made, mostly to the nose and tail, and mostly due to ever expanding safety requirements, with massive 5-mph bumpers added along the way.

In 1975 the big Pontiacs would get a more elaborate facelift, with coupes losing their pillarless hardtop roof and gaining a large, fixed rear quarter window instead. Four door hardtops gained an opera window inset into the sail panel, and both the Bonneville and Grand Ville received a very Cadillac-like nose, with quad rectangular headlamps added.

The ’75s also got the federally mandated catalytic converter, now requiring unleaded fuel only. Pontiacs also gained a new high-efficiency ignition and RTS, Radial Tuned Suspension. As the brochure explained, “RTS includes steel-belted radial tires, firm shocks, jounce restrictors, computer-selected springs, and front and rear stabilizer bars.”

The ’75s first appeared at Pontiac dealers on September 27, 1974. Unlike today’s usual roster of crossover, crossover, crossover, truck, maybe one sedan, and another crossover, the line was very diverse, with Catalinas, Bonnevilles, Grand Villes, Firebird Esprits (approved by Jim Rockford, of course), compact Venturas, midsize LeManses, personal-lux Grand Prixs, and the new Astre, a very lightly altered Vega.

And colors! Unlike the tepid selection offered these days, there were actual, bright colors. Orange, lime green! Reds, blues, golds, and browns! For 1975, one of the more unusual colors was Lakemist Green. It’s, ahem, somewhat polarizing. Hospital green? Pea soup green? Perhaps an even more unflattering term? I personally think of guacamole when I see it. Usually when I’m hungry.

My friend Jim Smith, who as a teenager worked as a lot/prep boy at one of the larger Chevrolet dealers in Chicago in the mid-’70s, told me that this color (which was offered throughout the GM range—except Cadillac, I believe—in 1975) was “sales poison.” No one wanted that color, and the dealer had to heavily discount the Monte Carlos, Caprices, and Malibus they had in this hue.

Standard equipment on Bonnevilles included a 400-cubic-inch V-8 with two-barrel carburetor, power steering, power front disc/rear drum brakes, and Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. Four-barrel 400 and four-barrel 455 V-8s were optional. Ryan’s has the 400.

Our featured ’75 Bonneville could be considered the “Guacamole Luxury Group” as paint, Cordova vinyl roof and interior all are color-coordinated. At the time this car was owned by my friend Ryan Travis, who also had a ’75 Impala in the same color, as can be seen in a couple of the photos he provided.

This car was literally a little old lady’s car. It had only a couple minor bumps and bruises on the exterior from hitting the side of the garage a few times late in her ownership. Otherwise, as you can see, it is in remarkable shape. Original paint, top, upholstery, and pretty much everything.

It looks especially good with the optional Rally II wheels, which gave these Nimitz-class Pontiacs just a dash of sportiness. This car is one of 12,641 1975 Bonneville four-door hardtops built. Base price was $5153 ($25,784 today) and curb weight was an unsurprising 4503 pounds. The other three Bonneville models were the two-door coupe and six- and nine-passenger station wagons. The nine-passenger Bonneville Safari was the most expensive of the quartet, at $5580 ($27,920).

Ryan sold it a while back, at the time it only had 27,770 miles on the odometer. In fact, he sold it back to the fellow he bought it from, who got a bad case of seller’s remorse. I love these 1975–76 Bonnevilles and Grand Villes; they look so luxurious with their Cadillac-like nose, fender skirts, and ample chrome trim. The long, low look is helped by the standard fender skirts, not to mention the 226-inch overall length. Please note that a 2021 Chevy Suburban is 225.7 inches long.

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