Nicest One Left? 37K-Mile 1984 Pontiac 6000 STE

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The internet is weird, no wonder there’s so much fake information out there, dividing everyone and turning us all into social media-arguing combatants with total strangers. If you type in “fastest car in 1984” you get so many answers it isn’t funny. One that keeps coming back is a Pontiac, although not a 1984 Pontiac 6000 STE. This gorgeous example is listed here on CarStory in Freeport, Pennsylvania and they’re asking $12,939. Thanks to Doc B. for the tip!

The Pontiac Tojan came up as the fastest car in 1984, even faster than the Ferrari F40, supposedly. Again, who knows since it’s the internet and it’s overflowing with incorrect and just plain false information, as you all know. I was thinking of the fastest car in 1984 because a Pontiac 6000 STE brochure refers to the 600 STE as “America’s Ultimate Performance Sedan.” Maybe I should have searched for the fastest American sedan.

Whatever the fastest car was back in 1984, the average minivan or hybrid car would be 40 to 50% faster than this 6000 STE is today while getting probably 50% to 150%  better MPG. We all know the collector vehicle hobby isn’t about getting the most reliable vehicle or the one with the best MPG, however. It’s about driving something unique, something fun and different, and having a vehicle to bring to shows and vintage car events. For me, it’s about reliving the year 1984 again and I can’t think of a better way than with this time capsule.

Pontiac made the 6000 from 1981 for the 1982 model year, until the end of 1991. The Special Touring Edition, or STE, was made beginning for the 1983 model year and Road & Track named the 6000 STE one of a dozen top “enthusiast” cars for 1984. That’s also when the STE received a very cool new digital gauge package, which this one has. The seller has provided many great photos so please check out the listing and scroll through them. As expected on a car with just over 37,000 miles the seats look just about perfect.

The ridiculously clean engine is a GM 2.8-liter V6 and this was the last year for a carburetor. The transverse-mounted engine would have had 130 horsepower and 145 lb-ft of torque, going through a three-speed automatic to the front wheels, as was often the case for U.S. cars in the 80s. The seller gives no information at all other than some specs, but we have to believe this car operates as well as it looks. Have any of you owned a Pontiac 6000 STE?

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Comments

  1. Fahrvergnugen FahrvergnugenMember

    Just followed the rabbit hole and found that a ‘rare’ Toejam sold 1/2024 for $20k.

    It hasn’t aged as nicely as this STE. Even though the next gen Bonnie SSE is a nicer design, the STE has aged much better than the Toejam…IMHO.

    Like 3
    • LARRY

      I had one of these as a company car. Drove it for many miles, purchased it from the company and then sold it to my brother. He drove it over the 500000 mile mark while commuting in LA! It was a great car.

      Like 1
  2. AzzuraMember

    A really nice looking car, I remember seeing these all over the place back in the day. This one seems to be a little pricey, but far far below any good used vehicle nowadays. I’d much rather have this than some ordinary SUV. I’d use it as a daily driver and smile all the way to the bank.

    Like 9
    • Terrry

      They were better looking than their sister car, the Chevy Celebrity. I’ll give it that.

      Like 7
  3. Rex Kahrs Rex KahrsMember

    My ex best friend of 37 years had one of these Pontiacs when he was a salesman back in the mid-1990s I think. He had some device installed on the speedometer cable that cut the recorded mileage in half. He put 150K on the car and sold it as a 75K car.

    Next, he bought a Chevy Astro van from the work bulletin board from a co-worker. It turned out that his co-worker had installed the same device on the van. My buddy figured out that he’d been duped on the van’s mileage, so he contacted the State attorney general’s office, and they sued the co-worker; the co-worker was prosecuted, and my ex friend got a settlement for something like 10K.

    I imagine he’s still running his hustles all these years later. I ditched that joker 15 years ago. This car reminded me of all that crap.

    Like 14
    • Driveinstile DriveinstileMember

      Rex, I know I’ve said before that certain vehicles bring back good memories from our past……
      I didn’t however…… Anticipate something like that. Wow. Good move ditching a friend like that.
      As for this Pontiac, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a cleaner or nicer one. And hopefully they didn’t install one of those mileage things on this one. I’m sure they didnt.

      Like 8
      • MattinCT

        The mechanical odometer was independently driven by a small 12v motor. It could be disabled by putting in a SPST switch into the wiring. The rest of the digital dash remained functional, including the speedometer and the maintenance minder. I had an 85 STE.

        Like 1
  4. Howard A Howard AMember

    This car exemplifies how low we had sunk as a viable contender in the world market. It’s no wonder people bought Asian cars. The farm I lived on, the guy had a car like this. Had a slew of miles, okay in that regard, but it really didn’t age well. Every warning light was on, electrical gremlins, hard starting, finally the rear axle rusted. I suppose it was okay for Auntie Franny, whose “Larry” always had Pontiacs, but really, a ’63 Grand Prix it isn’t. What ever happened with that?

    Like 12
  5. TimS

    My family had an 84 6000LE that was loved. No it wasn’t a hot rod or work of art but it was good to us. Every time one of these pops up I miss that old car.

    Like 7
    • John

      I had an 85 6000 LE from 1985 to 1994, put about 130K on the odometer. It is the first car with fuel injection I owned and ran and accelerated much better than the 82 Citation we had with the same 6-cylinder engine but had a carburetor. I sold after it started dropping fuel injectors and the distributor died. All were replaced before selling, but decided I was done dropping money into the car. Still one of the best American cars I ever owned, they were great in snow, would go anywhere with little trouble.

      Like 1
    • Brent

      I had a 1984 6000 LE too. One day I put a small mirror on the little legde in front of the speedometer. It gave me heads up display.

      Like 1
  6. Terrry

    If memory serves, this car was Pontiac’s answer to the not missed Chevy Celebrity, which I had the displeasure of owning. Mine had the rough and gutless “tech 4” engine. This one has the fire-breathing (sarc) 2.8 V6. Carbureted too. Oooh! Based on my “pleasurable” experience of driving that Celebrity, there’s a good chance this Pontiac really does have that low of mileage.

    Like 4
  7. rmwardMember

    I owned a Pontiac 6000 STE, don’t recall which year, but I believe it was a 1986. I was selling these at the time and picked up a pre-owned GM company car for a great price.

    Served me well, I was putting over 40k on my cars annually. Don’t recall having any major issues, but I always maintained my cars impeccably.

    Wouldn’t mind having this one just to get passed by at Cars and Coffee. For their time, they were nicely equipped.

    Like 6
  8. Robert Rollins

    I thought I possessed a better than average knowledge of cars, especially American makes & in all of my years have never heard of a Pontiac Tojan. I looked it up and it appears to be some type of JC Whitney modified Firebird & would not qualify as a regular production model, so I’ll sarcastically refute the claim of fastest American car for the vintage, as many competent motorheads could coax 800+ horsepower out of a specially built project. If we are talking about American sedans, I would suggest that the little known 1984 Ford LTD LX, aka “Four Eyed Fox”, with the 5.0 liter V8 (302 cube ohv V8), borrowed from the Mustang GT, would take top honors as fastest American sedan for that year. I realize many will respond with comments about “malaise era”, but this particular sedan was cobbled together with the intent of competing with the top marque sedans from Europe & Japan in terms of both handling & straight line performance & held it’s own against Germany or Japan. If Ford had made it available with a 5 speed, they probably would have sold 10 times the number they did, even with the introduction of the SHO Taurus a short few years later

    Like 5
  9. peter

    I’d definitely like to have one of these.

    That aside, the 6000 definitely had the ugliest dashboard of the A-bodies.

    The Cutlas Ciera’s was in particular way better looking.

    Like 1
  10. Jonathan Green

    The Pontiac “Gooo”. There was also the Gooole, and this one the Goooste.

    It was and is common to see test mules, pre-production models, and press vehicles in and around the Detroit area. I remember taking a music lesson, and the teacher’s husband was something at GM, and they had a silver 6000 in the driveway when we showed up. It was AMAZING in 1981. I couldn’t have cared less about the lesson, I needed to see that car!

    Like 5
  11. Fox owner

    I remember seeing these on the road years after their GM stablemates were junked. So in addition to being the fastest that year they were reliable and well built. It must have been a real Sophie’s choice when GM had to cut the Pontiac division. Personally, I would rather have a G8 though.

    Like 4
  12. Jeff

    First American car in my memory to have rear seat headrests, made it look and feel much more European then it actually was. Still it was miles ahead of the Celbrity or just about any other US built sedan at that time.

    Like 4
  13. Richard Fleener

    I remember reading about these before they were released. I found a Pontiac dealer in Iowa 100 miles from my home who would order one for me. I was driving a 1980 Corvette L82 at the time. When the call that the STE was at the dealership. We made a quick trip to the dealer and picked it up. The wife drove the Vette home and I drove the STE. I loved that car and put approximately 65,000+ miles on it in less than a year. I replaced it with a 1984 Pontiac Grand Am that I liked even better. Another Grand Am and several Grand Prix followed. GM’s big mistake was taking Pontiac away from us spirited car enthusiasts. I still have a 04 GTO as a daily driver for my wife, she wants another one when hers blows up.

    Like 10
  14. Nelson C

    Pontiac was playing toward more European influence in the 80s as reflected in this and the Bonneville SSE to come. The corporate parts bin didn’t allow for the 3300 V6 as it was property of the BOC group. CPC had to make do with the 60° V6. Pontiac turned to suspension and interior to create a more desirable vehicle. The A-body was a competent front driver, though no rocket it was a pleasure to drive.

    I like the dash design. GM may have pioneered the center stack pod in rwd A-bodies but the linear design removes the knuckle from the lower middle portion making the car more pleasurable for taller drivers.

    Like 1
  15. Jimbo

    My dad considered one of these in 1985. I remember how it was such a departure in driving experience when compared to other domestic cars. You could even get an STE with the unique “pigskin” leather. It was like sitting on a large football!

    Like 1
  16. Mustang Nut

    Looks like a nice well preserved car! I had a new ‘90 6000 LE, I think it was back in the day and it was a nice driving and peppy, good gas mileage car. Think I had the 3.1 V-6 which was a good little engine! Never know what lurks inside someones garage!

    Like 1
  17. FenderUnbender

    For me the thing that really set the 6000 STE apart was later model years that had the radio controls on the steering wheel. I’m glad this one doesn’t or I would be pursuing a car I have no need for right now.

    Like 2
  18. Lothar... of the Hill People

    My ex-girlfriend’s sister’s then boyfriend, later husband, now ex-husband had one of these. I remember him having a cool car that sounded nice and I remember he also had a fairly convincing hairpiece. The wig is gone now and so, I imagine, is the Pontiac. I spoke to his current wife a while ago and asked when he stopped wearing a toupee… she had no idea he ever had one. Hair today, gone tomorrow.

    That is all.

    Like 4
  19. Steve

    I bought a new 1984 STE when after waiting 6 months for our ordered Fiero to come in we cancelled (thank goodness as we we later to fine out) the Fiero and bought a silver over grey 6000 STE. One thin about it was everything was standard including a safety kit in the trunk with air compressor and a tool kit. Actually was one of the most sporty and best handling car at the time, and one of the most comfortable I have had. 3.33 drive ratio made it pretty peppy for the time and it handled the mountain curves in Tennessee with ease. I’ve had a lot of cars, turbo trans ams, GNs, corvettes but this model does stand out in my memories.

    Like 4
  20. DMMMember

    It was one of the unique Pontiac design’s, which is why we liked it so much. I think the first 10k were all black lol. If I remember they made it in all wheel drive, which made it ‘compete’ only with Audi for a mid-size all wheel drive.
    Now had they made an STE wagon, they’d have been ahead of the market or created the market. I guess they didn’t sell enough sedans to keep building them, the wagons would have been impossible for America to imagine driving. Good ol’ GM.

    Like 2
  21. darasdad

    Personally, I’d like to know the history of this car. I don’t see one mention in the comments about what appears to be overspray on various parts of the car (emblems, plastic trim).

    Like 1
  22. David Peterson

    This car epitomized the level the American car business had sunk to in it’s time. The auto press wanted to like this so badly they bent over backwards trying to find the good driver qualities. Unfortunately there were very few, and only in comparison to other home grown mediocrity. It was a dark time to be in the American car business, yet Pontiac still sold 400k cars in 1979 ( I think?).

    Like 1
  23. Rixx56Member

    I recall working on and learning with the AWD version of the 6000 STE. It also had anti-lock brakes… kind of their infancy. Nobody in the 80s wanted to shell out money to have those anti-lock systems diagnosed.

    Like 2
  24. 2001LexusRX300

    I had a 1985 Celebrity Eurosport back in the day with the 2.8 MFI H.O. It was pretty slow and boring despite it’s sporty pretensions, but it was reliable. I wonder if the STE would be any more exciting. I’ve never driven one.

    Like 1
  25. jsbMember

    Bought my Mom a new 1984 STE, she had a heavy foot and absolutely loved it. She cried when it was worn out and replaced, was a wonderful driving car. The 1997 Continental that replaced it was a nice car, but no comparison, she missed her STE. Her California plate was STE4MOM.

    Like 1
    • John Muller

      In the mid 80s I worked at a place in Oak Park, Michigan that made micro-fiche and micro-film for the government and one of the mid level bosses was a woman who owned one of these cars and used to have me drive it to the car wash at least once a week. Had the compressor in the trunk. I ended up buying a 6000 LE later which was a nice driving car but it was stolen from the street one night, one of multiple cars that were taken back then from what used to be my grandparents home in Detroit. Ironically my grandfather had been DPD retiree.

      Like 0
  26. John Muller

    In the mid 80s I worked at a place in Oak Park, Michigan that made micro-fiche and micro-film for the government and one of the mid level bosses was a woman who owned one of these cars and used to have me drive it to the car wash at least once a week. Had the compressor in the trunk. I ended up buying a 6000 LE later which was a nice driving car but it was stolen from the street one night, one of multiple cars that were taken back then from what used to be my grandparents home in Detroit. Ironically my grandfather had been DPD retiree.

    Like 0
  27. DD

    The only ones who would ever pay this much are the ones who can’t afford it. Which is the majority of the members of the Classic GM FWD Society group on Facebook.

    Like 0
  28. 2002tii

    Cars were so bad in the early ’80s that I actually got excited when the STE was introduced. Sad times.

    Like 0

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