Sometimes, a basic car project is all we’re looking for. This X-Body GM is one of those cars and a lot of parts were shared with Chevy’s Nova and other cousin cars. This 1976 Pontiac Ventura can be found here on eBay in Thief River Falls, Minnesota which is also the birthplace of Arctic Cat. The buyer has a $1,500 buy-it-now price listed and there are 28 folks watching this one, someone will nab it up.
Sometimes a car without a fancy trim level is what we’re looking for as thoughts roll around in our head on how to restore or rebuild, or restomod, it. A car where parts and pieces can be had fairly easily, even aftermarket replacement parts and panels, simply by looking through a catalog, either a paper copy or online. This car isn’t the sportier SJ version which was a competitor to Ford’s Granada and Mercury’s Monarch, it’s just a basic Ventura. This one obviously needs tires, start making your list now.
There is rust almost everywhere, at least surface rust. Minnesota knows a thing or two about rust, which is why most of us are saddled with constant and nagging depression… I mean, from what I hear. There are a few dings and dents and those parts catalogs will come in handy on this project. The trunk lid looks solid but the trunk floor will need work. The seller says that the underside looks like it’s in good shape, but… Minnesota, and that trunk floor, so yeah.
This is the second and last generation of the Pontiac Ventura and it was based on GM’s X-Body rear-drive platform which was also home to the Chevrolet Nova, Buick Apollo, and Oldsmobile Omega. The next in line would be the Pontiac Phoenix which was a front-drive X-Body and was related to the Chevrolet Citation, Buick Skylark, and Oldsmobile Omega. You can see that the interior needs work, too. The back seat looks good but otherwise, crack open that parts catalog again. The transmission is a GM Turbo-Hydramatic 350 automatic.
The engine is the smallest V8 offered for this car in 1976, an Oldsmobile 260 cubic-inch V8 with a mere 110 horsepower and 205 lb-ft of torque. The seller mentions that the previous owner said that this engine should run with minor work but we don’t know how long it’s been sitting or what’s wrong with it. I’m fairly sure that if this car is sold, the next owner won’t do a nut-and-bolt restoration to original specs, how would you bring this one back to life?
I thought the X-body was the Chevy Citation-line of cars that came out around 1981, not this body style.
Terrry, it’s one and the same. X-Body or X-Platform may be more correct. GM reused the terminology in 1980 with the next-generation front-drive cars.
Oh ok, I didn’t remember this body/platform being called the X-platform. The other ‘X” was GM’s first front wheel drive cars.
I was a GM dealership parts counter guy when the FWD X-Cars were introduced. Word quickly got around about how the Citation’s owners manual had been printed up in a size that wouldn’t fit into the glove box. That was a bad sign right there.
Most parts department personnel soon get to know the part numbers for fast moving items (oil filters, air filters, cabin filters, spark plugs etc.) So, when a former parts guy can remember the part numbers for the X-Car brake proportioning valves, parking brake cables, steering racks) that shows just how many of those items I used to sell. And we’re talking 30 years ago.
Or scrap??
Would be nice with the SJ package with buckets and the 461-474 Butler Performance engine with aluminum heads and proper driveline/suspension mods. Or for a little less a nice SBC. It’s slightly smaller than a 1968-71 GTO.
Only thing to do is drop in a small block v8. If you are going to do that, then WHY do it in this car?
Far better off doing a 67-72 or square body pickup…
Ahh, 1976, the Bicentennial. Seems like yesterday, and to think, in just 5 years, it will the 250th! Hope I am around to see it, had to work in 1976. (still grumpy about that).
The BOP versions always lived in the shadow of the Nova, even though it was the same car. Badge engineering at its finest. I know that term is a bit outdated today, in case some don’t know, all they did was change the name badge, trim and maybe engine choices. And people bought it. The ultimate bamboozlement. I don’t think there was much price difference, I’m sure the Nova was the cheapest, by what, $100 bucks then? It was all about what name make you held dear, and Detroit knew it.
Rarely will you find a clean one like this, they just weren’t that popular. The only reason any Novas still exist today is there were just so many of them. The words “unibody” and “Minnesota” don’t jive well, and I remember many of these rusted so badly, they dog tracked. I’m sure this one is fried underneath. Parts only here.
I cringe every time I see the word “restomod”.
How did this one end up with an Olds engine in it? I know other engines were used in non US markets but in the states theses came with one of three chevy engines.
Sometimes a vehicle’s engine and transmission availability depended on what State the car would originally be sold, or if it was in a high altitude county. That’s why some Firebirds and Trans Ams had the Olds 403 instead of the Pontiac 350 or 455.
I don’t what GM was doing motor wise about that time. I had a 77 Delta 88 with a Chevy 350 and I don’t recall it having California emissions.
I’d buy a different car
A correction to a statement made in the article….The Ventura was indeed followed by the Phoenix, but the Phoenix was RWD (and basically a tweaked Ventura) for the years 77-79. It wasn’t until 1980, with the introduction of the Citation, etc. that it bacame a front wheel drive model.
Excellent car for a young lad wanting to learn how to piece a car together.
I’d say this is a restomod candidate, with a new floor and custom chassis thrown in for good measure, especially with GM Performance’s E-Rod crate engine.
My roommate in college had one of these, it was yellow w/ black stripes and black interior. It was a decent car. His had a Buick engine in it.
A cheap project that could be made semi-cool I guess, these were everywhere when I was looking for a 1st car,average price back then was about 2 or 3 hundred, they rusted really badly back in Chicago though, that boat anchor 260 has to go,Pontiac 400 would make it scream though!
Auction update: I was wrong, this one ended with nobody grabbing it at $1,500!