Me too, me too, is sometimes how Pontiac’s relationship with Chevrolet went. There was the Camaro-Firebird competition, then the Nova-Ventura cousins, the Vega-Astre relationship, and even a Chevette-T1000 why bother deal. Now why one would want a brand engineered Vega or Chevette is beyond me but marketers seemed to have a way of making things come together, whether they should have or not. We’ve covered plenty of Vegas but not too many Pontiac Astres so today, we’ll turn our attention to a 1976 version that is harboring a surprise. This diminutive Poncho is located in Nampa, Idaho, and is available, here on craigslist for $10,500.
Everything you know about a Vega, you know about an Astre. It was offered from ’73 to ’77 and came in the same Vega body styles with the only notable differences being the grille and taillights. On measurable Vega departure was the inclusion of Pontiac’s 2.5 liter “Iron Duke” (“new sizzle” according to Pontiac’s sales brochure) as an alternate Astre powerplant for 1977.
But forget all of that, as this Astre is LS-powered! Now GM’s “LS” series of engines cover a wide variety and which one this car possesses is not disclosed. It could be a hindside kicker 6.2 or a mild 4.8, or something in between. Regardless, it’s a huge improvement over lump A or lump B with which this car was originally straddled. A 4L60 automatic transmission, and “all the components to support it” backs up the small block. We’re told that it has an “Ultimate EFI” system and a fuel cell and it, “Runs and drives fine but will need more driving tuning time. It is (a) pretty quick light car“. The engine room is certainly impressive looking!
The car has a series sleeper vibe about it, it looks like a forlorn stocker that has been sitting out on the street for a long time. The finish is faded and nicked, and the paint is peeling but there is no sign of crash damage or rot – and it’s still wearing its simple, argent finished steel wheels. The most distinctive trait of an Astre, separating it from a Vega, is the trademark split Pontiac grille but in this case, the grill pieces are missing – I wonder how difficult it would be to source replacements?
The interior is a surprise, at least what can be seen of it, as the seating upholstery looks pretty good, and in keeping with the racecar vibe, the rear seat has been removed (dead weight on the dragstrip, right?) and has been carpeted over. Unfortunately, there is no image of the instrument panel, I would be curious to see what, if anything there has been modified; standard Astre dashboards were no great shakes.
This Pontiac is definitely an odd one, it’s the first of this nature that I have stumbled upon, and I like it! Imagine how much fun you could have with this innocuous-looking compact leaving some typical high-dollar muscle car in the dust. Hubba, Hubba, right?
I just get the feeling that the first time you fired this one up, let it warm up, and then floored it, this car would promptly fly apart in pieces and in all directions. But that’s just me.
First thing . Shell the rear end .
Things would go Astre!
Nice concept. I doubt that you could ever get it to hook up on those 13 inch wheels to leave anybody in the dust. Perhaps if you punched it fro 60 mph you would have a better race.
Yeah but then you’d have that legendary “handling” to worry about!
Its a Pontiac with an excessive amount of HP… What’s not to love.? Other than the price tag …
Take it out till something breaks make whatever broke stronger Repeat . I think 5 grand would be top dollar the wAy it sits if someone really had to have it
I see the GM guys will LS anything!😂😂 Ok good idea but, it’s open exhaust. There is no muffler’s hooked up. Also NYS law on the books that they are cracking down on performance exhaust systems. Mostly bikes.. they want repair shops to make sure all vehicles have factory exhaust for it to past state inspection… went into effect April 1st 2022. So anybody in New York buys this vehicle can’t roll it around the streets that’s for sure. But it would be fun putting full exhaust system in changing the rear end to a blazer rear end. Better suspension in the back and then it will hook up. Good luck to the new owner have a blast!! 🐻🇺🇸
I know NYC is installing equipment to measure exhaust decibels, & take a pic of lic plate & send out a ticket to the registered owner- not that fair tho if owner of car ain’t driving!
I don’t see how cars with super loud FACTORY exh systems like the shelby gt would pass. & i’m sure lawmakers won’t make ford “fix” that, like they made chevy stop offering the chambered exh in ’69 on camaros.
& in my city(not in NY state), the cops will not ticket ANYBODY for loud exhaust – they claim the only officer that knew how to operate their GIZMO to detect loud exhaust retired! lol
Way back in the day tho, they just opened their ears & pulled you over if your car was too loud – period & sometimes even stood in the street to stop you if you were doing 35 or 30 in a 25 mph zone!
I don’t see NY state being able to afford all the above equipment being installed in NYC in other NY cities, suburbs & all of the boonies.
I do not see most flowmaster mufflers passing, much less any tuner “muffler” either. Could be a big cash cow. Your safest bet are quieter factory or turbo mufflers.
This thing would instantly incinerate the little 13 tires, followed shortly afterwards by disintegrating the rear axle. An axle upgrade with some effort in finding some larger stock appearing wheels, brake upgrades, etc this could be a real sleeper. A regular Vega would be suspect, but a notchback Astre? You’d never see it coming. Carry a change of underwear with you…
It escapes me as to why someone would put this powerplant and the money, time, and effort into a brown Astre 2 door sedan. To each is own, I guess.
I somewhat agree that this has more power than the rest of the car can handle without some serious mods. It’s a shame that the bean counters turned a once great division into just selling rebadged Chevys. That was the beginning of the end for Pontiac. This was also about the time GM got in trouble for putting Chevrolet engines in Oldsmobiles. Engineers seemed to get the short end at Ford and Chrysler as well, resulting in the demise of Mercury and Plymouth. Sorry for the rant. I just can’t see one of these tin cans surviving with much power. I hope the buyer can rebuild it into something worth having.
Did this once in the early 90’s with a 327 then tried to street race someone and the frame and body twisted. So we took the engine and transmission out and put it in a 72 Datsun pickup. Because we didn’t learn our lesson on to much torque on the Vega the Datsun truck turned out better but we should have changed the front brakes to disk for better stopping.
As the owner of a stock 77 Astre with the Pontiac 4 cyl “Iron Duke” I can attest to my friend’s comments about how fast the car is and why do I drive so fast? What I’m saying is that in stock form, the Astre is a perfectly good car with adequate performance. Some one explain why they have to go zero to 60 in 2 seconds, and why this is good for the street? I’m thinking drag race only. And by the way, the Astre specific grilles and parking lights are made out of unobtainium.
The owner must have a death wish to run a 4L60 behind an LS motor!
Also, it might be worth the $10,000 just for the built LS motor, then part out the rest.
I’ve always felt the most distinctive trait of an Astre is the early Firebird tail lights
When gm put Chevy motors in olds The nascar gm guys could use the slicker aero olds bodies
It’s reassuring to know we’re all pretty much in the same gear here,,for once. All this shows, it’s for bragging rights. Someone could have easily put a modified 4 cylinder, PLENTY to choose from, but no. In true American fashion, got to go “full tilt”, what’s the max American solution, why the most powerful motor in the cheapest car America made,,an LS in a Vega( Astre, whatever), of course. There better be a logging chain holding that motor in.
I read, Astres were actually cheaper than the Vega by $100 bucks but with the bad rap Vegas had, didn’t matter what they had, and ’77, even with the better motor was the end of the line for the Vega/Astre, to be replaced, if you will, by the Sunbird, and we all know, that was still a Vega.
I think, with current inflation skyrocketing, we’ll see an end to this silliness, but in the meantime, I don’t mean to make fun of someones project, but THEY probably need the money and can’t finish it, and with this setup, it will cost plenty to make it even remotely safe. Looks like a “swing and a miss” to me.
ugg.another ls swap…woohoo….lame
Yes what a sleeper, posted 8 days ago.
WTF? I like it myself, this what being a young up and coming gear head is all about. Right? Go fast first, oh yeah maybe some of that “legendary handling” now. Uh brakes?
Rattlehead almost every new car review complimented the stock Vega or Monza handling. A sophisticated SLA front suspension, coil springs in the rear with well designed control arms, and some had a torque arm connecting the rear axle with the drivetrain. Never heard complaints about the brakes, but they did go with larger rear drums later, they all have front discs. What everyone didn’t like was the Vega motor.
Metal eating worms too, if the engine didn’t overheat and warp the head first. I had 2 Vegas. A 73 gt and. 76. I beat the snot out of em.
Some took a worthless car with a blown engine, stuffed a junkyard LS, probably with 200K miles on it, and now they’re calling it a 10K sleeper. No thanks.
It’ll go another 100K
Why? I guess u all answered that. I can just think of many other really worthy cars to put that LS in?.
The answer to the question posed in the first paragraph about why the Pontiac Astre and T 1000 ever existed is quite simple–CANADA. CDN Pontiacs were marketed as a ‘competitor’ to Chevys, so their Pontiac line matched the Chevy offerings. The Astre existed in Canada prior to its being sold here. When the small car market rose during the gas crunches in the 70s, Pontiac already made and sold them in Canada, so it was simple to bring them here. It is also why the Pontiac Parisienne clone of the Caprice also appeared for the first time south of the border in the 80s. Pontiac dealers in the US wanted a big sedan which had disappeared from the US Pontiac after 81. Again, bring the car already made in Canada here.
That thing is so ugly it would make a freight train take a dirt road; another thing that makes a great sleeper, along with the bleached paint. The thrill of an ol grey hair dusting off someone at a light is immeasureable. Good luck and happy motoring
Cheers
GPC
Working at a Pontiac store in the ’70s really made you hate these cars. Under 30 degrees and they would not start even with a shot of ether. Luckily we had Honda Civics to sell that always started and were a lot more fun to drive. I remember during the winter the front line of the lot where these were parked never changed as they would not start.
Sounds like an HEI problem, or possibly too thick a motor oil used to counteract oil burning(if cranked slowly in the cold).
What about ’74 & earlier Vegas still with pts & condenser? I would think with that ignition & proper maintenance & proper winter wt oil, they would start every time.
joenywf64, it was a fuel/carburetor issue. They would flood in an instant. It was not one car, they all acted the same.
Flooding may not be an issue today with the 10% ethanol gas evaporating quicker.
The problem now is KEEPING gas inside the carb when the car sits a while. lol
Back in the day tho, did anyone think of putting say a 1 barrel monojet from a chevy straight 6(or the nova straight 4 cyl) on the astre/vega motors?(the older model year the monojet, the simpler it is). Not sure tho if either could bolt on a vega/astre intake or if there was an adapter available at least). My friend’s ’68 nova is only on his 2nd monojet & it never hesitates even when cold, let alone floods.