This 1977 Pontiac Sunbird stands out solely because there can’t be too many of these platform twins left on the road. Sharing much of what resides beneath the sheetmetal with the Chevy Vega of the day, the Sunbird pops up less frequently. Equipped with the optional V6, this example here on eBay has some body issues and a slightly unrealistic buy-it-now of $3,500.
Cars like the Vega and the Sunbird were offered as a means of giving the imports from Japan some domestic competition. I’m not certain cars like the Sunbird ever gave consumers much pause after they checked out a Corolla or Civic from competing dealers, but if you wanted to buy American, this was your choice. The body on this example looks acceptable from the front and the back, but rust is bleeding out from beneath the left tail light. Bumper chrome appears decent but the Sunbird is currently sporting an odd lean to the left.
The tennis ball shift knob is perhaps my favorite part of this Sunbird, along with the beefier power plant. The interior is decent for the age, but it’s merely OK. The seller does not elaborate on its mechanical woes, if any, nor does he provide any insight into its maintenance history. The whole eBay listing is basically a copy / paste from Wikipedia with the exception of mentioning it will come with the tired Cragars it currently rides on. At least the seats are untorn and the carpets look like they’d come back to life with a cleaning.
There’s also plenty of surface rust in the engine bay and along the wheel arches. As this is a Canadian car, a thorough examination of the impact of road salt is needed before planning to buy this economy car project, which is a gamble considering better examples are likely out there. The opening bid of $1,500 is already a strong ask for a project like this, so the seller likely will have to wait shoppers out if he wants to clear over $3K for this rarely seen cousin to the Vega.
Sunbird was not based upon the Vega. The Sunbird was based upon the Chevy Monza chassis. About all that was different were the front and rear end caps and the badging. I owned one for a few years and not too bad, compared to some other GM products of the era.
Wouldnt this be closer to a Monza than a Vega?
It’s a parts car. They are, at best, worth 1/2 the value of the parts.
Steve R
Not even that, Steve…looking at the ad, it has rust through all over the body…looks like a river find, not a barn find…
Wouldn’t offer him any more than 1,000 bucks and that’s
being much too generous.
The Sunbird/Astre/Monza/Skyhawk/Starfire did not share any sheetmetal body work from the Vega with the exception of the station wagon / Kammback on the Monza only.
These cars were what GM had in mind for drive train originally on the Vega before they were rushed to put in a 4 cylinder for EPA considerations instead of the 3.8L even fire Buick V6 they had been designed for. Here you can see what a Vega would have been with the proper power plant in place. A V8 was also available (Monza Spyder 2+2 was one such model).
I’ve had a few Pontiac Sunbirds and I have felt that Pontiac took any body design and tweaked it just enough to make it more interesting and fun.
The bumper isn’t chrome- it’s heavy thick aluminum. Starting in 1974, the Vega and subsequent models in the line used a heavy aluminum bumper. The darn things were actually pretty strong and could take low speed bumps without damage. In around 1978 GM started putting plastic bumper covers over the entire bumper, hiding it from view.
I still prefer a 74 GT Vega Kammback wagon, but those are just too expensive these days.
If I remember correctly, the Pontiac Astre was their version of the Vega ,only differing in front and rear treatments, but everything else was the same as the Chevy.
CliffS you are correct.
not entirely correct, Vince. I had a 1976 Astre and it did not have the aluminum 4 cylinder 140CI vega engine. it had an iron duke 151. the head cracked and I called every junkyard in town looking for a head they all said “yes we have lots of those” but when I got there they all had the 140 engine.
took me a year to find a head for that thing and I finally got it running then the transmission died.
GM did their best to make the public think this was an exciting new car,( and it kind of was and it worked, selling almost half a million Sunbird’s alone) but,,,yes, it was a fancy Vega ( as if) My ex had a V8 Monza like this, and I always though the V6 would be a better choice. This one looks kind of crusty, although, still better than most. Good luck finding doors, 1st to go. I don’t see this car going anywhere soon. They have to be cleaner than this to start with.
here is the last of the breed, 1979 Pontiac Sunbird Sport Safari, with the 231 V6 and a bit customized with the Chevy Vega Panel Express window inserts, they are fun little cars!
I learned how to drive stick in a ’77 Sunbird with the Iron Duke 4 cylinder under the hood. It was the perfect beater to learn how to drive.
This was GM at its worst. Way too much for this car. $1.500.00 at the most. Maybe drop in a chevy small block.