Welcome back! Today we’re saluting one of the unsung heroes of General Motors history: the humble front-wheel-drive A platform. We’ve got two upscale models to look at, one US-market Pontiac, and a not-an-Oldsmobile from south of the border.
Yesterday‘s pocket rockets were somewhat of a foregone conclusion; the MR2 would have been a lot more desirable if not for the seller’s mishap. Hopefully they learned from it, and won’t ruin any more cool mid-engined sports cars. It’s probably not the only reason the 323 GTX ran away with the win, but it certainly didn’t hurt.
The Mazda would be my choice as well. It’s rare, cool, reliable, and practical. I’m not crazy about the paint job, but I could put up with it for a fun little rally hatch like that.
General Motors cars, the old saw goes, run poorly for longer than most cars run at all. The implication is that they don’t run well from the beginning, which I disagree with, but GM vehicles of the last half-century do seem to have a sort of “just keep going no matter what” spirit. The whole lineup has a similar feel to it, but when I think of a GM automobile that just won’t die, the first vehicle that comes to mind is the midsize front-wheel-drive A-body, produced for fourteen years, and still not an uncommon sight on the roads. I found these two low-mileage examples, in the fancier trims, for reasonable prices. Let’s take a look.
1985 Pontiac 6000 STE – $3,000
Engine/drivetrain: 2.8-liter overhead valve V6, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Hendersonville, NC
Odometer reading: 70,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives, but “needs some work”
“A Car For Every Purse And Purpose” was GM’s slogan back in the Alfred P. Sloan years. Cheap or expensive, plain or fancy, GM had you covered. The slogan went away, but the attitude remained. When the A-body came out in 1982, it was available in a wide range of trims, from four different divisions. This 6000 STE was the top of Pontiac’s range; it came with a multi-port fuel injected 2.8 liter V6, bucket seats, four-wheel disc brakes, and tighter suspension than the standard 6000. It was also available with a five-speed manual, but I’ve never seen one; every STE I’ve ever encountered had an automatic, including this one.
European sports sedans, from BMW and Audi and others, were all the rage in the mid ’80s, and GM intended the 6000 STE to compete with them – hence the upgraded suspension and brakes. Nobody cross-shopped this car and a 528e, of course, but that was the hope. This car also marked the beginning of Pontiac’s “button era”: just look at all those Tic-Tac-sized gray rubber buttons on the dash. It also, of course, has a digital dash.
This one has only 70,000 miles on it, from a single owner. We don’t get a lot of information on its condition, only that it “still runs” and “needs some work.” That’s useful; thank you. We get only a few photos to go by, as well. It looks good cosmetically; both the interior and exterior have held up well, and I suppose any mechanical woes can be repaired pretty easily.
Pontiac sure did put a lot of lights on the front of its cars in the ’80s. From the outside working in, those are low beams, high beams, and fog lights. The fog lights were exclusive to the STE; Pontiac did something similar with the top-of-the-line Sunbird, if I remember correctly.
1993 Cutlass Eurosport by General Motors – $2,800
Engine/drivetrain: 3.1-liter overhead valve V6, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Victorville, CA
Odometer reading: 94,000 kilometers
Operational status: Hard to say, actually
“This guy has lost his mind,” you must be thinking. “That’s an Oldsmobile if I ever saw one.” Well, yes and no. In the US, this car would have been called the Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera International Series – but this car was not sold, or built, in the US. It’s a Mexican model, sold through Chevrolet dealerships, and known only as the Cutlass by General Motors. This is the upscale model, the Eurosport, a trim level usually used by Chevrolet in the US.
The badges aren’t the only difference between this car and its US-market counterparts. It’s a two-door coupe, a body style not sold in the US after 1991. It’s powered by a 3.1 liter V6, unlike the US International Series models which received a Buick 3.8 liter, and while we got an overdrive automatic transmission in the Ciera by this point, the Mexican Cutlass soldiered on with the same old basic three-speed. You could also get a five-speed stick, but who knows how many were equipped that way?
It’s hard to ascertain its mechanical condition; the ad is translated from Spanish, and not well. Between the Spanish and English text in the ad, I think what the seller is saying is that it has had two owners, has new tires, and has some sort of mechanical problem with the engine. I’m not sure whether it runs and drives or not. Cosmetically, it’s a little rough around the edges, but basically intact, and the interior looks pretty nice.
Curiously, while this car was not sold as an Oldsmobile, I do see that it says “Oldsmobile” on the dash. I guess they imported the dash panels from the US, and didn’t remove the badging.
GM gets a lot of flak for badge-engineering their cars, but honestly, if the bones are solid, who cares what name is on the trunk lid? The A-body was nobody’s idea of a performance car, or a luxury car, but it was good, solid, comfortable, reliable transportation. Either one of these would be a hit at Radwood, of course, but they could also be useable transportation. So which one will it be: the all-American four-door, or the south-of-the-border coupe?
(Image credits: Facebook Marketplace sellers)
I’m a 90s HS graduate and I had a few A bodies. 2 door, 4 door sedan, and the roomy wagon. Solid rides that never let me down! That said, I’d take the Pontiac ‘goolie’
Both are overpriced in my opinion. $500 tops for these two pigs.
I do like both of these and always thought the 6000 was a cool name, but gotta go w/ the Cutlass especially being the Eurosport
“only that it “still runs” and “needs some work.” That’s useful; thank you.”
The sarcasm is so hilarious especially since so many ads say this!
“Pontiac did something similar with the top-of-the-line Sunbird, if I remember correctly.”
Yes, I used to have an ’86 Sunbird hatchback w/ the fog lights also…it looked good too; black w/ blue interior. It looked similar to this:
https://images.app.goo.gl/9V1pgSDrakMTeoqw8
That Cutlass is wild, so I 100% choose that. I know of a lot of obscure variants of American cars, including Mexico-only versions, but I’ve never heard of this one.
The Toyota Cavalier has always been one of my favorites in that category
NOLDSMOBILE!
I am intrigued with the Olds not Olds, but I am going to need a bilingual mechanic to check it out with me, and the only bilingual mechanic I know is an aircraft mechanic and this car doesn’t have wings. So the STE it is.
The not an Oldsmobile but definitely an Oldsmobile is a better looking car, but there’s too many questions for my taste. Pontiac it is.
But I’d prefer an actual Oldsmobile with a 3800.
I’d pick Pontiac for three reasons: taillamps with amber turn signal indicators; headlamps can be retrofitted with Hella H4 and H1; and four doors.
Some insight about the non-Oldsmobile.
The main reason it wasn’t branded Oldsmobile in Mexico (despite all the badges left untouched) was because Oldsmobile never got marketed as a brand there. Back in the early 90s there were only 5 brands officially sold in Mexico: Chevy, Ford, Chrysler, Nissan and VW. Choices were very limited (both in brands and lineups) in they years predating NAFTA as car imports were extremely limited back then.
GM sold the Celebrity, Cutlass Ciera and Century as Chevrolets there. When the Celebrity got discontinued the Ciera became the mainstream A body , while the Eurosport remained the sporty variant and the Century remained the upscale choice. As a matter of fact the Century was the most luxurious (non-Cadillac) GM sold in Mexico for 1993MY (insert your cringe meme here). No W-bodies, B-bodies nor F-bodies were sold during that era.
Ford and Chrysler did the same as the Grand Marquis and Cougar sold with Ford emblems while K-car / LH Dodges and all minivans were sold as Chrysler through the mid 90s.
Back to the topic: I don’t like how the early A-bodies looked and the facelifted notchback A-bodies are the coolest looking. So I’ll take the Mexican non-Cutlass today.
Thanks for the info and I went not a cutlass too. I’ll take the discount over the Pontiac to the pick and pull for a 3.8
The Century was also sold (and built) in Venezuela as a Chevrolet, alongside the Celebrity, for the same reason. I recall (from our friends’ car) that it had rear headrests, too, which is the only version of an A body I’ve seen them on.
Also in Venezuela, Ford built and sold a Grand Marquis as a Ford (Coronado, I think) in the early and mid 80s with an Essex V6 in it.
Six large.
I actually love the STE, I want to manual swap it really bad, haha. The Cutlass Eurosport could be worth it just for the looks on the parts store guys faces though…
I like the look of the (not)Olds, but there’s no chance I’d buy anything from anywhere in Victorville.
I’m an Olds man…even when it technically isn’t an Olds (but is).
I owned a Olds Cutlas International. It used to confuse people who called them gutless. 2.8L and a two door? What is that?
This is the first time I’ve hoped for a “neither.” Neither of these vehicles should cost any more than $500, as they are parts cars at this point…although I’ve always been an unreasonable fan of the 2.8L V6…
Having had both parents own a version of the A-Body back in the 80s, I can full say that all of these cars should be driven off a cliff in Alaska.
Littering is a crime.