Hey Guys,
This is my first post.
Just wanted to let you 1st Gen guys know I recently acquired the sales brochures for the J-Body Pontiac's from 1982-87 (J200 - Sunbird). If anyone needs some spec. info or a scan of anything let me know and I'll try and get it to you. The only thing they don't have is the color options available.
I picked these up mostly out of curiosity. I used to have a 85 Sunbird Hatch Turbo and I became curious as to what options and configurations it was originally available in.
Hey Mike,
Welcome to the board! I too had an '85 S/E Turbo - a hatch- bought it in '87 and had several good years with it. It was heavilly optioned and I well recall the many options listed in that brochure and also in the Edmunds new car guide for the year. That Pontiac sales brochure had a lot of black cars in the photos.
'85 was about the 1st year we started seeing option packages within a given trim level- prior to that most options were stand alone.
Sad that we read Pnticac was officially tits up this past weekend. Pontiac-we built excitement.
Well, got an '86 Z-24 hatch now. The 1st gen dream lives on.
John Mac wrote: I too had an '85 S/E Turbo - a hatch- bought it in '87 Well, got an '86 Z-24 hatch now.
an 85 in 87 i was not even born yet lol
my dad had an 87 i think, rs hatch it was all rusted out but i miss it to this day
Sig thanks to bxmobkrazey on gmscf.com
an 85 in 87 i was not even born yet lol
yes, well....tempus fugit my friends.....just wait for your turn!
the mid 80s were a fun time to be a car guy....after the dismal years from '73 to the early 80's it was a blast to see all the pocket rockets of the 80's..the J car turbos and MFI V6s, the multitude of Chrysler turbos (Shelby Chargers, GLH, GLHS), etc.
It's fun to be riding in the Z24- every nice weekend when I am out, I get challenged by the most unlikely of cars...Escalades, big V8 Grand Cherokees..it's a riot. I get them all off the line but I do lose to the big iron once we hit 100+. Despite my good power to weight ratio, there is only so much a stock 130 HP will do for you.
yeah, my 85 was heavily optioned as well. Sunroof, leather wrapped steering wheel, gauge cluster, power everything etc...oh yeah, and disposable head gaskets too!
these were great little quick cars....a little slow off the line with the turbo lag but once the turbo kicked in you had all the torque steer you could handle. By 87, you had 165HP with the 2.0L turbo which was more than all of Pontiac's V6 engines at the time and not far behind the V8's in the firebird (5.7L rated at 210HP) which was a heavier car. I had many "victims" who had no idea.
I have heard that out of the thousands of Sunbird's built that only a fraction were the hatchbacks but I haven't found any numbers to back this up...any knowledge on this John Mac?
also, I'd love to see a pic of the Z24 if you have one
Hey Mike,
Here is my '86 hatch-
Maybe Paul 94Z28 has breakdowns by body style.
From my recollection from back in the day, as 1st gen J bodies as a whole went I would not call the hatches super rare, certainly 4 doors led the pack by far. 2 doors were next and resonably common. I'd say the hatches were a distant 3rd, followed by the 'verts right behind them, and the wagons taking up the rear.. Depending on the make, hatches had the least # of years in production.
The production by body style has been discussed here in the last year, but for my money, the rarest 1st gen J body and trim are the '87 Fienza GT hatches, the '87 Skyhawk Turbo T type hatch, and for my money, the ultra stealth V6 Firenza non GT hatch, which externally gave no clues save 14" wheels vs 13", and extra vent slots in the front bumper cover between the headlights. I only saw one.
Hey Guys-
I contacted Pontiac Historical Services (PHS) in the past and they gave me a summary breakdown of the 1984 Pontiac 2000 Sunbird Convertibles sold. They were also able to tell me how many turbo cars were sold in 1984, They were not able to break it down by trim level, transmission or anything further for me. That was 3 or 4 laptops ago so I will have to look for the info.
I had hoped there would be better record keeping, maybe the other divisions were better?
Very nice Z24 John Mac...
I know in my area (around Toronto, ON) there were very few hatchbacks as compared to Sedans and coupes. When I was driving my hatch in the early 90's I remember there being a blue Z24 hatch around and another Sunbird GT hatch around town but that was about it. When I bought mine used I had never even seen a Sunbird turbo hatch before. Not very scientific, I know, but I certainly remember tons of coupes and sedans. I wasn't even aware of the Buick and Olds hatch variants until reading up on it on Wikipedia recently.
Hard to believe they seem to know everything about older generations of vehicles (1960's etc.) right down to the smallest option but you can't even find out the number of a body type made for these vehicles from the 80's.
One rumor, that I've read, that can be put to rest is that the hatches with turbo engines only came with an automatic transmission. I've seen pictures of some with manual transmissions that proves otherwise. Also, the brochures indicate that the standard configuration with the turbo was a manual tranny with an auto being an option.
Hey Mike,
Thanks for the complement on my Z. I was not trolling ebay very much 2 years ago but it popped up on Ebay a week I happened to be looking, and snagged it. It was well preserved and in great shape all around. When I see the basket cases that a lot of 1st gen guys have to work with, I feel lucky. It needed a trans rebuild but once that was out of the way it has been a smooth ride.
Very true on the tranny options- 4 speed manual was standard on 2.0 inline 4 OHVs. and 2.8 V6, 5 speed on the 1.8 Brazil OHC engines both turbo and non turbo
Possible exception the Caddy Cimmeron- not sure if 3 speed auto was standard or not (it was Caddy after all)
3 speed auto available option all engines all years as we know.
'86 marked the intro of the Muncie Getrag 5 speed on the 2.8 V6 and OHC turbo cars, to very good reviews. A big improvement over the 4 speed. Not sure if the Munci setup replaced the prior 5 speed on the non Turbo 1.8s or not
Nice ad post Mike...MSRP 12,215 in '83 for a J car...Yikes! :-) Same drivetrain Cavs were going, what, low 8s at the time?
