Well it's a new month and eBay has some very interesting antiquities from the GM camp this week. What better way to celebrate America's independence than with a trio of turbocharged Ponchos and a boosted Buick?
1990 Pontiac Turbo Grand Prix
This is a car I've always been a big fan of, I even had a TGP sales brochure taped up on my bedroom wall when I was a kid. GM really went all out with this limited run W-Body. Between it's turbocharged & intercooled V6 powerplant, the smooth lines of the aero body kit, the big comfy 2+2 buckets, the ubiquitous 1980s gold BBS-knockoffs and enough electronic gizmos to make NASA jealous, this Grand Prix really stood out amongst all other FWD sport coupes of the time. The conversion was farmed out to ASC/Mclaren (American Sunroof Company, not the "Mclaren" of
McLaren F1 fame) who has collaborated with GM on several projects.
The motor started out life as the standard GM 60-degree V6 3.1l, which had debuted a year earlier (1988). From there it was modified with forged connecting rods, strengthened crank & pistons, high flow aluminum heads, a Corvette fuel pump, and a Turbonetics-style intercooler. The small Garret turbo only developed 8psi boost max - but this allowed the compression ratio to stay at a near-stock 8.8:1 to minimize turbo lag and build high torque at low RPMs. As you can see above, the stock intake plenum even used the traditional "3.1" font callout, except with "INTERCOOLED TURBO" advertised prominently. Great attention to detail!
All of this work was good for
205HP@4800rpm & 220lb.ft@3200rpm. An improvement of 70HP over the naturally aspirated 3.1 V6.
Unfortunately, the only transmission available behind this excellent powerplant was GM's Turbo-Hydramatic 440-T4, a 4-speed automatic overdrive, albeit a fairly sturdy one.
The interior of this particular example has fared pretty well. Usually, the leather driver's seat is ripped to shreds. One of the most interesting features of the TGP was that it was the first widely available car sold in America with a Heads Up Display, which was developed by the Hughes Aviation division of General Motors and similar to the HUD found in the F-16 fighter jet. In 2009, this is still a rare feature in new cars.
The TGP was only built in 1989 & 1990, around 5,000 cars total - including an even rarer
Turbo STE Sedan available only in 1990. I still do see quite a few of them for sale online. This is a vehicle that has now developed a great cult following and surviving examples are usually kept in great shape. Plenty of people are modifying these cars well over 350HP on stock or near-stock internals! I had an opportunity to buy a black '89 around 2001, but backed out because the turbocharger was shot. I should have just gone for it....the guy was only asking $800
Oh well, maybe one day...
This example is a Texas car with 166k on the odometer. It's listed in a Buy-it-Now only auction for $2,995 (a fair price, IMO). If anybody's interested, you've got until July 21st to bid....but hurry, there are already two offers!
1989 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am
Even rarer and faster in 1989 was the Turbo Trans Am, one of the all time greatest F-Bodies to ever roll out of a GM factory. This was the swan song for the long lived Buick 3.8 Turbo motor, which had debuted as an overly complex draw-through carb setup in the Regal & LeSabre all the way back in 1978 and evolved into a 300HP monster by the time the last Buick Grand National GNX hit the streets in 1987. The TTA version of the LC2 was good for a possibly underrated 250HP and 340ft.lb to the rear wheel through a Turbo-Hydramatic 200-R4 (the only available transmission)....and like the GNX before it, was faster than the Chevrolet Corvette in 1989.
The TTA shared a lot of design elements with the TGP. The deep leather buckets, the "TURBO" badges, the BBS-style wheels and the aero-body kit were all very similar. These cars are legendary amongst muscle car fans and still fetch hefty coin, they were "instant classics" and I'd bet the majority are still in good conditions, stored year round in garages across the country. This particular example is a gorgeous 44k mile car with T-Tops located in Glendale, AZ.
$15,000 starting bid but it ends tomorrow and nobody's biting...I'm surprised, I've seen them go for around that...
1980 Pontiac Trans Am Turbo Pace Car
Here's the grandaddy of the '89 TTA....the much maligned 1980-1981 Trans Am Turbo. I'm generally not a big fan of the GM "Pace Car" trim options with the gaudy replica graphics/large fonts adorning the doors...but this one also has a nice large bird on the hood and is just
too clean. It's gotta make you smile! The listing claims it's a $30k restoration and I don't doubt it, this is one of the nicer "resto-mod" cars I've seen done from the early 1980s. It has some very tasteful and subtle upgrades and every inch of this vehicle shines. I love the "TURBO" wheels, which I think were specific to the '80-'81 cars, and this particular example looks to have every available option.
Pontiac's first take on a turbo F-Body didn't work out as well as their '89 foray into the world of forced induction. The powerplant for these two years was a 4.9l (301) Pontiac V8 with an 800cfm 4bbl Quadrajet and a Garret TBO-305 turbocharger, utilized in a draw-through setup similar to the early Buick V6 turbo. On paper, this was supposed to be good for
210HP@4000rpm and 345lb.ft@2000rpm. Not bad for the emissions choked world of 1980 and a 55HP improvement over the 4bbl N/A 301 available in the regular Trans Am & Firebird Formula. However in real world driving situations, the motor suffered from serious turbo lag and was a royal PITA to keep in tune. Internally, the motor was basically stock...but the compression ratio was lowered to 7.6:1 to avoid detonation, as this was before intercooling and modern computer feedback systems had become commonplace.
^^Totally sweet factory "BOOST GAUGE"^^^
Even a hotter cam couldn't make up the difference, and the electronic spark control system was very cautious when it came to pulling the timing out. If I'm remembering correctly, the best
Car & Driver could get out of the turbo motor was ~17.0 seconds in the quarter mile, basically on par with the naturally aspirated motor....though they did say it came into it's own on the highway, at higher speeds. Still, T/A buyers weren't impressed (even with a starring role in
Smokey & The Bandit II) and the Turbo Trans Am never sold well. I've read production numbers that put it as low as 2,000 per years
Very tragically, a lot of the turbo motors were ripped out for "normal" V8 power....a real shame considering the rarity. Up until a few years ago, I never saw these cars listed for sale as anything other than "projects" or "parts". I'm glad to say that I have been seeing more and more restored examples, however. This is the nicest I've seen, ever and hope it goes to a good, caring home. It's another one of those "Buy-it-Now" only auctions, listed at $21,995....which might be a little much, but hey...it's a rare, beautiful, low mileage car. I'm sure it'll make somebody very happy!
1986 Buick Skyhawk T-Type Coupe
So we finally come to the last car for the day, and it's the rarest (by far) of the bunch, although probably not the most desirable! Has anyone ever even seen/heard of one of these? The Skyhawk was Buick's J-Body (Cavalier) clone from 1982-1988, and was second to last in sales, next to the Oldsmobile Firenza. A lot of people think that the "T-Type" trim level was only available on the Buick Regal, however there were actually Skyhawk, Somerset, Century, LeSabre, Electra & Riviera "T's"....though it only meant an upgraded motor on the Skyhawk & Riviera.
The 1.8l SOHC I4 Turbo debuted on the Skyhawk and J2000 Sunbird in 1984. It was a Brazilian import version of the OHV I4 found across the J-Body range, and developed a very respectable
150HP@5600rpm & 150lb.ft@2800rpm, especially in a car with a curb weight just
under 2400lbs. By comparison, the naturally aspirated SOHC I4 put out a mere 82HP! In '87 the displacement was bumped up to 2.0l and the power output up to 165 (or 175 in the Pontiac Grand Am GT).... yet these cars never sold well compared to the Cavalier or non-turbo Sunbirds and have never developed any sort of aftermarket following since. They did suffer from head gasket/overheating problems, but so did a lot of high output four bangers from the 80s...
This particular example is listed as having only 6,196 original miles....and judging from the excellent condition this car is in, and the abysmal build quality on most J-bodies....I don't doubt it for a second. Look at how clean the motor is! This car also looks to have every available option for '86, including the 3-speed automatic transmission. Buick only sold a couple hundred of these each year, and the stock motor in the T-Type was just a High Output SOHC I4...the turbo cost extra, so how many of these there are left out there is probably a very small number. The list price on eBay of almost $13k is a little ridiculous, mainly because there isn't really much of a market for obscure GM sport compacts of the mid-80s, but if the right person caught wind of this auction I think it could fetch half of that....sadly, it might linger unsold for a long time.
I've always wanted to drive one of these turbo J-bodies, they seem like they'd be a hoot!
That concludes this edition of "This Old Oddball Car"....tune in next week for more weirdness straight outta Detroit, MI!