We headed over to Paretti Pontiac and test drove one–it was just OK but not stellar. The STE seemed to be close enough. My English teacher in high school had one of these, and I recall it being broken into so that the steering wheel with its many buttons could be stolen. Although I enjoyed the read, I can’t say that I am a fan of these cars. It reeked way too much of so many other ill-fated projects at GM at the time, like the Fiero: constantly trying t play catch up for not having it right assets to start with. Behind the display was a very small incandescent bulb that had burned out. The 3.8 V6 was smooth and offered respectable performance, the car was handsome outside with up-to-date styling touches like the alloy wheels and minimal chrome trim. Well, six if we count the 1989 AWD version that came out after the model was cut for 1988. A shame. GM still thought it was the industry leader, as it had been as recently as the late 70s. That’s why these cars gained a following despite modest numbers by today’s standards, they were all important stepping stones to the current future. Learn how your comment data is processed. Sometimes time has a way of righting a wrong like this. Shout out to Will Stopford who provided a valued assist as I was working around the unavailability of the Old car Brochures website. Even in Saab’s 1952 brochure, it’s written as Saab 92 in the text. All that was required was to build a 6000 wagon as an STE . hiergehts 2006-01-16 03:04. The STE’s production figures tell the sad tale: To put this in some perspective, there were 26,080 DeSotos built in 1960. Although the STE wasn’t necessarily a bad car, it just couldn’t hold a candle with its foreign competition. Inside the STE was even worse. Americans correctly saw all these FWD A-bodies for what they were: up-to-date workaday family cars, and they served that role well, at least until the Taurus arrived. The major reason the 6000 STE did not sell in higher numbers was because Pontiac dealers did not have the STE on lots in numbers that were comparable to the lesser 6000’s. She was not exactly the target demographic but 14 year old me thought it was awesome! Five states—Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia and Texas—accounted for almost half of all pedestrian deaths in 2018. One very rigourously data-backed reason for the increase is an unintuitive one: headlamp degradation. Actually ’57 was the first yr for Bonneville, albeit in much more limited numbers, and a regular model in ’58. Your email address will not be published. The car’s Pontiac-specific styling items were few and far between. The SHO powerplant transformed the Taurus, as did the Turbo in the Grand National, or the reintroduced and now high output 5.0 in the 82 Mustang. The price alone of the STE did it in and it really didn’t drive much better than the LE. It was very quiet inside, actually quieter than mom’s 92 Buick LeSabre at speed – though it couldn’t match the performance of the 3800 mostly due to the STE’s relatively heavy 3100 pound curb weight. ABS was optional starting on very very late 86 models, and the 4 wheel disc brakes were lackluster at best for feel and stopping power (at least on my 13 year old and 90,000 mile example). There was no way for Pontiac to dress it up right to deliver the necessary sort of style/swagger needed to earn the desired image credibility. But part of the charm of an ASS was that it cost a lot less than a foreign car (as in 1975 Nova LN with a 350, vs Saab/Volvo/Audi100/Peugeot). With this car, Pontiac declined to follow the then-typical GM playbook which took a basic car and added some touches for a sporting appearance. It was a fundamentally good car. I feel like nearly every premium GM made in the 80s had the same pricing problem, be it STE, T-Type, Typhoon/Syclone etc. Have seen neither in nearly a quarter century. Plus when Pontiac added the aero headlamps and replaced the traditional Pontiac split grill with a bland round badge, the STE’s limited visual uniqueness was completely erased. It handled very well with the AWD. The T Type’s problem was the cars it was applied to, the brand on the cars, the dealers that sold them, and the other 98 percent of the inventory at those dealerships. Everyone went wild about the Grand Am in the fall of 1972. Sure, she’s got a great personality, is smarter than a whip, is an amazing athlete, but looks like Jethlene Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies. Free shipping. I think the 80s was a real watershed decade for GM. At my former place of employment I used a ’93 Ford Ranger and the radio display was dark. In 1983, the 6000 looked contemporary. Great article JPC! flange diameter; 0.88 in. Sadly for Pontiac, there was something called the BMW 2002 which did what the Grand Am was supposed to be able to do, only without all of the superfluous flab of the corpulent GM A body. Mine did not have ABS, suede, and sunroof options. At the same time, I remember thinking that a 19-plus second quarter mile for the 6000 V6 (the STE was low 17s I think) was too slow. Another major point of differentiation is the fact that these cars aren’t selling very well. And the interior was quite nice, especially the dash and instrument cluster. These were a little over the top back in the day. . The EPA calculated about three additional cubic feet of overall interior space, but most of this was likely due to the adoption of the “sheer look” upright roof design in place of the fastback bodies of the X sedans. All Rights Reserved. Don't miss what's happening in your neighborhood. He just got another Regal, which fit the bill for his business needs. And what did real performance look like in 1983? The strip speedometer, hard plastics and boring contouring were absolute non-starters for any product claiming sporting credentials. I think that is his point, responding to this: On the plus side, the STE was made to handle about as well as a front-heavy, MacPherson strut, fwd, twist beam rear axle car could handle. However, the buyer still had to pay extra for many other items necessary to make the car into a truly appealing package, both mechanically and visually. They looked good–for an American car (which is a backhanded compliment), but didn’t work for a Euro contender. The Pontiac 6000 was the mid-size, front-wheel-drive offering from Pontiac, first offered all the way back in 1981. While they may say they are concerned with performance numbers, and handling, etc, they are really far more concerned about the image those numbers represent. Find Pontiac 6000s for Sale on Oodle Classifieds. The chassis components were very well done and the idea of selling it fully-equipped was also a good idea. The STE simply added “expensive” to that list, and the car was a complete non-starter for my father. I had tweaked the engine in mine after reading up on a story about the X11 needing more ignition advance, and set mine accordingly – that woke up the somewhat lazy response and made it a more lively car. I thought these Chevrolet Celebrity EuroSport VRs were striking. Huge numbers went to fleets and rentals so the used market was saturated with relatively new GM stuff and cheap prices. There was no haggling on the price on these at a Pontiac dealership when they were new.