Pontiac 6000

[Morris Minor]

Spied this in a parking lot - guessing circa 1990. It had a few minor bumps and bruises commensurate with its age but was immaculately clean & detailed. Kid driving it said it was his dad's & his pride & joy.

[Eye of the Tiger]

That is unfortunate.

[ifcar]

It's cool when someone's picked a very ordinary car to preserve. If no one did that, car shows would have a lot less variety; this one will be worthy in another 20 years.

[cawimmer430]

Should be in a museum. 

[Catman]

badass

[280Z Turbo]

We had one when I was a kid. I don't remember much about it. It was quite an unremarkable car.

[3.0L V6]

I think the only survivors of the front-drive A-bodies (Chevrolet Celebrity, Olds Cutlass Ciera, Pontiac 6000, et al.) must be in the southern US. I swear, if you even ate salted french fries in those cars, they would corrode. Ours was an '89 Celebrity and it epitomized the old slogan "GM cars run poorly longer than most other cars run at all", but the rust killed it.

Did happen to see an immaculate '85 up here for sale, chatted to the owner for a bit. Just for entertainment, I asked him how much he wanted for it. $3k! I almost chortled right in his face, but couldn't bring myself to be that rude. For $1k, maybe....

[MX793]

Looks like it was debadged. 

The best part about the 6000 was the steering wheel on the STE model. 

[Laconian]

So much multimedia!

[veeman]

My family had an '84 chevy celebrity.  It had the 4 cylinder iron duke engine good for 90 horsepower.  It wheezed and wheezed especially at the slightest incline.  It was also noisy.   The car would overheat on long drives in the summer if the air conditioning was kept on.  Shoddy construction as the glovebox was very misaligned and the speedometer needle shook between 55mph and 65mph.  The bench seat moved back and forth by a lever which looked to be connected to a hanger wire under the seat.  I remember thinking as a 12 year old that this car was real real cheap as it didn't even come with a passenger mirror.  After a few winters the metal around the wheel wells was full of rust.

For how cheap it felt, it was fairly reliable up until 100 thousand miles and it was roomy.  After spending a week crammed in a rental chevette on vacation, I was glad to travel in that car.

[Morris Minor]

My late father-in-law had a Celebrity Citation [corrected] and later a Cutlass Ciera. He loved them both, especially the Citation, which kept running, no matter what the Wisconsin winters threw at it. As you may gather, he was not a car guy.

There is a bit of coolness now in driving the crappy cars of this era. I've seen it in some movies recently.

[Secret Chimp]

My aunt and uncle used to have one of those. The interior looked like it was tacked together from a general-purpose kit.

[93JC]

Shoddy construction as the glovebox was very misaligned and the speedometer needle shook between 55mph and 65mph.

You sure it was just the speedometer needle and not the whole car? My dad's parents had a Citation that shook at about 90 km/h. Their other car at the time was a 6000 in a similar shade of beige. My mom's parents had a 6000 too, a dark blue one. I'm pretty sure both were V6s although I can't say for sure anymore, I don't remember exactly. Mom's parents replaced theirs in 1990 and dad's parents hung on to theirs until 1992.

[cawimmer430]

The Pontiac 6000 interior is just NASTY. 

[Laconian]

The Pontiac 6000 interior is just NASTY. 

Wow, you're not a lost soul after all. You think that some nasty 80's stuff is nasty. There's hope for you!

[cawimmer430]

Wow, you're not a lost soul after all. You think that some nasty 80's stuff is nasty. There's hope for you!

After the '70s, American car interiors went south during the '80s. I mean compare the 6000 interior to this masterpiece. 

[280Z Turbo]

American cars really started to nose dive around 1968.

[MX793]

American cars really started to nose dive around 1968.

Nah, I'd say that the styling went down the toilet starting around '73.

[Secret Chimp]

Nah, I'd say that the styling went down the toilet starting around '73.

I think that's when the last hope of anyone not sucking was gone.

[Rupert]

I knew a guy who had a Celebrity wagon. It was an unapologetic piece of crap, but it had 250 kmiles on it. After I learned that, I quit ragging on him.

[Eye of the Tiger]

I knew a guy who had a Celebrity wagon. It was an unapologetic piece of crap, but it had 250 kmiles on it. After I learned that, I quit ragging on him.

How many engines?

[Rupert]

Original, IIRC.

[MX793]

I think that's when the last hope of anyone not sucking was gone.

No, there were some nice looking new cars still coming out in '69, '70, and '71 and a fair number of attractive late 60s cars that hadn't been redesigned yet.  The Barracuda came out in '70 and the boat-tail Riviera in '71.  The '70 Maverick and Torino were also good-looking vehicles.  Some models were starting to slide in '71, but it really wasn't until '73 or '74 that pretty much all of the good looking cars from the late 60s era had been redesigned and the vast majority were uglier than their predecessors.

[cawimmer430]

Nah, I'd say that the styling went down the toilet starting around '73.

IMO, it went downhill in the late '70s, around '79. There are only a few American cars from the '80s which look good like a Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Ford Crown Victoria LTD, Dodge Diplomat and Chevrolet Caprice Classic.

[Colin]

Looks like it was debadged. 

The best part about the 6000 was the steering wheel on the STE model. 

That is absolutely hysterical.........

[Madman]

The Pontiac 6000 interior is just NASTY. 

Also, bear in mind that is the interior of the top-of-the-range STE version.  Try to imagine how awful the base models were!

[Laconian]

Did they have hard plastic button blanks? Oh, that would be the height of awful.

[2o6]

Did they have hard plastic button blanks? Oh, that would be the height of awful.

no

[Secret Chimp]

Were the tiny Japanese-stereo-receiver-looking buttons supposed to look "Euro" or something?

[Soup DeVille]

Were the tiny Japanese-stereo-receiver-looking buttons supposed to look "Euro" or something?

Those were GM standard issue for the day.  Back then, it wasn't a good radio unless you had an EQ.