Junkyard Find: 1977 Pontiac Sunbird

by Murilee Martin

Published: December 24th, 2014

The story of the Chevrolet Monza and its badge-engineered Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac siblings goes much like the tale of its ancestor and platform-mate, the Vega: many sold, almost none made it to age 15. I hadn’t seen an H-body Monza, Starfire, Skyhawk or Sunbird in a self-service wrecking yard for at least five years when I spotted this one near me in Denver.

Pontiac later applied the Sunbird name to the J-body-based front-drivers it built in the 1980s and 1990s.

You still see members of the Monza family at race tracks, because V8s bolt in and they’re pretty aerodynamic for their time.

This one has been picked over in a big way.

A friend in high school had a ’76 Skyhawk that suffered a door striker rust failure and had to be welded, just as this one did. That was in California, in a 7-year-old car. I shudder to think of the rust that afflicted these cars in places like Michigan and New Hampshire.

Anybody need a genuine Delco AM radio?

#1970s #1977 #1977PontiacSunbird #BuickSkyhawk #ChevroletMonza #DownOnTheJunkyard #GMHPlatform #Junkyard #JunkyardFind #Malaise #Pontiac #MalaiseEra #Sunbird #PontiacSunbird #OldsmobileStarfire

Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

More by Murilee Martin

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 73 comments

Dannew02 on Dec 30, 2014

OH yeah, the rear light panel was made out of the same stuff that went between the bumper and rear quarter on Cadillacs (Urethane?) that you see missing all the time, they corrode and just crumble away and aren't available for replacement anymore. If this car is still around that panel is worth it's weight in GOLD even just for a mold/plug to make replacements out of, but I suppose this thing got crushed months before it got posted here.

Like Reply
Joseph Greenwood on Feb 20, 2023

Hey is it possible for me to get the name and phone number of this wrecking yards info id like to see if this car is stillnhere as ive looked over and over and cant find the part i need and yet it sits in this yard perfect
My email is
Thegreasemonkeyhero@gmail.com

Like Reply
- 28-Cars-Later on Feb 20, 2023
  
  This post is from 2014, its long gone.
  
  Like

Recent Comments

Marc Muskrat only said what he needed to say to make the stock pop. These aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along.
SCE to AUX I never believed they cancelled it. That idea was promoted by people who concluded that the stupid robotaxi idea was a replacement for the cheaper car; Tesla never said that.
28-Cars-Later 2018 Toyota Auris: Pads front and back, K&N air filter and four tires @ 30K, US made Goodyears already seem inferior to JDM spec tires it came with. 36K on the clock.2004 Volvo C70: Somewhere between $6,5 to $8 in it all told, car was $3500 but with a wrecked fender, damaged hood, cracked glass headlight, and broken power window motor. Headlight was $80 from a yard, we bought a $100 door literally for the power window assembly, bodywork with fender was roughly a grand, brakes/pads, timing belt/coolant and pre-inspection was a grand. Roof later broke, parts/labor after two repair trips was probably about $1200-1500 my cost. Four 16in Cooper tires $62 apiece in 2022 from Wal Mart of all places, battery in 2021 $200, 6qts tranny fluid @ 20 is $120, maybe $200 in labor last year for tranny fluid change, oil change, and tire install. Car otherwise perfect, 43K on the clock found at 38.5K.1993 Volvo 244: Battery $65, four 15in Cooper tires @ $55 apiece, 4 alum 940 wheels @ roughly $45 apiece with shipping. Fixes for random leaks in power steering and fuel lines, don't remember. Needs rear door and further body work, rear door from yard in Gettysburg was $250 in 2022 (runs and drives fine, looks OK, I'm just a perfectionist). TMU, driven maybe 500 miles since re-acquisition in 2021.
1995 SC I never hated these. Typical GM though. They put the wrong engine in it to start with, fixed it, and then killed it. I say that as a big fan of the aluminum 5.3, but for how they were marketing this it should have gotten the Corvette Motor at the start. Would be a nice cruiser though even with the little motor. The 5.3 without the convertible in a package meant to be used as a truck would have been great in my mind, but I suspect they'd have sold about 7 of them.
Rochester I'd rather have a slow-as-mud Plymouth Prowler than this thing. At least the Prowler looked cool.