{"id":24323,"date":"2022-06-11T09:04:32","date_gmt":"2022-06-11T13:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=24323"},"modified":"2022-06-11T09:04:32","modified_gmt":"2022-06-11T13:04:32","slug":"junkyard-gem-1989-pontiac-sunbird-coupe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=24323","title":{"rendered":"Junkyard Gem: 1989 Pontiac Sunbird SE Coupe"},"content":{"rendered":"

General Motors<\/a> built the fantastically successful J-Body cars<\/a> starting at the dawn of the 1980s and continuing well into our current century, on five continents. The Pontiac<\/a> Division’s version of the J started out being called the J2000 and the 2000<\/a>, then got the Sunbird name originally used on the Pontiac-ized Chevy Monza<\/a> starting in 1983. Here’s a once-slick-looking 1989 Sunbird SE Coupe,<\/a> found at a Minneapolis-area boneyard way back in 2016.<\/p>\n

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The best-known of all the J-Body cars, here, was the Chevrolet Cavalier<\/a>, but Pontiac far outdid even the most blinged-up Cavalier Z24<\/a> when it came to elaborate taillights.<\/p>\n

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Because this is Minnesota, the car is a patchwork of various layers of junkyard-obtained rusty body parts.<\/p>\n

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One fender has TURBO badges from a Sunbird GT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The other side has the correct engine badges for this model.<\/p>\n

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That engine is a 2.0-liter, single-overhead-cam straight-four from an engine family originally developed for the Opel Kadett D<\/a>. This one was rated at 96 horsepower when new.<\/p>\n

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This one has the automatic transmission, so it wouldn’t have been very much fun to drive. Check out that cool parking brake<\/a> handle, though!<\/p>\n

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And, hey, is that a full can of Colorado Cool-Aid<\/a> in the foot well? You’d think a proper Minnesota Pontiac would at least be full of Grain Belt<\/a> cans.<\/p>\n

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It appears that Higley Ford in Windom, Minn.<\/a>, had this car on the lot at some point. Windom is closer to Sioux Falls than to Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

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This final mileage total looks good for a car living in Tinworm Country.<\/p>\n

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Pontiac built this generation of Sunbird from the 1988 through 1994 model years, though it was really just a facelift of the first-generation cars. Starting in 1995, the Pontiac J-Body became the Sunfire<\/a>, and production continued<\/a> until the J platform itself got the axe in 2005.<\/p>\n\n

In the 90s, fun will become the exclusive province of the rich. To which the Sunbird driver replies, “Bullish!<\/em>“<\/p>\n

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