Shortly after being built, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Pontiac 6000 was featured in Pontiac Enthusiast magazine, in an article in which it was described as a “sleeper.” We’ll just have to find out if its current price might just keep you up at night.
So, I’d like to offer a mea culpa for last Friday. I conflated the 1.6 diesel that had been transplanted into our candidate 1981 VW Scirocco with the later direct-injection TDI model. Call me lazy, or fuzzy-headed from lack of coffee when I wrote it, but it was inaccurate nonetheless. Also inaccurate, apparently, was the seller’s $13,000 asking price for the converted car which 90 percent of you overwhelmingly deemed No Dice-worthy.
The general idea behind any engine transplant is to create something unique, or at least to make up for some perceived inequity in original factory intent. In the case of this 1985 Pontiac 6000, the 350 CID V8 that has been wedged under its hood was intended to give the car some actual poop. The car’s original engine was the lamentable “Iron Duke” (or Iron Puke) four and being saddled with that motor in almost any car is like going to a make-out party when you were in middle school and getting paired with the kid wearing headgear. The V8 is an appreciable upgrade as its estimated 220 horsepower is more than double the output of the original four-pot.
The conversion was done by someone described as a GM engineer who, according to the Pontiac Enthusiast story, sourced the V8 out of a 1992 Chevy pickup truck. The transplant took six months to complete, with probably a good deal of that time figuring out a mid-plate between the big engine and the punky little THM-125 three-speed automatic that came with the car. Obviously not up to the task out of the box, the transmission received additional clutch packs, enlarged oil passages, and aftermarket valving to keep up with the V8’s output.
There’s not much detail in the ad since it’s on Facebook Marketplace which, honestly, is like trying to sell a car from the bottom of a well. The grainy and overly dark pictures don’t seem to do the car justice either, although from what we can see it does look to be pretty straight and complete. Formula decals off of the sportier Pontiac models s announce the car’s intentions, as does a set of nice mono-block-style alloy wheels.
This having been a four-cylinder car, the interior looks to be light on the options, featuring armstrong window winders, door locks, and mirrors. The dash features a nice horizontal speedo, and somewhat comically, a similar style tach. It’s claimed to have been driven 3,000 miles but that must be the addition since the V8 was installed since the odometer reads 111,939.
The original sound system was apparently considered as underpowered as the engine and has been replaced with an aftermarket head unit along with multiple speakers both in the doors and crowding the trunk. Since Facebook Marketplace doesn’t require title status and the seller didn’t add that info to the description we’ll have to just assume that the car carries a title free of encumbrances. The car does wear Pennsylvania plates but I can’t tell if the tags are current or not.
So, this is a pretty interesting car with the actual provenance of having once been featured in a marque magazine. Here we are, adding to its fame by considering it on today’s NPOND. With that in mind, let’s get to the car’s price. That’s $7,000 and it’s now time for you to weigh in on whether or not that’s a deal. What do you say, could this V8-powered Pontiac be worth that kind of cash? Or, does that price make this one-of-a-kind 6000 a one-of-no-kind of deal?
You decide!
Facebook Marketplace out of Mahopac, New York, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Unirule for the hookup!
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