(first posted 11/18/2015) According to mythology, the phoenix is a very long lived bird that is cyclically re-born, arising from the ashes of its predecessor. Well, the Pontiac Phoenix was neither long lived nor cyclically-reborn. There were only two generations, totaling seven years, and the second one went down in a ball of (X Body) flames. The name was tarnished permanently, and the Phoenix never arose from its ashes again.
Not only did the Phoenix have an ignoble end, the second generation FWD version was also by far the weakest-selling of its stablemates, which makes finding one today a rare occurrence. It’s been four years since I shot the coupe; now finally I’ve found a hatchback to complete the pair of rare birds and tell its sad tale.
It would appear that Chevrolet and Buick were the prime beneficiaries of GM’s bold step into the world of mass-market FWD cars. The Chevy Citation got no less than three body styles; the very popular five and three door hatchbacks, and a notchback coupe. The hatchbacks, especially the five-door, was seemingly exactly what America was looking for; a bigger, roomier, more powerful VW Rabbit, the car that really made Americans aware of the benefits of modern FWD packaging. It was a smash hit, selling 811k units in its extended first model year. And then of course, bad things started to happen. The rest is history, one we’ve documented here.
Buick’s FWD X cars took a very different styling approach, looking almost like perfectly scaled-down big Buicks. But it worked, and it too sold very well, if not in the Citation’s loft realm. 1980 saw 266k units sold, and unlike the Citation, it actually improved in 1981, with 263k units sold in a much shorter normal model year. And the Skylark seemed to be a bit better built, although that may just be a matter of luck with those theta got a relatively good one, like I did.
The Olds Omega had to make do with the Skylark’s bodies, with a subtle bit of effort to distinguish it as a different car. It sold reasonably well the first two years, but still well behind the Skylark, and then dropped rapidly starting with 1982. The Omega was always the most invisible of the X cars; maybe that’s why I’ve yet to find one on the streets.
Pontiac was given one of each to make do as a Phoenix. The only thing that distinguishes the hatchback form the Citation, other than different front and rear ends, are the round wheel openings (shared with the Skylark) and the lack of that upturn on the bottom of the rear-most side window. Which is not a good thing, visually-speaking, although some will undoubtedly differ. It makes the whole rear end look droopy, and all-too similar to the Aero-back Buick and Olds A-Bodies.
The Citition’s kick-up is a better solution. To each their own. It’s probably not the main reason the Citation outsold the Phoenix 5:1, but every little bit counts.
The Phoenix did score some bigger tail lights.
As well as a modest version of the traditional Pontiac beak. One imagines the mythical phoenix with something a bit more…presence. Under the hood, the Phoenix was the same as all the X-cars, with a choice of the raucous iron Duke 2.5 L four, making 90 hp, or the much more pleasant if somewhat roarty 2.8 V6, with 110 ponies. By 1982, an HO version of the V6 with 135 hp was optional on the new SJ model.
If I had to guess, this Phoenix coupe most likely packs an Iron Duke. Survivors like this are often grandma’s cars, and we know what she would have gotten.
The Phoenix coupe is a pretty dull little number; it looks so anonymous that it might be one of those cars used in an ad that has been doctored up to not look like any real car. Or maybe it’s just that they’re so uncommon. Generic small GM coupe. No distinguishing marks, officer; I couldn’t identify the car…just a small white two-door.
If it had been an SJ coupe, that wouldn’t have been a problem. But then these were incredibly uncommon; I really can’t remember ever seeing one back in the day. It and the Olds Sports Omega are the unicorns in the X Car family.
These X cars were such a big deal in 1980-1981; GM finally built a groundbreaking modern FWD car. One so small on the outside, yet so surprisingly big on the inside. It turned the traditional American car equation upside down. These were the most revolutionary mainstream American cars since…just about ever. If only they hadn’t arrived half-baked.
The Phoenix was not shy in using Pontiac’s multi-hole design theme in its interior, which was becoming as ubiquitous (and over-used) as the beak. It had its qualities; just not any real quality in these cars. the Citation and Phoenix interiors were bean-counted to the anti-hilt, although this obviously well-cared for example looks as good as the day it came off the line, if not better. The seats and door panels in this high-trim LJ model reflect the extra bucks the original owner spent to feel just a hint of that Pontiac magic. They probably traded in a 1969 Bonneville for it. The high gas prices when these came out were a case of perfect timing.
The rear seat was of course roomy; shockingly so for so small a car. Compared to the previous generation RWD X cars, getting a better back seat and dropping many hundreds of pounds and a few feet in length was a miracle. Now if only the reliability had been equally miraculous.
The Phoenix lasted all of four model years; in its last, 1984, it mustered less than 23,000 sales. The Phoenix crashed in the flames of the X-car fires, worse than any of its stablemates. Pontiac never really seemed to have a proper theme for its version; was it sporty, economical, or? It was a difficult time for the brand, but its replacement, the N-Body grand Am, went a long way in fixing that image issue. Pontiac would re-invent itself for the 80s and 90s with sporty flair, for better or for worse.
But not with the Phoenix. It was left to molder in its toxic ashes.
Ugh. The Omega is such a terrible looking car. I think it’s worse than the Phoenix, actually. Did anyone actually buy an Omega?
It’s just another early-eighties typical GM
compact box! Nothing really distinguishing
it from the other X-body notchbacks except
for different nose and tail-work.
Funnily enough, in New Orleans the Omega was a strong seller. I attribute it to the fact that Oldsmobiles in general were hugely popular in the Big Easy, and the city had some powerhouse Olds dealers with lots of repeat business. Not sure how long that loyalty survived after the customers got their Omegas…
I can literally think of 8 Omegas in my neighborhood–including our next door neighbor who traded in a Delta 88 Royale to get one of the early Omega Broughams.
The Phoenix was the most rare around NOLA.
Having never seen any of these in real life (other than one Citation… I live in Chile), the Omega looks the best, from the pictures. I hope you find one soon, Paul.
How popular were X cars in Europe? Because Majorette made this one in France, the Oldsmobile Omega in small scale.
I cherished on of these Majorette versions in that same color when I was a kid. I remember I went to stay with my grandmother one holiday and the people (the Kiers family) that lived across the street let me have my pick of some leftover toys and there it was. I will never forget that moment. The car was unlike anything else I had at the time and I had never seen one in the flesh nor on tv. Now I see why.
I don’t think I have seen any other X cars here ever. We had VW Golfs, Opel Kadetts, Euro Ford Escorts, many many french hatchbacks in that class (Yes they are a bit smaller but most people did not drive big cars here generally. We thought of W123 as being a big car). One step up for instance Ford Sierra was very visible. No need for US crap. Nothing has changed in that regard. A jeep product here and there, some chrysler minivans (used to be kind of popular in the first two iterations). Other than that it’s few and far between. People who want to get attention for their gym business or something will get a Dodge pickup truck with lettering on the side, park it in a visible spot and might even drive it from time to time. I’m in NW Europe. Kadett country no1 in those days. Opel is not doing so hot these days what with the misguided GM effort to push cheap Korean trash wearing a Chevy batch taking precedence for years. That was a huge waste and they let Opel kind of die on the vine for those years. Anyway. Not US car minded in these parts though ofc Opel is a GM brand we see it as being German (which it is).
I bought the Majorette Omega as a kid, like at ten years old. I didn’t think of it then, because I didn’t know anything about American cars, but now I thinkt it’s an incredibly odd choice for a toy car. Why not the Citation, which should’ve been more well known. But yes, I had that car, in the very same shade of blue.
It happens pretty often in toys, when a European company chose a typical American model, and too often it doesn’t make too much sense.
like a Plymouth Fury taxi by Matchbox, even in 1/32 and 1/64 scales.
As a matter of interest, John Kennedy Toole, author of the classic New Orleans novel A Confederacy of Dunces, was the son of an Oldsmobile salesman. His cars, including the one in which he killed himself, were Oldsmobiles.
That was such a good read. If only he’d kept on writing…
Several months ago, I saw an Omega convertible. When new, an aftermarket company (or maybe more than one) figured the boxy shape would be an easy convertible conversion, to grab some sales from potential Chrysler convertible customers. I was shocked to see one of them still around.
I saw one for sale out here. I figured it was a sawzall hack but was surprised to find it was a legit aftermarket job. Actually looked pretty good.
My parents bought one.
My dad had been an Olds guy since his 1953 98.
By 1980, he thought he’d try a compact Omega. I remember it as a mini-limo with lots of velour all over the interior. It was quiet, responsive, and had a new-fangled 8-treack player.
I had a 1984 Phoenix SE with the high output 2.8 liter V6 and automatic transmission. This was a beautiful and fantastic car back in the day. I have only ever seen 1 other and it was a 1982 Phoenix SJ model. Pontiac produced less than 600 of the SE/SJ models. I still have a factory brochure from 1984 I could scan for your website if you wish. I also later had a Citation X/11 that was a 1985 model.
I’ve thought the Phoenix pulled off the hatchback look better than the Citation did, I used to get the Phoenix coupe mixed up with the Skylark coupe when I was younger, oddly I still see 2 early FWD Pontiac Phoenix’s driving around town
My husband and I had a dark blue 1984 Phoenix with a white top. It was quite stylish and had alot of get up and go for that time period. The ride was a LOT smoother than the citation. Riding in the Citation was like riding on a box on a sidewalk filled with pebbles! lol We LOVED our Phoenix!
That’s the most well preserved interior on a 30+ year old car presumably still in regular service that I’ve ever seen.
You haven’t seen the interior of my ’83 Ranger
Lots of big “if”s with the X car.
If the brakes had worked well; if GM had eventually installed an independent rear suspension as time progressed; if fuel injection & a robust 4 speed auto tranny had been implemented; if., if, if…….
Once I saw how the X car situation disintegrate, I never considered a GM vehicle when shopping for a car. That’s four opportunities where my money went to Toyota or Ford instead of GM.
Talk about a lost generation of revenue for GM from baby boomers scared away from their dealerships……..
This brings back some memories. My parents baught an ’84 Pheonix coupe new and we had it until 1990 or so. It was the same red exterior and interior as the 5 door one here. It had the iron duke and a 4 speed manual trans and air conditioning. My folks had a 1982 Pontiac Sunbird (j-car) coupe 5 speed that my dad really liked but it had no air and so they thought they would buy a new car with ac before moving. Of course, the ac failed right before the trip to FL and we all sweated it out pretty good. I remember my father really disliking the pheonix since the engine and transmission were not as sporty feeling as the OHC 1.8 liter and 5 speed that the sunbird had.
I have 2 1984 Pontiac Phoenix no rust looking to sale all original in ohio
Even in Lansing, I can’t think of the last time I saw an Omega. I do like the way they look, and like the Citation they offered some sharp two tone paint jobs.
It is a mystery to me why Pheonix was not very successful. I always thought it was the best looking of all the X-cars. I like the exterior styling, Pontiac handled the bumpers much better than Citation, the peaked front end gave it some extra distinction, and the interior on upper models was very nice. Look at those seats, door panels and center console! Even the instrument panel layout was clearly all Pontiac, a sort of mini-Grand Prix.
When the slightly larger, restyled version known as 6000 came out for ’82, it was a smash hit and it used the same basic inner body shell, engines and mechanicals – so why did Phoenix crash and burn so badly?
The Phoenix was not exactly promoted with literature or commercials. I remember seeing only one commercial on TV about it.
Also it may have had flourishes on it that the Citation did not have but to most folks the Pontiac Phoenix 5 door hatch looked so much like the Citation that most folks could not see the point of spending a bit more money on a Pontiac instead of the Chevy.
While the 6000 seemed like a smash hit compared with the sales of the Phoenix, it was not exactly a sales hit ether. The Pontiac 6000 was not exactly seen everywhere in its heyday but now it is a rare occasion to find one still on the road.
The Omega and Skylark 4 doors look like they used a scaled down version of the B body roofline….but without that extra small window and vertical bar divider on the rear door windows…..It always looked “unfinished” to me on those X bodies without the rear window divider.
In the late 80s-early/mid 90s when I lived in Memphis I saw examples of the Buick, Olds, and Pontiac but don’t remember seeing a Chevy X-car. The 5 door hatchback Pontiac was all I remember seeing, in that almost ubiquitous silver and burgundy color combo, and in dark blue. The Skylark “seemed” to be most prevalent as a 4 door sedan so a 2 door might be quite rare. The Omega? I’ve seem a chocolate brown 4 door that looked like a badly shrunken 88 and I think I saw an Omega SX 2 door in yellow with black lower body. I’m just not sure if I’m remembering the Omega from a magazine ad.
It’s hard to believe that in it’s 1st model year over a million of these X-bodies were sold, and then within a decade they would have (seemed?) to almost completely disappear.
As I say every time the X-bodies are mentioned on CC, I find it hard to believe that in this segment Buick outsold Pontiac. I would imagine the tables were turned in the J-car’s sales, though with Pontiac outselling and outlasting Buick
The Olds entries in both the X and J-car segments were so forgettable. How could a division that “belted it out of the park” with the Cutlass produce such forgettable small (er) cars?
Olds’ X and J cars were ‘bait and switch’ products. To guide buyers to Cutlasses, etc.
OTOH, many older buyers snapped up and loved FWD Skylarks, and the name was kept for the N body.
Strange thing is that many hated american cars from the 70’s and the 80’s seem more current in France than in the States.
We’ve got plenty of Volares, 350 diesel Olds, and X-bodies Skylark.
So, last year, I’ve seen 4 or 5 Phoenixes for sell on the french equivalent of Craigslist.
There is one currently for sale.
http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/863791964.htm?ca=12_s
Or, you might prefer its Buick stablemate (plenty of those in France) ?
http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/offres/ile_de_france/occasions/?f=a&th=1&rs=1979&re=1996&gb=2&q=skylark
Or a 350 diesel ? From Oldsmobile ? Cadillac ?
http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/offres/ile_de_france/occasions/?f=a&th=1&rs=1977&re=1984&fu=2&gb=2&q=oldsmobile
http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/offres/ile_de_france/occasions/?f=a&th=1&rs=1977&re=1984&fu=2&gb=2&q=cadillac
No Citations though. Except from another brand notoriously known for its lemons !
http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/offres/ile_de_france/occasions/?f=a&th=1&re=1985&q=citation
The later X cars are fine. Sorry the interior of this Phoenix looks so inviting and well preserved/durable. It does not make the point very well that the interiors were cheapened out. Some may realize that the existence of low stickered low spec Chevy versions made an obviously spartan base interior necessary. I think even it would compare very well with some base Rabbit interiors. The iron duke got FI for 82 and the 2.8 got port injection in 85 solving emission drivabilty, and both could be very long lived engines and the parts were easy to find. They also had the torque that the engines required to handle at/ac. The Dasher and early Quantum did not. C/D tested a first year hatchback Quantum 1.7 at 14.4 seconds to 60 with the manual. How did this model work with auto? Terrible of course. The import completion at the time never sweat those details, but of course that is fine with their fan boys. Just as this fan boy of this car can forgive a few lapse in the first year after such a big engineering change
This car did not sell as well as the Grand Am with all it’s rubber on the side and the BMW grille. But I like these better. The low weight and space utilization meant unmatched efficiency. To combine this Euro style efficiency with a smooth quiet American ride was a mostly unheralded achievement. The smoothness must not have been easy to achieve, even the similar K car was woosy by comparison, the Tempo and Japan competitors not even close. The Camry was 3 years later and still with an engine too small for the auto transmission and of course no V6.
These actually sold quite well for the first year (started in April 1979). By mid-1981 the rush was over. We stocked the Phoenix in big numbers until 1981. In 1985 we finally sold the last new 1981 Phoenix, a dark brown coupe with beige vinyl seats, 4 cyl, 4 speed with no a/c or radio. For over 20 years this Phoenix held the record for longest new vehicle in stock, only to be surpassed by the Fusion Orange 2004 Grand Prix GTP Comp Edition 24 hour test drive car.
It would be interesting to spec out a domestic from the era of long order forms designing it to stay in the showroom the longest. Brown was common in 1981, maybe an orange with one of those really tacky dealer stripe packages could have made your Phoenix outlast all X cars into 86-87. Make sure the customer then buys the extended warranty to make sure your Phoenix was the very last 81 any manufacturer was still warrantying.
“No A/C, no sale” has been a mantra since the 70’s.
How about the Olds dealership where my Uncle worked in the 70’s – the manager in error ordered eight 1978 Delta 88 Royale Sedans without a/c by mistake – it took almost two years to finally get rid of them!
“Ad cars” worked for popular products. This particular Phoenix brought in customers for better equipped Phoenix’s. The problem was that by mid-81 the Phoenix was no longer popular, so this one hung around. Luckily the beige 4 door Lemans ad car with 3 speed manual (floor shift as I recall) ,no a/c and no radio was an old priced car and did sell to someone looking at a T1000. In 1981, inflation was so high that by the end of the model year the base price was almost $1000 more than at introduction day (7000 car became 8000 car,think about that in today’s dollars).
I had never noticed the sheetmetal differences between the Citation and the Phoenix. Wow. I had always assumed they were pure badge engineering (without really looking at them, obviously.) I actually prefer the Phoenix.
A roommate in law school whose parents had provided a fleet-spec LTDII must of the time let him use Mom’s Phoenix at some point. It was a high trim/well optioned car that looked very appealing. A V6 would have completed the package, but that otherwise nice car was cursed with that rough, droning Iron Duke.
Omegas sold pretty well here in Indiana, too, but Skylarks did seem more common.
Same here, never noticed the difference. I disagree with Paul, however, in regard to the rear window kick-up…it looks fey and half-hearted on the Chevy. Clean line on Pontiac isn’t artful, but nonetheless is much better.
That is the same problem I have with the Citation – that “kickup” in the back can’t decide whether it really is a kickup or not.
A friend’s father was an Olds dealer, and he had a new 75? Delta 88 convertible well into the 90s, maybe even longer than that, on dealer tags and as far as I know it was never titled…still on the MSO after 20 years.
My dad was looking for a new car in late 1981, and looked BRIEFLY at a Phoenix…silver with maroon velour, on the showroom at Henry Sieve Pontiac in Cincinnati. That was after he looked at a Chevrolet Malibu at Glenway Chevrolet and decided that was too downmarket for him. Took a leftover 81 Cutlass LS home overnight from Bob Pulte Olds, didn’t like the way it stumbled off idle, and wound up with a new 82 Cutlass Supreme from Columbia Olds. Dark Redwood inside and out, padded vinyl top, sport mirrors, superstock wheels, pretty loaded aside from PW and PL.
I haven’t seen a Phoenix or Omega in YEARS. There are a few of the Chevy variants running around, and one Buick I see occasionally in the Kroger parking lot.
I always thought the body-style policy on these made a lot of sense. Trunked coupe or 5-door hatchback; do you want to optimize shell stiffness or functionality (at the expense of the other?). A lot of ’80s cars flipped that script to 3-door hatch or 4-door sedan (will it be awkward passenger loading or a cargo space useless for anything bulkier than grocery bags?)
The Phoenix hatchback looks as though the stylists expected a rear spoiler to be far more popular than it ended up being; domestic four-door buyers were still in the full swing of the Brougham Era which may be what led GM Styling under Irv Rybicki to cling to it for too long.
The LJ interior should’ve been the standard Pontiac one, and GM should’ve been willing to take a quarterly loss or two on the first X’s to make sure the ones the public got in ’79/80 were as good as the press demonstrators and the ’83-5s.
Another reason Irv pushed notchbacks was the failure of the 78 Aerobacks. It was like ‘never again’ and they went whole hog with stiff roofs. But it backfired and made GM stodgy by mid 80s.
Anyone who ever wrenched on an X-Car came to despise them quickly. As they landed in junkyards and crushers, no mechanic felt bad about their demise.
Sadly , this is true .
Damn you GM .
-Nate
“Damn you GM .”
Having lived thru those years, no comment better sums up the X cars.
IMO, had GM put the time and attention into them that went into, say, the ’47-’53 pickups or Tri-Fives…or the vehicles they build today…IOW it they’d not let bean counters call the shots…there’d have been no bankruptcy.
A family friend’s story is all too typical. Her X car lasted ONE year before the engine self-immolated…the climax of a year of breakdowns and repairs, breakdowns and repairs.
She replaced their X car with a Honda Civic, which was still in reasonable condition F I F T E E N years later when they traded it in on a CR-V, which they kept for another dozen or so years before trading that in on the duck-billed platypus-looking current-gen CR-V.
I wasn’t in the market for a new car when the X’s came along, and by the time I was, the reputation was so bad…along with the J’s and FWD A’s, I went for an S-10. I know they too have a dubious legacy, at least here on CC, But my experiences were good overall, having owned several of them.
Today I’d certainly look at a Malibu, Cruze or Sonic if in that market. And as I’ve mentioned in previous comments, the Sonic’s a ball to drive. Like a smoother, newer version of my son’s ’93 Accord, built back when Honda could do no wrong.
But the “if only”‘s run deep with the X cars. Worst of all, it just seemed like GM knew they were junk and figured people would buy them anyway. Plus, sending such highly doctored “ringers” to the car magazines was deception at its worst.
Try pushing the phoenix as a 13 year old girl by yourself…
It seems GM corporate just made a box of styling cues and handed them out to the divisions seemingly at random. Fastback? Chevy and Pontiac. Formal roof, Buick and Oldsmobile. Slanted Coupe roof, Chevy. Formal Coupe roof, Buick and Oldsmobile. Kick up on the rear window, Chevy. Straight lines, Oldsmobile. Round wheel openings, Buick (formal) and Pontiac (fastback). Squared wheel openings, Chevy (fastback) and Oldsmobile (formal). With just a few styling tricks you have maximum differentiation. But who decided what goes where and why? That thought process seems very random and arbitrary and therefore extremely lazy. This is differentiation for the sake of differentiation, and there’s really no thought to any of it.
But who decided what goes where and why? That thought process seems very random and arbitrary and therefore extremely lazy.
The rooflines are an easy call: hatchbacks have a downmarket image, so the cheaper brands get the hatchbacks, with the upmarket brands get a formal roof.
Why use styling tricks, instead of producing really different models, as GM had with compacts in the early 60s? Cheap. The 70s must have seen a power shift from the Engineers who dominated the President’s office to the bean counters that dominated the CEO’s office.
Except it was the other way around when it came to the ’78 A-body. Though they weren’t hatchbacks per se, but fastbacks. Buick and Oldsmobile got the fastback A-body, Chevy and Pontiac got the more formal notchbacks. And the design process seemed likewise random and arbitrary. Should the A-body fastback have been a hatchback proper? And should that hatchback have gone to Chevy and Pontiac? GM had a hatchback on the RWD X-body, which was almost exactly the same size as the ’78 A-body. It’s just lazy differentiation in my opinion…
the ’78 A-body. Though they weren’t hatchbacks per se, but fastbacks. Buick and Oldsmobile got the fastback A-body, Chevy and Pontiac got the more formal notchbacks.
A good point. By chance, do you have the sales numbers at your fingertips for each variation? Did the fastback versions sell in their segments, or bomb? How GM could have thought the fastback styling would sell in an upmarket segment, without the utility of a hatch, eludes me.
They certainly hit the right target with the Citation….if only they had made it reliable.
Steve: they bombed. The Seville like four doors saved them once they were introduced. Horrible proportions on the aerobacks.
And see, I’ve always liked the Aerobacks. Guess I’m the only one. Course I like the sedan versions as well. I just like all the A/G bodies. Always have.
Like
To this day, I’ll never understand why Buick and Olds got A/G body Aerobacks. Were they supposed to be ‘import fighters’? The 73-77 Olds/Buick fastback Colonnades [Cutlass S/Centry] were more formal looking. Just seems like they made a bet and lost.
They wanted to make a big distinction between the formal, Regal / Cutlass Supreme PLC and the lower-cost, Century and Cutlass lines for families and squares. The ’75 restyle of the colonnade formal coupes was immensely popular (CS was the best-selling car in the US) and profitable, and didn’t extend to the 4 doors or fastback coupes. It was a different world, where high-style 2 doors reigned, but it was nearing its end.
Not sure about rooflines but I always thought the Chevy and Buick ’78 A’s should’ve switched faces.
My first brand new car was a 1980 Phoenix SJ coupe (V6 and 4-speed). It was silver over dark gray metallic with the carmine red interior. The car was great for five years and 75,000 miles then it just sort of disintegrated. The interior pieces turned 50 shades of red/orange/pink, the paint became dull (actually started around the end of the third year), and it kept eating CV joints because the rubber boots would rupture and loose all the lubricating grease. Also, the damned R-4 compressor crapped out on me in south Texas once. That won the car some enmity from me.
When I first got the car it always received complements and, except for the poorly proportioned brakes, I very much liked the way it rode and handled. Yeah, if GM had just put a little more effort into getting the X-body right before offering it to the public the last 35 years would have been very different indeed in the automotive world. The concept was brilliant; the execution not so much.
I drove two X cars that were rented at different times in the mid eighties. One was a four door Citation that performed very well in the snow and the other was an Omega sedan that was white and very forgettable. I never drove an early version of any of them.
My only real question is, why did the ’80-84 2.8 V6 show up with a rope rear main seal? The sbc ditched it by ’58. Were these engineers a special kind of stupid??
These X cars were such a big deal in 1980-1981; GM finally built a groundbreaking modern FWD car. One so small on the outside, yet so surprisingly big on the inside. It turned the traditional American car equation upside down. These were the most revolutionary mainstream American cars since…just about ever. If only they hadn’t arrived half-baked.
That is sort of the point I wanted to make in the Tercel thread. While the Tercel was timid and poorly designed, compared to say a 1980 Dodge Colt, Datsun 310 or Civic, the X bodies were a triumph of foresight and design. GM was ahead of Ford and Chrysler. The X bodies came to market a year ahead of the K-car, and made the then 2 year old Fairmont look as obsolete as a 1960 Falcon. But the X-bodies were rushed and beancounted to death.
I never drove one, so cannot comment on the driving experience, but I can comment on my thoughts seeing them drive past. The parking lot exit of the apartment where I lived in the late 80s/early 90s ran slightly uphill. My little Mazda would run up that hill with no difficulty at all, but GM’s latest science would wheeze and thrash so much as it struggled up that hill I had to laugh.
Ed Cole was gone by the time the front drive X bodies came out, but I wonder what Pete Estes thought as he watched the company degrade quality, reliability and performance. Management always had it’s scapegoats for it’s shortcomings. It was, they insisted, always the fault of the government, or the union, or the Japanese. The public knows better, and GM today is a shadow of it’s former self.
Interesting, my 20-30 year memories recall that the Skylark and Omega were about equally popular, and very common, here in the SF Bay Area. In fact I feel like they lived on longer than the Citation. But the Phoenix, and similarly the 6000 among the A Bodies, not so much. Yet as reviled as the GrandAm was (by some, me included) it was hugely popular. I still see them regularly. Pontiac’s whole branding and marketing strategy in the final decades was confusing.
Something of importance to consider is that during the late 70’s into the mid 80’s the Japanese Yen was strengthening. This means that the Japanese could build Cadillac’s at Chevrolet prices. GM on the other hand, had to charge Cadillac prices for Chevrolets. GM also had the problem of how they handled the retirement benefits they agreed to after WWII.
No, it works the other way round. Their products become more expensive in dollars. That’s a major reason they moved production to the US. That and to forestall import duties.
“…and wound up with a new 82 Cutlass Supreme…”
Why not many Omegas sold. Olds dealers had good experiences with Cutlass, and it didn’t have a ‘gas hog’ image. So, buyers didn’t feel guilty buying one in the early 80’s, especially if coming from a full sizer.
In Chicago area, Citations and Skylarks sold like hotcakes in 1980-81. Skylarks still seemed to sell even after all the negative PR. Older buyers seemed to love them.
Omegas were overshadowed by Cutlass, as it was when it was RWD. Phoenix was an also ran. Pontiac sold Grand Prixs by bushel during same era.
My first car was an ’83 Phoenix coupe, with automatic, v6 and factory cassette radio. It was about 4 years old when I bought it and within a week of getting it, I had the replace the heater core. Then I had various fwd problems, went through a couple of CV joints, but I never had any major problems with it. Had it repainted in a different color (from 1 shade of brown to another shade of brown). At the time I was working in the parts department of a GM dealership, a big plus since I could get parts and labor at cost (sometimes less if I was buddies with the mechanic, I remember a few payments were only a bottle of an adult beverage). My car served me well, until the inevitable rust started showing up, despite yearly sprayings when winter was arriving. I ended up selling it to the shop foreman for $500. It got me through my youth, and many adventures, and I have nothing but fond memories of it.
I got a ride in a 1983 light Chestnut brown Skylark sedan with brown interior on a daily basis during at least 3 years of high school. I was always impressed with the back seat room and comfort, how it always started right up even in 20 below zero weather and it’s overall reliability over the years. They bought it new as a year end clearance car and had it well into the 90’s. It had the FI Iron Duke motor which while hardly refined did it’s job rather well and was very durable well after 100k miles. Ditto the 125c trans axle. I think by this point in time these weren’t nearly as bad as the 1980 and 81 cars.
I had never thought of the difference in the c pillar shape of the Citation and Phoenix 5 door hatch. B
But looking at them both, the Phoenix comes off better as the line from the top of the front fender goes straight to the end of the car and the window line follows it, making it more cohesive than the Citation. The kick up on the Citation just adds bulk to the rear.
I love to read contemporary comments on the Cruze with people claiming how “cramped” it is in the back seat, while the dimensions are almost identical to the Xs, especially legroom, which is exactly the same.
The Phoenix had a far more prominent grille in 80-81. Toning it down was a big mistake and made it look like what many claim in the comments section : an anonymous any car.
I think the Citation outsold the other brands because of both Chevy’s popularity AND the heavy advertisement from GM. I remember the commercials extremely well for the Citation, as they were repeated constantly, but the other brands? The other brands hardly ever advertised their X-cars and if they did, they didn’t have very memorable ads.
Back in the 80’s I remember seeing tons of Citations, then Skylarks, then Phoenixes, and lastly Omegas. I think the reason Omegas didn’t sell so well was the popularity and dependability of the Cutlass. Olds dealers probably used the Omega as a price leader only to turn the customer onto a Cutlass for not much more money. Plus the Cutlass name was tried and true. The Omega name was not nearly as popular as the Cutlass.
A mom in my carpool in HS had a 1980 Pontiac Phoenix hatchback, white with red vinyl seats. I always thought that it was a decent car. We all fit in it well, too. The only thing she ever really complained of was the lack of power. And she did have a few mechanical issues with it over the course of two years, the worst being the a/c quitting toward the end of the school year.
I am so happy to see this article on my first car! It was a 1982 Phoenix 5-door hatchback, in plain brown, with a tan interior. Nothing fancy, but it did have the V-6, a/c, and am/fm/cassette radio. Oh, and cruise control, and a passenger side mirror (I don’t recall if that was an option). It was my mother’s car when my family got it new. Then it was given to my older sister for going to university. Then it was given to me for the same reason. I remember it being a very nice, comfortable car, that had good pick-up (to my liking), and offered nice highway cruising. I don’t recall any recalls required (no pun intended!). Maybe we just got lucky and got a good X-car from the factory! It hauled my art projects and camping gear in the summers, and carried my friends in comfort. It did everything I needed it to, so I liked it quite a lot! Here’s a photo of one pretty close to mine, except I did not have 2-tone paint, nor the sunroof.
Oops – a correction to my own posting! The image I posted above misspelled “Phoenix”. Sorry about that! Here is a corrected image.
Sorry everyone. I thought I new my own first car: I have egg on my face!. The model I have shown is correct, but it was my Mother’s 1980 Phoenix. I recall the bold egg-crate chrome grill. Thank you!
That White Phoenix makes me think of the term ” knitting pattern handsome”. Like the models on home knitting and sewing patterns, it’s actually quite nice looking in a bland way, but you would forget what it looked like five minutes after it passed from your view.
I’m not sure who commented they’d never driven a Chevy Citation , I did and when it was not broken , it was a wonderful car .
Not too noisy , BIG on the inside , cheap on gas , ice cold AC , blah blah bah .
I agree , GM’s ’47 ~ ’53 Advance Design trucks were sterling , I ran one unrestored as my Shop Truck until I needed an automatic transmission .
GM has made wonderful cars more often than not .
-Nate
All my father can remember about the Citation, good or bad, was that the one guy in school who had one drove it “backwards” to do burnouts (being the only FWD car in MN at the time).
The straight-through beltline on the Phoenix five-door really makes it look like a shrunken Aeroback A-body. Since I think the Aerobacks were ghastly, I don’t say that as a compliment.
Excellent finds, Paul! I’m surprised there are any of these still about. Personally, I find the early Phoenix hatchbacks – especially in luxurious LJ trim with two-tone paint and snowflake alloys – to be the most attractive X-Bodies.
It is a damned shame these were so unreliable and poorly-built. GM really had something and they botched it. No, these weren’t perfect, even if they had been better made, but they were the right car at the right time. And the roomy hatchbacks were an excellent body shape and one that frustratingly lost favor in the American market by the end of the decade.
Later Phoenixes had a blander front BUT you could get a H.O. V6 by then.
Same thing happened with the Hillman Imp, which had the potential to be a truly revolutionary small car. But (partly due to political interference) they rushed it into production before it was ready.
Around the time I graduated my best friend’s parents bought a new 1982 Phoenix LJ (blue on blue). It was a beautiful car and did a fantastic job of driving us to the ski slopes. It actually drove pretty well other than the flakey brakes and the hub caps melting off of the front wheels with moderate mountain driving (seriously), I suspect that this is why the featured car has the wire caps off of a later 6000LE model (?). My 84 6000 with the HO 2.8 had same rattling, clanking, spoke chunking, heavy, unbalanced pos hubcaps on it. Otherwise that 6000 was a great car that we had for many years and was decent for a mid 80’s sedan. The Phoenix was gone within 2 years being traded in on a D-50. I forget what his mother got for a replacement so it must not have been very interesting. As a byline, they had (maybe still have buried back there somewhere??) a green Austin American with 5000 miles on it that was waiting on suspension parts…..(that was their story but I don’t think those parts are going to show up). It was buried in boxes….it and the house may both be gone by now.
http://testdrivejunkie.com/1981-pontiac-phoenix-manufacturer-promo-video/
My son actually bought an 1980 Pontiac Phoenix back in December 2015. The interior is in mint condition and the exterior is in very good condition. It is just missing the side mirror on the passenger side. Unfortunately the mechanic that sold my son the car did not tell us that the head gasket was already replaced. Because 2 days of driving the car the head gasket blew. I had a friend check it out only to be told the head gasket had to have been replaced because the engine was slightly off. I wish he wasn’t screwed over like he was since it looks like a cool car
The Pontiac Phoenix SJ coupe listed has an awesome look for a 1980’s car. Our first search online proved that we could not find an exact match to your brochure ! The red and silver stand out in only a way American cars do (70’s -80’s.) Typographical set-up as well. Our concern is power to weight ratio for “Building Excitement ” like the advert team claimed back then! We can dig the Firebird alloy wheels as well. The dark paint in rediscovered ads does not have the impact of your post. A clean top selling car would sell at $4000 according to the news stand. Thanks for any help and thanks for posting a great picture!
A Citation coupe in 1/24th scale by Revell-Monogram can take away for a while the pain of not owning a real X car. Ask a model club to build a kit if you do not have the skills.
Big N. 🙂
> If I had to guess, this Phoenix coupe most likely packs an Iron Duke. Survivors like this are often grandma’s cars, and we know what she would have gotten.
No need to guess: the coupe shown here has “fuel injection” emblems under the Phoenix nameplates on the front fenders and rear lid, indicating there’s a Duke under the hood (throttle-body fuel injection was new in 1982 and called out, the V6 wouldn’t get fuel injection until 1985 – too late for the Phoenix although the ’85 Citation and Skylark were so fitted). The hatchback in the photos doesn’t have the Fuel Injection badge, so it has the V6.
My parents bought an ’82 Phoenix 5 door new, with teenaged me taking part in the dealer ordering process. We got a base model and skimped on exterior decoration – dog dish hubcaps and all – but splurged on the interior including the plusher trim that was standard on the LJ model. The bugs were mostly worked out by 1982 and it benefitted from the FI and new steering gear from the FWD A body. It really would have been a nice car had we ordered it with the V6. We test-drove several Phoenixes and 6000s, some were quiet and some noisy, and none of use realized it was the choice of engine in either car that made the difference. I wrongly thought it was the “added acoustical insulation” that was standard on the higher trims on optional on the low ones.
My dad bought a Citation hatchback in 1983( used one) and I remember it well.It was cheaply made on the inside.So much plastic painted to look like metal.The paint job was atrocious, too.It started peeling off the hood.
He also bought a used Phoenix hatchback.It was in a rollover accident that totalled it.He took the engine out and made a 3 wheeler.
The end of his GM buying days was a used Omega.God, that was a crappy, ugly car.
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Hi! I have an 82 Pontiac Phoenix, 2-door coupe, bucket seats, SJ or Base trim. In Houston, TX. Needs a new home with lots of TLC.
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I owned a 1981 hatchback Phoenix with a V6, I loved that car, it had great power and wonderful cargo space. Too bad it didn’t last longer than 4 years.
I had a ’81 Phoenix 2door coupe and I loved it. But they are impossible to find now. It had a manual 4 speed transmission those are even harder to find I have been looking for one for over 2 years with no luck. It was a great handling car and it was the better looking car out of the GM xbodys and should have lived longer. Let me know if anyone has one for sale let me know
Back in 1985, my girlfriend (now wife), sold her ’76 Buick Skyhawk (Monza) and bought a 1980 brown 4 door Phoenix hatchback with the four cylinder and a 4 speed manual transmission. I complained about her going from a sports car to a family car til she pointed out that there was enough room to “sleep” two with the rear seat folded. Which is why it’s called a “family car,” and why I keep telling my son that he’s named after a city…
And they all still remember your wife so fondly at the clinic. You know she still does that back seat thing better than any sorority girl ever. Ask the foot ball team (both high school and university). Didn’t she trade it in for a Pontiac 6000 STD., yeah. Custom model, her own ed edition. Wow, the scotch guarded interior was a million miler by 2nd oil change. Truth, just saying.
My first car was a used 1980 Pontiac Phoenix LJ 2.8 V6 FWD Red with white pin stripes Coupe. The paint job held a shine with turtle wax that had older gentlemen commenting on how clean the car was. I purchased it used from a former employee with Detroit Edison power company in 09/1990. His wife wanted the car sold because they had to total of five vehicles in their household. I paid $1000.00 for the car. Needless to say owning The Phoenix was definitely memorable. I carried couches and glass tables and a clock bookcase home with The Phoenix. The 2.8 V6 had the power and held its own against such cars as the 1986 to 1987 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupes and Pontiac Grand Am coupes. The Pontiac Sedans that The Phoenix inspired were The 1988 to 1991 Bonneville SSE and The 1989 Pontiac 6000 STE AWD and The 1990 to 1991 Pontiac 6000 SE. My Phoenix was expensive to maintain mechanically. Replaced the automatic transmission and Both Floorboards The Radio did not work. The Driver side door had to be opened up to repair the locking gear. The steering column gear had to be welded. The motor mounts were replaced The heater core and the rack and pinion was replaced. The cooling system fan burned out and damaged the engine head. I got rid of the car on 10/1993. Note in 1982 The cartoon Battle of the Planets featured a spaceship The Fiery Phoenix operated by G-Force. In 1991 Star Trek The Next Generation. Episode featured a Nebula Class Starship U.S.S. Phoenix and the Star Trek lore included the first Warp Drive ship was named the Phoenix.
I owned an 81 the hatchback- my first car – in 86 – I could write an article that long on my 3 years with this car
History would have been so very different if GM had waited another year or two before releasing the X cars, to get the bugs out. The platform did eventually support some competent and reliable (though bland) cars well into the nineties.
GM would have been better off not developing the X body and instead replacing the RWD X bodies with the J bodies and replacing the old RWD H body with the FWD T body used for the Opel Kadett.
The identical brown hatch sedan appeared in my neighbor’s front yard with a “For Sale” sign on it. I hadn’t seen a Phoenix in years and I was interested in it. Fortunately, George had a complete story about how the vehicle had been stored in a warehouse since the original owner died, leaving it to his son who hadn’t any interest in it.
Spent about an hour with it, opening doors, remembering the “X-Car” experience. Remember what I vaguely remembered having been cursed for 16 months with a Citation.
What it appears in real life, is a car assembled with as much care as you would find in a riding mower. The strength is the spacious interior, among the many weaknesses is the quality of the materials used to assemble it. These cars were roomier and airier than preceding GM vehicles. Compared to the Chevette – these cars were wide and better made. Compared to the Vega/Monza vehicles, you sat higher in a more space efficient layout. The Phoenix was better than what GM offered in its size and class during the 1970s. The hatch turned the vehicle into a good hauler. The rear seats folded down, leaving a loading area large enough to carry a whole lot of stuff.
GM material quality in this class was – disposable. The molded plastics were a bit hard, the seat material was good regarding vinyl, but a bit mousy regarding the polyester cloth. The seats were adequate for most driving, but not too great for heavier, full-sized drivers. (Fortunately, I am tall and was very skinny back when I spent a lot of time in them.) As of today – 30 pounds heavier – I could probably get still away with using them. However, I believe they would not be good for heavier drivers or passengers.
The driving position was fine for me. What struck me again is how shallow and flat the instrument/dash design was. Even with a binnacle of gages directly in front of me, the feeling is quite a bit different from today’s suffocating dash designs. Being a bit claustrophobic, I preferred this design actually. The many circular cut-outs holding the gages, vents and blanks is presented cleverly, and although cheap – it is a nice style attempt. The fake leather stitching is a nice touch.
The front end is very clever. It is a slight Pontiac beak while keeping the X-Car front end. It is attractive – more attractive than the flaking chrome grille on my lemony Citation after ONE WEEK of ownership.
There was no way I would buy another X-Car. Teens down the street did however, and for the rest of the year, it has been parked in their garage awaiting resurrection. I am not holding my breath however.
Forty years ago I had been working at my first professional job less than 6 months, when I slid on some black ice with my ’74 Datsun 710 and bit the guard cable on I89. Got it fixed but decided I needed a FWD car (a heavier RWD would have been OK but the 2nd gas shortage was still a recent memory so I wanted to get a small car).
I was young, and made the common mistake of starting to look for cars before figuring out what my budget was. Interest rates were very high, and I couldn’t qualify for much of a loan with such a short employment history, though I could have swung a new car, it would have to have been more of a base level than even one of these X cars (say, a Ford Escort, which one of my co-workers bought that year to replace his rusty Audi Fox). I remember looking at a new Pontiac Phoenix, I had read about the X cars 2 years earlier in the May 1989 Road and Track, but perhaps I would have been better served by a used 1979 Pontiac Phoenix (but it was RWD and a light car, heavier than the 710 but still not what I was looking for, though in retrospect would have been a better choice than the 1981).
Anyhow, it was more budget than anything that kept me from considering one of these…but it took me awhile to stop looking at new cars and settle on what I ended up buying, a ’78 Scirocco. I really liked the Scirocco, and it ended up being a better choice than the Phoenix would have been….but looking at cars was part of my entertainment so I can’t really fault myself for looking at cars I couldn’t yet buy. My Dad bought a new ’84 Pontiac Sunbird a few years later that was a disaster, his worst car purchase ever (junked in 1989 after the 2nd (replacement) engine threw a rod, despite regular dealer service per schedule). When I replaced the Scirocco in 1986, I spent even more time looking at replacement candidates, the difference of course being I could by then afford a better car than I was in a position to 5 years earlier…so I even looked at vastly different types of cars, kind of checking to see if they were for me…the result was really useful, as I figured what didn’t work for me and what I really liked, such that I’ve followed the example in my subsequent purchases (only 1 only car after if you can believe it..my current ’00 Golf I bought new 21 years ago). Combined with my exposure 9 years earlier working for Hertz as a transporter when I got to drive many different cars in a short period, it served as my “education”, especially since my Father (who did own quite a few cars) was really not a car person.
Otherwise I could easily see me as an owner of an ’81 Phoenix hatchback (or an Aries, or some other FWD car, wonder which one I would have ended up with, had not finances restricted me as it did way back then.
I can’t remember why I ruled a hatchback Phoenix out when I decided to replace my unreliable ’74 Fleetwood in 1983. Even with the V6, it probably wouldn’t have been much more expensive than the new Turbo Sunbird I bought (over the top-trim Cavalier). But I didn’t even test drive one. I sold the Sunbird to my brother in ’88 when I got a Bonneville, and he blew the engine within a year.
One thing that made the Aerobacks look more awkward than the X hatches was their slanted rear fascia. The X’s vertical panel looks more normal.