Does anyone have any information about this car? How many were made? What's it worth? I just bought one for cheap on craigslist with 74000 miles, it sounds like it runs well and I'm hoping it drives well. Is it worth it to try to restore a car like this, or should I just use it as a daily driver and keep up maintenance till I kill it and put it in the junkyard?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Eric

 

I've been looking for one for a while and there appear to be few left on the road. As you probably know, the Starfire (and Monza, Sunbird, and Skyhawk clones) is based on the Vega H-body architecture. The Starfire et al were actually called the H07 body. Start here for more info:

http://h-body.org/

 

having owned a '79 starfire i can speak from first-hand experience. for it's size, it was a heavy car. for it's weight it wasn't a very rigid car. the front suspension had about 3" of suspension travel, so, not a well-handling car on anything other than a smooth road. putting anything in there resembling an olds v-8 would make the car very nose-heavy and plow severely. much chassis stiffening would be required be to hold the car together. the h-specials(as gm called them), came with 13" 4-lug rims. they utilized a special rear end and transmission as they were connected together by a long reinforcement bar, bushed at both ends. i had a friend break one of these cars in half on a set of railroad tracks, it was not severely rusted. it is very much a 2+2 car as in 2 under 6' adults and 2 small children(under 4 1/2' tall). back seat space is very limited and only provides lap belts for passenger retention. in an accident, it's very likely anybody in the rear seats will kiss the back side of the front buckets.
adults squeezed in back will be bashing the top of their heads on the hatch frame directly above their heads, on any moderate bumps/dips. the driveshaft tunnel chews up a lot of foot space in front and splits the two rear seats. front seats were comfortable enough for most trips under an hour or two. beyond that time, the car feels very cramped and restrictive. without a/c, the car is unbearably hot on hot days.

for it's day and it's intended mission, it was adequate transportation for about $6 grand-$8 grand, new. it was the cheapest offering by gm and showed it in every way. the buick v-6 odd-fire 231 c.i.d. was a shaky but adequate power plant at 105-110 hp. the optional turbo 350 trans. was about the best part on the car. braking was acceptable in all modes. handling(with better tires), was econobox decent. as mentioned above, when pushed, the suspension was not up to the task. on a curve with bumps you had to be careful not to be "pushing it", or you would more likely than not, lose it, especially loaded.

remember, this car was based on the vega/astre.

if you're still interested in one, check the underbody over very carefully. structural rust areas are right behind the front wheels, up in the "frame" area. that area was designed to hold everything(snow/water). also check over the rear suspension mounts and their attaching structure. the doors like to rot-out at the top and bottom. also check the hinge pillar over carefully, as these cars liked to crack the structure in that area, and subsequently rust.

btw, bill trovato races one of these cars.


bill

 

b67f13ad.jpg

8.21 @ 170.55

Norm

 

Thank you all for your replies, I appreciate every bit of information you've provided.

Joe: I've read through a lot of that website in my pre-purchase research, seems to have a fairly small amount of information regarding the GT model, it shows what extra was included in it but not the production run or anything like that I can find. In your search for one have you come across anyone willing to sell one and for how much? Before I throw a lot of money at it getting all of the rust gone and replacing old(er) parts I want to know if it's a worthwhile investment and if it'll continue to appreciate in value if I do put the time and money into it.

Bill: Thank you for the information about where to look for rust spots, I have already purchased the car but I'll make sure to give those a twice-over before I declare it mechanically sound enough to put on the road. The doors don't look too bad, but the door frames are starting to see some rot at the top of them, but from all that I could tell between scraping with a screwdriver and knocking on the metal it seems solid enough to grind down the rust and put some new paint on it to stop the rot. I'll check the hinge pillars when I pick it up tonight, and will check all suspension linkages and mounts as soon as I can get it up in the air. If it's too bad I can actually scrap the car for almost what I paid for it, so I'm not losing out too much either way. I am kind of disapointed to hear about it's handling issues, I was hoping to hear "great handling, really fast car, you can take it anywhere" but I will keep all of that in mind as I drive it. I have little experience driving in the snow with RWD so it will be an interesting winter for me, but I figure it'll help me gain experience.

Also, I don't think mine's quite that pretty, missing the huge scoop, drag radials, and the fresh looking paint Nice pic though.

Edit: I just noticed the license plates on the car (was headed out to class before I typed that last post so I was in a hurry) are NY, does anyone know where in NY this guy lives and if there's a way to get in touch with him for more info and his experiences with this car? I live in upstate NY, that's why I'm wondering.

 

http://www.btrperformance.com

Norm

 

570hp 568LBS torque incredible!!!!!!!!!!

 

Not sure exactly what its worth now. I owned a 76 back in 1981, Nice red one. I've been looking for one like it that doesnt need a lot of restoration. Any ideas where to find one?

 

imho if you like the car and enjoy owning it than you should keep it. put into it what you want only you can decide how much time and money your willing and able to spend. I for one have more time and money into my car than i could sell it for and wouldn't change it for the world. I hope this reply didnt come across wrong i truly mean it in a good way

 

Dave, very good point and it doesn't sound like you were being obnoxious at all. It's true.

 

I too have a 79 Starfire. Has the Firenza option. 3.8 5 speed. Was my first car. Ran like all get out. Handled very well. Also, Bill, GM stopped using the odd fire Buick in 75. The 79's were even fire. Still have the car and it only has 47000 on it.

 

Check out this website.. I just picked up an '80 Monza.. basically the same car..
http://monza.homestead.com/monza.html

 

Hmmm, I bought a '79 Starfire new. I'm 6'3" (and was when I had the Starfire too) and drove it between Lansing and Houghton Michigan (10 hour drive) straight through. A very comfortable car for that drive. Handled very well. The Pontiac Iron Duke 4 cylinder was not as much power as I would have liked, but with the 4 speed manual it was good enough. Thing would get 37 mpg on the freeway. Took it on an impromptu road trip with a friend of mine (6' tall) from Mt. Pleasant Michigan straight through (slept in the car while the other person was driving) to Charlestown SC and back, once again, very comfortable. Also took it from Lansing Michigan straight through (car sleeping again) to Tuscon Arizona and back to Lansing via Laguna Beach California. The car performed great in the desert heat, no air conditioning and yes it was hot, but no worse than other cars I've been in. The car also performed well in snow for me. All in all a really nice car especially for the price (I think mine stickered at $7,900.00). I also moved a small full sized refrigerator from one house to another in it. Oh, a twin size mattress fit in it as well. If I could find one around here I'd buy it in a second.

 

I had a 76 GT 5 speed. It was a kinda cool with the torquey V-6 and 5 speed manual, but cramped (6' and 235) and have to say had about the worst assembly quality of any US car I've ever seen, just abysmal, right up there with AMC 70s cars, but not unusual for mid 70s GM I guess. Really rust prone too with saggy doors and a flexy, rattle prone body. Far from their best effort, a real stop gap cheapo car and it shows. Don't seem to be very sought after now either, so weak on apreciation. All that said, I still kind of like the V-6 stick models, for some odd reason! You don't see one often anymore, that's for sure.

 

I like them.

Here's video clips of mine from last weekend:

 

I know it's an older thread, but there were people looking for one of these.

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/2383635559.html

http://louisville.craigslist.org/cto/2387465824.html

-Jeff