It looked a bit like a Firebird to me.
Short and sweet. I don’t have a lot to say about this car.
Long slot tail lamps have been a Pontiac trademark.
This was the newest car that I’d bought up to this point, as it was only a couple of years old. I was looking for a small economical car that would carry me through my last couple of years at college. I had planned to quit my full time job, and use my savings as well as earnings from an anticipated part time job. I had seen pictures of the Astre in magazines and I liked its looks. It was based on the Chevrolet Vega coupe, but it had Pontiac Firebird styling elements. A split grille and the tail lights were long parallel slots. You might have to squint a bit to see the resemblance, but I thought that it looked pretty good. Much more distinctive than a Vega. I generally didn’t like Chevys, but as a Pontiac it was okay.
Red plaid sure looks spiffy.
Mine was silver with a red interior. The seats were red plaid cloth and it had a manual five speed transmission. No a/c, of course, and ventilation could have been better. The liner-less aluminum Vega engine had developed the reputation of being a real oil burner once it had accumulated some mileage, and buyers were staying away in droves. To correct this problem, GM improved the engine’s cylinder heads and the cooling system, and extended the factory warranty. This gave me enough confidence to give the car a try.
My only modification to the car was the addition of an AM/FM eight track stereo tape deck with a set of package tray mounted Pioneer speakers.
The car was pretty fun to drive, and fuel economy was pretty good, but it was kind of small. That didn’t stop me from going on an epic road trip down to Tijuana Mexico with my two brothers. We left after I got off of work at General Motors in Fremont on a Friday night at 11:30 pm. I drove home, picked up my brothers, and off we went. We traded off driving duties and drove through the night. We arrived in TJ in the morning. We spent the day looking around. My older brother was interested in finding an upholstery shop that could redo the interior of his ’64 Chevy Impala Super Sport. Then we drove back without spending the night.
I may be exaggerating!
It was really hot on the way back, with no a/c. The rear windows were also fixed in place, which resulted in terrible airflow. I also learned that since the car had a roof the size of a card table, the relentless Sun shone directly inside. with no way to hide from it! Sure made it hard to sleep.
We arrived back home on Sunday afternoon without getting any really good sleep. I didn’t need to be back at work until 3:00 pm. on Monday. This was a one thousand mile weekend round trip! You can only pull off these marathon type road trips when you are young.
After I was enrolled at San Jose State I found a very good part time, almost full time job, working for the County. I also realized that even if I wasn’t working, and had lots of free time, I was only going to study “so much.” I always maintained a solid mid “B” average through college and that was good enough for me.
With a regular source of income, I decided that I was tired of driving a little penalty box. I learned a valuable lesson with this car; don’t buy a car that you don’t really like just for the gas mileage. Especially since I had alternative transportation available with my motorcycle.
My motorcycle at the time was a modified ’77 Harley Davidson XLCR. Even though it displaced 1,000cc (actually 997) it returned respectable fuel economy at 40 mpg.
This was always the case for me. I usually had a motorcycle which was a much more economical way to get around. Since I was primarily a motorcyclist, I considered it my primary transportation. Between the two vehicles, it gave me a reasonable fuel economy average, sort of like a personal CAFE average. One balanced out the other.
I ended up selling this car to my best friend who was attending law school in SF at this time. The car came to an untimely end when the transmission locked up while he was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. He swerved into oncoming traffic and there was a collision. Fortunately, he came out okay. I did feel a bit guilty, but there hadn’t been any indications of a transmission problem during my ownership. It probably wasn’t a good idea to sell the car to a close friend.
This installment turned out to be pretty short, probably due to my lack of enthusiasm for the car. I hadn’t owned the car for much more than a year, and I still had one more year to go to finish my college degree. I didn’t really care about fuel economy or practicality, I just wanted something that I would enjoy owning and driving.
The quest for another vintage Cadillac started again.
I had a ’76 Astre, It was my first new car, and the only option it had was a radio..
I totaled it in 1978 in a snowstorm. It was a decent car.
May 1976, I was dreaming of what my first car would be. Ironically, I was driving my mom’s 1963 Cadillac Fleetwood El Darado which may have appealed to the OP, but I did not like it at all. I felt like it was an old person’s land yacht. My sister got a brand new 1974 Pinto and browsing through brochures at the ford dealer had me staring for hours at a Ford Maverick with MSRP around $3K as I recall. Then, our local county fair had a 1976 Astre displayed in the very front entrance of the Exposition buildings and I fell in love with it for a short time. Few months later, I ended up being gifted a 1971 Pontiac T-37 with only 37,000 miles and it served me well through high school, college, and newlywed life through 1986 or so.
When the 1973-74 Astre was only sold in Canada; the 1973 Astre got the Vega tailights
https://oldcarbrochures.org/Canada/GM-Canada/Pontiac/1973%20Pontiac%20Astre%20Brochure/slides/1973_Pontiac_Astre-04-05.html but they replace them for 1974.
https://oldcarbrochures.org/Canada/GM-Canada/Pontiac/1974%20Pontiac%20Astre%20Brochure/slides/1974_Pontiac_Astre-01-02.html
One of my first introductions to badge engineering, as a little kid. At least Pontiac designers in the US knew, it needed a stronger distinct Pontiac look, than the timid Pontiac split grille (and Vega taillights) on the original Canadian version. It was entertaining then, as the Astre name in Canada, immediately became synonymous with ‘s-box’. As it inherited every already lamented Vega shortcoming. Before GM belatedly made improvements to both Vega interpretations by ’76.
I think it looks okay .
The failure to provide decent air flow through the interior of any car is a serious defect anf many from that time period suffered this .
Good to hear you didn’t have any problems with it, I remember these and Vegas as three year old cars that smoked like the old city buses did .
Adding poor ventilation surely makes these penalty boxes .
-Nate
I had my Vega for almost 4 years but only took two road trips, both with two other full-sized adult males. One was Oakland to Long Beach and back for the weekend, to see the 1977 Long Beach Grand Prix. That was tolerable as I recall, though I did fall asleep on Highway 13 driving home from work the next day after essentially two days with no sleep. Fortunately I was jolted awake by my chin dropping down on my chest before any damage was done. First and last time that’s happened in 50+ years of driving. The second trip was up through the PNW and BC and the Canadian Rockies. One of the guys took the bus home from Vancouver BC. Even though we rotated through the back seat, I don’t think the Vega’s accommodations suited him. Roominess, rear seat comfort, ventilation … the Vega pretty much struck out in all those areas, though the GT’s front seats were very comfortable.
The liner-less aluminum Vega engine had developed the reputation of being a real oil burner once it had accumulated some mileage, and buyers were staying away in droves. To correct this problem, GM improved the engine with cast iron cylinder liners and extended the factory warranty.
The Vega engine never got cast iron liners from the factory. In 1976, a number of changes were made to the cylinder head and the cooling system was improved. The oil burning was not directly the result of the silicon-aluminum bores, but due to the poor valve seals leaking as well as raw gas leaking from the vibrating carb; these both led to a scuffing of the bores, but this would have happened on an iron block engine too. The new cylinder head fixed that. And the larger cooling system alleviated the tendency to overheat, which would warp the block enough to make the head gasket leak.
Of all the Vega engine’s maladies, the bores themselves were really not faulty, and the silicon-etched aluminum bores soon became common.
Beat me to it, Paul!
Ridiculous that it took them 5 years to sort out the motor–but it was 12 for the Northstar. Didn’t the A/C-equipped early Vegas have a larger radiator? I wonder if those cars held up any better.
I remember a heavy duty cooling system was an option on the ’73 Century wagon my dad ordered. I suspect that was all too common back then. The standard system was probably fine for Michigan.
“Didn’t the A/C-equipped early Vegas have a larger radiator?”
Yes, and maybe. Our ’73 Kammback was a/c-equipped with the larger radiator, but Dad still had to rebuild the engine within a year or two of buying it used. That engine got sleeved! I don’t remember it ever overheating, however.
The ’71 that became my first car had the ‘postage stamp’ radiator (about 12″ square in size with no overflow tank), and it blew the head gasket at least once. Dad rebuilt it at around 40K miles, and by the time I got it (maybe 60K), it was going through a gallon of oil every two weeks. The ’73 had been in an accident, so I swapped engines, taking the freshly-rebuilt sleeved one, and it served me well for years until I swapped that out for a Buick 3.8l.
In hindsight, the oil problem was likely due to the bad valve stem seal issue, which wasn’t well-understood for several years.
Thanks Paul, the post’s text has been updated to reflect that information.
“To correct this problem, GM improved the engine with cast iron cylinder liners and extended the factory warranty.”
The Vega 2300 engine never received cylinder liners ex-factory, although there was a healthy cottage industry that rebuilt engines with same (we had one done for our ’73 Kammback). Your ’76 Astre had a “Dura-Built 140” engine, which was an improved 2300, with the following updates:
“The 1976 to 1977 the engine received a new cylinder-head design, incorporating hydraulic lifters to replace the taper-screw valve adjusters, improved coolant pathways, longer-life valve-stem seals, a redesigned water pump and thermostat, and a five-year, 60,000-mile (97,000 km) engine warranty. The engine’s name was changed to Dura-Built 140.”
By 1975-76, most of Astre/Vega’s issues had been corrected and the cars were reliable and durable, by mid-1970s standards, anyway.
I remember in 1976/77 print ads touting the Vega’s 5yr/60k warranty.
So GM made those fixes, and discontinued the engine (and the Vega) in 1977.
The Vega platform lived on in the Monza, Sunbird, Starfire, and Skyhawk, but the the base engine was the 151 cid, 2.5 liter, “Iron Duke” on those cars starting in 1978, maybe sooner.
So, I wonder, how did the 76 and 77 Vegas fare? While sales were lower than past years due to car’s reputation and the end of the gas crisis, a quick google search finds GM sold about 150k Vegas in 1976 and another 90k in 1977. Plus the Astres.
So, how did those hold up? Would those be potential “Cars and Coffee” hits, like Pintos?
Any stock Vega/Astre would be a hit at C&C (the LS-powered ground-pounders would be also, but they’re less rare these days in the grand scheme of remaining H-bodies).
My ’76 Cosworth Vega always drew a crowd…
The 151 CID (2.5 Liter) Iron Duke was introduced for the 1977 model year in some Sunbirds and Astres where it was the standard engine and replaced the 2.3 Liter Vega 4. It was standard in the 1977 Sunbird (except in models equipped with California Emission Controls or High Altitude Emission Controls which still used the 2.3 Liter Vega 4). It was standard in the 1977 Astre Hatchback and Wagon (including models equipped with California Emission Controls), but not in the Astre Coupe (2-Door Sedan) and not in models equipped with High Altitude Emission Controls which still used the 2.3 Liter Vega 4.
The Iron Duke then became the standard engine in all 1978 Chevrolet Monzas, Pontiac Sunbirds and Oldsmobile Starfires. The 1975-80 Buick Skyhawk was never available with a 4-cylinder engine, they all came with the Buick 3.8 Liter V6 engine.
My father’s coworker had a nice Astre, similar to the car.
I was around 11, I could identify most cars’ make, model, and usually year, but I still associated their top speed with the speedometer–100 or 120mph, 160, 180 or 200kph (I lived in Greece), and my knowledge was pretty shallow beyond manual or automatic.
I remember my dad’s pal was frustrated, some kind of no start, or stall issue. One or two Saturday mornings my dad took me with him to take his pal to the mechanic. I had no idea what the issue was.
But, I liked the Astre’s looks! It was the only one I had seen, the only “Pontiac Vega” on the base, it had “neat wheels”, and what I really liked about the car was the dashboard! It had the full instruments, woodgrain, and I thought it looked really…rich!
Within a year we had moved back to the US, and shortly thereafter I would learn Vegas, and even more so Fiats, were considered “lemons”.
THANX Paul for the details on the engine updates .
I remember how many people were soured on the Vega, they thought they’d bought a nifty compact Camaro .
I remember the U.S.P.S. had fleets of the Vega wagons, they never smoked / broke down, I assumed it was due to lack of freeway driving .
-Nate
The H-body’s always did pattern themselves after the F-body’s.
That’s a nice example in the lead picture.
Reminds me of the ’75 hatchback I used to drive back in high school.
I had forgotten about these! Thanks for the misty trip down memory lane! They didn’t last long in GM’s lineup, that’s for sure. Like all Pontiacs, I thought it looked better than the bottom-feeder Chevy version did, but you didn’t see many of these before the Vega platform (H-Body) morphed into the Chevy Monza and its derivatives, with the ill-fated Vega engine consigned to the scrap heap in favor of more traditional engine offerings made of cast iron, including the 262 V8, the smallest of small-blocks from GM at the time, with the aluminum 215 V8 sold to Rover/British Leyland long before.
I was a subscriber to Motor trend back in the ’70’s and read an article that described how the Vega engine had been improved, with a longer warranty included. The article may have described how faulty engines were repaired by re-sleeving the block, that’s probably what my thoughts were based on. I could be wrong again, but wasn’t the aluminum used in the block “impregnated” with something that would allow the rings to wear against it? I know that many aluminum engines have chrome plated bores, or some other treatment of the bores, and repairing them is usually replacing the block, as it can’t be replated outside of the factory. But usually the entire engine is replaced. Early 90’s Jaguar V8s were prone to “bore wash” problems and I read about many instances with them during my years on the Forum.
I later had a friend who swapped a small block Chevy V8 into his Vega. It was a quick car but the cowl area was prone to rusting.
The aluminum block had a high silicon content. An acid treatment of the bores exposed the silicon, which is very hard. This has since become a common practice.
Yes, sleeving the block was common, because once the bores were truly destroyed, there was no way to rebore/hone them.
The Astre’s front looks so much better than the later Vega’s louvers, but I don’t know why everyone didn’t buy the cute kammback wagon instead of the hatch or coupe.
Did the wagon ever get the V6 or V8 they put in the Monza variants?
The Astre never got a V6 or V8, just the Dura-Built 140, but the Sunbird Safari did apparently have the choice of a V6 as an upgrade from the standard Iron Duke 4.
The original Vega grille (’71-’73) is my favorite, by far. The louvers of the ’74-’75 looked cheap to my eye. I liked the ’76-’77 fascia okay, and specifically sought out a ’76 when I purchased my former Cosworth Vega for that reason. I liked the Astre grille as well.
Jose, I went across the Golden Gate today. I was in the left most lane, and I remarked to my nephew that I was in what used to be called the suicide lane. Now with the barrier and the Zipper, it doesn’t seem so dangerous.
Never did anything with an Astre, but rented an Opel Astra a couple of times in Europe. It was a nice car; though long enough ago that I remember removing the rotor from the distributor trick when leaving it parked. What do people do now…remove ignition wires? Would run rough but still run, the rotor would keep it from starting when removed.
Wonder if GM just ran out of names? Astra is pretty close to Astre.
I can completely understand your lack of enthusiasm for this car. You and I seem to have had similar tastes in cars at a young age, and I remember how cars like these seemed to be so lacking in almost everything good that called to me from big 1960s iron. I will also agree that settling for a car is not a recipe for long-term automotive happiness.