(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.
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.
My first car was a used 4 cylinder 1980 Phoenix LJ that I bought in the summer of ’89 for something like $800. It was yellow with the tan interior. It had the tan and black checkered fabric seats with the “Split Bench” in front (my ass… The middle folded down as an arm rest and there was no middle seat belt (didn’t stop us, we just criss-crossed the belts over the middle passenger)). Driver’s side floorpan was rusted through to the point I could lay on the ground and punch my carpet up to reach in and unlock the door if I locked my keys inside (which, as a stupid teen, I did several times). Transmission needed to be replaced 6 months after I got it (and no, I wasn’t one of “THOSE” teen drivers, my mechanic grandfather would have KILLED me!!). I had it about 3 years when the engine seized and I had to junk it. Since it was my first car, I still cried as it was being hauled away.