1978 Pontiac show car found on Duluth street
Old Cars Weekly reader Steve Isola was minding his own business, walking through Duluth, Minn., Aug. 10 when he stumbled upon this little silver Pontiac. Most people would have just…
Old Cars Weekly reader Steve Isola was minding his own business, walking through Duluth, Minn., Aug. 10 when he stumbled upon this little silver Pontiac. Most people would have just assumed it was a regular ol' Sunbird with the fancy paint package, but Isola knew it was different. The Pontiac's "concept" license plates verified his suspicion this was a special Sunbird. The 1978 Pontiac Sunbird Special, in fact.
The 1978 Sunbird Isola found was one of two styling exercises displayed by Pontiac at the 1978 Chicago Auto Show, the other being the Grand Am CA. The Sunbird Special was a notchback coupe with a large roof opening, pearlescent white paint, Trans Am-style wheels and unique C-pillar treatment.
Isola was busy assessing the car's condition and didn't speak to the new Duluth owner. However, he did learn it was recently purchased from an individual in Illinois.
"[The] car is complete and intact, but showing a lot of signs of wear," he said. "Original paint is showing under peeling paint. You can see the seams where the custom top with the retractable sunroof and retractable rear window were built into [it]."
Let's hope the new brings this unique Pontiac back to show car status.
Related Resources
Learn about the cars of Pontiac in "The Standard Catalog of Pontiac, 1926-2002."
Put Pontiacs on your wall with Michael Irvine's work "The Goat Farmer."
Angelo Van Bogart is the editor of Old Cars magazine and wrote the column "Hot Wheels Hunting" for Toy Cars & Models magazine for several years. He has authored several books including "Hot Wheels 40 Years," "Hot Wheels Classics: The Redline Era" and "Cadillac: 100 Years of Innovation." His 2023 book "Inside the Duesenberg SSJ" is his latest. He can be reached at avanbogart@aimmedia.com
