Coming up with two cars that have something in common is sometimes tough. Often, I’ll find one car that I really want to write about, and then struggle to find one that goes with it in some way. For today, I found two that I liked – and then discovered they had a common thread I wasn’t aware of. So that will be the theme for this week: cars with one arbitrary thing in common.
On Friday, we looked at two somewhat expensive playthings, and it seems not a lot of you warmed to the idea of an ancient British car equipped with a fussy and high-maintenance Japanese engine. I’m shocked! Well, not that shocked. Besides, a Honda CRX that clean these days is a rare thing indeed, and hard to pass up, even if the asking price is a little steep.
For me, it’s the CRX, hands-down, every day and twice on Sundays. No way in hell am I going anywhere near that Spitfire. I admire the work that went into it, and I am happy that it exists. But I do not want it.
This week, I’m going to find two cars each day with some number in common. It might be as obvious as price, or as obscure as wheelbase. Today’s metric is peak horsepower, a number that advertisers like to bandy about, but sometimes doesn’t have much meaning in actual driving. I’ve heard some old-timers say, “You buy horsepower, but you drive torque.” And of course, even that isn’t the end of the story, because power-to-weight ratio matters, as does gearing, as do a hundred other less tangible aspects of a car’s design. Be that as it may, the engines in both of today’s cars are rated at the same horsepower: 135. Let’s take a look at them.
1978 Pontiac Grand Prix – $4,999
Engine/drivetrain: 301 cubic inch OHV V8, three-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Whites Creek, TN
Odometer reading: 144,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
In the mid-1970s, the penny finally dropped in Detroit: If you aren’t selling enough small cars, maybe you should make the big cars smaller in order to meet the new regulations. Most mid- and full-sized cars were a lot bigger than they needed to be, anyway. A new era of downsizing was ushered in. In 1978, GM’s A-body platform, including this Pontiac Grand Prix, received the downsizing treatment. Gone was the majestic but heavy “Colonnade” styling, replaced by a sharp-edged design that was more with the times as well as being a foot shorter and several hundred pounds lighter. This body style proved popular enough to stick around for nine model years.
GM was already making moves towards shared “corporate” engines for all divisions, but in 1978, each flavor of A-body coupe could still be had with its own division’s engine. For Pontiac, that meant a 301 cubic inch version of its V8 that, when equipped with a two-barrel carburetor, as I suspect this one is, makes 135 horsepower. It’s backed by a three-speed Turbo-Hydramatic transmission, though I don’t know whether this is the reliable TH350 or the weak and failure-prone TH200. I suspect it originally came with the latter, but after all these years, there’s a good chance it has been swapped out for a TH350. It’s a one-owner car, so the seller should be able to tell you.
No proper ’70s cruiser is complete without a jewel-toned velour interior, and this Pontiac does not disappoint. It has a big split bench seat so soft you’ll sink into it, a column-mounted shifter, and that cool Grand Prix dash with all the round gauge holes. I think this is a base model, or at best an LJ, so most of those holes will be filled with idiot lights instead of proper gauges, but you can’t have everything. Some of it is faded, and the dash has a cover that’s probably hiding a few cracks, but overall it looks good inside for a car this age.
It’s clean outside too, and it has all the accoutrements befitting a personal luxury coupe from the Carter years: a landau top, fake wire wheel covers, a hood ornament, and a flip-open cover hiding the trunk keyhole. This stuff was the very height of sophistication in those days. A car like this meant you were somebody – maybe not the boss, he drove an Eldorado – but somebody.
2013 Fiat 500 Turbo – $4,500
Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 1.4-liter DOHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Murfreesboro, TN
Odometer reading: 122,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Fiat sold a ton of cars in the US in the 1970s as well, but left our shores in 1983 in a flurry of rust flakes and broken timing belt debris. It returned in 2012, after purchasing a stake in Chrysler, with this car: the adorable retro-styled Fiat 500. It’s not exactly a paragon of reliability either, but it’s a lot better than the old ones were. And it’s so damn cute you can forgive some failings, like a puppy that pees on the floor. You want to be mad, but you just can’t.
This one ups the fun factor by adding a turbocharger to Fiat’s 1.4-liter MultiAir four-cylinder, bringing the output up to the same 135 horsepower as the Pontiac’s wheezy old V8. It drives the front wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox and produces one of the best four-cylinder exhaust notes of recent years. This one has quite a few miles on it, enough to have ironed out any early quality bugs, but not so much that stuff will have started wearing out. The seller says it runs and drives great, and gets great gas mileage.
The inside of the 500 is a lot more stylish than most small cars, with bold red accents breaking up all that modern dark gray fabric and plastic. This is about the best shot of the interior we get in the ad, but it looks good in there to me. The air conditioning works, and it has heated seats for winter driving, too.
Outside, it’s all nice shiny black, hard to keep clean, but impressive when it’s all polished up. I’ve never seen a 500 with these Panasport or Watanabe-style wheels on it before; they suit it well, and show off the red-painted brake calipers, which I believe are factory.
So there they are, two cars with the same horsepower rating that couldn’t be more different. One is lazy and comfy, the other frenetic and high-strung. Either one will get you where you want to go, but as always, it’s how you get there that matters. Which sort of journey interests you more?
I have never wanted a 500, but it is an abarth and a manual and the pontiac 301 is nearly as bad as a Nissan CVT. now it is clean and the motor could be replaced by pretty much any SBC easy enough, but I don’t like the cars styling enough to waste my time on that kind of sleeper.
Fiat for me.
This is a good one. My heart wants the Pontiac, but I’ll bet that Fiat would be an absolute hoot…
Those wheels on the 500…chefs kiss!
I’m could not scroll through the description of the Pontiac fast enough to get to vote for the 500. The Gran Prix and its GM cousins were hateful in the 80s and haven’t improved since.
The 500 on the other hand is sinfully underrated. 5-speed & turbo? Heck yea!
Man… that GP is way more expensive than it should be. And the 500 is actually pretty nice. But, I just don’t want a 500, and would like to drive that GP around, so since it’s not real money, I’ll go with the Pontiac.
One owner 78 Grand Prix? Good thing that’s so far away from me. I’d much rather see that in my driveway and you’ll never find another. Fiat 500s are all over, and red side mirrors on a black on black car? Ugh. I’ll hold out for an Abarth. The style on the Grand Prix gives me warm fuzzies. Now I’m gonna tie a fresh onion to my belt and go back to yelling at the kids walking home from school to get off my lawn.
I am pretty sure it says Abarth on that Fiat in one of the pics.
Then that would be 160hp and we wouldn’t be comparing apples and oranges anymore. That is a NP on a turbo.
Maybe the community can sort that for us. Seats look normal spec but maybe in ’13 that was the best. If it’s really an Abarth, it’s that classic case of “I don’t know what I have, no lowballers!
I’d still hold out for one with red and green racing stripes and the more serious seats.
The GP looks like an Oldsmobile in drag, and it’s giving me ugly malaise-era flashbacks to my first wife’s ’78 Granada ESS Coupe (complete with opera-window louvers). So Fiat it is. Not a fan in general of black cars, and the Panasport-style wheels would look better on a dead MGB by the side of the road. But it would be a hoot to drive until it breaks, then fix it and do it again.
Single owner RWD wins this one. swapping in something more potent should be pretty easy.
I drove the 500 when if came out/back, and it was fine, though it didn’t feel sturdy enough for a long ownership run. However, that Pontiac does almost nothing for me, so I’m going with the Fiat. Those wheels look pretty good too. 🙂
I don’t hate that GP, but the 500 is just straight up better in every way.
The GP is a good base, but not at that price. I also notice the factory A/C is missing a belt, which makes me assume the compressor has seized or otherwise shit out or replacing it was too much of a pain for the owner to deal with, which makes me wonder about the rest of the maintenance. It just looks tired.
With these articles I usually just pick whichever crapcan is more ironic. But this 500 is actually kinda nice!
Let’s see, a decent example of a car that I absolutely adore, or the most malaisey of malaise-era boats with a hooker’s bedroom interior complete with meth stains and a dash toupee. I will cheerfully Fix It Again, even if my name is not Tony, so Fiat it is. And I suspect it will need far less fixing than that lardass mobile. Fiat does cheap and cheerful correctly these days.
The Fiat is an easy choice since it has about 800 lbs and a quarter-acre less dead weight to drag around. It gets to cruising speed in less than double digits and will return decent mileage.
But if I were inclined to wrench on the car – I’m not, but if – the GP would be the easy call. Virtually any size SBC will fit under the hood and be more-or-less appropriate for the chassis; you could turn the wick up to some multiple of factory output, improve the ride and handling in many ways and almost certainly get better fuel economy…all while looking you were stuck about six administrations in the past.
The Fiat looks like fun at least until it breaks. Either way, I’d take the Fiat over the malaise-mobile any day. Manual, turbo, lighter and more modern. And the exhaust does sound pretty good.
good luck sourcing 301 parts from 1978. you might be able to get to them easier once you navigate the maze of 70’s vent tube emissions stuff, but actually replacing them becomes tough.
Grand Prix all day long. I remember looking at these when this downsized model hit the dealer lots. My parents had several Grand Prix’s when I was growing up. When I was learning to read I thought dad’s car badges said Grand Pricks.
If you get the Fiat watch out for the brittle AF armrests. They will shatter and you use them.
This applies to the Grand Prix as well. This Generation of GM cars is notorious for the plastics on the door panels discoloring and crumbling into dust. You can see it starting on the Pontiac. Parts of it’s door panels have turned pink.
TBF it was never intended to last this long.
I have no dislike for the A-bodies in general, but I’d rather have the Fiat than that Grand Prix.
I see all the comments on malaise era GM cars, but in 1978, these cars were a huge hit for GM. They sold literally millions of A body coupes, but by 1990, they had pretty much disappeared from the road. I’d buy one and restomod it. This one would be a good candidate if it was a bit cheaper.
OTOH, the Fiat would be a hoot to drive, no modifications required. Other than the hot air intake, it looks sweet. Hopefully, the stock airbox is included in the sale.
If I can only have one, it would be the Fiat…
The Fiat is an easy pick. It’s manual, faster, more fuel efficient and is way more fun to drive. And it’s very likely to be more reliable and durable.
Plus, I have no nostalgia for old carb’d cars. They sucked compared to modern vehicles.
Everyone who thinks that old Pontiac would be better to drive and/or more reliable than a modern car is remembering the past with rose-tinted glasses.
“A car like this meant you were somebody – maybe not the boss, he drove an Eldorado – but somebody.”
From the Sierras east perhaps. On the west coast such *somebodys* drove European imports. As such I barely noticed these cars in the wild so now I associate them more as the cars driven by some TV villain’s bumbling henchmen, probably because of how they wallowed around corners while throwing a hubcap.
In the mid-Atlantic region “somebodies” drove Benz. The people driving Cadillacs were old.
The Grand Prix seems to still have the “body fillers” between the body and the bumpers. It’s worth buying just for that.
That Pontiac will still be rolling down the highway long after that Fiat is turned into coke cans.
True, the brakes of that era weren’t trustworthy. Eventually the Pontiac will hit an ocean, though.
No fear; it’s a land yacht.
Where’s the ROTFL icon button?
Psh I’ll have Tony fix the Fiat dozens of times before I buy that wheezy barge. Also still representing team never-Landau. Cinquecento for me.
Since I’ve already had a ’78 GP as a college car (thankfully, an SJ-spec car, with no vinyl roof, bucket seats, actual “gages”, etc., but with an even wheezier 305 Chevy engine with smog pump. Yes, I had to replace the THM200 with the 350…), I’ll take the Fiat this time. 500s (even non–turbo/Abarth cars) are a hoot to drive, hold up pretty well, and this one’s attractive.
Anyone who’s in this price bracket does not enjoy a lot of disposable income – which is exactly what that FIAT will consume in repairs or parts. My wife had a 301 Bonneville a year younger than this one and for what it was it was easy on gas, low 20’s on the highway, more importantly it never broke. If you floored it, it would make more noise and burn more gas and even, eventually, speed up, but drive it gently and it was comfortable and very reliable.
All that is assuming the TH350, I think most GPs had them. If it has the cheap tranny, my vote would change to FIAT. If you’re going to pour money into it anyway, might as well have some fun and a much better car.
And in case anyone here buys the Pontiac, on 20th Century Pontiac designed V-8 engines the spark plugs are usually – and very much so if air conditioning is installed – designed to come out by removing the front wheel and taking them out through the wheel well. This century, if you buy one used for a price like this frequently it runs a little rough because the rearmost right side plug was installed at the factory.
My 2013 Abarth, bought used with 80k on the odometer upon which I’ve added another 40k has only required a CV joint and a new battery during my tenure. It’s been like owning a Honda, except with brio.
When I was in high school shop class, the popular fast beater was a v8 Monza. The factory procedure was to lift the engine to get at the plugs. We used to cut an access hole in the metal wheel well to get access, then cover it up with a heavy rubber sheet held on with sheet metal screws.
I helped a friend with a Monza. Had been thinking about getting one, until that. I wish the car companies would remember that someone will have to maintain or fix the damn thing someday.