SJ? and Li'l Wide Track'

[fyrftr50]

the Astre models available pales in comparison to the similar list I have for the Vega. lol

[vegastre]

Not sure about other parts of the country but in the DFW area we have corporate salvage yards that charge you two dollars to just walk in the door to look over their inventory. It is vast and just goes on as far as the eye can see. Americans throw iron away at a record pace with the government now getting into the act. The little Vega platform had its day and sadly so has GM but somewhere in that mess lies the American car psyche be it the Camaro, the Mustang, or the Challenger and the Vega some where.

[hoffbug]

Hey everyone.. I git a reply back from the builder of the original li'l widetrack concept..



Hello Jim

My name is Tony Hoffer and I live in Maplewood, Minnesota.. I have been working up a Pontiac Astre project and In my research found a picture of the Pontiac Astre .. "lil wide track" A quick search said that the package was designed by BORT and assembled by your Motortown corp in Michigan.
I cannot remember ever seeing one... but I very much like the styling and was intrigued by the Front spoiler and window louvers... Can you tell me a little about the options on Lil wide track and possible replacements for the spoilers and window louvers?

Hey Tony!

Sorry I am a little late in responding to your Pontiac Astre project.

The car officially named "Lil' Wide Track" was converted at a small installation center close to the GM Lordstown, OH assembly plant. It was conceived originally to try to build some Pontiac "personality" into what otherwise was a Chevrolet Vega with a split grille. It was built for a special promotion program sponsored by the Detroit area Pontiac Dealers Association.

The car proved to be very popular and attracted interest from other Pontiac Dealers out of the Detroit area. It was only available in silver with the multi-colored decal trim package. Every other item was "bolt-on".

It was available only as a 1976 model and was not carried over for 1977. Motortown Corp. however sold a Chevrolet Vega station wagon program which was built around a 1977 Vega wagon made to look very much like an original 1955 Nomad. This program was sponsored by the Dallas, Albuquerque, and Phoenix Chevrolet dealers associations. In summary Motortown built approximately 1,000 Pontiac Astres and 1,500 Chevrolet Nomads.

They have since been sold to an outfit in Detroit named Evans Automotive who just recently closed their doors. I honestly could not tell you where you might find some of these special parts. I do know that the wheels were a very limited production 13" version of the original Appliance "mags".

Sorry I can't be of any more help.

Jim Wangers


How cool is that!

[starfire383]

SJ = Super Jet
LJ = Luxury Jet

Those are the standard SJ/LJ definitions as applied to the Grand Prix line. With GPs the SJ was the performance version and the LJ was the uplevel trim version. I deeply lust after an early 70s GP SJ. Black with red leather and a 455.

[bugdewde]

Here's a bunch of old car manuals and brochures: http://www.tocmp.com/ The following brochures came from this site.


Look at the last page of this '75 Astre brochure. It tells what the SJ package includes.
http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php?g2_itemId=70380

'76 Astre Brochure: http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php?g2_itemId=70106

'73 Astre Brochure from the Canadian section: http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php?g2_itemId=68318

After you click on the brochure picture. you can make the brochures larger (easier to read) by choosing "full size" or one of the drop down options from the upper right hand corner


Old car brochures : http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php

[hoffbug]

Yup.. Just as I remembered.. The 75 brochure talks about RTS... Radial tuned suspension..LOL

[res0o7eb]

Hey everyone.. I git a reply back from the builder of the original li'l widetrack concept...

Hey Tony!

...It was available only as a 1976 model ...

Jim Wangers

How cool is that!

THAT IS VERY COOL!!!
Thanks for getting us that info, Tony. Impressive.
Any Pontiac fan knows who Jim Wangers is - the marketing genius for Pontiac.

Looks like the Wikipedia needs to be updated - the caption under the picture needs to be changed to '1976 ...'

[fyrftr50]

I wonder if this Jim Wangers from BORT would have known about other car companies that made modifications for other GM vehicles. I wonder how close they might have been considering they were in the same industry, same State etc. Reason I'm speculating is because of my 79 Road Hawk. Much like the mirage, the Road Hawk was drop shipped to an outside source to have the necessary Road Hawk items affixed to the car. I know BORT had some part in the Mirage, now the Lil Wide Track, wonder if they would have been familiar with Robin's Industries/Robin Products personel.

[cos2482]

Jim Wangers wrote:
Motortown Corp. however sold a Chevrolet Vega station wagon program which was built around a 1977 Vega wagon made to look very much like an original 1955 Nomad.

Perhaps Mr. Wangers has his years mixed up as the Nomad Vega wagon was based and built on the 1976 model year only.

[res0o7eb]

Bryan,
You definitely don't know much about Pontiacs ...

I wonder if this Jim Wangers from BORT

Ugh .... read this ... http://www.geetotiger.com/JimWangers.htm.

The L'il Wide Track was a 76 option.

Good call. OK. You do know a little about Pontiacs. Thanks for sharing.

That Wide Track pic is easily the best looking Astre I have ever seen!!!

Agreed!

Perhaps Mr. Wangers has his years mixed up as the Nomad Vega wagon was based and built on the 1976 model year only.

Probably true. Jim has Pontiac Blue in is veins, not Chevrolet Orange.

[hoffbug]

Jim Wangers wrote:
Motortown Corp. however sold a Chevrolet Vega station wagon program which was built around a 1977 Vega wagon made to look very much like an original 1955 Nomad.

Perhaps Mr. Wangers has his years mixed up as the Nomad Vega wagon was based and built on the 1976 model year only.

Ill give him that.. he is 83...

[vegastre]

This Pontiac stuff is cool. Very rich history and fairly amazing how Pontiac went out of their way to tie the Astre to its line. To wit: Lil’ Wide track because nothing about the Astre is wide track or particularly luxurious. I wonder if some of these mini-programs Jim talks about were for or about the consumer or mere advertising to get people into the showrooms to sell them lord knows what.

As an H-body guy back in the day around Dallas Vega panel wagons were a fairly common sight in salvage yards. Not so much the Nomads and if I recall only saw one or possibly two. I do recall seeing a 72 panel wagon sitting on the showroom floor of the now defunct “Steakly Chevrolet” in Dallas. It was the only H-body I ever remember seeing in a showroom mainly because I was not paying attention to Vega’s. The only reason I noticed it then was because I thought it resembled a Nomad and of course looking at the engine bay I could see a small block in there as any hot rodder would have imagined in the day and as they say the rest is history as the Vega went on to become the quintessential low buck swap of the seventies and a boom for another Texan by the name of Don Hardy out of Floydada, Texas.

[hoffbug]

Apparently CT auto ranch in Denton TX has a Vega Nomad for sale..

http://www.ctcautoranch.com/Cars/Car Sub-Pages/Cars Chevrolet Cars.html

[vegastre]

Ya,
Its been a couple of years since I’ve been up there and if I remember correctly he won’t sell any parts off these. At the time he wanted two grand for the Nomad and it looks in worse shape than I remember. He had a number of H-body wagons over hatchbacks and basically rusting hulks sitting proudly saying “save me”

[hoffbug]

Some more pics and stuff about the lil wide track..

http://www.elektra.is/pontiac_astre.htm