1993 Pontiac Sunbird SE Convertible

Like the rest of GM's divisions, Pontiac started transitioning its mainstream models from rear-wheel drive to more compact and efficient front-wheel drive models in the late Seventies and early Eighties.

The first to make the jump was the Phoenix, which in 1980 went from a Chevy Nova-derived largish compact to a smaller FWD car sharing the X-car platform with the Chevrolet Citation.

Next to get hit with the shrink ray was the Sunbird, which was a compact derived from the Chevy Monza. It got moved to the new J-car platform used by the Chevy Cavalier and renamed the J2000.

This was a rational renaming, because the Pontiac subcompact at the time was the T1000, which used the... you guessed it ...GM T-platform from the Chevette. So on your Pontiac lot in 1982 you could get the subcompact T1000, the compact J2000, and the larger compact Phoenix, and the new FWD midsize car, the 6000. 

To rationalize the naming somewhat, the J2000 became just the 2000 in 1983, and then for the '84 model year, the subcompact shed the "T" to become just the 1000.

Also in 1983, Pontiac launched a convertible version of their compact coupe and sold it as the 2000 Sunbird. For 1985, all compacts became Sunbirds, shedding the numerical designation altogether.

Through most of the Eighties Pontiac fought to keep its Sunbird distinct from its stablemate at Chevrolet. While the Cavalier Z24 performance model gave drivers a torquey multiport fuel injected 2.8L V-6, the Sunbird GT packed a spicy turbo four, originally a 150hp 1.8L motor and later a TPI 2.0L turbo rated at 165 SAE net horsepower.

The second generation of the Pontiac FWD J-body debuted for the 1988 model year and the Sunbirds gradually grew less distinguishable from their Chevy kin.

The turbo engines in the performance models went away after the 1990 model year. The Jamaica Yellow 1993 Sunbird SE convertible in the photo above is packing the same 140 horsepower GM corporate LH0 3.1L pushrod multiport fuel injected V-6 used in contemporary Chevys.

In its late convertible form, the Sunbird SE in the picture would have weighed in at close to 2900 pounds and, like most of them, it had a 3-speed automatic, so the zingy performance of the 2500-pound, 150hp '86 Sunbird GT with a 4-speed manual was just a memory.

The one in the photo was snapped in February of 2016 using a Nikon Coolpix P7000.