The first problem was that the Pontiac 350 would not pass the stricter California and high-altitude emission standards. Besides minor trim alterations, Cavalier was otherwise little changed for 1990. Prices rose by about $200, and production dropped by nearly 20 percent to around 311,000 -- though in this slow year for the industry, that was enough to earn Cavalier second place in the sales race behind the Ford Taurus. The starting price for a 1977 LJ was just a bit under $5,500, but the final tab could top $9,000 if you ordered every option.

Pontiac also built one 1976 Grand Prix with the as-yet unreleased 301-cubic-inch V-8. A sweeping facelift greeted the Grand Prix for 1976, which was Pontiac's 50th anniversary year. It shared many basic block dimensions with an experimental 303 Trans Am race engine from 1969, though the new production powerplant was not nearly as beefy. Continue to the next page to read about the 1977 Grand Prix's sales successes. Next up the option ladder was the "5.7 liter" V-8 engine.

Fiat’s first postwar move in this direction was the 8V of 1952-54, but this was strictly a limited-production indulgence (only 114 built) while the 1100 Transformabile of 1955-59 was ugly and unsuccessful Let's begin our exploration of Fiat on the next page with the 1200 and 1500. The 1975 engine lineup was as follows: The base engine was a four-barrel 400, now rated at a rather lethargic 185 horsepower, a loss of a full 40 horses. Depending on the state to which a car was to be delivered, there might be a Pontiac-, Chevrolet-, or Oldsmobile-built V-8 under the hood, as there was a 49-state engine lineup and a California and high-altitude lineup.

The base GP engine for 1977 was Pontiac's new 301-cubic-inch (4.9-liter) V-8. Turn this Christmas food craft into a great decoration that you can hang on your front doors Reviving the spirit of the great letter-series 300 was a midyear option group for Cordoba comprising unique trim, bucket seats, cross-hair grille, and a 195-bhp 360-cid V-8. The top GP engine option for 1977 was the "6.6-liter" V-8, which was standard in the SJ.

A Plymouth promotional film extolled the PJ as "designed to be the smartest car in the parade," with "synchronicity of smart styling in the sleek radiator, fenders, hood, and graceful body lines." You might not think this car warrants such flowery words today, but 70 years ago, the PJ was quite something for the low-priced field. Composite front doors look fresh for years unlike timber doors. Ford prosaically called it a "bright metal roof transverse molding." Wrapping from the base of the B-pillar location over to the other B-pillar position, it was fixed -- so the Crown Vic wasn't really a "true" hardtop with an unobstructed side view.

These durable internal materials are what gives a composite paint pvc door its name. Sales, of course, were the most important payoff, and Century model-year production remained well above 100,000 for 1990-95. While the Merc carried the same body code as the 1955 and 1956 Ford Crown Victoria, the glass top was somewhat larger than Ford's, and there was no tiara. Just prior to this project, Ash had developed the Plexiglas roof concept for the '54 Ford.