1989 Pontiac Safari

Last year for the big Pontiac.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1989-Pontiac-Safari-/232696108441?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368

 

Looks nice to me on first glance but did they really put 2-tone paint on these last year models or in that something an owner put on after the woodgrain faded?

 

It looks like the woodgrain has been surgically removed, probably because it had faded? Pontiac did not offer a two-tone look like that. That should be woodgrain siding like shown below.




It's a sharp-looking car overall, and his no-reserve auction of $2500 seems very reasonable, almost a steal if sells for that or not much more.

 

I agree, but I thought the 89-90 B-Body's had the door mounted seat belts? (not sure on that as I never owned one) I don't see them on this car.

 

Door seat belts was a 1990 only thing I believe.

Car sure looks nice. Nice to have the 307 instead of the 305 ;-)

 

...said no one ever

 

Yes, it's a 1990 only thing (for the B Bodies) and it only effects Buick, Chevrolet and Oldsmobile. Pontiac, as mentioned earlier, ended at 1989. Fords and Mercuries don't have those stupid belts, they got air bags instead.

 

I won't have a Chevy engine in my Pontiac even if it's what the factory offered! I tolerate an Olds engine... and a 307 is easy enough to swap for a 350 or 403 ;-)

 

I've got experience with both the Olds 307 and the Chevy 305. The 307 is in my current '81 Bonneville Safari. My Chevy 305 experience was with a '83 Chevy G20 van conversion. I bought the van 'used', and initially had reservations about it being able to tow a travel trailer. It actually pulled that trailer quite well. My Pontiac, on the other hand, is pretty slow. I couldn't imagine it towing anything more than a half-loaded 6' utility trailer........

I believe the same auto/OD trans was behind both engines.

 

Your Van probably had a 7004R as it came from a plant using all Chevy engines, I wager your Bonneville has a Universal case 2004R as that plant installed several divisions engines into the same chassis.

I bet the towing difference is in the rear gears, I suspect your Van had 3.08 or lower gears, and you Pontiac has 2.73 or higher gears. The 200R4 actually has a lower 1st gear ratio and higher OD ratio than the 700R4. But 305-cid engine with 155 horsepower and a torque of 240 foot-pounds. and the 307 spec's are as follows
The 307 "Y" produced 148 hp (110 kW) and 250 lb⋅ft (340 N⋅m) in 1980-1984 models so the HP & Torque are almost the same.
But I agree the Olds 307 powered cars I have driven were all very slow to me, with the exeption of the Hurst Olds's with the H/O version. They weren't slow but they weren't fast to me either.

 

Since 89 was the last year for the big GM wagons, they didn’t want to invest in air bags. Federal law requires air bags or automatic belts beginning in 89. Since the Ford Panther platform was going to be around for another decade (or more), they went with bags. The GM solution assumes that the belts always stayed fastetened and were in place when the door was closed; a silly way to skirt the law IMHO.