1979 Oldsmobile Starfire Firenza V8 - Less than 4K Built! 

i loved the Monza and all the GM versions of it. Was truely a cool car to drive and own.

That’s one cool ride! Amazing how tastes change over the years. I wouldn’t have given that a second look 30 years ago, but find it really cool now.

Absolutely loved my 1979 Firenza. The 305/4 spd combo was very quick for its time. Never lost to a Mustang of similar time frame. Probably one of the most comfortable seats & cockpit of any car I've owned. Thank you Oldsmobile! Excellent car for its time given the emissions control. Had a 283/350 HP ready on a stand to put in it, but found out the Torque Arm was already breaking the two bolts hold the arm to the front of the pig. Decided if it couldn't handle

The Starfire actually started out as a name tacked onto the 98 convertible in the 50s, signifying nohting more than that it was a 98 convert. The first real run as a stand alone name was 61-66, when it was a range topper (except in 66 when it was signifcantly decontented and below both the 98 the Toro). Through 1964, it was considerably more than the 98 and had better trim and a slight bump in horsepower. The compact Olds mentioned was the F-85, with the 2 year only turbocharged version being the Jetfire. After that of course we got H body seen here, starting in 75. You could get the 305 in a Monza too, but not the Sunbird or Skyhawk.

I had a black Firenza. I tossed the 305 and put in a 400. The TH-350 had a shift kit and would break the rear transmission mount if I nailed it. One of the fastest cars I've ever driven, even compared to my 400hp C6 Vette. I sure do miss it. A couple add ons: it's transmission torque arm was later used on 3rd and 4th gen Camaros. It also shared it's side view mirrors with second gen Camaros, and many more cars. I always believed that GM didn't provide a 350 engine factory option because it would've beat same year Corvette.

Thats pretty cool. I miss those cars that were around in the 80's

I bought a 76 Starfire GT in the 1983. It was the Buick V6 with automatic. Spent many days carving the curvy back roads! The Tranny went just after winter. A friend of mine unlucky Wrecked his Chevelle with a modified 307 in it. Now I Had a Drag Racer! Keep in mind that at that time?! Most new muscle care were still around 150-175 horsepower. I had around 325! What a Sleeper!! Back then as a teenager! What was a unibody and what is Bracing? Twisted that Beautiful car to Death! Wouldn't mind owning Another! Thanks For the Memory! Nice Video

They sold a ton of the Buick Skyhawks and Olds Starfires. These were ‘sporty cars’, not ‘sports cars’ or Muscle cars’. The Buick v6 was the best fit for these cars. The right amount of power and torque with relatively light weight. The 4.3, 5.0 and 5.7 v8s made these pretty good runners for the time. The upgraded bigger brakes that came along in 1977 were a huge improvement. With the quick variable ratio power steering, these were pretty nimble steering wise. The seats were pretty comfortable. And the hatch backs were quite usable for trunk space. These were squirrelly in the back end. That’s part of what made them fun to drive. The v8 with the 4 speed transmission drove as good if not better than the equivalent period Nissan 300z. I owned 2 v8 monzas. A ‘75 2+2 4.3 v8 with a 4 speed manual and a ‘78 Monza Spyder Z32/Z34 packages with a 5.0 v8 and turbo 350 automatic. The 75 was a hoot to drive, but the 78 was a much better car reliability wise and had a lot better brakes. (Vented vs solid front rotors, and bigger, better functioning rear drum brakes.) the steering ratio was slowed down on the 78 with a bigger diameter steering wheel, the spring rates changed and the rear track bar redesigned.) the changes dulled the steering responsiveness, but substantially improved braking performance.

In 1980 and '81 my brother had the Oldsmobile Starfire hatchback that car was unbelievably quick for a little car on city streets it was a terror

Thank you so much for posting your Forenza I had a Forenza when I lived in Kentucky stationed at Fort Knox and I loved that car ironically I think I was shifting it way too hard because my clutch pedal broke from the column and I never was able to get that car right and I had to get rid of it nobody was wanting to weld on it because they did not want to risk of catching the car on fire but man I would love to have another video Forenza thank you so much for posting that my friend Happy Motoring

Definitely a cool unique little Oldsmobile. I like it! I like the nose with the grille that looks like the grille off a 76 442. I loves Olds. I currently have a 17k original mile 87 442. I would definitely restore your Starfire. It’s unique and really cool looking and is probably fun to drive

I had an old mobile star fire back in the eighties. I enjoyed it.

I had one back in the early 90's. Bought it as a roller, built a 350 and a th350 for it. Put a set of gears and axels in it and my buddy welded up the spider gears and it was my Mustang gt eater.

Very nice find and great to hear you’ll be enjoying it daily:) Yeah, funny how everything makes ‘Five Hundred horsepower’ even a lowly Briggs push mower when someone is selling it ;)

After watching it sit in Kansas for the last few years it's good to see someone has it who wants to take care of it

8:35 I like the shutoff valve for the heater hose. I put something similar on my parent's Citation; it was a necessity on many late-1970s GM cars that lacked air conditioning, since the heater flaps never cut off the hot air completely. It was less of a problem when cars still had flow-through ventilation, but with less room for ducts in the downsized models, the flow-through systems were replaced with vents connected to the heating system and summers could be unbearable in those cars.

Love the freaking h body's man I bought a 1979 chevy monza last summer with a nasty 355 in it cant wait to take it farther thanks for this content I subbed sir

Nice Adventures In Babysitting reference! Great car too!

Had a 75 Starfire back in the day. Looked just like the Monza. Had quad headlights and slant tail lights. Only had a 3.8 but it was a good car. Couldn't kill it and I tried. Wish I still had it.

I brought home a 1998 civic this summer. My 7 year old son seemed roll the window up. He was amazed. He talked about the manual windows for a couple weeks. He told everyone he seen. It was pretty funny.

I haven’t seen a starfire in over 30 years!! My Uncle had a blue one when I was a kid. I remember asking him what the name of the car was and his girlfriend (now wife) goes “it’s a starfire” it always kinda stuck with me since I haven’t seen one since. They were a really cool car.

Keep in mind, compared to todays cars of the same size, these are light weight cars. My 75 2+2 v8 Monza 4 speed manual hatch back only weighed 3200 pounds, on the scale. The 78 with automatic and air conditioning was a little under 3,400 pounds. Keep in mind, these are small cars! Substantially smaller and lighter than the 1970’s Camaros and Firebirds. By about 500 pounds. Plus or minus 100 pounds. The Vega was lighter, but is used a lighter structure, even though it was basically the same platform. These cars were specifically designed and built for the GM Wankel rotary engine (like rotary installed in Mazdas) but GM canceled that engine at the last minute, so that is why you found so many different engines stuffed under the hood with varying levels of success. You had the Vega 2300, the Pontiac iron duke 4 cylinder, the Chevy small block v6, 2 different v6 (odd fire and even fire) Buicks and the 3 Chevy v eights. The came with 4 speed, 5 speed manuals and 3 different automatic transmissions. The best all around engine was one the Buick v6 engines, but the default engine of choice for the hot rod set was the 350/5.7L Chevy v8. The Monza got all three v8 engines. The Pontiac Sunbird Formula and Oldsmobile Firenza got the 5.0 v8. The Buick Skyhawks only came with the Buick v6 motors. Someone managed to stuff a Buick grand national v6 turbo into a Skyhawk at one point. That car was a beast! But swapped in Chevy v8s in place of 4 and 6 cylinder motors was as common as pancakes.

I had a new black one back in 1978. Had a 305 V-8 4 speed. Rare car even back then? fast too. I beat many corvetts, camaros and firebirds especially off the line at red light!!! i drove it to death. never had problems but it rusted away after many years.

I like your Firenza the Firenza made it over to the j platform along with the cavalier sky hawk Cadillac Cimarron and sunbird this car took me bake when I was a kid back in the 70s my grandfather owned one of those

I had a 79 monza spyder with the 5.0 and factory 4 speed. From the factory it could only be had with a two barrel. I put a rochester quadrajet on it and it really woke it up.

@Smith Motor Works Getting your fender flairs back is easy peasy. Go to a professional 3D printer, have him scan the flair and print it. Then have him do a reverse print for the other side. To get the front flairs just have them printed to scale. You can easily determine the length of the front by measuring the void.

5:00 The Firenza nose looks a lot better than the one on the Monza 2+2. I was never a fan of rectangular headlights on rounded cars, but the single headlights on the Olds version, with the slightly rounded corners of the openings, transitions to the rounded surfaces of the car much more smoothly than the openings of the Chevy's dual rectangular headlights did.

I bought one of these in silver in 1979 in Columbus oh. I almost drove to Tx to buy one but it sold a few days before it popped up on my radar. Love to find one like mine, 8v with 4 speed manual

3:20 That window profile always reminded me a little of the cave drawings depicted in the book "Chariots of the Gods".

In the 90s I worked with a guy who had a white one with those graphics, was a quick little car for a 4 speed 305 with hedders and a carb swap, I miss seeing those things around. The wheels are so 90s vintage its great!

Had a 79 Sunbird version with a 3.8 V6 manual. Beautiful car

When I was a kid my mom had the Skyhawk it was sliver with the yellow orange and red Hawk going down the side V6 5pred.

I remember seeing these and other versions and wondering if they were as cool as they looked.

Nice H-body with lots of potential! Hope you restore it and enjoy it.

My aunt had one. It's buried under some trees across the street from the tennis courts in Golden co

Last sorta hot rod car I had before the 3rd child was a black Monza with a 305 and the 4 speed. Wasn't the Spyder but had the V8! Put a new clutch in it and was quite fun. Traded it in for a Celebrity station wagon.

I think it's pretty cool, too. Looks solid. I thought the 2.5 four cylinder made decent power, and the 3.8 V6 Sunbird was really lively. So the 350 should be able to make it up most hills ok. It might be hard keeping your toe out of it for the first while, but it'll be a good daily driver. (That's what it was made for, after all.) Have a ball!

Very cool ride man .... I actually dig those wheels, the color combo and ive always thought they had one of the slickest spoilers...i would check out the rear end to figure what your runnin with and definitely put the 4speed back in cause with 3 pedals and 8 cylinders thats not only a bad ass daily but a RARE one at that. ✅ _LIKED_ ✅ _SUBBED_ Stay Safe ✌ Be Well

Just re-blacking out the trim would make a world of difference. Have Fun!

Thats always been the pattern with GM, they might have a model in the other branches that shows promise, but as soon as it threatens the Corvette, whoa can't have that! and it gets nixxed

Great find!! I had a 77 star fire with a V6 in it. Would smoke'em all day long. Sucked in the Snow.

Good luck on finding them flairs for that car. Whats even more rare then this car and even the Chevrolet Monza Mirage was the Buick Roadhawk, they even had the Oldsmobile GT models etc.

Looks a lot like an Opel Monza simplyfied for the US market. GM-UK used the Firenza moniker for their 2-door coupe version of the Viva.

Nice Starfire! I have a 65 convertible back when they were full-size. I would love to have one of these for a daily driver… Hit me up if you ever want to sell it ;-)

How do you like messing with the starter on that thing you're going to love it

I have a 1980 Buick skahawk with a V8 sitting out in front of my house that's beautiful I could drive it to Florida it's the black and orange with the bird on the hood

Those 13 inch tires on those cars were specified for load range ‘c’ instead of the more common load rand ‘b’ tires found on virtually every other compact car of the period. The v8 cars also got 6 inch wide wheels instead of the more common 4.5”, 5” and 5.5” wheels. That extra width for the tires made for a big increase in tire grip. If you installed the right tires.

Cool Ride thank you sir

I just wannt my station wagon(08 trailblazer) to live!😻

My parents bought me a new 1976 Monza when I was 18 for about $4,400.00. It had a 140 cu in engine with I think a 2 barrel carb. I forget the horse power; 80 sounds familiar. After having a VW Bug, I thought it had plenty of power. There was no way my parents were going to get me one with a 305 engine. It had a 5 speed; 5th gear overdrive was all the rage back then with the high gas prices. If I recall it was 60 cents. If memory serves it had a 16 gallon tank that could at 35 mpg easily last for over 500 miles on a trip. It was Firethorne red with a red dash but the rest of the interior was white. I still have the brochure and a model (AMT?) kit car sprayed the same GM Firethorne red paint. In 1979 I bought a ‘79 Trans AM but I kept the Monza as my daily driver until I bought a ‘80 VW Rabbit convertible; then it was goodbye after four years and 66,000 miles. The VW dealer joked that the TA should be the daily driver. By the way I still have the ‘79 TA. I think the Monza was a beautiful car and miss it.

Your going to love that car .I have one, go! Like shit!, It will be fast with that 350 in it fix it up!,you have Classic vintage car.restor it. Am fixing my 1979 Monza 2+2,and it's in Bad shape but it vintage you don't see them anymore. I would like to see more you fixing her up.

I love that car!! Pretty rare! I'd daily it too but not too much irreplaceable!

It's surprising how many car names contain the word "fire": Pontiac Firebird, Renault Fuego (Spanish for "fire"), the Opel/Vauxhall Zafira minivan, and this Starfire/Firenza with 2 instance of the word. Also, while the word Fiero doesn't actually mean fire, it sounds a lot like it. That could heighten the embarrassment when a car is recalled for a fire hazard, as happened with the Fiero and the Zafira. GM was lucky in that only 1 minor recall of the Firenza involved a fire hazard, though the car was also affected by a defect that caused some samples to spontaneously start themselves.

I had a 78 Starfire in 87 that had the v6 4 bbl and 4 speed. I thought I was hot sh%*#t.

My dad had a manual 1975 Skyhawk. Very poor build quality. Clutch cable was misrouted so that the clutch could not fully engage. Body rusted almost immediately. However, the V6 did start after a night out in 20-below Chicago in 1982 or so.

I had the Buick version of this with the V6 and my only complaint was the electric fuel pump.

I wonder if that is the same one that was for sale here in CO. a few yrs ago.

It's an Oldsmobile version of the Chevy Vega/Monza.

Would love to know the part number and brand of the spool if you end up doing a video related to the rear end. The factory gears are horrible especially with a taller tire and 5 lug conversion. Looking for a better gear set for my 78 Monza V8

Don't know why people hate 4 lug bolt patterns. If a car has enough power and traction to shear 4 lug nut studs off, you might want to upgrade to a diesel dumptruck axle.

Yeah I always enjoy having what's left of my eardrums blown out by the lead in music.......... Thanks a lot!

It would have Ben awesome if Oldsmobile put a 307 or a 350 or a 403 Oldsmobile engine

I had a silver and black '79 Firenza. Buick 3.8 and automatic. Those fender flares were a problem, didn't hold paint well and UV light degraded them. I thought they looked too bulky as well.

The firenza was their model of monza spider

What?!?!? I’m upset you didn’t call me and tell me it’s home but your honorable mention about me made up for it. Lmao. I’ll trade you my first born for it! ❤❤

Could you use one to 3-D print another? I mean I have no idea what it would cost. Just an idea.

Would the Olds 403 fit in place of the 350 ( presumably chevy junk ) motor?

Badge Engineering, hmmm, well put. I bought a brand new Chevy Monza, V8, 4speed, white with dark red interior, loaded. It was so disappointing that I can't even remember what year it was. I traded it in after a few months...

Cool 🥰

If you need that cracked windshield repaired, let me know where you are and I'll forward a reputable glass tech to take care of it.

Had handful of Monza's from 75 Tc coupe to the 79 Spyder with a 3.2l v-6. Not the 3.8. The clutch cables stretches and will pull through the firewall if you put HD clutch. I put 350's and 1 400 sbc in them all. Alternator should be directly on top of water pump. Belts l8ke to come loose.

Lol! Had the Monza version in my late teens, was a 305 2bbl. Terrible car....But had a cool spider on the hood.

Chevy built the Monza Mirage GT with a 5 ltr V8....even though it wasn't a high hp V8 it was a pretty quick car.

That's too bad that it no longer has the original engine and has been modified so much, it's now just a cheap beater car - but you don't seem to mind so it's all good. I had a new 1978 Pontiac Sunbird that I really loved driving, although I would have enjoyed having the V-6 underhood instead of the clanky 4-banger it came with. Enjoy what you have and good luck finding missing trim pieces, they were made cheaply and fell apart just sitting on the shelf from new, but maybe you will have success looking on Ebay or Hemmings motor news.

I had a 1988 olds firenza 4 cylinder. Just a rebadged cavalier. It was a good car till it rusted out.

altinator is mounted above the water pump in front of engine good luck finding that bracket

Looks like an Oldsmobile version of a Chevy Monza.

You're lucky it has exhaust manifolds I'm going to tell you a little trick for that starter and you might think me later remove the passenger exhaust manifold and you can get to the starter and pull it out that way

looks like GM Opel Manta mk2

Tiny brakes, 4 lug wheels, poor handling, and economy car powertrain are these cars drawbacks. The 305 had 147 hp. 350 power made all these problems glaringly obvious. A narrowed 8.8, and some real brakes, and suspension upgrades would really be a huge leap forward on one.

If you want to fix that grill you could have it 3D printed.

Call it Firenkenstein.

That crushing was bullshit. That car had a lot fo good parts. Probably had a good windshield. I have a 79 monza 2+2. Myself.

Those aren't the caps that go to those wheels that is a different wheel that center line makes. It's the exact same cap they just came from a different set of wheels.

what did it have for a rear end gears?

We're at I'm in randolf County Winchester

Looks like a monza.

Here is my 1980 Olds Starfire Frienza.

look likes gm took the Monza and screwed with the looks of it and rebranded it. Monza was the best-looking and driving 3 door id ever seen and with some heavy tweaking packed a punch. when olds got it right they really got it right same with getting wrong, GM bean counters often were idiots. and it shows the brightest in the finished products. leave it to GM to take an awesome idea and shit all over it,

Now if you slipped in a 455....😏

I also have a Vega cosworth are you interested to buy

My neighbor had the V8 Chevy Monza, similar but probably not as rare

My x boss has one his is all original with factory 262 v8 3 speed in the floor he got it back in 1982 the original owner ordered it with 3 speed in the floor and CB radio it's white and blue with white interior he won't sale it and it's just rusting away😔

looks like europeen opel manta

I want one with 231 and manual trans.

Your fender flare is getting crushed on YT. Search 79 Firenze crushed. Yours is in the pic.

Looking at it you can see why 4k got produced.

#BeerGoGGles4You!🤓

Ferrari 412

Monza’s cousin