No Mere Chevette: 1987 Pontiac T-1000 on Bring a Trailer

Car and Driver

14-06-2025

In the 1980s, Pontiac built excitement! But they also built this.
The T-1000 was Pontiac's version of the Chevrolet Chevette, GM's most humble economy car.
This example is fairly loaded, but it's more remarkable just for still existing.
A T-1000 is relentless. It doesn't get tired. It doesn't sleep. It will never stop until—oh hang on, that's the one in the movie Terminator 2. In this case, it's an economy-minded Pontiac hatchback, and we've said hasta la vista to almost all of them by now. But not every single one.
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This rare find on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos) is a 1987 Pontiac T-1000. With just 68K miles on the odometer, it's a time capsule; it's of the right age to have been driven to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger firing off one-liners on the big screen.
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Pontiac's tagline at the time was "We build excitement," and never was that more true than with the T-1000. Sorry, never was that true of the T-1000. With a 65-hp 1.6-liter four-cylinder and a three-speed automatic transmission, this was one dog-slow Pontiac. Remember that part in T2 where Robert Patrick runs fast enough to catch up to a car, while dressed as a police officer? He could probably catch this thing without breaking a sweat.
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Having said that, cars like the Chevette and this Pontiac clone were part of what made up the driving landscape in the 1980s and early 1990s. In fact, this humble little car might have a potential career ahead of it on the silver screen. Not as a hero car, no, but anyone looking to set a period piece set between 1985 and the late 1990s might just need a common-at-the-time compact car for background work. A couple of gigs, and it'll pay for itself.
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This final-year example has a little wear here and there but is well optioned for its breed. It has power steering, cloth-trimmed seats, an AM/FM radio, wheel trim rings, and even air-conditioning. Recent work is said to include a new timing belt and a rebuilt transmission, although it's said to be slow to go into reverse. And there was some collision damage noted from three decades ago. It's not a concours car, but what Chevette-based Pontiac was ever going to be?
Instead, it's a little throwback time-traveler with inexpensive running costs that won't terminate your wallet. No problemo.
The auction ends on June 18.
Brendan McAleer
Contributing Editor
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. Read full bio