Take a moment and think of all of the cars made in 1979 that would be considered worth collecting. Seriously…not just to own, but collect like people do for muscle cars of the Sixties and early 1970s. I’ll volunteer the obvious answers: Camaro, Firebird, Mustang, and you could reasonably add the Chevrolet Malibu, Dodge Aspen R/T, Dodge Super Coupe, Plymouth Road Runner and Plymouth Petty Kit Car. After that…yeah, there wasn’t much to really focus on, was there? Once you get the “performance” models out of the way, 1979 was pretty much worth forgetting. But you have those weirdos who have their personal preferences for a particular model, who lovingly restore and maintain a clean example as if they had a 1970 Chevelle LS6 sitting in the garage. It is always kept clean, it is never beat on and it only sees road duty when the sun is out and the streets are dry. Someone in Maine has been keeping this 1979 Pontiac Phoenix LJ in museum-quality shape for one reason or another, and we’re digging it.

The GM X-cars started off cute and poppy: The Nova, Omega, Ventura and Apollo…they all match! But Pontiac never seemed completely satisfied with their X-car. They put the hallowed GTO nameplate on the top-of-the-line Ventura after a clipped year on the 1973 A-body platform, then killed it off. The Phoenix nameplate started as a top-of-the-line Ventura trim, the ultra-plush version, then became the model name in 1978. And don’t ask about any Phoenix made after 1979…they aren’t worth your time, we promise. If you know Novas, you know this Phoenix: rear-wheel-drive, a lot of F-body components underneath, and in the case of this particular car, a Chevrolet-sourced 305 and automatic for power. But what gets to us is the cleanliness of this car: Any other X-body we’ve seen either shows it’s forty-odd years of use or has been restored or modified to an acceptable state. This Pontiac time-traveled, keeping it’s gorgeous black paint, interior, and strange nose moldings intact and flawless. The only upgrade this car has are the Rally II wheels, and the stock 14″ steelies and hubcaps will come with the car.

Is it a time capsule? Yes, a beauty. Is it worth keeping original? C’mon, this is BangShift: build up a hot 6.6L, make it look dead-nuts stock, keep it as clean as it is now and go embarrass the kids at Test and Tune night.

eBay Link: 1979 Pontiac Phoenix LJ