Although the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky compact roadsters may be long gone, those who love them, really love them. Take, for instance, the guy who owns this very red and very LS1-powered Solstice.
Although he’s not the first guy in the world to throw a small-block V8 in one of these street-legal go-karts, this particular specimen is particularly interesting. It has an all-aluminum LS1 from a Corvette, a Z06 flywheel and pressure plate, and a trunk-mounted battery to help with weight distribution. Other than that, the Solstice is a base model with the stock transmission, making us wonder about how long it will last.
As much as we’d like to have a purring V8 under the hood of a tiny car such as the Solstice, $20,000 seems to be a bit much for the vehicle — and the odometer reading isn’t listed. Maybe if the owner cut the price by a few grand, then it might be a bit more attractive for yours truly.
Would you add this Solstice to your garage? Talk to us in the comments.
Comments
If it was converted to RWD I wouldn’t mind having it, otherwise why waste the money to put all that power to the front wheels.
Good thing I have my 1986 Fiero 😉
The Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky ARE rear wheel drive.
well then the salesman was wrong when I went to buy one…
You were poorly informed when you went to buy one. You need to know what you are buying better.
Yeah. Thats along the same lines as what I have in mind IF I ever get one of these… though it would be better with an LS7.
A good friend of mine’s father bought a Mallett-modified LS7 Solstice. Needless to say, it’s a rocket on wheels. Perhaps we’ll do a feature on it at some point.
Well at least we can say that GM has given us a project car to put all those great V8 motors in that “is a GM car” instead of it being a Z car, MG, Jag or something. Got one of those Jag projects myself though!
I think it is a good deal if the swap was done properly. There are several in southeast MI with LS swaps. A friend sold his LS7 swapped piece….that was a beautiful car.
I thought there was only room enough for a battery in the trunk…..may as well use that space wisely.
When I decided to buy a used Solstice, as a retirement goody for myself, it was right after GM was ordered to get rid of Pontiac, I had to decide on whether to get the automatic turbo charged, or normal aspirated stick. Having had a MGB, in the sixties, I settled on a green Solstice, normally aspirated stick with 7000 miles on it. There were lots of choices of Solstices on the market at that time, so the choices were plentiful. I’m glad of the choice I made, but I’ve always had the thought in the back of my mind, that if the engine goes Kaput, of putting a turbo charged 4 in. Obviously that pretty much is a pipe dream, so I’ll be content to take corners at a higher rate of speed, than is impossible with most vehicles, and row the gears to my hearts content.
I have no doubt that the Solstice will become a coveted classic, that I plan on passing to our kids… they can fight over who gets it.
This would be an AWESOME sleeper on Woodward. Imagine the look on the [insert any year of import car, Mustang, Camaro, etc.] driver’s face when this little ragtop flies by! Want!!! [drooling]
When subject to emission laws, for any engine swap to be legal, the engine has to be the same year or newer as the car. Considering the last year of LS1 is 2004 and first year of Solstice is 2006, anyone who considers buying this car should think pretty hard, unless they live in area not subject to emission laws and plan to stay there as long as they own this car.
Swapping to LS2 or LS3 would prevent this problem, not to mention offer more performance, without additional weight gain.
As a side note, in addition to the weak transmission, base Solstice has very weak brakes, if somehow someone manages to gain enough traction on those pretty skinny wheels and tires and without breaking the rear end, stopping this car may be a challenge.
GXP version of the Solstice seems like a smarter option, just as buying a 2004 Corvette-both cheaper and factory designed to handle extra power.
The base model Solstices and the Solstice GXP have the same transmission and the wheels are 245×45 18(base) 245x45x19(GXP)…”skinny”lol…not…Not to mention…$20,000 for a V8? Why?…When you can spend <$10,000…And turbocharge the Solstice (Sky) past 450 rwhp..Still on the stock transmission..~25,000 miles now.Ask me how I know!…
I would be hesitant to purchase without it being checked over thuroughly. I tend to be a stock person, what engine did the vehicle come with ect… But hey I am sure someone is having fun in this car…
Still sad to have seen Pontiac go, I hope GM brings back some Pontiac goodness… Heck or a Solstice like vehicle. These should have had a turbo 3.0 V6.
reading a recent car mag, which was going back through all the hotrod years, they said gm still has a LS7 powered solstice stashed away somewhere , i remember the article a few years back in hot rod. and yes it was a rocket ship.