After over ten years of automotive bliss from the Big Three (and AMC too!), the government and the insurance companies were cracking down on the automakers to build safer cars with more economical and emission-friendly engines.

The result of this was a slew of image cars that had replaced the supercars the enthusiast buyer had grown to love, and thanks to the oil embargo of 1973, gas was too expensive for most to keep their cars on the road.

So as Ford and Chrysler were quick to throw in the towel on performance, GM dragged it out for as long as they could. In this instance we have a rough-looking example of a ’76 Chevy Laguna Type S3 that we found on eBay.

The Laguna originally started out in life as a luxury/sport model on the then newly redesigned ’73 Chevelle while being offered in the same lineup as the SS package.

However, once Chevrolet dropped the Super Sport from its intermediate line for good for ’74, the Laguna became a car with more emphasis on sport rather than luxury; adding special “Type S3” badges and striping (somewhat reminiscent of those found on the W30 4-4-2 from just a couple of years earlier) to the mix. Remember, this was the era of the image car, so if you were expecting some sort of unique, high-output power plant, you might as well forget it.

Speaking of which, the hottest engine ever offered in the Laguna was the 454. Now before you get all excited and say, “I told you so,” let us state the fact that the most horsepower available from said engine was only 250hp in ’73 -before it was pulled from the lineup in ’75 with 215hp. How it’s possible to extract such a small amount of power from such a massive engine is beyond us.

A total of 9,100 examples of the S3 were produced in the final year of production, and the buyer had a choice of three engines to choose from – the standard being a 2BBL 305 V8 producing 140hp, a 4BBL 350 cranking out an extra 5hp over the 305, and at the top of the food chain; a small block, 400cui 4BBL V8 with an Earth-shattering 180hp.

This particular car is a high-option example with the highly coveted, swiveling Strato-bucket seat option, and was at a bid of $2,500 with a total of 11 bids as of 11:45pm PST. Though it clearly needs a lot of work, the buyer will have a nice, solid project car on their hands.

It comes complete with all of the original paperwork, and it was last registered in 1991, which would explain the vintage blue Cali plates. Current mileage is said to be just over 92k, which isn’t too bad for a 35 year old car.

Unfortunately, the seller doesn’t reveal what engine motivates the car forward, so any potential buyers out there might want to look into that before bidding. Luckily, there is adequate contact information in the auction’s ad.