If it were a 1974-76 model (PA-28-151 Cherokee Warrior, 150 hp Lyc. O-320-E2D), 80/87 octane (red) would be acceptable. The 1977 and later models (PA-28-161 Warrior II, 160 hp O-320-D), no bueno.
Back in the day you could taxi up to a fuel island at larger airports and find three, sometimes even four, grades of avgas: 80/87 octane (red), 91/96 (blue, IIRC), 100/130 (green); and for the warbirds and big radials, 115/145 (purple). Most GA airports offered at least the 80 and 100 octane choices.
Low-compression engines that could use 80 octane were desirable, because the gas was cheap. Those would include most all four-cylinder engines 150 hp and under, and 6-cylinder engines 235 hp and under, such as in the C-182, Cherokee 235 and Apache 235, and Beech Debonair.
Until 1967 Piper offered otherwise-identical Cherokees with 150 and 160 hp options (The PA-28-160 was actually the first Cherokee certified and put on the market, in 1961). The 160 had slightly better performance and an extra 35 pounds or so of useful load, and cost only $500 more, but it required the more expensive 91 octane fuel. The economics of the 150 hp model using cheaper fuel made it the more popular option until the 160 was dropped in 1967. The trainer version ("Cherokee 140") with the same 150 engine continued in production through 1977. Meanwhile, the Cessna Skyhawk, Beech Sport, Grumman-American Traveler and Cherokee Warrior all soldiered on with the 150 hp O-320-E into the mid 1970s.
In the petroleum industry upheaval following the 1973 OPEC crisis, avgas refiners settled on the new "100LL" fuel that supposedly would be a suitable "one-size-fits-all" for the GA piston fleet. 80 octane became scarce or unavailable altogether. Two results were immediate: (1) The economic advantage of operating an airplane compatible with 80 octane vanished; and (2) a lot of low-compression engines suffered fouled plugs and other maladies with the new fuel.
The manufacturers responded by trotting out new versions of existing models, with higher-compression engines purportedly more compatible with 100LL. These included the Cessna 172N (subtlely dubbed "Skyhawk/100" in some ads; 1977, Lyc. O-320-H2AD) and 172P (1981, O-320-D); Cessna 182Q (1977); and Piper Cherokee Warrior II (1977, Lyc. O-320-D). The 160 hp O-320-D, dumped by Piper in 1967, was making a comeback.
Also, the Cessna 152 (Lyc. O-235) replaced the Cessna 150 (Cont. O-200-A) for 1978; and the Piper Dakota replaced the Cherokee 235/Pathfinder in late 1978. These higher-compression engines, along with the C-182Q's new O-470-U, produced their rated horsepower at lower rpms, with noise reduction as a side benefit.
