Special edition and anniversary edition cars seem to be the most collectible models for many cars. Pontiac has produced several special editions from the 50th anniversary Limited Edition Trans Am in 1976 to celebrate Pontiac’s 50th year of production to the black and gold special edition Trans Ams of the last 1970’s and early 1980’s. In 1979, the Trans Am was in its 10th year of production and Pontiac built 7,500 Tenth Anniversary Trans Ams, also known as, TATA cars by Pontiac enthusiasts. This beautiful example is located at a dealer in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and has only 44,497 miles. The car is listed here on LowMilesNoMiles.com website. The dealer is asking $52,995. We appreciate Mitchell G. for finding this gem and sending it to us for review.
The TATA editions were completely loaded and the factory interior for the featured silver leather upholstery similar to the silver leather interior used in the 1978 Corvette Pace car. This one looks mint as would be expected. Every Tenth Anniversary Trans Am came with T-Tops, WS6 suspension, power antenna, tilt steering, ETR radio, and various power accessories – power windows, power locks, rear defrost. The MSRP for these cars in 1979 exceeded $10,000 which was a lot of money in the day. One of my favorite features is the red backlit dash lights.
This engine compartment is clean and looks factory stock. Most buyers of this type of car would be divided on to whether to restore the engine compartment or leave it original. The base engine for the Trans Am in 1979 was the Oldsmobile L80 403 cubic inch V8 and only available with an automatic transmission. It was rated at 185 horsepower and 315 lb-ft of torque and was the only engine available for the Tenth Anniversary Trans Am in California. This car is equipped with the optional engine for the TATA which provided more performance than the smooth running Olds L80 403 cubic inch V8. The W72 Pontiac 400 cubic inch V8 was backed by a Borg Warner T-10 4-speed manual transmission and featured 3.23 rear gears. It was rated at 220 horsepower and 320 lb ft of torque. The 301 V8 was also an option for the 1979 Trans Am, but not for the Tenth Anniversary Edition Trans Am.
Of the 7,500 Tenth Anniversary production, 5,683 Tenth Anniversary Trans Ams were produced with the L80 Oldsmobile 403 cubic inch V8 and automatic transmission. The remaining 1,817 Tenth Anniversary Trans Ams were equipped with the W72 Pontiac 400 engine and 4-speed manual transmission like this one. All TATA cars came with the WS6 special performance handling package which included 15×8 turbine wheels, bigger sway bars, tuned shocks and a tighter steering gear box.
This is nuts!!! True story. I saw a 10th anniversary TA just last Saturday. Had the Olds 403 and automatic. Not immaculate, but was in nice daily driver condition. The silver interior was in good condition. This one with the Pontiac 400 and a 4 speed is really a great way to go if you can. This one looks great.
Good stuff here BJ. Wow.
4sp 400, a perfect 3.23 gearset, and all the handling pkg goodies. 👍
If you are inclined to spend this much on a late-70’s Trans Am, this or another 400, 4spd special edition are the ones to get. The 403 automatic so common in this era don’t resonate nearly as much, other than fancy paint and decals they are pretty generic. This car should and will pull much more interest due to the powertrain, rightfully so. A 4spd manual in any muscle car adjacent platform drives up interest and value. Not everyone want a 4spd manual, but enough potential buyers do, to make it by and large the preferred choice. As for this car, it has a lot going for it, the silver is a great looking color and less common than the black, the one downside are the decals plastered on the doors and quarter panels. For those that like late second generation Trans Ams, you could do a lot worse.
Steve R
Steve, all 10th anniversary t/a”s were painted 2 tone silver and gray.
Yes, all 10th anniversary cars were painted silver/grey, but there was also the black special editions that were a separate option package.
Steve R
Interesting website I had never heard of until today. It is amazing to me as to how many platforms are available for selling a vehicle in 2025.
Last of the best engine/trans combo in a late 1970’s Pontiac. This is the one of the last good ones to own!
Poncho and a four speed makes it a winning combo even if i’d be just as happy with the 403 automatic and 2.41 rear gears for quiet highway driving. A nice week-end of detailing the engine bay would make it perfect. I never understood why people buy red heater hoses
They should have painted the water pump before installation as well, the red hoses and rusty pump really take away from an otherwise clean engine compartment.
My all-time dream car!
10 yrs ago this was a $10k car tops
I like the engine and transmission options on this car. I’m really a ’70 body style fan. But this car looks nice. I love the wheels! If it is a 10 year anniversary TransAm car. Why does it have a Nascar sticker instead of SCCA? Pontiac paid SCCA a royalty for every Trans Am. It looks like a slap in the face to SCCA.
I’d love to see a Pontiac 400 (or a 350 or 455) with an original water pump with over 40,000-50,000 miles on it. I sure hope they did the timing chain and oil pump with they were in there…
I worked on these cars in the late ‘70’s to mid ‘80’s and as soon as they got close to 50K miles, it was leaky water pump time.
And if it was late ‘60’s to early/mid ‘70’s the nylon coated timing gears disintegrated.
The plastic timing gear was abandoned in approximately 1971 or 1972. Pontiac is/was not the only ones with timing cover issues. Ford small and big block engines and some Mopars also have timing cover issues. HOWEVER, most corrode timing covers because coolant services are not done on schedule or at all. And again, Pontiac was not the only one with plastic timing gears.
My 1973 Chevy Impala had one of those plastic gears when I owned it back in the late 1990’s so I changed the timing set with water pump and balancer. It was worn and making a lot of noise before I changed it.
That’s not a W72 TA 6.6, that’s the low power L78 Pontiac 6.6 litre
Not the 400 y’all are thinking
Ray, the ’79 L78 400 is a W72 . Another example of Pontiacs confusing designations at the time.
If I remember correctly, they were NASCAR pace cars, hence the NASCAR sticker