The most popular car in my high school was the Pontiac Trans Am. They were affordable, handled great and had big engines. Today, the price of Trans Am has increased to 6 to 7 times its original cost. This 1976 Pontiac Trans Am is a project and has been sitting exposed to the sun for a long time. It is located in San Antonio, Texas and listed for sale here on Facebook Marketplace. The asking price is $4,500 for a non running car with most of its original parts (worn out). The car was apparently originally painted Buccaneer Red with a red velour interior.

There were two engine options in 1976. The L78 400 cubic inch V8 engine was the base engine and was rated at 180 horsepower from the factory. The L75 455 cubic inch V8 engine was the optional engine and came only with a 4 speed transmission and a 3:23 rear gear ratio. This engine was rated by Pontiac at 200 horsepower. It is amazing to think back about how Pontiac carried the performance banner through the 1970’s. While the Z28 had been cancelled and the Mustang was sporting a 4 cylinder engine, the Pontiac Trans Am could still be ordered with a 455 cubic inch engine and a 4 speed transmission. The horsepower numbers were choked down but it was not hard to get higher performance out of these engines.

This car has a few options on it including tilt steering, automatic transmission, air conditioning and the deluxe interior. The car has Rally II steel wheels the rear spoiler is still intact. The front spoiler is gone but the car does not show a lot of rust or rot. One thing that many enthusiast don’t know is the Pontiac never built a true small block or big block engine. All blocks from the 326 cubic inch V8 engine to the 455 cubic inch V8 engine were the same size. The bore and stroke were different. This makes it easy to interchange heads, intake manifolds and other parts. A common practice to boost power is to put late 1960 smaller cc heads on later year cars. This boosts compression and increases power.

This car has manual windows but the console has the cut out for power windows. It will need a complete restoration but it could be a good candidate for a great car. Out of all the second generation Trans Ams, the 1976 model was unique because it did not share the same front end with any other year.