This 1977 Pontiac Trans Am has been listed and relisted for sale for a while and the price keeps getting lower. It needs paint but the seller says it rust free. The definition of “rust free” sometimes varies depending on what part of the country you are in. This car is being sold by a dealer in Portland, Oregon. It is listed for sale here on Craigslist for $16,500. It was originally listed for $18,900. The car is missing its front spoilers but is a 4 speed W72 Trans Am. Many thanks to Curvette for sending this link.
The interior largely remains in its original condition, except for the seats, which have been reupholstered with non-original material. Overall, the cabin presents well relative to the exterior condition. The carpeting appears to be recently replaced, while the dashboard is missing a radio unit. The factory four-speed shifter attracts most of the attention protruding from the console. According to the seller, the odometer has rolled over, and the vehicle currently shows 144,000 miles. This Trans Am is not highly optioned.
The engine compartment looks dirty and dusty. The seller says the car comes with a binder of receipts, and you might need another binder of receipts if you restore this one. A lot of times when you start fixing up one area of the car, the areas you don’t restore ended up looking worse than you thought. I guess that is how the snowball effect happens during the restoration process. This car features Pontiac’s top-performing 1977 engine: the W72 400 cubic inch V8, rated at 200 horsepower with chrome valve covers and 6X heads. Trans Ams typically had the L78 400 V8 (180 hp, 300 lb ft torque), though California models used an Oldsmobile 403 V8 (185 hp, automatic only) to meet emission rules.
The driver’s rear quarter appears to have been repaired or replaced. The Trans Am has wide rear tires extending past the fenders and aftermarket chrome wheels. With its 4-speed transmission, this car should be a lot of fun to drive and the seller states that it would make a solid driver.
Are the rear fenders cut for wider tires ?
My best guess is the bottom of the quarters rotted out and they had to patch it. The pictures on Craigslist look to me like a lot of bodywork is needed to make it slick. Darker colors tell on you every time.
Not if I repaired the rust.
Sad story,
Customer of mine (21 years owning a collision shop) had an RS/SS Camaro in Cameo white he wanted repainted back in its original black. He drove it in and other than a few door dings it appeared to be pretty nice. He wanted to do all the assembly/re-assembly himself and was going to have it stripped to metal and hauled over to us. The car nearly disappeared, or may as well have, as the rockers, lower doors, bottom of the quarters and even the boxes underneath the front of the leaf springs bolted into were nearly gone. Darndest patch up job I’d ever seen and I’m positive whoever built it repaired the rust as well. My point being that if I was going to invest a lot of money in a restoration, I’d rather someone strip off that area that was worked on and throw a little primer on and let me decide how to approach the repair. I’m not knocking a rust repair but there’s still work to do on the quarters. I never had the heart to ask him what he spent originally.
It’s called quarter panel in a can. It doesn’t pay that good to replace a quarter panel. If you convert the cost of the panel, and the labor hours to install it, it turns into a good job. Replacing a quarter panel leads to corrosion issues. You can use weld thru primer and undercoating, still gonna rust. Replacing a weld on panel is always a last resort.
Do you do $99.00 dollar paint jobs too,Mr. Webb ?
$99.00 won’t buy the hardner. No I don’t.
I’ve not knocking the rust fix. It structurally may be fine but cosmetically it is far from straight. It may be just “bumps and bruises” but in my experience that’s not likely.
You sound like my kind of body man. The guys I had that were the absolute best could take an absolute mess and darn near hammer and dolly back to shape. Didn’t even need much putty if done correctly.
He guide coated it. Must know something.
I saw the tracer on the quarters and like I said, the rust repair in the quarters may be great, maybe they were just punched in but that’s a big money dice roll because it needs everything. Just my 2 cents.
I worked in a collision shoo for 30 years. It’s a dying trade.
Nothing but “parts changers” nowadays if you even find those (mechanics too). No one willing to scrape their knuckles anymore.
If you do collision work, and you’re good at it, you want to repair as much as possible. More money in it