Why can’t some sellers back far enough away from the car when they take pictures? The shot above is the widest angle showing the most of the car out of the nine pictures the seller posted when they listed the car for sale. It’s offered here on eBay, and is located in Oxnard, California.  The opening bid is $200 but the car has a reserve. Yes, I like to see detail shots, but at least give me one overall picture so I can frame the car in my mind. This be-spoiled Firebird has paint that is cracking horribly on some surfaces, and I’m guessing the white showing through on the back bumper means it’s been replaced with a junkyard unit at some point and poorly prepared for paint. This car is one of the relatively rare (2,590 produced) 50^th anniversary (of Pontiac) cars that had the black and gold color scheme and special decals.

This was not the “Bandit” package though. It was offered later and was also black and gold. Despite Pontiac producing over 47,000 Trans Am’s in 1976, this 50^th anniversary edition really was unusual at the time. I can’t get past the body issues though, and there’s no telling what’s hiding under that paint. The car does have a 400 cubic inch V8, which in this model year meant it was still a Pontiac engine; later TA’s had some Oldsmobile and Chevrolet engines. Even though the car runs well, has a good transmission and is well optioned with power windows, air conditioning, tilt wheel and cruise control, I just wouldn’t want to take on all those body issues. What about you?