The Y88 Gold Special Edition Trans Am was painted in Code 50 Solar Gold paint and had dark brown pinstriping on the exterior. Other Trans Ams were painted Solar Gold so to verify you have a true Y88 car, look at the data tag on the cowl and it should have “Y88” stamped on it. Some Special Editions did not have this code stamped on them but that is the first place to look. The seller is asking $22,500 for this car. It is located in Fort Worth, Texas, and is listed for sale here on Facebook Marketplace. The Y88 Gold Special Edition Trans Am was only produced in 1978.
The front seats appear to be worn but correct for this car. The Trans Am is well optioned with tilt steering, air conditioning, and an automatic transmission. An aftermarket radio is installed in the dash which appears to be solid and not cracked. It should have gold carpet to match the deluxe door panels but this one has black carpet. One problem I see is that the front grill should be gold and the steering wheel should be wrapped in camel, not black. The engine turned dash bezel and steering wheel spokes should also be gold so this might be a clone.
This Trans Am has 8″ snowflake factory wheels on it which would indicate that it has the WS6 Special Performance handling package. While there is no mention of the engine or pictures of the engine compartment, the 1978 Trans Am came with three different engine options. The base engine was the Pontiac L78 400 cubic inch V8 engine that produced 180 horsepower. In California, you could order the Oldsmobile 403 cubic inch V8 engine rated at 185 horsepower. The top performance engine offered by Pontiac was theW72 400 cubic inch V8 engine rated at 220 horsepower. The W72 engine was built with an 800 cfm 4 barrel Rochester carburetor, high capacity 60 psi oil pump, special cam, baffled oil pan, special piston rings, and 8:1 compression heads.
This car appears to be in excellent shape and it is priced fairly for a solid Trans Am. The car has probably been repainted because Pontiac had problems with the Gold Paint in 1978 which is why the Y88 was discontinued. I think all Y88 cars came with T-Tops but I am not certain. It is still a nice car and the seller is not representing it as original.
As a Mustang lover (I special-ordered a 302 79 Mustang Cobra in the fall of 78) I really love this Firechicken, and wish now I had bought it instead of the Mustang. GLWTS
If your only goal for being in the old car hobby is to flip cars to make money then a car like this isn’t for you. If ya love cars as a hobby this chicken is right on top of the coop ! Nice weekend cruise machine.
Based on the steering wheel quai and column, this is a clone. My Y88 is camel, not black.
This is not a Y88 nor is it a clone. It’s a standard Trans Am.Only true way to tell is paperwork. Cowl would be stamped if it was built in Norwood but not Van Nuys. Visual cues include no t-tops and wrong color of steering column. Otherwise this is a nice car though. Offered at 22.5 I bought my Y88 only 4 years ago for the same so prices as we know have definitely risen substantially. GLWTS.
This car is neither a Y88 or a clone it’s just a standard Trans Am. Visual clues include no t-tops and wrong color of steering column. Only real way to tell if its a true Y88 is paperwork since cowls were only stamped at Norwood and not Van Nuys. All things being equal this is a nice car. I picked up my Y88 4 years ago for the same asking as this car so prices have definitely gone up significantly recently. GLWTS!