Many auto enthusiasts know the thrill of getting a new scale model car. It’s Christmas morning and you spy a familiar-shaped box. You know it’s a model car or truck, but which one? You rip off the wrapping paper and immediately picture yourself carefully assembling the parts, painting and attaching each one, crafting the ultimate expression of that vehicle. This 1973 Pontiac Trans Am in Loudon, New Hampshire offers one lucky buyer a chance to experience that process, except at the end you twist the key and drive away! There might be a few other differences as well. To my knowledge, no one has ever died of tetanus from assembling a plastic model or burned their garage down welding hundreds of pounds of metal onto a plastic car, but otherwise, yeah, it’s mostly the same. The listing here on Barn Finds asks $15,000 for this original 455 four-speed pony car, and that price includes a boatload of parts needed to complete the assembly. Hagerty values specimens in excellent condition at nearly $40,000.
The Y-code 455 cid (7.5L) V8 made 250 HP and a substantial 370 lb-ft of torque. Only 1420 Trans Ams were built with this engine and a four-speed manual transmission. Collectors and those with a stock restoration in mind prefer the 290 HP X-code Super Duty 455, but neither will disappoint on the way to the cruise-in. Luckily the engine appears to retain most of its original equipment. Thanks to 2gta.com for some details.
Look beyond the rust and missing parts and take a moment to appreciate how the engine-turned dashboard, sport steering wheel, and indexed tachometer combine with the manual transmission to announce that this Pontiac means business. What else would you expect from a model named after the premier North-American road-racing series, Trans Am?
With model parts arranged about the rear-shunted carcass, this life-sized model car begs for a new owner with metal fabrication skills and a love of the second-generation Firebirds. Will you pull the trigger on this restoration “kit” for the Christmas-morning experience?
LOL! At this stage in life I prefer the “completely assembled” rather than the AMT/Revell/Jo-Han/Monogram type kits!! :-)
I laughed when I saw the first pic
It looks like it was dropped from a 100 ft and just shattered when it hit.
That or the Blues Brothers just pulled it in front of the cook county assessors office
To get the car in “excellent condition” with a value of $40,000 (assuming the motor is original and can be rebuilt), you will easily have between $50,000-$60,000 in the car with purchase price and doing much of the work yourself
This is Jim Rockford, please leave a message at the tone…Love the 70-76 cars especially. Not in the market, but for anyone who may be, the underside could be an issue. The listing needs more photos and information.
All I see when I look at this is the disclaimer on toy commercials:
“Batteries not included; some assembly required.”
Hear me out: TransKart.
1) Sell off all the extra body panels (maybe there’s some cash there) but keep the nose. The nose is the best part of the car.
2) Reinforce the front end and cage the car, keeping as much original sheetmetal as possible.
3) Mechanical restoration & race-oriented suspension
4) Strip the interior but keep the dashboard.
5) Climb hills with extreme predjudice
Hell Bells….gimme a roll of duct tape, some bailing wire, and permabond and we’ll have this baby on the road in no time.
Now….where is that Revell model glue – I need a sniff
Don’t you mean *another* sniff?
Previously hired by Steve McQueen. Condition, fair to middling, all pieces meticulously collected from the cornfield after a small firecracker incident.
Original paint, needs buffing up only
A puzzle in a box. For just $25k more can find one all done to perfection minus the headaches! All I ever came across with puzzles in a box, like Harley’s, was that it wasn’t the large pieces that cost a lot. But all the missing small parts unaccounted for that AD UP BIG! Like this one, just because it’s ‘there’, doesn’t mean it’s going to be reused. I’m sure any & all parts, look well used. So putting this together in the end, you’ll end up with a nice ‘used car’ look. One that looks like it needs restoration lol!
Can anyone help me with Dennis Collins number as I have a Big Block Firebird here? 1 Careful Owner (I’m not going to mention the 2 dozen NOT so careful ones that also owned it tho