Looks can sometimes be deceiving. This 1977 Pontiac Trans Am looks like a Special Edition Y84 optioned Trans Am. However, the ad doesn’t claim that it is a Special Edition. There are also some details and clues that it is a clone. That doesn’t make it a bad car but sometimes our hopes can get us dreaming about something that is too good to be true. This 1977 Pontiac Trans Am is located in South Jersey near Burlington. The seller has it listed here on Craigslist for about half the cost of a real Y84 Special Edition Trans Am. The odometer shows 85,000 miles and the listing price is $39,000. Thanks to Mitchell for bringing this car to our attention.
The car is advertised as a numbers matching original with a few upgrades. A peek at the engine compartment indicates several upgrades including an MSD box for the ignition, aftermarket valve covers and no fan shroud. The Pontiac 455 cubic inch V8 was no longer offered in the Trans Am in 1977. So, Pontiac introduced the high performance W72 400 cid engine option to replace it which offered the same rating in horsepower. As far as engine options, the L78 400 cubic inch V8 engine was the standard engine and was rated at 180 horsepower. The W72 400 cubic inch V8 was the performance option and was rated at 200 horsepower. The W72 engine came from the factory with chrome valve covers and 6X heads. In California, emissions limited the engine in a Trans Am to only the Oldsmobile 403 cubic inch V8 engine rated at 185 horsepower. There is no mention which of the Pontiac 400 engines (L78 or W72) is in this car but it looks like it has been beefed up either way.
The car has the standard or base interior with front black vinyl buck seats and console. The interior looks to be in nice condition but is not equipped with air conditioning. An aftermarket stereo is installed in the dash as well as an aftermarket automatic transmission shifter in the console. The Trans Am is optioned with Hurst Hatch T-Tops which adds value to the car. All true Special Edition cars had gold engine turned bezels in the dash and gold spoke steering wheels. This car has silver and some aftermarket gauges mounted under the dash. I wonder how you see those gauges when driving.
The car is said to drive really well by the seller. Pontiac introduced its first set of aluminum wheels on the Trans Am in 1977. They were referred to as “snowflake” wheels and were offered in 15″ x 7″. This car has the later 15″ x 8″ snowflake wheels with later (probably 1980’s or 1990’s) center caps. There were 155, 735 Pontiac Firebirds built in 1977 and divided up between 4 different models – base Firebird, Esprit, Formula and Trans Am. Of those, 68,744 were Trans Ams, the most ever since the 2nd generation Trans Am was introduced in 1970.
Now that’s a nose to be proud of. Just hate the 79 nose design.
Goodyear once sold yellow RWL tires?
Pontiac factory aux gages are accurate enough – with numbers on them.
This could have been done with a yellow “tire crayon”- I’ve seen it done before. I like the look.
Couple things. In 77′ they offered the Y81 & Y82 SE cars, the Y84 was a 78′ mid-year change when PMD switched from Hurst to Fisher T-Tops. While there are many things that point at a clone, they can be explained away. Hence why you need a PHS. You have to remember these cars have survived a long life. My Y82 came to me with a sun-bleached silver appearing bezel, aftermarket Camaro wood steering wheel, and WS6 8″ wheels. However there are other incorrect parts on this one. The door panels are from a later year as the have the molded handles as opposed to the straps used in 1977. Also the grills appear to be the 78′ diamond pattern, 77′ used an octagon pattern. One of the best tell-tails of a true Y82 are the t-top bezels as they are anodized (not painted) flat Black. These look a kinda shiny like they were painted.
$39,000??? I imagine that there will be those that vehemently disagree with me, but I’m seein’ something closer to 20K.
Funny OLDRODDER. That’s exactly what I thought also. Great minds and all that.