Trans Am, what’s your pleasure? Fill it up, my man! These were the famous lines from the 1977 movie Smokey and the Bandit. Located in Pompano Beach, Florida, this 1978 Y82 Pontiac Trans Am is for sale here on eBay with five days left in the auction. The car is currently bid up to $20,100 and there is no reserve on this auction. While this car is beautiful, there are some questions that remain unanswered.
The car is equipped with the powerful W72 400 cubic inch V8 engine which was rated at 220 horsepower from the factory. The National Hot Rod Association tested this engine and found that it actually produced 260 horsepower. The power from the engine is sent to the 3:08 rear gears through a Turbo 350 automatic transmission. A 4 speed 3:42 gear Trans Am was tested in 1978 and ran a 14.6 quarter mile.
A gaudy B&M shifter has been added to the console and the door panels don’t match the deluxe interior the car was built within 1978. The car is well optioned including the 1970’s velour seats. The car is equipped with power windows, cruise control, rear defrost, power locks, tilt steering, and air conditioning (disconnected). Another inconsistency is that the car window sticker does not indicate that the car was built with the WS6 suspension but the tires are mounted on 15×8 snowflake wheels.
The seller states that this is one of 1,286 Special Edition Trans Ams built-in 1978. The PHS documents back up the claim that it is a Y82 optioned car but the engine turned dash bezel should be gold and the car has obviously been repainted because it is sporting 1979 decals which are incorrect for such a rare car. Regardless, most of these issues are minor and can be fixed if you want to take it back to stock.
Which decals are 1979? I had a 78 for my first car in 1990, and these decals certainly seem to be the same as I remember mine. Mine was white with a vinyl interior that was as red as it could be, but it still had the screaming chicken in all its cracked and faded glory.
That’s a later year hood bird. 79-81.
It appears that the A/C wasn’t just disconnected, it was annihilated.
It is a project car. Needs both quarters, trunk pan, drop offs, tail panel and driver frame rail. Non matching numbers engine.
I don’t recall ‘78s with a 160 speedo
Only doing 160 if dropped off a high building w 220 net
I know this car. It is a project car! The flipper literally just sold it on eBay and it was also listed on fb marketplace during the same time in SC for $15,500. Buyer beware!!!..it does not have the original matching # motor. As stated by the previous seller, “car does have rust in the rear, needs quarters, trunk pan, drop offs, tail panel and probably the driver side frame rail.” Also it came with power windows but has manual windows regulators now. I hope this helps someone.
Like I said Frankenstein
Wrong decals for 77 and 78 special edition..
Can you say holly moldy interior
This must be a late ’78 because the hood bird is not the simpler earlier gold design, like in the ’77 movie.
http://transamflorida.com/SPECIALEDITIONINFO.htm
Just noticed the car comin out of the trailer driven by Burt seems to be fitted with bias ply tires – count the ribs! Or did radials look like that back then?
http://d3lp4xedbqa8a5.cloudfront.net/s3/digital-cougar-assets/whichcar/2018/09/07/51663/smokey-and-the-bandit-transam-2b.jpg
Nope, early 78. Has Hurst hatches. They went to Fisher mid-year 1978.
Actually I dont think it has to do whatsoever with the year model. Thats a 400 engine decal. Most 79 models had 403 engines so most but not all had a 6.6 litre decal
All automatic cars had 403 motors, 4 speed cars had 400, that’s one of the reasons I bought a Grand Prix, I wasn’t buying no Oldsmobird
Actually John, that’s correct for 79 only. There were auto transmission cars in 1978 offered with both the Pontiac 180hp and 220hp engines.
You are correct, rumor was they used leftover 78 motors in the 4 speed 79 cars, and that was it for the 400, at that point there was no use buying a Pontiac for performance any longer, Pontiac was dead, no bragging rites, you were either driving Delta 88 or a Chevy Camaro,
Right. This means that a 1978 model with the 220hp Pontiac engine is the holy grail of 2nd gen TAs (at least from 75 to 81). The 79 model had the ugly front end which has always held prices down on those. Obviously, the early 70s TAs had way more raw power, but weren’t nearly as refined overall as the later years of 2nd gen.
I have a 1978 Y88 with the W72 engine and WS6 options. The W72 is the higher output 220 hp Pontiac engine. These blocks can be ID’d by the X marked on them thus known as X blocks. Under the edict from GM to switch to the corporate engine program (which happened fully by 1982) Pontiac started depleting their inventory of engines so they wouldn’t be stuck with warehouses full of motors. X blocks are early 70’s cast blocks they had in inventory. My car is an auto but as you guys stated 1979 4 speeds had the 400 while auto’s got the Olds 403.
The decals correspond to either 400 ci Pontiac,or 403 Olds engine. True most but not all 79 models would have had the 403 decals.
Really? The author complains about gaudiness in a late 70s Trans Am? The whole car is gloriously, wonderfully gaudy.
NO. Those decals WERE available in 78 – just in the latter part of the model year!!
http://www.firebirdtransamparts.com/bandit/details.htm
If your a music lover, instead of cueing up Boogie Oogie Oogie, play Frankenstein cause it’s a mish mash of inconsistency
LOL, you’re right. Joe’s link above points out that are many inconsistencies year-to-year from the factory. Add those to so many flippers today who “frankenstein” various bodies, parts, wheels and decals together these days because of the crazy high T/A values. You get some really odd looking cars. It makes it tough for the purists who are looking for “period correct” cars. I happen to remember exactly how every decal, option, and accessory looked on my TA when I bought it new in 1977, but that doesn’t mean that every other ’77 was built the same way. It seems like 1978 was the year that Pontiac broke all the rules and used whatever “parts” leftovers it could scour up from every bin to build out the last few months of that year’s cars.
By 79 they were putting Oldsmobile motors in them too, that’s when it became a Joke, and funny thing is, I’m 59, I bought a new 79 Grand Prix, which had a 301 4 barrel, no barn stormer by any means, it was a loaded out cruiser w Vogues and Spokes, but at least it was a Pontiac
The hood decal and lack of the gold instrument panel are big question marks. The birds on the C pillars look strange as well, hard to make out the details of the artwork.
Every word in the sellers description being capitalized makes it hard to take them seriously, as well.
Funny but the handling and braking improved when the power died
I have 79 SE T/A and love it even though it has a 403. It’s still a 4 bbl so it’s not too shabby. These are rare cars no matter the shape.
I have a 1980 trans am barnfind, but don’t know what motor is. How do you tell thru possibly the vin?