You don’t have to be a fan of the late ’70s Pontiac Trans Am to appreciate how great this one looks in its Nocturne Blue paint! The seller claims it has just 38k miles on it, which seems likely given the condition. With values climbing on these, we’ve looked at a lot of them over the past year, but I’ve not seen too many that look this nice. Nocturne Blue is now officially my favorite color for this body style of Trans Am. It’s a newer respray, but it’s said to be the original color. If you’ve been thinking about buying a Trans Am, this one seems like a good buy. It isn’t cheap, with a current bid of $21,900, but it’s a low mileage example in a good color that doesn’t need anything to be a driver. Find it here on eBay in Independence, Ohio.
The interior is all original and actually doesn’t look too bad. Personally, I like my late ’70s classics to have wild patterns and crazy colors, so this one is a bit beige for my tastes. Don’t get me wrong, it looks nice and is in good shape, I just would like some bright orange and green upholstery or at least some houndstooth. I guess I could live with it if the seller wanted to just give it to me!
Power comes from the car’s matching number 403 V8. While horsepower was just 185, these Oldsmobile sourced engines produced 320 foot pounds of torque! That should equate to decent acceleration, at least on the street. Getting serious power out of the 403 isn’t impossible, you can respectable performance out of some bolt on upgrades, but to really get this Trans Am going you will want to either pull the engine and rebuild it or find a 455 to swap it out for. That is if your main concern is making it go faster, if you are happy with just driving it on the street it should have more than enough power as is.
It might not be a perfect survivor, but other than the paint and wheels, it looks to be quite original. With prices climbing like they have been, one with such low miles that presents this well is only going to go up in value. I just wish I could afford to buy it!
Wow!!!!! I always though the “Bandit” colors was my favorite. Not anymore! This is beautiful!!! If it only had A/C and a Manual, it would be this side of perfect!!
Could not agree more. Beautiful colors!
Knew it was hot back in the 80s. A guy who lived near me had one in this colour combo. Though his was a 400 4-speed. Most Nocturne 1979 TAs had light blue stripes and interiors. So that one really stood out. I always thought it was a great looking car. These pictures don’t really do it justice.
The other hot combo for 1979 was silver with the orange and black stripes and black interior. That also looked really freaking cool.
Unfortunately, a disproportionate number of Trans Am built this year were either the stereotypical black and gold, that awful gold on gold, or the regrettable dark brown with gold stripes.
this car is the best ive seen today infinity vote
I had a ’79 when I was in high school in the mid 80’s. Beautiful car, black with tan cloth interior, T-tops, 400 Pontiac engine with a 4 speed manual. It had less than 50,000 miles and I kept it in immaculate condition. Sold it to get money for college and the buyer totaled it within a month! Should have kept it….
Great car. I’d say go with a W-30 cam, have the original carberator improved for better fuel flow and add dual exhaust. Just changing the metering rods in the carberator will do wonders. This doesn’t damage the originality of the car but gives the performance it should have had back in the day. Gotta love that blue paint.
Don’t forget to look into a rear end gear change, if bet this one has something in the 2’s.
Steve R
3.73’s 3 speed automatic, 80 mph @ 2300 rpm, why a 455, why not do a upgrade, 6.2LS and a 6 speed. If you are yanking out original equipment. All girls garage did it! That would bring up to date.
Whatever you do, don’t use a W30 profile stick shift cam. Too much overlap. No vacuum at idle. Power brakes won’t work, trans won’t shift right. Use the W30 auto trans cam or a W34 cam.
Big Oldsmobile engines don’t like to rev. That’s why the rear end ratio is so weak. Add Edelbrock’s intake, carburetor and camshaft, a set of headers and you will really be surprised how hard these cars can pull!
3.23’s or 3.42’s wouldn’t hurt anything.
Steve R
How high up can you go from a 3.42,my cousin had a 8 or 77 trans am black and gold decal and gold strips,t-tops 6.6liter with gold interior beautiful car and that was the first time I saw or heard of that name and instinctly I fell in love with the car and become a fan ever since, until I saw a nother one ABOUT around 80 to 81 a Pontiac formula white with blue strips coming from the back glass on both sides of the car! A five speed manual and some wide back tires and a lot of torque 350horsepower and sounding awesome. c.f.c
Lovely car .. great colour!
Had a 79 that was gold in high school in the 80s it was fun
Had a 79 T-Top red w/black interior. Also had the WS6 suspension package. Put a set of 70 350 olds, cam, headers and 373 gears. Car ran 14.0’s in the quarter mile. should have never sold it. Drove it everywhere with no problems.
My vote was with the Pontiac Firebird until I saw this. My new favorite. I love the lines and the color of this car. Is this what Dwight Schrute drove in the Office?
Dwight had a 1987 trans am
I had a ’79 in this very same color with the gold interior and optional vinyl seats. This color combination was the one used in the Pontiac ads for 1979. This has the optional velour seats. Mine was the 403 with auto, WS6 suspension, wider snowflake wheels, full gauge package and AC. In it’s day it was a honker! Funny thing though was the 85 MPH speedo. They were mandatory at the time. You could punch it at 50 mph and it would peg the speedo as fast as you could count in 5s. Also had a killer AC. Loved the T-Tops, too. If I had it to do over, I would have ordered the Pontiac 400 cu. in. and a 4 speed. I would not mind having one just like it again.
Beautiful car, but my OCD can’t overlook that the Trans Am decal on the left front fender is crooked.
Mine is similar, except it only has 23,000 original miles, A/C, and original paint. And, I paid much less than this one sold for.. of course it was like 7 yrs ago, so..
That is lovely! Great colour combo.
I have one the same colors as yours. Great
car. 52,000 original miles, t tops , ac, Nocturne Blue is beautiful !