Larry D found this 1975 Pontiac Trans Am for sale and sent it to us to take a look. The car is equipped with its original, numbers matching 400 cubic inch V8 engine. The Trans Am is located in Bee Spring, Kentucky. Apparently, this is near horse country as their are multiple pictures of this car at a horse farm or stable. The car is listed here on eBay with 5 days remaining in the auction. Currently, the reserve has not been met but the car has been bid to $17,100.
The car is in nice driver condition and has recovered cloth bucket seats that were available with the optional deluxe interior package. While the car does not have power windows, it does have tilt steering, air conditioning, and an automatic transmission. The Pontiac 3 spoke Formula wheel has been replaced with an aftermarket wheel. The stereo has also been replaced with an aftermarket Pioneer AM/FM cassette unit.
The car has reportedly been owned for the last 36 years by one owner. The L78 400 cubic inch V8 engine is backed by a GM Turbo 350 automatic transmission. The L78 400 cubic inch V8 engine was rated at 180 horsepower and 320 lb ft of torque from the factory. The rear end gears are reportedly 3.42 positive transaction (posi) which means they were changed since new. Only 4 speed cars had the steeper gears with air conditioning. This car should have been built with 3.08 rear posi gears.
The 1975 Pontiac Trans Am was a great looking car. It was the first year of the 2nd generation Trans Am to have the wrap around window. This car is painted in Sterling Silver and is sporting aftermarket Weld Wheels. The wheels are 6″ in the front and 8″ in the back. That is probably good for straight line performance but not road racing and handling corners. The car is also sitting a little high compared to stock. This appears to be a nice car with little rust but it is not a low mileage show car.
This is not an L78 396, it is a Pontiac 400, considered small block based on main journal diameter. Picture shows a typical Pontiac engine, numbers matching means a Pontiac engine, not Chevy.
KnotMe, you are some kind of special. You should research your muscle cars before spouting off about something that you know nothing about. Here are some production numbers for ’77 Firebirds…
Model ………………….. Manual Trans …………….. Auto Trans Total
Firebird base V6, V8 ……….N/A ……………………..N/A
30,642
Esprit V6, V8 ………………… N/A ……………………. N/A
34,548
Formula ……………………….. N/A ……………………. N/A
21,801
Trans Am 400 (L78) ……….. N/A ……………………. 29,313
29,313
Trans Am 400 (W72) ………. 8,319 ………………… 10,466
18,785
Trans Am 403 (L80) ……….. N/A ……………………. 5,079
5,079
Special Edition 400 (L78) … N/A …………………… 748
748
w/T-Tops ………… N/A ………………… 6,030
6,030
Special Edition 400 (W72) .. 384 …………………… 549
933
w/T-Tops ……….2,699 …………………. 3,760
6,459
Special Edition 403 (L80) …. N/A ……………………. 180
180
w/T-Tops …………. N/A …………………. 1,217
1,217
Grand Total …… 155,735
…and if my ’77 example was confusing to you, here is a simpler breakdown for the ’75 Firebirds like we have for sale here:
1975 Model year production included 22,293 Firebirds; 20,826 Espirits; 13,670 Formula Firebirds; and 27,274 Trans Ams. Only 8,314 Firebirds were built with the inline six-cylinder engine.
Most (26,417) Trans Ams had the 400-cid 185-hp L78 four-barrel V-8.
Only 857 T/As were built with the 455-cid 200-hp L75 four-barrel V-8.
Road testers found the 1975 Trans Am with the L78 drive train capable of 0-to-60 mph in 9.8 seconds and the quarter-mile in 16.8 seconds.
1975 certainly isn’t a common year when you see Trans Ams for sale. I’m not sure how many sold in 1975 compared to other years. You seem to see more 70 – 71 models or 77-81 models. Silver with red cloth is a nice combination.
Finally a BF listing that can be registered in California
CARB made a mistake by setting the cutoff model year as ’76 instead of ’75.
’75 was the 1st year of the cat conv, which this car has had removed & yet can now be operated as is – in Calif.
Ironically, w/o a converter, the exhaust on a ’75 is much dirtier than that of ’74, which is tuned to be clean w/o a cat converter.
KnotMe Pontiac did not have a small block or big block V8’s. Every V8 they built was the exact same block from the 265 V8 up to the 455 V8 just bored and stroked to get the bigger displacements.
Blocks were the same, except the crankshafts were not interchangeable, 421, 428 and 455 all used a larger main journal diameter, 3.25″ instead of 3.00″, and they were known colloquially as Pontiac’s big-block, even if they were essentially, except for the crank, identical.
KnotMe, why are you contradicting yourself, lol? You said it was a “small block”. It’s not. There are no big-block or small-block Pontiacs. That’s a Chevy term, anyway.