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Only Six Miles!? 1979 Pontiac Trans Am

There are some cars that are real head-scratchers and this one fits in that category for me. This is a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am 10th Anniversary edition. While not an overly special car by itself, it is said to only have six original miles! That’s right, this car shows 00006.1 on the odometer! It can be found for sale here on craigslist with an asking price of…$120,000. Before you think that is a crazy asking price, a nearly identical car with 7.9 original miles sold for $170.000 at Barrett-Jackson in 2016. Although the ad doesn’t have much information, the map shows it is located in the Los Angeles area. Thanks to Ikey H. for the tip on this car!

Overall, this car shows really well. The engine, interior, trunk, and underside are very clean and may absolutely be genuine no-miles. I’m always a little skeptical when it comes to ultra-low mileage cars. First, the fact that someone can purchase a car then not drive it is unusual. Second, how many buyers can afford to purchase a collector item and then park it for forty years? Third, how could the owner stand to not drive it?!? I could have parked this for about a day before I had to cruise it!

As stated above, the interior looks great. The ad states that it has been in a heated garage “forever” and it looks the part. It appears the original paper floor mats are still present and the silver with red trim is very classy.

Here you can see the back side of the original window stickers. Too bad there isn’t a photo of the front side. It would be neat to see the options this car came with and the total MSRP. I’m guessing from the condition that the stickers haven’t been off the windows in forty years, what do you think?

Comments

  1. NotSure

    I worked with a guy about my age and he’d bought one new. Boy was I envious! Today I have little interest in this car because it shouldn’t be driven at this point. I hope that someone gives it a loving storage the next 40 years. By then I’ll have no opinion at all….

    Like 24
  2. HoA Howard A Member

    Well, there’s certainly no arguing about this one. Wonder what the story was? Nice car, but again, it’s not new, it’s 40 years old, and that will take it’s toll. Heck, a piston ring could be stuck, and this car will burn oil or dried seals will leak. Sitting is not good. Naturally, with my 1987 reasoning, $120g’s sounds like too much, but I’ll never do something this foolish as to buy something like this anyway, so spend away.

    Like 12
    • ChallengerChick

      I’d bet dollars to Dodges the story was they knew it would be worth a fortune decades later. According to the BJ auction page, they were instant collector’s items the day they rolled off the lot, and buyers were paying over four grand above MSRP at the time. The one BJ’s had went for $187k because it was an even rarer manual that the original owner specifically bought to be parked. I couldn’t imagine having that thing in my barn and being able to stay out of it!

      My dad was a huge Burt Reynolds fan, particularly of the Bandit series. We had a weekly ritual of going to the movies every Sunday afternoon and would often go look at cars afterward while the dealerships were closed so we didn’t have to deal with pestering salesmen. I’ll never forget how excited I was to see the “Bandit cars” as a 9 year old little girl back in 1977. 🔥🦅

      Like 10
    • Ronnie

      This car actually came from a small town in southern indiana named Corydon. I grew up seeing this car sitting behind of a huge window of a shop sitting right on the guys office floor! (There wasn’t much more In the office besides a desk) The story is that the man who owned the shop had bought it for his snooty daughter as a first car at the age of 16, she didn’t like it so he decided to display it to prove a point. The bird sat there since it was bought new all the way up until about 5 years ago. I remember hearing he wanted $100k+ for it then took it to auction and bids only reached $50k or so. This is after he declined an $80k offer. Makes me wonder what he really sold it for. Cool to see this though as I’m new to the page and was just scrolling thru!

      Like 1
      • Chip Escue

        This model car was 1979 pace car for the Indy 500. My Father had the top Pontiac Dealership in the Cincinnati Region. My mother actually drove the one that was sent to our dealership. There were a limited number of these built This care also doubled in the movie Hooper. This is the model that Burt drove in Hooper. The local kids were so envious when my mother would drop us off for school in this car.

        Like 1
      • Chip Escue

        Correction the 1980 was the pace car. This one was the Hooper car. My mother drove both.

        Like 0
  3. Arthell64

    Big difference between a W72 4 speed and 403 automatic.

    Like 19
    • Chip Escue

      What do you Mean not a Pontiac engine??? This was the correct engine for this year. You may not remember this little know fact of Jimmy Carter trying to convert the US to the Metric system???? Well this was the start by Marking the Engines in Liters. Also if memory serves the next year was the first year for computers in the cars. And adding fuel injection to the Pontiac line. In 1980 you could not give away a GM product due to the lack of computing power the ecu’s had back then. There was only enough memory in them so the car would not run correctly until it passed 4000 miles. After it was broken in. But until that 4K mark had passed no GM product would work worth a darn. All thanks to the Peanut Farmer.

      Like 0
      • Greg

        Put your tinfoil hat back on

        Like 0
  4. poseur Member

    gone

    Like 2
  5. TCOPPS TCOPPS Member

    I would have at least drove it around the block a few times in reverse.

    Like 8
  6. Bill OBrien

    Ferris Buller the hell out of it, Jump it burn the tires off, then jack it up put it in reverse and… oh wait that didn’t turn out too well…….

    Like 9
  7. Tony Primo

    Nice to see you guys using a reader’s tip after a few weeks of absence.

    Like 4
  8. james malone Member

    Is it just me, or does the wiring in the engine bay look like it is no longer factory routing?

    Like 1
  9. Robert Sabatini

    Very nice TA, but to me – in all honesty…a Pontiac without a Pontiac engine just isn’t a Pontiac.

    Like 7
  10. j liu

    With two window stickers, the car appears to be heavily optioned.
    Love the color, inside and out.
    $120K…yikes, though.

    Like 4
    • Ralph

      Actually, there were no options on the 10th Anniversary, everything was standard, T-tops, leather, cruise control, power windows, locks, trunk release, digital 8 track, the only choice was the engine, if you got a manual car you received a credit for the cruise control, all 10th’s had 2 window stickers.

      Like 2
  11. Tort Member

    Two more on Barn Finds today!

    Like 2
  12. W9BAG

    It stirs my loins NOT. Not for that price.

    Like 1
  13. ccrvtt

    From the mid-’70’s to the early ’80’s Trans Ams were the hottest looking rides available. It was the morning after the Great Muscle Car Party and all that were left were the profilers. A T/A with a stick shift and a 400 was about as close as you could come to the Glory Days.

    I’ve always liked the 10th Anniversary cars, but looking at them is about as close as I’ll ever come.

    It’s hard to believe that I once pined for one of these when the car I have now is 6-speed paddle-shifted with 400hp – and I’ve heard there are Honda Civics that will outrun it.

    Like 3
    • HoA Howard A Member

      Yeah, but the Bandit in a Honda Civic would have lost a lot of the zing. I know I would have walked out.

      Like 5
      • Sandy Claws

        That depends on your perspective because I bet you are old like me, but say, a 30 year old raised on the Fast and Furious movies, the Honda is his winner. As Bert said as the Bandit, it all depends just where you are standing in the United States, in this case, your standing in Redneckville USA, but circa 1977 and the kids are in 2007. There is no right or wrong here, just opinions. Frankly, I like both the Ponnie and the Honda.

        Like 3
  14. Superdessucke

    This Bird never took flight, as they say.

    Like 4
  15. v

    i agree about a pontiac engine. but at the time gm was throwing anything left on the shelf( as far as engines go) into all there cars but chevy cars. just so they would not be left with junk engines that no body wanted. heck there was even a big gm lawsuit about putting crap engines in any pontiacs and still calling them pontiacs.( the pontiac buyers won that suit.) believe it or not. the big guys at gm bailed there office positions just to keep there jobs. by then the execs at pontiac could do nothing when OPEC ////;’;.-=- on the USA with there gas policies.it was frightening times. imagine the thought of no gas for your gas guzzling car. odd number license plate cars got 10 gallons gas on monday wednesday and friday. and even number license plates got 10 gallons gas tuesday thursday and saturday. this past time around you paid 5.00 a gallon instead of rationing which crippled the country anyway. pontiac was dead before pontiac was declared dead. we all lost out when that happened.

    Like 3
    • Greg

      Are you senile?

      Like 3
      • V

        Are you 15. clearly you were not driving when these cars were new. or you would know some AMERICAN CAR HISTORY.

        Like 2
      • v

        history see below

        Like 0
      • Sandy Claws

        Excuse me, do you remember the 70s? Some of us do. Senile? He is dead on correct. The price doubled and at the same time, crippled many of us, and gave political and economic power to people who despised us. Oh, made a very few even richer then before, but the rest of us lost and continue to lose when the gas cartels and oil men go play. As much as I like gasoline, it is time to get serious about electric cars and an environmentally sustainable electric industry. Lets REALLY put America back to work, lets build electric cars, infrastructure to make long distances practical, and green clean energy. Boys, electric cars will out perform most any car and do it at no cost to the air. It is a win win situation, and there will still be enough petrol for us old timers to play on the weekends in our Model Ts and the like.

        Like 3
    • Greg

      No I’m 43. Not History it’s just crazy opinions

      Like 1
      • v

        google ::: JURY ORDERS G.M. TO PAY 10,000 IN SWITCH OF ENGINES
        APJUNE 28, 1981
        heres part of the oldsmobile lawsuit…there was another that followed pontiac..A Federal jury ruled today that the General Motors Corporation must pay $550 to each of more than 10,000 purchasers of 1977 Oldsmobiles that contained Chevrolet engines.
        But in a split verdict the jury held that the automobile maker did not owe damages to at least 30,000 customers who bought ”Chevymobiles” after April 10, 1977.

        ”We possibly will appeal,” said Charles A. Boyle, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the 10-week trial that sought $131 million in damages from General Motors, the nation’s largest auto maker.

        Like 1
      • KevinWLa

        Hate to say it but V is right. Those were bad times. I was still in high school at the time and my family had 3 cars. Because my parents had to commute to work every day I had to wait in line to get gas so they could make it to work. To help I went back to riding my bike to school. A lot of my fellow classmates were doing the same thing.

        Like 1
      • Sandy Claws

        @V, I never really understood that suit. For petes sake, the Chevy 350 was a far better engine then Pontiac of Oldsmobile every had. The only people who made out here, was the usual, the shysters. Do you really think it even hurt resale values? (Of course in those days many people traded every few years for a new car. Can you imagine that today? Different/better world IMO) Many people laughed all the way to the bank with those checks, heck that is like 1500-2000 today, and they got a better running, more reliable, and easier engines to source parts from too.

        Like 1
  16. joeinthousandoaks

    When I was a kid, there was a guy in Chatsworth, CA who had a warehouse with a bunch of these cars, and similar cars, parked with no miles. They were pretty new at the time. This is probably one of those cars. Does anyone else remember or know who that was?

    Like 0
  17. jim aldi

    just in a opinion. if you buy the car. leave window stickers on And build GLASS BOWL around it.

    Like 1
  18. irocrobb

    I would want to know if the 6 miles was highway or city miles. Way too much money to me regardless

    Like 3
    • ccrvtt

      Laughed out loud!

      Like 1
  19. jim aldi

    oh so I guess you don t like gasoline.

    Like 0
  20. Rick Rothermel

    An Olds 403 in a Firebird was nowhere near the offense that a Chevy 350 in a full size Olds was. And, the 403 was used because of Gummint smog regulations.

    Like 0
    • Brent

      The Olds 403 was used because they only had a handful of the much better Pontiac 400 left over from ’78, and GM ordered the destruction of the sand cores for the 400.

      Like 0
  21. Steve Haygood

    the real travesty was when they put the 305 chevy engines in the pontiacs..what a crap motor

    Like 1
    • W9BAG

      I’ve read so many negative comments regarding the 305. I had one in a ’79 Scottsdale, with a 3 speed manual tranny. It would smoke the tires at will, and would get better than 25 mpg on the interstate, and haul it’s maximum capacity with aplomb. Max speed of about 107 mph. Easily started when the temp was below zero. Never had an issue with the 305.

      Like 0
  22. jim aldi

    I hated G M for that .

    Like 0
  23. v

    SANDY CLAWS;; the reason that law suit held up is, you got to remember job and buisness loyalty. all that was coming to an end.those days your father had a factory job . and your son was a shoe in for the same job. brand loyalty was still around and those people were purists. oldsmobile front to back. after the economy started to spiral downword family’s said damn the loyalty, we got to survive. and then the economy really started to falter. it was somewhat that the chevy engine was better than olds engines. but the chevy engine could be economicaly produced in mass quantities. and thats why chevy has still survived today. they just got 1 heck of an engine…

    Like 1
    • Sandy Claws

      V, agreed. I miss the America of our youth. A day when only one parent needed to work for the American Dream, families were stable, and made in America meant something. It meant quality and pride, and stability for all of us. We have lost so much. I didn’t consider brand loyalty, but you are right about that too. My family were die hard Chrysler fans, but since then, I have owned so many other brands.

      Like 2
  24. Stevie G

    The harsh reality is that American cars don’t have the quality as cars from other countries. The difference isn’t as vast as it was in the past, but it is still true.
    I love vintage cars, that is why I read this site when I get a chance. I own a nice early 1970’s Cadillac convertible (for now…hardly ever use it & gotta pay for my new Harley I bought in December) but my daily driver is a 2018 Hyundai Elantra. I paid less than 20k for a loaded car with bun warmers (important in Wisconsin) & a power moonroof (for when I finally move to Arizona). It is rated @ 37 mpg on the highway but I average 42 (not sure how…I have a REALLY heavy foot). For a daily driver, it is perfect! Plus I have a 10 year or 100,000 mile warranty. If the American cars would do all that & in the same price bracket, I would buy American in a heartbeat! It is sad but true.
    The only reason I won’t consider an electric car is because of range. I would buy electric if I thought I could make it across our continent in a reasonable time frame, but stopping for a complete recharge every 200 miles just is not practice. Might as well just ride a horse.

    Like 0

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