A predictable thing happens when a car is left outside with a broken window, it rusts. This 1978 Pontiac Trans Am is for sale in Las Vegas, Nevada. The owner has had the car for 20 years waiting to restore it after purchasing it from someone who left it outside with a broken window. There are 3 days remaining in the eBay auction and the car has only been bid to $1,100 so far. The VIN shows the car to be a Trans Am built in Van Nuys, California. The car has some lower body rust and rusty floorboards. It is missing the spoilers in front of each wheel well as well as the front spoiler. Thank you to Mitchell G for sending us the link to this car.

There were three engines that were used in the 1978 Pontiac Trans Am. This car appears to have the base engine which was the Pontiac L78 400 cubic inch V8 engine that produced 180 horsepower in stock form. In California, the Trans Am could only ordered with the Oldsmobile L80 403 cubic inch V8 engine due to emissions requirements. It was rated slightly higher than the L78 engine at 185 horsepower. For the second year, the performance engine option was the W72 400 cubic inch V8 engine that was available in all 49 states excluding California. Power improved compared to the prior year (1977) with the W72 engine due to new dual exhausts. The W72 engine was rated at 220 horsepower in 1978 and 320 lb ft of torque. The W72 engine could be paired with either an automatic transmission or a Borg Warner T-10 4-speed manual transmission. Whereas the other two engines were only available with an automatic transmission in 1978.

The interior of this car appears to be Code 74 carmine and the car was well optioned with the upscale deluxe interior, power windows, air conditioning and tilt steering. While it could be cleaned up and driven, the interior looks like it needs to be replaced, which can be expensive and time consuming to get all the parts. The car looks like it has cruise control also. The dash is cracked and some parts are missing on the console. As mentioned, the floor boards are rusty and likely need to be replaced.

The seller states that the original color of this car was Code 11 Cameo White. The car is listed here on eBay and shows the data tag on the VIN but the paint code is cut off. So it is difficult to verify but it makes sense that it was a white car with a red interior. The car is riding on old cheap tires but the wheels are factory 15×7 aluminum snowflake wheels. The car is not running and will need to be towed to begin the restoration.