It is not hard to see that this Barn Find is a project. The seller identifies this group of parts as a 1971 Pontiac Trans Am. The car is located in Jupiter, Florida and is listed for sale here on eBay with 3 days remaining in the auction. The Trans Am project is bid to $6,600 currently and the reserve has not been met. The owner has the original build sheet and this appears to be a low optioned Trans Am. I don’t see the front sub frame in any of the pictures and it is tough to see the condition of the sheet metal that has survived. The owner states that this is a 4 speed car but it is not clear what the history of the car is except that it was built at the Van Nuy, California plant.
There were no engine options for the Trans Am in 1971. The Trans Am received the top of the line HO 455 engine which was rated at 335 horsepower. The rare original scoop is a little beat up but is part of the purchase. Notice the tabs where the scoop secures to the air cleaner. I don’t see the proper holes for the wing nuts. The 1970-1972 hood scoops on Trans Ams were functional. Starting in 1973, engine noise regulations resulted in Pontiac closing the scoops on Trans Ams and Formulas. I believe the last functional shaker scoop was on the 1974 GTO.
The HO 455 was fitted with round port heads and designated HO for High Output. The Trans Am was available in Cameo white with blue stripes or Lucerne blue with white stripes. I own a 1971 Trans Am and love it. It is powerful and handles well. My car is Cameo white with a blue interior. I guess the buyer of this car can decide what interior they want to go with since no interior parts show up in the pictures or are mentioned in the listing. The seller states that the car comes with a 1978 Trans Am rear axle with 3.08 positraction rear end and four wheel disc brakes. Unfortunately, there must be some confusion here because factory four wheel disc brakes started in 1979.
The right rear quarter panel has been replaced but the seller states that it needs some tweaking. Since this part is welded on, it may need more than tweaking! The ad is clear with the pictures and description what the buyer is getting here. Hopefully, it is a clean title and the car can be rebuilt. There are certainly enough aftermarket parts to get this done.
There is one guy I know of that knows just what it will take to get this job done… Bruce Johnson ! (don’t tell us you haven’t at least entertained the thought lol !).
A real honest to goodness HO 455 here in Florida for cheap? well now I’m going to lose it! Just when I thought it was safe to drink beer & look at barn finds!
What happened to the interior? That’s awful difficult to track down. I wish people would refrain from disassembling their project car unless reassembly is definitely happening. Don’t plan on a restoration when you don’t now nor in the future have the necessary money (lots) to put it back together.
The ad claims it has an M22 transmission, which has different angle helical gears that are stronger but whine, and a 2.20:1 low gear. Was this even available on the Trans Am? With a 3.08 rear axle, standing starts won’t be much fun.
Good luck trying to get missing parts. The interior will be next to impossible. The cost will be extremely high trying to put back that car the way it was new. GOOD LUCK!
True story as told to me by Herb Adams: On the first Trans Am, Gene Winfield was tasked by DeLorean to do some styling tweaks, and Herb Adams was tasked to work on suspension. The 69 didn’t have a rear sway bar (these days, called a stab bar –short for “stabilizer” or ARB) On the 2nd gen Trans Am, the production plan was to use the Z28 suspension spec, which simplified the build process and cost. Herb argued with Bill Collins, and probably just to shut him up, Bill told Herb if he could get the claied 1/10 of a G improvement, by the following Monday, Bill would go to bat for them. Herb took a young engineer in his group, Dan Hardin, went to the proving grounds on a Saturday with a bunch of sway bars, etc., and got .8+ G on the skid pad. Pontiac ended up seeding cars to the magazines, everybody raved about the combo of a firm but compliant ride, and the cornering, and sales blew away all the forecasts. Pontiac had made a deal with SCCA to license the Trans-Am name (note the race series is hyphenated, the car is not) for $5.00 per car. This ended up giving SCCA a big unplanned increase in income, which led to them expanding into more pro racing. Years later, Pontiac renogitated the terms. All because a stubborn Herb Adams and a supportive engineering executive, and a general manager with courage took on the “bean counters”.
Great post, HarryQ. Thanks for sharing.
The threaded studs on the bottom of the “ears” of the shaker go into holes on the air cleaner base, and the wing nuts go on from the bottom. Those functional shaker setups can be difficult to find, and aren’t cheap when you do find one!
Hey i am very interested in your car is it still for sale??? can you call me 7018717383