This ad says it is listing for a friend who is not a computer guy. That is a rare breed these days. Mitchell G. alerted us to this “Snow Find” located near Newburgh, New York in the Hudson Valley. The 1979 Pontiac Trans Am is listed here on Craigslist. The Trans Am is black with a black interior and listed for $12,000. The car is said to have a rebuilt engine with an odometer reading that has rolled over to 123k miles. The Pontiac 400 cubic inch V8 engine was a rare option with about 10,000 of the 117,000 Trans Ams being equipped with the this special engine. The high performance engine option that year was the W72 400 cubic inch V8 engine that was manufactured in 1977 and stockpiled for installation in 1977-1979 Trans Ams. The W72 400 cubic inch V8 came with a Borg Warner T-10 4 speed manual transmission, 3.23 rear gears, WS6 suspension and dual turbo mufflers.

The interior is serviceable but in need of restoration. The dash has a crack in it which happened often due to sun exposure. The car appears to have been equipped with power windows, air conditioning and possibly tilt steering. The seats and door panels indicate the car has the optional deluxe interior. The seller states that the floors, rocker panels and trunk are in very good condition. The windshield also appears to be cracked.

In 1979, Pontiac changed the W72 designation to L78 which was the engine code for the weaker 400 cubic inch V8 from 1973 to 1978. However, all 400 cubic inch engines in 1979 were W72 motors. The W72 400 cubic inch engine was unique due to its 800 cfm 4-barrel Rochester carburetor, high capacity 60 psi oil pump, special camshaft, baffled oil pan, unique piston rings, and 8:1 compression 6X heads. The W72 engine was rated at 220 horsepower. The standard engine for 1979 was the 403 cubic inch V8 paired with an automatic transmission and rated at only 185 horsepower. Additionally, buyers had the option to choose a 301 cubic inch V8 engine rated at 155 horsepower, available with either a 4-speed manual or automatic transmission.

This car is going to need paint. In order to determine if this is truly a W72 car, the buyer needs to check the VIN for a Z in the 5t digit and check the block for PWH designation. Since the Trans Am is equipped with 15×7 aluminum snowflake wheels, it raises the question whether these wheels were added later or if this car was originally a 301 cubic inch V8 car and the engine was swapped for a more powerful 400 cubic inch V8. All W72 equipped cars came with the WS6 suspension package which included 15×8 aluminum wheels.