This 1980 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am is listed here on eBay for $26,000 or best offer. The Trans Am is located in Miami, Florida and is said to be a 67k mile one owner car. The car is not restored and looks to be in drivers condition. The Trans Am was previously listed this past September at $28,000 but apparently did not sell. This car is not claimed to be a Y84 Special Edition (SE) car although it does have the correct gold pinstripes. The interior does not have the “SE” appointments like a gold accented steering wheel, shifter bezel and dash bezel. These would all be gold on a car with the Y84 option.There are 28 days remaining in the listing.
By the mid 1970’s most muscle car offerings by the Big 3 were reduced to decals and mere shadows of there former glory. Pontiac kept performance alive all the way through 1979 by offering performance engine options every year. By 1980, the had writing was on the wall and Pontiac shifted from offering bigger displacement engines and introduced a turbocharged V8 engine in the 1980-1981 Firebird Trans Am and Formula. The turbo 301 cubic inch V8 engine (4.9 liter) was rated at 210 horsepower in 1980 and 200 horsepower in 1981. It was designated as the LU8 and had a Garrett TB305 turbo and a Rochester Quadrajet 4-barrel carburetor. While the horsepower and torque were comparable to prior years on paper, actual performance on the street was slower. The Turbo Trans Am could only be built with a a 3.08:1 rear gear ratio and automatic transmission. Off the line the car was sluggish and it took a while for the turbo to spool up and generate peak horsepower.
This car is heavily optioned with T-Tops, power windows, tilt steering, remote mirrors and the optional hobnail cloth deluxe interior. The fabric on the hobnail interior is worn and, along with the foam, will probably need to be replaced soon. Both Legendary and PUI make replacement seat covers. Sometimes the lead time is long. An inspection of the dash indicates that the car has an aftermarket radio, speakers and equalizer. This Trans Am is equipped with the WS6 handling suspension, which comes with 4-wheel disc brakes and 15×8 wheels.
This Turbo Trans Am looks nice. It has some dents and nicks as stated in the add. Someone has added a few extra decals and front running lights. The rear window louvers have also been added. They sure help keep the interior cool when the sun is out. This looks like a fun driver.
Meh
Meh
Meh-na meh-na.
I wonder if a 4.3 Buick Turbo V6 swap would be considered non-blasphemous?
I like to look at something like this and build it on paper. If you got it for the right price intercoolers are available for that turbo and shift kits too from Summit. Would that wake it up? TBFI kits available too. Because otherwise, it’s pretty clean. I thought the aftermarket radio install was pretty clean too until I saw a speaker hanging off the back by the wires. Is that so your foot can feel the beat?
That Turbo 301 was as miserable to keep on the road as the Buick Turbo V-6. Well, maybe a little better. We sold 3 Trans Ams and had them converted to straight 4bbl within two years. The two Buicks we sold had the engines replaced within three years.
The 301 was simply impossible to keep in tune. What you essentially had to do was tune it every time you took it out. Running a turbo with a carb was insane at best. Tossing the turbo and running a straight carburetor was a noticeable improvement. Some owners sourced out Ponitac-based, 350 and 400 engines which were better yet.
Then there was the Buick which was actually worse. The oil pressure falling below safe levels was the first thing then, the starved turbo would crater. Very few people in the automotive world knew that when a turbo suffered a catastrophic failure, the manifold pressure would surge backwards blowing the chips all into the intake pipes and carb. The mechanic would install a new turbo and forget to dig out the shrapnel which would then go into the new turbo and ruin it. Of course the anemic oil pressure from the prematurely worn out oil pump in the timing cover would contribute to heavily to the next failure.