[starlightblack]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

that is so weird!?

My search terms were "firebird" & "rocky" - and i only had the one hit!?

Thanks!

HAHAHA! This one too?

[unruhjonny]

Meh.

That's funny, but I never cared for those movies (I did atsome point see the first one though)...

[68ragtop]

Any updates on the Book? I think we are close to 12 months now.....

Not that I'm keeping track or anything.....

[68ragtop]

Another 6 month Bump. Last I checked the book was still on Pre-order.

Anybody hear anything new? I was pretty excited about it a year or so ago, now it feels like old news that never happened

Guessing its still in the works?

[Rocky Rotella]

All done and submitted. It’s at the printer as we speak. Release date is Jan 2018.

Over the summer I was able to visit a literature collection that had some extensive (and new!) info on the origins and package contents of the W72 and WS6 options.

I wished it hadn’t taken so long but I really think you’ll like the effort. There’s so much info that they increassed page count from 192 to 224!

[johnta1]

Sounds Great!!!

[68ragtop]

I can put it on my christmas list!

[68ragtop]

So will the book straighten out some of this data?
.
Or doesn't it get into the SE breakdowns? Guessing we will have to wait to see what you uncovered

[Judge273]

This is not in book?

[Bentwheelbob]

It's in the book in the back. Basically the same data as in 68Ragtop's table and Witzke's info.

1,267 Y88's with W72/M21 combination.

[68ragtop]

I bought the new book, I didn't find anything new like was mentioned in earlier posts above. Maybe I need to re-read & see if I somehow missed something, that's possible I suppose. Or Maybe Rocky decided not to add these new findings in the book? I am surprised there is no mention of the discontinuation of the W72 automatic in February/March of 1978. Thats kind of a big deal in the w72 history of these cars. Most of us already know this info, but if your reading the book you would probably conclude the combo was available to order year long, & first discontinued in 1979, which it was not.

On a positive note, I did enjoy the explanation & dates of how all the Y82-Y84-Y88 were used. I guess I was just expecting more info on the W72's seeing thats what this thread was all about.

[Skip Fix]

I missed the cutoff for the auto and 220 HP motor by a month or so on mine. The the dealer forgot to get the WS6 package checked like he was supposed to, but hey when that new car is right in front of you and you waited a few months you just take it.

[74Grandville]

I just bought mine.

[Rocky Rotella]

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

I bought the new book, I didn't find anything new like was mentioned in earlier posts above. Maybe I need to re-read & see if I somehow missed something, that's possible I suppose. Or Maybe Rocky decided not to add these new findings in the book? I am surprised there is no mention of the discontinuation of the W72 automatic in February/March of 1978. Thats kind of a big deal in the w72 history of these cars. Most of us already know this info, but if your reading the book you would probably conclude the combo was available to order year long, & first discontinued in 1979, which it was not.

On a positive note, I did enjoy the explanation & dates of how all the Y82-Y84-Y88 were used. I guess I was just expecting more info on the W72's seeing thats what this thread was all about.

While I am disappointed to find that the caption containing the information of the transmission change was edited out, there were several photos and diagrams that just couldn't be included because of space constraints. The book was originally slated for 192 pages, but they agreed to take it out two more "blocks" to 224. If it weren't for that, so much more would have been cut out. Information about the transmission change during the 1978 model year was noted on page 187, however.

As for the W72 production breakdown, Page 222 contains a complete list of T/A 6.6 production by model year, separating automatic and manual transmission numbers for 1977 to 1979 Formulas and Trans Ams.

To my knowledge the 1978 information has never been presented before. The actual document that it came from is a one-off 1979-dated letter from Pontiac’s public relations department.

[johnta1]

You notice the totals column on the 77 and 78 automatic TA don't add up correctly?

[68ragtop]

Heres what what caught my interest: In 1977, the ratio of L78 400's to W72 400 automatics is a ratio of 2.44277

If we take the 1978 production number of 50,090 L78's & divide it by the same ratio from 1977 we get 20,505 This seems like way too big of a coincidence for the 78 W72 auto's to be listed at a nice rounded off number of 20,500.

If you ask me, whomever produced this 1979 PR document just did a simple statistic from 1977 to come up with 20,500.

Way too big of a coincidence in my opinion to be within .024% Thats statistically dang near identical.
Especially when you take into account that 1977 had the whole year to be ordered with an Auto & 1978 had barely 1/4 of a year.

I am not implying Rocky made up that number, but I think somebody sure the heck did.

the mystery continues........

[Rocky Rotella]

I totally get your point, and I know you're not making any accusations. I would ask the same questions!

It does seem coincidental that the numbers are so close, but the document is from Dick Thompson, Pontiac's PR director. It was a letter written to an author that was writing a book about Firebirds back then. Dick provided him with lots of production numbers and he specifically asked about 1978. What you saw in the book was what Dick provided, verbatim.

Now, 20,500 is a certainly nice round number. We can't forget that CAFE was implemented that year, and the W72 was being allocated that year. It's very possible that the W72 Auto was capped at a specific volume to ensure CAFE standard was met. After all, Pontiac shut it off during the model year for a reason.

In fact, my dad placed his order or his '78 Trans Am (W72 4-speed) in October 1977 and CAFE "rationing" was the reasoning behind its February 1978 delivery date.

[starlightblack]

Still waiting for my book up here in Canuck-land ...arrggh

[Skip Fix]

I see what is "sched No. Date" on my build sheet (that was taped top the firewall) as 05-20. On the PHS sheet that looks like the dealer sheet shipped date was 5-23-78. I want to think I ordered it 3 months before it got here. Just for a reference of when the 220 HP motor got pulled from auto tranny cars.

[johnta1]

So your TA is not a SE TA?

Just a regular TA?