Y88 Forum
 

I have noticed that there are several sub-forums in some of the year/car forums on this site. How about a Y88 forum in here? It would be a great place to share questions and info on these S/E's and keep it in one place. I will start. I have owned three Y88's, the first being a 4-speed (wish I had that one back), a base 400 and the W-72 auto that I own now. I will try to dig up some pics of them. As a side note, I have been working on trying to come up with the correct interior camel tan dye and I think I found the right one. Per SEM tech support, custom mix 1655 is a direct match for 1978 and 1979 GM camel tan.

Good idea! Y88 is my favorite later 2nd gen TA. I had a Y88 before, it was an W72 auto, WS6, and it had a CB radio, it was a cool car. I am on the hunt for an Y88 W72 auto WS6 currently.

PS, thanks for the info on the SEM interior dye color.

Here are a couple of pics of my Y88 L78 auto car that I picked up a couple of years ago. Bought it as a project for my daughter and I but then decided it needed far too much work. Car was very well optioned. I had the original drivetrain for it, but it was out of the car.

I think the W72/auto combo is one of the harder ones to find. I seem to see more 4-speeds than auto W72's out there. I know there was a thread on this several years ago. The exact breakdown of the engine/trans combos was not known at that time, don't know if anyone has come up with it since then either.

There seems to be a TON of confusion and strange #'s regarding 78 T/A W72 production figures.......according to the experts...there were MORE W72 auto's built than sticks...but I'm not buying in to THAT program...

Problem with the auto/W72s was about April '78 they quit selling them with the autos and only 4 speeds could get them.

My current Y88 project was built the third week of February so it fits into that time frame nicely. It is the second W72/auto that I have owned. At one time I had a 1978 Y82. That was my first W72/auto.

Do like the 70-73 Firebird guys did:
(make your own basically)

Super Duty Forum

They wouldn't give us a separate area, so we use a thread as a 'forum'.
Highest ranked thread on PY!

:)

t-top Y88
 

What should the trim on my tops be. I can see where the gold stripe is but is the rest supposed to be black or natural. Mine dont appear to have ever had black on them. Thanks

I know its a basic question? But what is a Y88? Please elaborate...

Y88
 

Mike, Everything you need to know about a Y88

http://www.78ta.com/goldspecial.php

Thanks Doug, I'm up to speed now!

I've never known of that before, where did you find that information?

The trim around the t-tops should be black as well as the window trims. :)

Subscribing.

How about this becoming the "Y88 Forum" as previously suggested?

For more information about how to identify a Y-88 Trans Am Special Edition (and others) click below:
http://www.firebirdtransamparts.com/bandit/myth.htm

Here's a good example of a non-Y88 ;) http://www.tachrev.com/MecumHou2012F195.htm

That was my intention :)

Cool. ;) So...

I’m bumping this thread with some archive Y-88 images and info I have collected as an incentive for others to chime in and add their current and past Y88 Specific information, experiences, etc.

First is from former “Trans Am Tribe” website director Richard Griffith II’s Y88 from around 1997.

The ad is the original Richard replied to when purchasing his Y88.

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/Y88ad.gif

Note the "EXPORT" Invoice.
http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/invoice.gif

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/windowsticker.gif

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/banone.gif
http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/interor.gif

Page 1 of 3 New Mexico Y88
 

Next; the following images are of a Y88 I used to see driving in and around the streets of Albuquerque, New Mexico back in 1991. Beautiful car that was always heading in the opposite direction I was driving, so I never got a chance to speak to the owner in person.

The photos are scanned from and courtesy of the book by Nickey Wright:
OSPREY CLASSIC MARQUES
PONTIAC FIREBIRD

Note: Below each posted New Mexico Y88 image will be a larger sized image link. I recommend you purchase a copy of the book for your library and note that the “yellow” Special Edition decal highlights are clear in the book but have washed out in the scanning process.

IIRC: Those are the Sandia Mountains in the photo backgrounds, and the road may be the Turquoise Trail from Albuquerque to Santa Fe; which is a great drive if you are ever in the area.

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY881_Med.jpg

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY881.jpg

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY882_Med.jpg

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY882.jpg

Page 2 of 3 New Mexico Y88
 

The photos are scanned from and courtesy of the book by Nickey Wright:
OSPREY CLASSIC MARQUES
PONTIAC FIREBIRD

Note: Below each posted New Mexico Y88 image will be a larger sized image link. I recommend you purchase a copy of the book for your library and note that the “GOLD” Special Edition Dash and Steering Wheel treatment highlights are clear in the book but have washed out in the scanning process.

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY883_Med.jpg

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY883.jpg

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY884_Med.jpg

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY884.jpg

Page 3 of 3 New Mexico Y88
 

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY885_Med.jpg

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY885.jpg

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY886b_Med.jpg

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY886b.jpg

http://www.tachrev.com/Y88/NMY886.jpg

I really miss just seeing the second gen birds on the road. Used to see them all over the place. You couldn't drive 10 minutes around here without seeing one back in the 80's. Every other farm had either a Camaro or Firebird parked in the yard/driveway. A good friend of mine had a 4-speed Y88 that he sold to another friend of mine last year. Thankfully, it is still around here. I had first chance to buy it but didn't have the 16K he wanted for the car that included a load of NOS GM parts including GM carpet in the box. Car is beautiful and still has original paint.

Check out this Y88 YouTube http://youtu.be/EFJ9-C42k10

Dig the license plate! :D

SOMEDAY I WILL GET A Y88 W72 4SPD WS6 LOW MILEAGE SAVIOR CAR. I LOVE Y88'S

Might not want to wait too long, they aren't getting any cheaper. Speaking of, what do you all think the going rate is for the various Y88's these days? Assume a strong number 2 condition and identical options, how would you value a L78, 403, W72/auto and W72 4-speed? Anybody have a feel for these? Seems that the Y88's don't bring as much money as the other SE's do from what I see.

I had a nicely optioned WS4 (base #'s match engine) Y88 for sale last summer....ran and drove but needed some bodywork,paint and seat covers/carpet etc.

7 of the 10 people that came to look at it were going to paint it black....:attention

Bandit "wanna be" thing,I guess?...:confused:

I have a pretty nice Y88 T Top 4 speed car and I would call it at least a number 2 car. PHS docs

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps58ed25e0.jpg

For a nice documented car the 4 speed brings a little more $$ but $25 to $40K seems to be what I've seen. Here are 3 for sale right now.

My car is interesting because it's the only one I've ever seen with standard interior. No power windows or locks but has Rear Defrost; power trunk; came with 8 track and T Tops. I wish I could find out how many Y88's with 4 speed had standard interior.

http://www.cars-on-line.com/62337.html

http://www.cars-on-line.com/57931.html

http://www.cars-on-line.com/55521.html

I am hopeful that someday there will be some clarity on the W72 Y88 Automatic cars.
As several of you guys know, This has bothered me for the last 5 years for sure.. ;)

When I was just out of high school, (1986) a buddy of mine had a Y88 automatic car that would spank my 78 trans am. We never knew why at the time, but it sure ticked me off a bit. Maybe it was the chrome valve covers I thought?........ haha.

There was no info out on these cars at the time, they weren't collector cars, no internet wealth of information, none of that stuff. If somebody would have said WS6, Y88 or W72, you would probably just get a black eye for talking stupid. They were just cool cars that were aging just enough were if you were 18-20 years old & had a good job you just might be able to pick one up for $4000- $6000 with 50-60K on the clock.

So fast forward to 1994. I start looking for a Y88 car like my buddy had. At that time Auto Trader magazine was the only way you were going to find one. I located a Y88 about 6 hours South of me & I hit the road. I bought the car (still have it today) but was surprised to learn it didn't have the high output engine. Back then I thought it was part of the special edition package. That's when I started to learn about the Y88, WS6, W72, & all the options that were never part of the S/E package. My buddies car had every option, so I just thought it was standard equipment.

From that day forward I continued to look for W72 automatic Y88's I had zero luck finding one after several years of hunting. As luck would have it, I eventually found one. As it turned out it was a vin match to my buddies lost Y88 from 1986. The car is priceless to me.....

Over the last decade I have for sure seen more 4 speed cars than Automatic W72's while I don't think the w72 auto's are crazy rare, I don't think there are a lot of them. Not sure how there really could be. A car that came out in April of 78, has the option stripped away the same month. How many got through? Who knows. But I feel its very conservitivly less then 2,000. If somebody found the numbers & I had to guess I would say 400-600 maybe.....
The 6000 listed on various sites is ludicrous.

As these cars are gaining popularity, its a crying shame the numbers are so garbled.

Do you agree with the 21,384 W72 automatic Birds were made in 1978?
(both TA and Formula)

:confused:

If they made that many.....somedoy either bought most of them and still has them ........or they were all shipped to Siberia.......

I've been looking at 78 T/A's for over 35 years and haven't seen alot of them......personally.....

That # has to be wrong.........

I remember the thread that was started on this subject a few years ago. If I remember, John Witzke confirmed the total number of W72 automatics to be what you are saying above. I believe that number is probably accurate however, like you, I too have never seen a lot of W-72 automatics on the market. I personally have owned two 1978 W-72 automatics with the second one being my current Y88. The W-72 automatic was available right at the start of 1978 production but was stopped before the end of the 1978 run. Since the Y88 was a mid year option, the early end of W-72/auto production meant few W-72 Y88's were built with automatics. I think you are probably correct that more 4-speed W-72 Y88's were built than automatic W-72 Y88's.

What is the build date of your car? I always thought it would interesting to have a registry of the Y88 W72 Automatics & see how far apart the dates get. Always guessed they had to be several weeks apart, not several months. I was under the assumption the automatics could no longer be ordered after some point in april of 78, or was it later than that?

My car was built in the first week of April. (04A on the cowl tag)

I could possibly set up a registry like that.
But the problem is getting the people to actually respond to it.
Most people always say they want the info, but very few want to give the info up.

:(

I'd say that it must be one of the last ones built.......as I understand it,the cut off for ordering was sometime in March.

yep, I just looked it up & it was March 20th.

When could the Y88 option be ordered. I know none were built until late into the year, but were dealers taking orders anyway? Or was the car not able to be ordered right when the first 78's became available?


My Y88 W72 auto car has a strange unclear history. The car was built 1st week in April & everything matches that date including castings, door jamb sticker, etc. But this is were it gets weird. The car wasn't invoiced to the dealer until 8/03/78

Still wondering where the heck it was during those four months! The 2nd owner of the car (whom I keep in touch with) said he bought it from an employee/salesperson at the Pontiac dealership. It had 23K +/- at the time.

As far as I understand, even if it was purchased by a dealers employee, that dealer would have been invoiced as soon as the car was shipped to them. Was GM screwing around with my car somwhere? Maybe it had the snot beat out of it for a few months...... :D I wish I could find out.

My other Y88, was also built in April & was invoiced either on the same day, or the day after it was completed. So I am confused....

Still wondering where the heck it was during those four months! The 2nd owner of the car (whom I keep in touch with) said he bought it from an employee/salesperson at the Pontiac dealership. It had 23K +/- at the time.

It could of possibly been a GM executive car then it would of been re-invoiced to dealer after GM executive was finished with it.

Most plausible answer.

I miss my Y88 WS6 W72 (auto) more than I can tell you.

The build date on my car is 02C. Mine was built at the Norwood plant.

Wow, thats pretty early! I didn't realize there were any completed in February.

Check out these Y88 pages from the Hogheads both detailed are 4-speeds

Norwood Build - "My Trans Am Page (My first Gold Edition)"
http://www.firebirdtransamparts.com/...m/781sty88.htm

Norwood Build - "1978 Y88 Gold Special Edition Trans Am (Brian's Y88)"
http://www.firebirdtransamparts.com/...ns_am_page.htm

Perhaps most here have probably already seen this one?
 

A Y88 W72 Auto for reference equipment and build dates:

"Trans Am Museum" previously sold listing

I recall seeing the picture of the T/A backed up to the fence before. Im guessing this picture & story has been out there fro at least 10 years? great story behind it.

It so true how in those stories (especially the first one) where the owner thought nothing of changing the engine. That doesn't surprise me at all. I would have done the same thing. I am not sure if i knew vin numbers were stamped on engine blocks, & surely didn't care if it stayed original back then.

I've been digging into my archives searching for the build sheet of a '78 W72 Auto non-WS6 TA I parted out in the '80s. Although not a y88 (Martinique Blue) it WAS an Auto W72 400 Pontiac TA.
As I recall, it did NOT have the blacked out rear taillight bezels like my then daily driver Martini '78 400 Auto (non-W72) which was a late yr build...so the X7 Auto was an early build.
IIRC - taillight black paint was begun sometime around June of '78 as a prelude to the '79 smoke blackout taillight treatment. Yes?

Couple of yrs ago I drove to N. TX and bought a complete carb to oil pan X7 W72 Auto 400 Pontiac TA engine...which is still in the inventory. Fun researching what makes them special and often overlooked Pontiac Performance engines.

Check this W72 related blog out http://phscollectorcarworld.blogspot...codes-and.html

Here is my contribution to the Y88 party.
WS6, W72, Auto with every option except CB.
I bought it 6 months old, went 15.10 bone stock, 14.80's with 74 headpipes into the stock resonators. Later I installed a 455 that went low 13's on street tires from 1980. ;)

GR8 stuff. Pretty good ET's IMO. FWIW: They match my '78 W72 4-spd ETs 15.12 & 14.89 totally stock except no cat and "old school" H-Pipe duals w splits...times in '97 ;)

Thxs for the pix too. Curious, Couple of Q's:

* In the 2nd posted pix, what does the from license "T/A plate" say in it's intirety?

* Your mention of Resonators, the W72 Auto I parted out had factory Y-pipe w cat replacement "test tube" out to dual factory resonator pipes and splitters. Resonators only - NO mufflers. -- Same on your new Y88 W72 Auto - resonators only, no Muffs?

Noted Shaker in Black or Brown Metalic? ;)

The plate read BAD TA. :D

Yes, factory twin resonators, no mufflers. I worked at a parts store after school and noticed in the books that the 70-74 head pipes looked like they would fit perfect, and they did.

I bought a factory black shaker, just liked the contrast. Plus it made the car stand out against the other gold TA's in town. ;)

y88
 

Heres ours I found it laying on a side street in central jersey. 42,000 miles had original paint and very little rust. Just had to repair lower right 1/4 where a rag was stuffed between and a small spot in t-roof channel. Im in the process of reassembling now. Going to have it on the Bandit run this year. I also have all the original paperwork dealer invoice trade in and down payment info.

Considering the time period they were built, W72's really run great!

Looks great.
Interested in your cars build date since I'm assuming this photo (below) of the rear tail light surrounds have been repainted Black to match the originals instead of body color, yes?

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...5&d=1397221530

Edit: is that a white 1962 Catalina in front of your Y88? ;)

I will post all that info dont have it with me now. 62 sedan is mine also, been a slow going project that should of been done long ago.

Anytime you can run with, or best the current top Corvette you know you're doing OK for the time. I raced many new L82 vettes and always won, some were very close, but I always won. :D

My Y88 ran right with, but always edged out a friends 70 RA III TA.