[unruhjonny]

I'm guessing that the seller was "fishing" for interest in this car... judging by the number of people here who emailed him with inquiries about his car - and didn't recieve replies - I'm guessing he was debating weather or not it was worth spending his time & money to properly restore the car, or just get rid of it...

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Thanks to mmarx and unruhjohhny for the informations.

Not deducting anything from this Car's value or rarity in any way. My opinion is the Car was delivered unpainted. Basing that on the white plastics. 999.9 out of 1000 would have utilized Blue plastics under Black paint - versus White. Blue wouldn't stand out near as much if the Black was scraped, chipped, flaked or peeled. White would leave a sore thumb sticking out. The factory boys would have utilized Blue plastics if they knew they were going to paint it Black - my 2 cent theory.

And the fact of no charge for special paint on PHS. Have "heard" that the code 1 was the primer code before - but didn't hear it from Moses or see it carved in stone tablets.

If it only has one paint application in the jambs - and it is Black - then it is an original Black Trans Am - regardless of who/where applied it.

Maybe it was special ordered by Johnny Cash, the most famous Man in Black.

[eaglesan13]

Built in Norwood and delivered to Van Nyes CA. I wonder why they couldn't just build it in the Van Nyes plant.

[Jim Rotella]

Baron,

You might have something there. It could have been shipped in primer the same way Larry Leist's 73 SD was. The code W51 Special Paint Solid was a $113 option on the Firebird order sheet(N/A on Trans Am?).The fact that there was no charge for the Special Paint on the PHS and that it said color unknown might indicate that. If Leist Pontiac couldn't get the factory to paint a black Trans Am for them, maybe this car was shipped in primer also.

It's a legitamite special paint car, but I'm still wondereing why it took numerous unanswered e-mails and over 60 posts on this board for the owner to reveal the PHS and the data plate that he had in the first place. Then he pulls the car off and decides to keep it and restore it. You would think that if he was trying to sell a one-off car on e-bay, he would have posted everything right from the start so that prospective buyers would know it was a legitamite car.

Jim

[Rocky Rotella]

Eagle, Norwood was the only Firebird ass'y plant between 72 and 77.

[eaglesan13]

Thanks Rocky, I didn't know that.

Originally Posted by Rocky Rotella

Eagle, Norwood was the only Firebird ass'y plant between 72 and 77.

[72BTA]

Hi Guys,

Thanks to 69cruizer for inviting me here.

I'm the guy with the black TA. I never expected this kind of response; I'm a bit of a procrastinator and it took me 2 years to finally decide to post on ebay and then I was sorry I did. I've had the car since I was in high school and am also married to the same girl who shared the fun 2 1/2 years with the TA before I parked it. I've had it for over thirty years so far... I might as well keep it.

Every time I saved the funds to fix the car, something else came along... bought a couple of homes, children (I have four great girls), home improvements, school for career, etc. etc. etc.

Anyways... this is a great site; just wanted to say Hi.

Gabe

[indyta1989]

Gabe,

You have a very cool car. I do not blame you for wanting to keep it. But, if you decide to sell it keep my name on your contact list :-)

As you can see from the posts here your car has generated a lot of interest. If you go to www.transamcountry.com you will see even more posts about your car. Rare options and rare colors are always interesting to hear about and to see. You will find a huge number of people here who can assist you with your restoration. Everyone wants to understand how such an option got out of Pontiac so if you have any additional history on the car's original owner(s) please share it.

[74TransAm]

Wow how cool is that Gabe. I too never heard of a Black 72 Trans Am. It would serve you well to restore that car and keep a nice insuance policy on it.

What is even cooler is that you have had it so long and have so much personal history of the car.

I understand about the lack of funds for restoring cars because of kids, house and family. I am kinda going through that now with a 4 yr old and 6 month old and wife who quit work to stay at home with them until they are back in school. I have a 74 Trans Am I want to restore one day, but its on hold until the kids are bigger.

I am one of the moderators at www.transamcountry.com feel free to stop b. We are primarily a 2nd Gen Firebird websight.

Congrats on making the decision to keep and enjoy such a rare Trans Am!!

[2manyT/A'S]

Gabe

If you haven't looked already ,I think its high time that you pulled the back seat & went prospecting for your "Build Sheet"
If you weren't aware of it already,this is the ULTIMATE PEDIGREE for ANY T/A (or car) for that matter.
PHS is GOOD,but BUILD SHEET is BEST!
If you can find it,it will most certainly shed some light on the color it was built/shipped in.
Norwood built F-cars of your vintage had them behind the backseat backrest & judging from the relatively "unmolested" condition of your 72,it MAY still be there.
You might also check underneath the front seats(longshot on that year)
Van Nuys built cars had them under the gas tank,but you won't find one there on your Norwood built 72.
I have a 70 Formula 400 & a 72 base Bird,BOTH of which are Factory Built BLACK (special order paint).
Have ALSO documented a 72 W66/LS5/Stick Factory Built BLACK.

If you are unsure about pulling the back seat,anybody here can walk you through it.
GOOD LUCK!
Brian

[njsteve]

Gabe, I too was one of the many who emailed you about buying the car. I am restoring my own 72 California T/A, originally sold by Reliable Pontiac in Roseville, CA. If you are interested in following along with the project, here is the link to the continuing saga on this site: http://216.178.81.108/forums/showthread.php?t=433662

-NJSteve

[blue71ta]

If I'm looking at the pictures correctly, the car appears to have the Custom CLOTH seat & door panel inserts, rather than the perforated vinyl Custom as is more often seen; Gabe, is this the case?

[69cruizer]

Good to see ya Gabe!


Rob

[74TA455]

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...20#post2608220


Posted this in the GTO section. Its a 64 special pearl paint.

I noticed several of you were saying that you couldnt order sp from the factory. You could order this for a extra hundred dollars. They actually pulled it aside and shot it seperate. Build sheet on this 64 states that car was shot seperate and was signed off that paint was ok by the supervisor after looking ati it.

[Tygrr67]

Gabe, good to have you here... Now be prepared for the sharks to start circling....DON'T SELL YOUR CAR (to anyone but me that is..)

I've been watching these posts for a bit and find it humorous that so many people are now catching onto the special paint coded cars.... I have a 67 GTO originally painted marlboro maroon (a corvette color) and know of a 67 GTO ram air car painted honduras maroon... Occasionally, and rarely, do you see them pop up. Since I also have 72 trans am (lucy blue on white)... this really didn't surprise me that a someone ordered a Trans Am in some other color than white or blue... What does surprise me, for those who know 72 trans am's.... is that they delivered it.... I would have thought that because of the strike it would have been much harder to push this through the factory... just my 2 cents....

But welcome to the forum Gabe.... now sell me the damn car. ;-)

[keith k]

I'm not quite sure I'm with you that just anyone could waltz into their dealer and order a special paint Trans Am. I know it could be done with previous Pontiacs, and even Formulas, but every colored part on those cars was painted at the factory anyway. I believe because the front spoiler and wheel flares came in pre-colored, this option was not broadly available on a Trans Am.

If it was available, you'd see more of them out there. With only two colors regularly available on the Trans Am from '70-'72, incidence of special ordered colors would be even higher on these cars.

But they seem very rare. There's the red SCCA president car that's known, and some rumors/info about maybe 2 other T/As.

Would be interesting to track down the original owner of this black one, or perhaps someone from the dealer it came through (since they may well have painted it at the dealer) to get the story. I'll bet it wasn't done just for some joe schmoe. But who knows...

[Jim Rotella]

One of the reasons why the '70-'72 Trans Ams came in only two colors and the '73-'74 models in only three colors, was because the plastic add-on pieces were molded in color and the T/A grahics were specific to those colors. With low volume cars such as the early Trans Ams, it wouldn't be profitable for PMD to carry 15 different colors of wheel flairs, stripes, and graphics for all 15 regular production colors that were available. In fact, all the add-on T/A pieces were molded in color until 1979, and by that year Pontiac was producing over 100,000 T/A's.

In 1972, all Pontiac models (A,B,F,and G bodies) were available with the W51 special paint option. The only '72 Pontiac model that it wasn't offered on was the Trans Am, most likely from the reasons stated above. Obviously, the Trans Am in question was built with the special paint option, as were a couple other T/A's that year. It would be very interesting to find out what the circumstances were behind this exception to the rule. Questions such as who ordered this car , was it shipped in primer or in color (Remember the PHS said "Color Unknown"), and why would Pontiac even produce such a car, would be helpful. I agree that the buyer would have to had to know somebody to get this car built that way or maybe it was some type of promotional car. We may never know.

Jim

[toomanybirds]

Originally Posted by blue71ta

If I'm looking at the pictures correctly, the car appears to have the Custom CLOTH seat & door panel inserts, rather than the perforated vinyl Custom as is more often seen; Gabe, is this the case?

The interior code on the invoice is "361" which is the code for black cloth interior.

Too bad there are no good pics of the spoilers and valance panel. I would like to see the color of the plastic under the black paint. My guess is the car was delivered with white spoilers and valance. The body could have been factory painted black or delivered in primer and and then painted black.

[Jim Rotella]

toomanybirds,

Can you provide us with any more details about Larry Leist's black '73 SD Trans Am? These cars might have had some similarities. I wish we could get more information on the origin of this '72, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen unless the original owner or dealer could be contacted.

Jim

[toomanybirds]

The story of the primer 73 SD TA was told to me by Larry Leist 10 or 15 years ago. I will do my best to remember the details.

Larry had (or has?) a small rural Pontiac dealership in Iowa. He wanted a SD TA, but knew they were very limited in supply. He came up with the idea to contact his factory representative with the story that he had a customer wanting to buy a black Trans Am. He told the rep that if his customer couldn't get a black TA, he was going to buy a black Camaro. The rep told him he could only get the TA in red, white or green and the best he could do was have the car shipped in primer so the dealership could paint it black. The rep told him he would put the order through personally for Larry, sort of "hand carry" it to the factory in order to get the car built. He told Larry to fill out the order sheet and submit it.

Larry submitted the order and checked the box for the SD engine as well as a few other options. One other unique thing about the car is that it is a no-console, column shift automatic. Larry told me he needed the extra room as he is a big guy.

After the order was accepted he was contacted again because the factory needed to know what color spoilers and front valance to install as they were only available in the geen, white and red choices. So he had them install red ones.

The car arrived as ordered, and Larry painted it black, kept the red spoilers and painted the hood scoop red also. I have not seen the car, but have talked to others who have seen it.