[Rocky Rotella]

What a beautiful car, F9driver!

I’ve heavily researched the ’76 Y82 cars for a couple of decades and continue doing so. According to the information I've hand-collated, cars with VINs in the 570000 range were produced between 04D and 05B.

It seems that virtually all Y82 cars were equipped with Hurst Hatches during the first several weeks of production. Based on the factory-to-dealer invoices from early cars (that which PHS supplies) that I’ve collected, the ship dates to selling dealers weren’t until August for most.

From what I've learned, at first Hurst added its Hatches to the Trans Ams post-Norwood-production and in their facility in Brighton, MI, so there was some delay as the car was shipped from Norwood to Detroit for the addition. Pontiac apparently had reliability concerns and a great number of the converted cars were held by Pontiac on the lot of its home plant under a reliability hold. Hence the significant delay between the production date and ship date of the early Y82 cars.

Hurst Hatches were placed on hold at some point during the model year because a great number (and as it played out, a majority) of Y82 cars were produced without hatches. As production continued into August 1976, some Y82 cars with Hurst Hatches were produced. I don’t know the rhyme or reason to that. I haven’t located a bulletin that outlines the cost changes for those with and those without hatches, but I’m certain one had to be issued. And I don’t know if Pontiac actually allowed its customers to select with or without Hurst Hatches when placing their Y82 order.

By the 1977 model year, Hurst operated a facility near the Norwood plant which reduced the lag between production and ship dates. Pontiac also knew that some customers didn’t want Hurst Hatches on their Special Edition Trans Am, and that led to the creation of the Y81 package that complemented the carryover Y82. It also gave Pontiac an invoicing out if Hurst had any additional production issues.

F9driver, if you'd be willing to supply me with your VIN offline, I'd love to add it and your PHS document to my database. Also, do you have any details on the original owner? Did she order or purchase out of dealer inventory?

66gplover, can you share the same?