[Alvin]

[burd]

I recently bought a 1978 Tech Bulletin binder, there's slot of Bulletens ion the Y88, mY84's, and WS6 in there. It also has one bulletin just for the part #'s of the decals, I suggest anyone into these cars and for any other 1978 pick one up. I recently put this binder on a CD. Pm me if your interested. Also in the 1978 Sales edition Dealer Album there are more bulletins on the Y88. You can meet me for a Beer at Duggans up on Woodward and look at all of my literature, lol
BTW, I own a low mile Y88 I bough back in 1979, it's been with me all these years.

[3tas4me]

I removed the original rear wheel spoilers some time ago from my Y88 project. Decided that since I was re-doing the rear spoilers for my '71, I might as well get these prepped and primed so when the car finally makes it to the shop, at least one thing is ready to go! Both needed repair, and on the one, the entire top section was broken off. The black on each one is the repaired area. I used the DA today and removed all the original paint. These are likely original to the car as they are molded in a gold color plastic. I thought that Pontiac only used wheel spoilers molded in color on the early cars. It appears I was wrong.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by 3tas4me

I removed the original rear wheel spoilers some time ago from my Y88 project. Decided that since I was re-doing the rear spoilers for my '71, I might as well get these prepped and primed so when the car finally makes it to the shop, at least one thing is ready to go! Both needed repair, and on the one, the entire top section was broken off. The black on each one is the repaired area. I used the DA today and removed all the original paint. These are likely original to the car as they are molded in a gold color plastic. I thought that Pontiac only used wheel spoilers molded in color on the early cars. It appears I was wrong.

I can tell you from personal experience 1978 TA Spoilers were molded in colors matching paint...and you could go to dealer and order factory color molded, painted w matching color welding staple attached wheel spoilers.

In fact, Year One, Ames, etc. used to sell the OEMs too...

I've kept the various parts and pieces of Martinique Blue ABS spoilers, cause they ain't making them like that "no mo" and let's remember the center front spoilers, rear deck spoilers, etc. we're molded same...and IIRC the trunk center spoilers have "General Tire" logo moulded inside of them - yes?

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by Alvin

Alvin, I wonder if this car has 1979 or newer wheels on it with the round lip? The way the wheels are painted reminds me of 1987.

One of my best friends had a 78 Y88/WS6 & I had a 1982 Recaro trans am that I installed some 1979+ WS6 wheels on. My friend with the Y88 was buying new tires & wanted to trade wheels with me. He liked the look of the machined surface wheels better & I thought the solid gold would look better on my black 1982, so we swapped in my mothers driveway. I then sanded down the 1" lip & left the rest solid & painted the center caps black.

We both sold the cars the following year & moved on in life. Some of you may remember that I later found that same Y88 car & am very fortunate to own it today. When I bought it, still had the same "wrong" wheels on it & I had to go though the trouble of finding the correct ones, which I eventually did.

We honestly never new how "special" that car was back then. We had no internet, no way of knowing Y88, W72, or even WS6 for that matter. we thought it was just a wheel option that came on the car. We thought the car was a "golden anniversary edition" because of all the gold accents.

Good times back then.

Funny how that wheel swap came back to haunt me many years later....

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

1. Alvin, I wonder if this car has 1979 or newer wheels on it with the round lip? The way the wheels are painted reminds me of 1987.

One of my best friends had a 78 Y88/WS6 & I had a 1982 Recaro trans am that I installed some 1979+ WS6 wheels on. My friend with the Y88 was buying new tires & wanted to trade wheels with me. He liked the look of the machined surface wheels better & I thought the solid gold would look better on my black 1982, so we swapped in my mothers driveway. I then sanded down the 1" lip & left the rest solid & painted the center caps black.

We both sold the cars the following year & moved on in life. Some of you may remember that I later found that same Y88 car & am very fortunate to own it today. When I bought it, still had the same "wrong" wheels on it & I had to go though the trouble of finding the correct ones, which I eventually did.

We honestly never new how "special" that car was back then. We had no internet, no way of knowing Y88, W72, or even WS6 for that matter. we thought it was just a wheel option that came on the car. We thought the car was a "golden anniversary edition" because of all the gold accents.

Good times back then.

2. Funny how that wheel swap came back to haunt me many years later....

1. GR8 story. I CRS & Don't remember off of the top of my head...used to know variants of the various 8 x 15 Snowflakes spoke width, paint, et. al...don't claim to be an expert, nor do play I one "one the TV" as there are many self proclaimed Ex-Spurts here on P-YAMES forum and the "InterWeb" also many legit friendly folks who can chime in w details, and updated info beyond "FIREBIRD" & "The Fabulous Firebird" among various other publications.

2. Don't be so hard on yourself - at least it's just simple wheel changeout & you didn't go full Boogety w the hip trend back then like this (below) which you're attempting to erase and resurrect now!

[68ragtop]

Here's a few pictures related to my post above:

The first picture is the Y88 I own today, but the picture was taken by my friend in 1984 when it was my friends & at that time was the newest nicest ride out of anybody in our group of guys.... It's the single car that is responsible for my obsession with trans ams

The second picture is my 1982 trans am after the wheel swap with the car in the first picture. This was taken in 1987 & I spent many hours sanding the gold paint off the lips of the wheels. Took 20 minutes to paint the center caps.....

The 3rd picture was from about 12 years ago when I found the same Y88 & purchased it. Took a picture of both of the Y88's together at my previous home. You can see the wrong rims on it. I was never so happy to have found the car that started it all for me.

The last picture is the same car in the first picture 30 years later in the drive driveway. I took this picture just last year. As you can see I have the correct wheels back on it

[muscle_collector]

good vintage pic on the first one. it clearly shows the problem that they had with the water based paint on the gold cars as the nose is a totally different color. a friend bought one new and it came with the mismatched nose and when he complained they repainted the whole car for him. which pissed him off and so they took it back and ordered him one from the other plant which the gold was more yellow than the brownish color of the other type paint.
your third picture shows the two different colors of gold .
on your last picture, has the car been restored or is it still original? beautiful car.

[68ragtop]

In the third picture the car in the back, is the car from the first & last picture. It had been repainted, & in the last picture its the same as the 3rd but with the correct wheels. It was painted in 1986 after it was vandalized (keyed) at a school football game. The french antenna was added at that time. (It was kinda cool back then) The car is still in decent shape, but needs overall attention. Picts make it look better than it really is.

The car in the front of the 3rd picture Is my survivor Y88, its all original with a few small exceptions. thats the nicer car of the two. All the paint is original & has the front bumper color mismatch as well. Not too bad though. You can see how much darker the other car was after the repaint compared to the original. Bird is very different from original too. I'll see if I can find a better picture of the survivor car.

[68ragtop]

A few more picture of the two cars from above:

First is a picture of the front car in the 3rd picture. Was taken about the same time. (12 years ago) The car is still exactly the same tho, with about 200 more miles on it. Paint is all original with exception to repainting the wheels, & I added the shaker decals. This car is not a W72. When I bought the car I thought it looked wrong to have no decals on the shaker..... you can see the bumper color matches ok, but it is is a bit lighter.

The second picture is another vintage picture of the other car. This was taken in 1986 right after the repaint I mentioned. You can see the antenna in the rear, no decals yet, in fact he never put them on. The person I bought the car from later on had re-installed the decals at some point.

[3tas4me]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

good vintage pic on the first one. it clearly shows the problem that they had with the water based paint on the gold cars as the nose is a totally different color. a friend bought one new and it came with the mismatched nose and when he complained they repainted the whole car for him. which pissed him off and so they took it back and ordered him one from the other plant which the gold was more yellow than the brownish color of the other type paint.
your third picture shows the two different colors of gold .
on your last picture, has the car been restored or is it still original? beautiful car.

Your post brings up an interesting issue. It would appear that the factory had variations of code 50 depending on which plant built the car. My Y88 is a Norwood built car. I was looking through an old DuPont paint color chart yesterday and looked at the code 50 paint chip. The gold there looks very light and more toward the yellow spectrum. GM had another gold (don't remember the code now) in '78 that was darker and maybe more of that brown look you were talking about. Since some of these cars were painted when new under warranty, the color on some survivors may be incorrect depending on how the shop mixed it. Gold is one of those colors that is not easy to match. Having the wrong amount of metalflake is another whole issue as well. What is considered the "correct" color for these cars?

[68ragtop]

Both of the cars above are Norwoods. The repainted car, is for sure darker now than the untouched one. you can see it in the photo of them together too. No clue what it was like before it was painted, other than maybe the underside of the trunk lid? The bumper was for sure a lot lighter in color before it was painted like was pointed out above.

I wish I had a time machine.....

[3tas4me]

Beautiful work Bob. Can I give you my Y88 to do as well?

[Alvin]

FWIW - our '78 Martinique Blu TA is also one of the Van Nuys built customer ordered/customer rejected upon delivery/ dealer repainted under warranty brand new...water based paint....

Also, I test drove a new Y88 in San Diego w 403 and IIRC they had installed Cadi Seville Extra Deep-pile carpet and was a WS6 car...just couldn't do it due to non-Poncho drivetrain on a new Pontiac then...

[68ragtop]

I still never figured out why my W72 Y88 (the one in the "old" pictures) has a very delayed invoice date. Cowl tag is first week in April, invoice date is first week in August. It somehow went missing for 4 months under GM watch..... It was bought by my friend from a Gal that worked at Mackens Pontiac at the time. Dealer has been gone for many years I have haven't had any luck tracking her down, but she was supposed to be the original owner. weird.

[Bentwheelbob]

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

Here's a few pictures related to my post above:

The first picture is the Y88 I own today, but the picture was taken by my friend in 1984 when it was my friends & at that time was the newest nicest ride out of anybody in our group of guys.... It's the single car that is responsible for my obsession with trans ams

The second picture is my 1982 trans am after the wheel swap with the car in the first picture. This was taken in 1987 & I spent many hours sanding the gold paint off the lips of the wheels. Took 20 minutes to paint the center caps.....

The 3rd picture was from about 12 years ago when I found the same Y88 & purchased it. Took a picture of both of the Y88's together at my previous home. You can see the wrong rims on it. I was never so happy to have found the car that started it all for me.

The last picture is the same car in the first picture 30 years later in the drive driveway. I took this picture just last year. As you can see I have the correct wheels back on it

I love your story. Especially the part about it being the nicest car any of your real friends owned. A time machine would be pretty nice to have at this moment in life. I'd love to hear more about how and when you bought them. I'd really like to hear the story on the survivor that has logged 200 miles the last 12 years.

Also, the survivor car has body side molding. Is that on the build sheet, and is it the tan stick on molding or the universal screw on molding with black insert. Also, how is the paint on the engine? I need to decide soon whether to screw around with trying to match "original color", whatever that is, or just spray it with OER.

You should start a thread.....

[2manyT/A'S]

not pristeen and original.......but not a bad car.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pontiac-Tran...m=131531264980

I think the bin of 30K is pretty optimistic.....

Now if it were a 77 Y82.....it would be sold already.....

[The Boss]

I think it's neat now good the 82 looks with the earlier wheels on it!

[RamAir]

I don't think I've ever seen a vin plate look uneven like this one


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[Bentwheelbob]

I've never seen one with the engine painted solar gold....Nice looking car, but not $30k nice.