[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

...I think that the 79-81 are the pinacle of the TA, and with the right equipment has the best of all worlds...

sorry, the 79-81 nose make me gag. replacing it with a 70-72 nose, hood, scoop. Was going with a 76 nose but daughter says no.

1 1979 bumper for sale here.

[Grand73Am]

Not cool....

[65gto69]

I don't have a Firebird or Trans-AM, I have a 65 GTO, and I think it's funny when I go to the local cruise nights how I am the only 65 GTO there yet the people will walk right past and look and the dozens of 55-57 chevies, 66-67 chevelles, 68-69 camaros, 64-69 mustangs.

But I still go, it is a night out for me, the wife and the car, and I am glad I don't own any of the above cars mentioned.

Mark

[miko]

"Nice sunroof" followed by snickers. Unfortunately, I think I have the only 79 TA with a sunroof. Collectors item?!

[Don 79 TA]

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

The car is white with red decals and interior

that car is absolutely gorgeous
probably the way mine looked when new

[hada76]

im sure the color matters just because of "the movie"...everyone has seen "the movie"

[Alvin]

Reminds me of a magazine article back in the day regarding GTO Judges. I have changed it to 1979 Y-84s.

In 1979, Pontiac produced 1,107 Y-84 400 4-spd Pontiacs (ours included in that number) and We have seen all 16,987 of them!

Personally, even though we own a real “Bandit” Y-84, I am tired of seeing every TA turned into a Black TA and then labeled as a REAL BANDIT CAR! For Sale, at shows, ad nausea. Most are too obvious as being less than any “Bandit Car”.
Part of this is what makes riding around in our Martinique Blue 1978 W72 4-spd WS6 even more fun. Always get thumbs up & positive recognition from the general public.

Familiar with your white TA at DAPA, having viewed it in person and it IS A VERY NICE CAR!

Correct me if I am wrong; As I recall, it is an original owner 403/Auto equipped 1979 TA, yes?

[yumpy]

I own a 79 T/A ws6 - maybe #3 condition - original carmine interior, about 70 % of the cameo white paint. i take to shows around the southern tier of NY and northeast PA almost every weekend. lots of people approach me at shows and ask questions.yea,lots of the the people talk about the one that got away,but a lot of younger people are new to the Pontiac brand and are restoring a t/a.they ask how long i've owned the car,where they can find new/used parts,tech info,etc. must of told a 100 people to become a member of this forum and join a club.
can i beat a 67 RS or 69 Z-28 - not very often. most of the trophy"s i've won i donate to a trophy shop that redoes them for the special Olympics kids.
wish more people would stop by and chat.That's why i attend the show in the first place.

[gtohurstjudge]

Originally Posted by Alvin

Reminds me of a magazine article back in the day regarding GTO Judges. I have changed it to 1979 Y-84s.



Personally, even though we own a real “Bandit” Y-84, I am tired of seeing every TA turned into a Black TA and then labeled as a REAL BANDIT CAR! For Sale, at shows, ad nausea. Most are too obvious as being less than any “Bandit Car”.
Part of this is what makes riding around in our Martinique Blue 1978 W72 4-spd WS6 even more fun. Always get thumbs up & positive recognition from the general public.

Familiar with your white TA at DAPA, having viewed it in person and it IS A VERY NICE CAR!

Correct me if I am wrong; As I recall, it is an original owner 403/Auto equipped 1979 TA, yes?

Yes it is an original numbers matching 403 car with every option except rear window defogger. It was special ordered with every option, but the build kept getting delayed because first one or the other option was temporarily on backorder......Pontiac was overwhelmed with orders for 79 Trans Ams and they were constantly running out of parts for them on the assembly lines. This car was built in February 1979 at the same time the
tenth anniversarys were being built and they were holding back all the rear window defogger back windows for the TATA cars which had to have them installed. The original owner told them to build the car without the defogger. When the car came in at the dealer
it was an absolute mess. All told it had about 25 glaring mechanical and cosmetic issues
when it was delivered and the dealer wound up repainting most of the car when it was 6 weeks old. I used to service this car at my car repair shop when it was a brand new car,
and the original owner and myself did a frame off resto on it in the early nineties, after
the purchase of about 12,000 dollars worth of nos GM parts from the dealer. It has only been driven about 10,000 miles in the last twenty years and currently has 48,000 miles
on it. The body has never had a speck of rust on it anywhere nor has it ever had so much as a door ding in it since it was new. I purchased the car for my wife in 2000 when she decided she wanted an old car to have fun with. Watch for a feature on this car in Hemmings Muscle Machines in the near future......they did a shoot
on the car last fall and it should see print in the near future.

[gtohurstjudge]

here are more pics......

[Ben M.]

Very nice car! The block heater cracks me up ;-)

[Cruiser]

I agree somewhat,I recently attended a local car show & took out my 79 T/A Red/Red int. T-Top 4spd that i've owned since 88.The car has been sitting for a long time I detailed it got it running good & decided to take it out.I talked my wife into taking her 08 GXP Turbo/Solstice Red/Black Int.We parked beside each other. I probably had more comments from people on her GXP than my Trans Am.There was one other Firebird there a 78 formula.Every street rod there had a big or small block chevy in it.There was one blown 71 Olds cutlass that sounded real nasty, but it had a big block chevy as well.I didnt stay for the judging.I went mainly to get the T/A out and spend some time with my wife.I believe that Pontiac made so many 79-81 T/As that they dont get the respect that say a 70-73 T/A would get.I don't care I like em i've got three of them!
Mark

[Greg Reid]

Nice car cruiser and a very unusual color combo. Not sure I've ever seen one like it...

[Grand73Am]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

Very nice car! The block heater cracks me up ;-)

I had a block heater too on my 75 Lemans Sport. The car was bought in North Dakota, so it made sense. I bought the car there and drove it to where I live in the Atlanta area. I used the block heater on a couple of cold winters and could tell a difference when starting in subfreezing weather. But, it became a problem, since the thing is installed in a freeze plug hole in the driver side of the block. Mine blew out of the hole while I was driving on the interstate, losing all my coolant and causing me to have to go through alot to get the car home. Fortunately,after I got it home, I was able to reach the hole and install a freeze plug without moving the engine. Had to make a special driver tool to reach the hole to drive in the plug, and removed the starter to have room. After seeing how the block heater was installed, I wouldn't want another one.

[Grand73Am]

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

here are more pics......

Definitely a nice and good looking car. I've seen a couple of white with red ones on the internet, and they were sharp too.

[Grand73Am]

Originally Posted by Cruiser

I agree somewhat,I recently attended a local car show & took out my 79 T/A Red/Red int. T-Top 4spd that i've owned since 88.The car has been sitting for a long time I detailed it got it running good & decided to take it out.I talked my wife into taking her 08 GXP Turbo/Solstice Red/Black Int.We parked beside each other. I probably had more comments from people on her GXP than my Trans Am.There was one other Firebird there a 78 formula.Every street rod there had a big or small block chevy in it.There was one blown 71 Olds cutlass that sounded real nasty, but it had a big block chevy as well.I didnt stay for the judging.I went mainly to get the T/A out and spend some time with my wife.I believe that Pontiac made so many 79-81 T/As that they dont get the respect that say a 70-73 T/A would get.I don't care I like em i've got three of them!
Mark

I think most people at car shows don't consider anything after the early 70's as having any performance image. And alot of them don't know anything but Chevys. I admit that I have only been into Pontiacs for the last 10 years, so I didn't know much about them until I got one either. The 403's don't have a good reputation for performance, even though I know they are good running engines. But, I've always liked the 79 TA styling since they were new. So, like you, I don't care what others think about them...I like them. That just leaves more for us . So, I've collected 3 79's and 1 81 over the last 6 years. 2 of them run, and they all need fixing up, but I got 'em. Car show reaction may not be great, but when I drive one of my worn out looking drivers, I still get good reaction on the street and at the gas station.

[77 Canamman]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

Very nice car! The block heater cracks me up ;-)

My Can Am has a factory block heater. The car was originally sold new in Iowa.

[MikeNoun]

That's not a block heater, it's an electric Trans Am, precursor to the Chevy Volt.

[Larry Navarro]

My '79 S.E. car draws a nice crowd anytime I take it to the local Sat night show.
The reaction and puzzled look from folks when they notice the T/A-7.6 on the shaker is most enjoyable.
After a brief explanation and then opening the hood, it garners more attention.

[Skip Fix]

When my daughter was driving the black 81 in high school she said lots of "old guys" would come up at the gas stations and tell her they had one and loved it. I never put the SE stripes on it eventhough it's an SE car. On the list to do maybe. Swapping a shaker hood on it instead to the Turbo Bulge.