[Evolution8]

Hi everyone, new member here.

Picked this car up this past weekend with my father in law as a project for him. I have worked in the auto body field for the last eleven years so I will be helping him along the way in that aspect of the project as best I can. He will be responsible for funding it as I have my own project to pay for lol. He was into building and racing cars back in the muscle car heyday. He had many cars such as 1960's Nova's, Mustangs, etc then marriage and children consumed him until finally now. He has always been a fan of the second generation Trans Am despite never owning one.
I myself am a huge car enthusiast in general and have owned everything from SN95Mustang Cobra's to Dodge SRT-4's, turbo AWD Eagle Talons, and at the moment a Lancer Evolution VIII (thus the screen name). I love all cars equally as long as they can be made fast. Domestic or import.

So naturally I have been pushing him to pick up a project car for last few years. It hasn't been him that has needed the convincing however, it's been the mother inlaw that has taken the convincing. He finally said "to hell with her she will get over it".

Well it has been almost a full week now and she still hasn't gotten over it.

Anyways here is the car a 79 10th Anniversary Trans Am.





























It needs quite a bit of metal work.

-Two full quarters
-Small spots around T-tops
-Floor pans
-Toe board(s)
-Front core support


Also will need:

-Hood
-Front bumper cover
-10th anniversary seats, head liner, carpet, and door panels
-Front sub frame changed (Have one already resprayed in POR15)
-New paint and decals



This should be a long and fun process. I will do my best to keep this thread up to date on the progress over the coming months.

[67'7F6'Bird]

I look forward to seeing this TA restored.

Dave, It was a Fun this Past Saturday collecting all the parts and packing your truck and UHaul sending this TA to a Better home which will attend to its needs more than we had time for.

Steve

[2002Z4CSS]

That will be a nice car restored. My son's 1979 Camaro with an LS6 454 has a disc brake posi rear end from a 10th Anniversary Trans AM along with the WS6 front and rear sway bars.

[The Boss]

Welcome to the board and congratulations on the car - it will be great to see it get restored!

[mrrat1]

You have your work cut out for ya on that one! Worthy car to revive thou.
This is a great place to be for parts and advice, have fun!!

[Alvin]

Here you go the TATA thread http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=551482

[gtohurstjudge]

I'm in shock after looking at the pictures....when did Olds 403 79's become valuable enough to justify restoring one in that condition? I would think about it real real hard before diving into this one....you could buy a perfect one babied all it's life for less than what it will cost to restore that car, not to mention the thousands of hours of time saved. The mother in law is right in this case. (Just my opinion) Not trying to rain on your parade, just trying to save you a lot of heartache and wasted money. Just trying to be the voice of reason, since everyone else is encouraging you to dive right in. I have seen cars in that condition get restored, but they were worth it because they were 100,000 dollar cars when finished.The numbers just don't compute in this case.

[Evolution8]

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

I'm in shock after looking at the pictures....when did Olds 403 79's become valuable enough to justify restoring one in that condition? I would think about it real real hard before diving into this one....you could buy a perfect one babied all it's life for less than what it will cost to restore that car, not to mention the thousands of hours of time saved. The mother in law is right in this case. (Just my opinion) Not trying to rain on your parade, just trying to save you a lot of heartache and wasted money. Just trying to be the voice of reason, since everyone else is encouraging you to dive right in. I have seen cars in that condition get restored, but they were worth it because they were 100,000 dollar cars when finished.The numbers just don't compute in this case.

I appreciate the honesty but keep in mind he is going to save a load of money on this project for the simple fact that I will be doing the body and paint work for him at no cost. . He will need to purchase the floor pans and quarter panels, but normally the largest cost of restoring a car is the body work labor as it is time consuming and shop rates are not cheap. This is a $10k restoration job at reputable shop pretty easily.
I think the largest cost to him will end up being the interior as it's a 10th Anniversary and the interior pieces are not exactly easy to come by. He really wanted a 10th Anniversary and not a regular run of the mill late 1970's TA. I'm seeing these range (in finished form) anywhere from $25k to as much as $65k. Of course it will never be a $65k car as he isn't going for Barrett Jackson show car quality. This is something he wants to drive in the summer, go on cruises with the wife, take to work on nice days, and take to car shows on Sundays. It won't be a garage queen by any means. It will be a nice cruiser.

[Evolution8]

Originally Posted by 67'7F6'Bird

I look forward to seeing this TA restored.

Dave, It was a Fun this Past Saturday collecting all the parts and packing your truck and UHaul sending this TA to a Better home which will attend to its needs more than we had time for.

Steve

Pleasure to meet you Steve. You and your brother are both stand-up guys! We appreciate how kind you were to us. We will do you proud on this one bud, I'm excited to get cracking on it. I love these types of projects.

[Alvin]

Keep us posted.

[Garry Sr]

I fear the structural integrity may be compromised but either way I see tons of quality bondo time jumping off between you and your father in-law.

[Evolution8]

Today we picked up a hood in pretty good condition, front core support, front crash bar with new brackets, and a spare shaker scoop all for $100. He is a happy camper to say the least. Today was a good day for him! lol

We need to source a front bumper cover for it still and of course the floor pans and quarter panels but hey one step at a time.

[67'7F6'Bird]

1982 Photo of the same car.

[Evolution8]

Very cool, Thanks for sharing that picture Steve!
I'm going to share that picture with him tomorrow I'm sure it will have him grinning ear to ear. He was very excited just to stand back and look at the car with a hood on it today. It's already becoming his baby lol. This car deserves a second chance at life.

[67'7F6'Bird]

Originally Posted by Evolution8

Very cool, Thanks for sharing that picture Steve!
I'm going to share that picture with him tomorrow I'm sure it will have him grinning ear to ear. This car deserves a second chance at life.

Absolutely it deserves it. As there are no Structural Integrity issues. Quarters are easy to change.

Look at what we changed on my car.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=523734

Steve

[Alvin]

That drivers side white front Turbo Wheel looks like one off of a '80 or '81 Turbo TA and or Pace Car edition...?
IIRC - if it's a narrow wheel it's from an '81 which someone may want to trade for a correct matching OEM TATA 15 x 8 Appliance mfg. turbo wheel.





"The 1981 Y85 NASCAR Pace Car Turbo Trans Am was similar to the 1980 version. There were only 2,000 of these cars made for 1981 to commemorate the Daytona 500 for 1981. The white paint scheme was similar, but the charcoal paint was replaced by black as well as the body accent stripes were now all black. The larger one-color turbo hood bird was used and the paint scheme on the hood was no longer two-color, but solid white. The NASCAR names replaced the Indy 500 emblems that were on the fender in 1980. Again, the larger "Daytona 500" door decals and now NASCAR rear quarter names were an option. This was the first year that Pontiac used Recaro seats in the Trans Am. A Custom Recaro seat was used trimmed in black with red inserts and the firebird emblem was again embroidered in the center of the rear seats and the door panels. The rest of the interior was black with red carpet on the interior and on the bottom of the door panels. A Special ETR AM/FM Cassette with seek-and-scan features, a digital display, and red dash lights rounded out the interior as in the 1980 model. The car only came with the Turbo-charged 301 motor and was standard with the WS6 handling package set off but the 15x7.5 inch turbo rims finished in white with Goodyear Polysteel Radial raised white letter tires. The car also came fully equipped with power windows, power locks, A/C, and more as did the 1980 counter-part.
http://www.78ta.com/pacecar.php "



TATA http://www.78ta.com/10thanniversary.php

[Alvin]

Any updates?

For your use - Scroll down to the Turbo Wheel info & pix here http://www.78ta.com/wheelspec.php

Like this

[Longs]

I'm no expert, but I had a friend who had a four speed TATA back in the early/mid 1980s. We were in Ohio; it eventually ended up in New Jersey where it was in an accident, I'm pretty sure it was totaled.

I recall reading at the time, and I'm sure others would confirm, that all of the four-speeds had Pontiac 400s, and their shakers were labeled "T/A 6.6" while all of the automatics got 403 Olds engines, and their shakers were labeled "6.6 Litre". Just interesting that this car's shaker is labeled as T/A 6.6 even though it's an automatic.

[Evolution8]

Originally Posted by Alvin

Any updates?

For your use - Scroll down to the Turbo Wheel info & pix here http://www.78ta.com/wheelspec.php

Like this

Thanks for bringing that to my attention! He ended up buying the correct wheel on ebay after I told him about it.

Not much more to report other than he bought some seats for the car. Grey leather but they will need to be re-covered.
He has pretty much been keeping an eye out and buying things that it needs here and there. We won't actually be able to work on it until the spring time when it starts to get warmer.

[Overkillphil]

Wow that's quite an undertaking! I love that you guys are trying to rescue a 10th anniversary...however I see some oddball rust that screams flood car to me. Have you guys checked out the documentation, title status etc.? Any information or history there you can piece together?

Good luck with the project and I sure hope it isn't as bad as it looks for you guys. Maybe consider stripping down the unit body to the bare shell so you can really dig into the inner workings. I fear there may be "Titanic rusticles" lurking in there.