[jhein]

Here's the article with more details about the car: https://www.foxnews.com/auto/bandit-...uction-fortune

After reading that, I think the price paid is absurd.

['ol Pinion head]

Whether the mileage is correct or not, as well as whether this '77 Y82 was initially damaged & repaired, or restored later, thats an example of ABSOLUTE INSANITY on the sale price.

Anyone, & I mean anyone in the know, knew how to keep the miles off a factory cruise control late '60's through early 80's GM vehicles, & it happened. Just saying'

[muscle_collector]

it doesnt surprise me one bit. i have been saying these are the cars to hoard for over 30 years. i was attacked by a member on here (THEWS) a few years back because i said i could see these cars bringing more money than the SD cars. it makes sense when you factor things together. 1. a lot of people have absolutely tons of money 2. you go back to the late 70's and early 80's, almost every young kid wanted and dreamed about having a trans am. not too mention how many women, young couples and even middle aged people wanted and bought these cars. 3. now that they have the ability to purchase them and they have tons of money, they dont care what it costs they want it.
my dad collected cars and when i was a kid he would tell me to go find the car that was the most popular and get the rarest model with the biggest engine and that will be the "money car"

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by 1965gp

Fox News had an article on this car and the owner said it toured with Pontiac for shows when new. After the owner had it the car suffered some damage and was repaired at a local vocational school.

They mention using the car for parades which I think would amount to more than 14 miles?

Google ‘Fox News Trans Am’ for the article

QUOTE from fox article " Herman, an active collector car trader, said the car was originally used by PONTIAC as a touring display vehicle and NEVER assigned to a dealer for sale.

He "understands" that it suffered some "very minor" damage during a trip through North Carolina, so the automaker( Pontiac) "donated" it to a local vocational school, where the students "fixed it up". " END QUOTES> ( bet it has New rear springs)
This is where I say it lost its ability to be registered and Titled.
OPH is right again, a car with a cruise control is easy pickins. At my Pontiac dealership I actually saw a sales"excrement" do just that to a odometer.
Pontiac doesn't DONATE for "Very minor damage" ZONE managers get an option to buy FIRST, this is FACT and I have witnessed Techs trying to bribe a Zone manager.

[mgarblik]

That was sage advice from your father. Still, as usual, I am never smart enough to know what's going to be the "next big thing". Having worked on those cars when they were new at the dealer, I can tell you as a technician we hated to see these cars come in for pre-delivery. We got paid peanuts and the cars were just awful coming in from Norwood. The fit and finish was so bad about 1/2 the cars had to go through the body shop before they could be sold. The three piece rear spoiler fit like a jig saw puzzle. We had to remove the end pieces, slot the mounting holes to line them up the best we could. Doors and windows fit so poorly, door panels had to be removed on new cars to fit the glass better, strikers adjusted, sometimes we had to jack the rear of the door up with a floor jack and a wood block to try to fit the doors so they wouldn't rub. Every T-top car leaked water. Rattles, squeaks, wind noise. These cars were pretty rough brand new. Most of the restored ones are likely much, much better than they were as delivered new. But at $440,000.00, there was at lest one person out there that really, really wanted it. Sage advice from my mentor was: "their is an azz for every seat". I never forgot that.

[rbrtmchl]

Originally Posted by jabgolfcars

I'll be there & will give it a look.

I would be very interested to hear from knowledgeable Pontiac guys who got a close look at this car. If it had sat a museum all of these years, I could see a premium price being paid (not sure about it reaching the level that it did). But when I read the Fox News article and saw the quotes from the seller, alarm bells were going off. Maybe for good reasons, maybe not. Hopefully jabgolfcars and other Forum members can chime in with their information after actually seeing this car.

[Brewster]

Proves there is a buyer out for an original type car period

[68WarDog]

The 6.6 litre cars. Was that the (403) Olds engine?

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

That was sage advice from your father. Still, as usual, I am never smart enough to know what's going to be the "next big thing". Having worked on those cars when they were new at the dealer, I can tell you as a technician we hated to see these cars come in for pre-delivery. We got paid peanuts and the cars were just awful coming in from Norwood. The fit and finish was so bad about 1/2 the cars had to go through the body shop before they could be sold. The three piece rear spoiler fit like a jig saw puzzle. We had to remove the end pieces, slot the mounting holes to line them up the best we could. Doors and windows fit so poorly, door panels had to be removed on new cars to fit the glass better, strikers adjusted, sometimes we had to jack the rear of the door up with a floor jack and a wood block to try to fit the doors so they wouldn't rub. Every T-top car leaked water. Rattles, squeaks, wind noise. These cars were pretty rough brand new. Most of the restored ones are likely much, much better than they were as delivered new. But at $440,000.00, there was at lest one person out there that really, really wanted it. Sage advice from my mentor was: "their is an azz for every seat". I never forgot that.

Same same at my Pontiac/Caddilac/GMC and Chevys at other locations.
I had to fix spoilers too. I was low man, so I did the deliveries at first. Signed off on the Bill of Lading too, which looked exactly like a PHS sheet.
The spoilers we installed were much better than what showed up.
Door alignment and top of fender, now that was good for many customer comments. And yes, the darn T tops... Once I fixed one, I got all that work, ugh.. must have been 2 bucks an hour.
Lest I forget the sales dept always stealing stuff from one car for another.. This was worse than any tool thefts, which were mostly by accident.

[GT182]

I wasn't hard to unhook or roll back the speedometers back then.

I won't comment on that estored car. LOL

[muscle_collector]

i bought a 76, 79 and an 80 new. the 76 was really put together nice except it somehow was delivered with the german style decals on the front fenders and the block style on the header, hood scoop and rear spoiler. other than that, it didnt go back for warranty issues and the same with the 80 pace car but the 79 had all kinds of issues, exhaust rattled against the quarter panel, carpet was cut short where the rear side panels met the floor, side moldings fell off, decals crooked, shifter jammed up, console lid curled up, black paint pealed off the moldings, etc etc but even with the sorry work the 79 was my favorite until a drunk driver hit me head on and totalled it.

[John Milner]

It’s good to see the prices continuing to climb on these late 70’s SE cars. Sure seems like a lot of money for this particular car but it’s good to see them being appreciated finally. They really are great cars.

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

That was sage advice from your father. Still, as usual, I am never smart enough to know what's going to be the "next big thing". Having worked on those cars when they were new at the dealer, I can tell you as a technician we hated to see these cars come in for pre-delivery. We got paid peanuts and the cars were just awful coming in from Norwood. The fit and finish was so bad about 1/2 the cars had to go through the body shop before they could be sold. The three piece rear spoiler fit like a jig saw puzzle. We had to remove the end pieces, slot the mounting holes to line them up the best we could. Doors and windows fit so poorly, door panels had to be removed on new cars to fit the glass better, strikers adjusted, sometimes we had to jack the rear of the door up with a floor jack and a wood block to try to fit the doors so they wouldn't rub. Every T-top car leaked water. Rattles, squeaks, wind noise. These cars were pretty rough brand new. Most of the restored ones are likely much, much better than they were as delivered new. But at $440,000.00, there was at lest one person out there that really, really wanted it. Sage advice from my mentor was: "their is an azz for every seat". I never forgot that.

I ordered a 1978 Trans Am, no T-Tops, already knew about the leak issues.
My wife drove it a couple of years over to the high school where she taught.

I will say that the 1979 Mustang my wife ordered was a far superior vehicle in that time frame. I drove that to work.

"Can't Fix Stupid" (my grandfather used to say, RIP, and "for every fool out there there are 3 guys (or girls) ready to rob him).

Tom V.

[rbrtmchl]

Does anyone know the VIN for this car?

[jabgolfcars]

I saw the car yesterday @ Mecum. As the fox news story stated, it was highly detailed, and it was. Way too nice to be original. Shocking to see the money it got.

[jabgolfcars]

I stand corrected. The fox news story said it was "cosmetically refreshed" in 2013. I dunno, something mighty fishy about it. Anyway. the seller made a killing.

[rbrtmchl]

@jabgolfcars, did you take any pictures of the car? Anything with the VIN displayed?

[jabgolfcars]

Regrettably, no. I didn't get any pics of the vin. When I first looked at it, there was crowds around the car, & Motortrend tv was highlighting it. When I went back later, they were rolling it up on the block. My bad.

[jhein]

Here's the video of it on the block. They don't say too much about it but they're sticking to the 14 original mile thing. Probably one of the only 14 mile cars to have collision damage repair and been in parades. LOL.

https://youtu.be/r9GtE7mKCHc

[rbrtmchl]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

My school got 2 such vehicles that were damaged by overhead ramps falling on them on a car carrier. The same car carrier delivered them to the school as it happened near a local dealership. A GM " loss prevention " rep was there at delivery and informed the Shop class teacher that they could Never be registered, and told him to remove the VIN on both cars. I watched the glass get broken after it was taped, and the Vin numbers handed to the rep. Gm took a full loss deduction for the donation because the delivery system was GM self insured. Our school shop, in conjunctionwith a local Dealership, got a REPAIR PLATE and we did drive the Chevelle some. 8 years after graduation it was sitting forlorn outback missing lights, interior, etc. 307 still 100% intact lol.
So. I'm not sure just how a school got a donated ( deduction) car and kept the Vin. GM would never bring it to a school for repair to sell either.
Why it was NOT sold or registered? Probably had No Vin..
Thats a BIG statement, but I don't see much paperwork from 77.
This is my Observation, based on experience, and a buddy who got 2 Pontiacs at his school in PA. where I am From originally.
Obviously one can get the original Vin " number" from the door decal.
I am betting this car cannot Legally be registered, and will never be.
Ps, the other car was a 71 Vagrant.

My earlier question about what is the VIN number is because of the earlier post by Formulabruce. It makes me wonder IF this car has a VIN. And if it does have a VIN, it would be interesting to search the VIN for information from earlier sales.