What!!

[79Bandit]

Coming home today after buying the how to build max-perfomance pontiac v-8's i was at a red light when i looked over at a mom and pop car lot and they where selling a 1979 trans am! it wasnt in near as good condition as mine and they where selling it for 17,999! im pretty sure for that price you could get a original 79 trans am with only 2k miles in pristine cond... am i wrong?

p.S i changed the interior to the black like i said i would and i found the build sheet to my car it was under the carpet...does this up the value of my car?

[MrPbody]

Bandit,

No, you're not wrong. Used car guys seldom have a clue about what's going on in the collector market. They must assume (always dangerous) that because a '70 or '73 T/A is worth a ton of money, ALL early T/As are. '79 was the most prolific of all Trans Ams (over 108K made). The only ones with "extra" value would be WS-6 cars, and the utra-rare Anniversary "special" (silver with silver leather, "Turbo" wheels).

If the hood scoop reads "6.6 Litre", it's a 403 Olds engine, and an auto trans. If it says "T/A 6.6", it's a 400 Pontiac, and could be either a manual or auto. 4-speed cars are quite desirable! I recall driving one in '81, while working at a Pontiac dealer in Tucson, that had headers, a "mild" cam and Torker. The thing was a beast! It had the straight-line personality of GTO, and the cornering of T/A. Best of all possible worlds!

Those that have never driven a 2nd gen T/A with a 4-speed, it changes the entire character of the car. It really is like driving a GTO, only better in the corners.

Jim

[doodad]

hey guys,

how powerfull stock72 to 79 trans ams? how many horsepowere? are they faster than 02 ws6s?

[Fuzzy_C]

lots of different engines and horsepower ratings in that age gap, older they are, the more horses the engine had, in that age gap though, they had everything from 265's to 455's, atleast i think they used 265's in 79....

and a lot down here has a 77 trans am, numbers matching, only 3,500km completely mint condition with a 400 and 4 speed manual, and they only want $15,000 for it, so i think 17,999 is a little much

[76ta]

Originally Posted by doodad

hey guys,

how powerfull stock72 to 79 trans ams? how many horsepowere? are they faster than 02 ws6s?

from 72 to 79 the hp was significantly low in most models... in 71 the base engine was good for 250 hp and the 455 HO was good for 335...after 71, the highest hp from a stock setup was 310 in 73 and most base model engines never seent he 160 hp mark..

[pro_am]

18k, that's crazy, ouch, don't see that one moving for a while, lol.
Jake

[MrPbody]

On the horsepower issue, one must take things in a certain perspective. Through '70 and on SOME '71s, GM rated the horsepower as "Brake" or "Gross Brake". That is, at the flywheel, unhampered by accessories.

The ratings changed to "SAE Net". That's at the tail of the transmission, with power steering and A/C operating. It was intended to bring a more "real world" number to what you could expect. It also pleased insurance carriers... We've found "Net" ratings to be very close to RWHP numbers in actual tests. In one case, a '72 GTO with a "250 HP" 400 put 248 to the rear wheels. The car is unmodified.

A '73 455SD, rated at 310 "Net", will blow the doors off a '70 455HO, rated at 370 GBHP, in equal cars.

Is a modern T/A faster than an old one? Depends on how you define "fast". Mostly, yes. But a '70 Ram AIr IV car will give your '02 WS-6 car a real run for it's money, up to 140 MPH. In fact, a little "catch up" will be involved, as the early car will gain the initial advantage. After that, if you left the late model in "drive" (not allowing overdrive to get involved), the '70 would outrun it. Shift it to 5th (or 4th if you have a girl's car *JOKE*), and say goodbye to the nice ol' bird...

Standing start, 1/4 mile? IF you allow the use of modern street-race tires, the earlier cars will SMOKE the later ones. IMO, "early" ends in '74 (pre-catalyst). That's the difference between a big-cube/high torque engine, versus the modern smaller/more efficient engines. The biggest problem getting a '69 GTO Ram Air car into the 12s "stock" is traction. Put some E/Ts on it and watch the numbers "fall". Tires in '69 were no where NEAR what they are today.

Today's performance cars are obviously better than older ones, and for a variety of reasons. None have the "brute force" felt in a typical big-cube car. The power of the LS or late LT engines is so smooth and consistent, the car doesn't FEEL as fast, but the track numbers can tell the truth. I've had owners of modern GTOs tell me the same thing, when compared to their "old" GTO. It didn't SEEM as fast, but it went 1/2 a second quicker in the 1/4...

Jim

[volkerc]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy_C

lots of different engines and horsepower ratings in that age gap, older they are, the more horses the engine had, in that age gap though, they had everything from 265's to 455's, atleast i think they used 265's in 79....

and a lot down here has a 77 trans am, numbers matching, only 3,500km completely mint condition with a 400 and 4 speed manual, and they only want $15,000 for it, so i think 17,999 is a little much

there was no such thing as a 265 in those cars