Trans Ams

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

My favorite car. I don't protest to know much about them. My mom had a 1979 silver since about new. Her husband was in the body/paint bus., and ended up with the car following its theft recovery. Nice car but.......

I don't figure to be an expert, but from my experience 78-79 GM cars were built poorly, says my mom's TA and my 78 Caprice. I hear a 1974 TA is pretty cool, but I'm partial to 70-73.

Anyone know the differences between 70-71? Different engines apparently, 70 higher compression, 71 more CI. But what does that mean in practical sense, why is one better than another?

Other TA edgeucation welcome, very cool cars. I think I'd be tempted to restore one, but hmm, big $ or repair panels and pitting. No thanks; unless one materialized God-sent. I don't like my chances

I'm partial to 1971 GM, but I don't know, from a novice-head I like the 1970, though can't really say why, looks like the 71. In that blue too. Check out the poll if you like, pick a favorite.

[Greg58]

I had a red 74 TA, back when I was younger! 455 automatic, it had a red and black 2 tone interior, 74 only I believe, red seats and carpet, black dash, column and headliner. It was powerful and handled good. My dream TA would be a 74 SD455 in White, red, or dark blue.
I had a 95 TA for a long time, I recently sold it to my nephew.

Greg

[raggedjim]

Well, I voted '73 because the of the SD455. But I know I'll never own one of those!

Any 70-73 is my favorite, but I like all of the second gen f-bodies, up to 79.

Not a Trans Am but as close as I can get!

[Getter-Done]

The 68 would be my choice.

Of course, Everybody like the Bandit TA.

And also everybody like Knight Rider (KIT)

I had an 1986 and it was okay.

[raggedjim]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

The 68 would be my choice.

Of course, Everybody like the Bandit TA.

And also everybody like Knight Rider (KIT)

I had an 1986 and it was okay.

68??? That's a rare one!

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Figured the images out. Here's a 1974 as well. I like the fender flares with off color edges, pretty dang nice. I read somewhere 1974 was one of the most desirable.

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

The 68 would be my choice.

Of course, Everybody like the Bandit TA.

And also everybody like Knight Rider (KIT)

I had an 1986 and it was okay.

Nice body style, but technically TA were introduced in 69. Nothing quite like a 67-68 Firebird with slicks.

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

68??? That's a rare one!

Yeah I know it just a Firebird.

[raggedjim]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

Figured the images out. Here's a 1974 as well. I like the fender flares with off color edges, pretty dang nice. I read somewhere 1974 was one of the most desirable.

That goes for the '74 SD455. The 74 model change was not popular when it came out and a base 455 '74 is not as desirable as the 70-73's. Those off color welts aren't original.

[72 tigger]

I like them all. SD455 are cool especially with a 4 speed. I had a 77 bandit back in the day- looked good, but slow. The newer ones are fast and decent looking

[sfont66]

I had a 74 SD 455 TA 4 speed car in high school in 1983. If I remember correctly I believe there was only 212 4speed cars made in 74. That car was awesome! Many guys in school thought it was a H.O 455, it was not, the SD would smoke a HO car.
The only mods done to the car was a custom set of headers and a cam, I kept all the original parts though.
The sad part is , i only had the car approximately 1.5 years.
I paid $6500 for the car with help from my mom , but she sold the car to a friend of hers that was a small time collector that also had a 73 TA , he kept after her to sell the car to him without asking me. I had the car stored in her garage, and she sold it while I was at my fathers for a few weeks (they were divorced and didn’t speak with each other).
The title to the car was in my name, at least partially, and i refused to sign off so the sale could be completed. The car had already been towed to the new owner’s shop, and I still Owed my mom quite a bit for the car. So in the spring of 85 I agreed to sign the title and sell the car for $10,000. My mom allowed me to keep the balance of the money, which I stupidly spent on a brand new Kawasaki Ninja 600
Wish I still had the 74 SD 455 today!

[Boog]

My first TA love was the 70 blue with white stripe. Good friend had one and I got to sport around in it. Later I owned a Chesterfield brown '78 TA.
Who has seen a dark green 73 TA? Possibly Brewster green?
Very limited production, so I was told.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by sfont66

I had a 74 SD 455 TA 4 speed car in high school in 1983. If I remember correctly I believe there was only 212 4speed cars made in 74. That car was awesome! Many guys in school thought it was a H.O 455, it was not, the SD would smoke a HO car.
The only mods done to the car was a custom set of headers and a cam, I kept all the original parts though.
The sad part is , i only had the car approximately 1.5 years.
I paid $6500 for the car with help from my mom , but she sold the car to a friend of hers that was a small time collector that also had a 73 TA , he kept after her to sell the car to him without asking me. I had the car stored in her garage, and she sold it while I was at my fathers for a few weeks (they were divorced and didn’t speak with each other).
The title to the car was in my name, at least partially, and i refused to sign off so the sale could be completed. The car had already been towed to the new owner’s shop, and I still Owed my mom quite a bit for the car. So in the spring of 85 I agreed to sign the title and sell the car for $10,000. My mom allowed me to keep the balance of the money, which I stupidly spent on a brand new Kawasaki Ninja 600
Wish I still had the 74 SD 455 today!

Apparently you're right SD performance edges out HO, or so is the consensus. Not apples to oranges but....https://youtu.be/3lLUs41n0VY

[Sheepdip]

Not a TA but a clone of the closest thing they had in 1967 and only about 67 were produced.
This is/was my 67 400 Firebird that I cloned into a Ram Air, I duplicated the engine specs, that was the easy part. This was in the mid 80's before the internet, and the Hemmings was the go to for parts.

I located in New York the Ram Air under hood sheet metal, air filter assembly and the open hood scoops, all NOS. I paid $1000 back then as it was almost non existent.

Later in life, roughly 20 years ago, I sold it to a pure Pontiac man who had quite a collection but no Firebird

[tutone]

Always been a first gen fan. Ive had a ton of Camaros over the years, but only a couple of birds. So 69 has my vote.

[raggedjim]

Originally Posted by Boog

My first TA love was the 70 blue with white stripe. Good friend had one and I got to sport around in it. Later I owned a Chesterfield brown '78 TA.
Who has seen a dark green 73 TA? Possibly Brewster green?
Very limited production, so I was told.

Boog, if you look closely at the edge of the hood you can see that this '73 was originally brewster green. The guy is going to return it to green. This is a rare car, SD455, brewster green (originally).

For '73 (and '74) the X in the vin is like finding a diamond.

[Boog]

Indeed!

[CG]

When I was a kid my dad was a car salesman, sometimes when something cool came in on trade he would drive it home.

He brought home a sweet Trans Am one weekend, it was a red or maybe reddish orange, SD 455 with a 4-speed. He let me take it for a spin. Not a kind of car I was used to driving. So fun haha!

I asked if I could go over to a friends house with it and then over to our female friends place. He said sure, be careful, dont goof off with it and dont go up to Colby (the cruising place at the time).

Went over to my buddys and grabbed him. Went over to the girls place and grabbed them. From there we went straight to Colby, about five miles away.

I beat the heck out of that car. Up on Colby I was one of the cool guys, finally lol. Unfortunately when I was banging gears something happened to the shift linkage and it got stuck in second gear. I had to limp it back to my town, drop my friends off and limp it home. My dad asked if I had fun. Yeah it was ok but when I left my friends house something happened to the shifter so we couldnt really mess around too much. Im not sure what he did but he fixed it pretty easily.

I wish I had money back then, it was a car I would love to have had. Oh well heh.

On a side note, my guess is dad knew what we were up to the whole time. As a father of two sons (both in their 40's now) I knew what they were up to most of the time. Probably not PC anymore but boys will be boys when it come to cars. Just hope they have at least a little sense.

[HO455]

I will say that 70's are like our 67's. Lots of little one year only items. Many of them hard to find nowadays if your wanting a concours restoration. The 71-73's are not as bad for that but there are some differences.

Here's a link to the PY boards 70-73 thread if your interested in diving that deep down the rabbit hole.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...play.php?f=437

Here's another site where you can explore all the 2nd gen factory options.

https://tran-zam.com/fhistory/1970home.aspx

I have a 72 base model bird that is being restomoded it will look similar to raggedjim's when done. It was a mutt when I bought it and it will still be one when I finish but know one will give me grief about incorrectly restoring a Trans Am.

One way to go is find a like a 77 V6 car swap in a V8 and an early front clip and you have a lower entry fee.

And if I could have driven one off the lot in the day it would have been a 70 RAIV four speed with no power accessories in white.

[68Gold/white]

I bought a 1977 Trans Am, May 7th, 1977, black. It didn't have lots of options, mostly the stuff that didn't cost a lot. It did come with AC, AM/FM radio.
No electric windows, locks or 8 track, or T tops, thankfully.
Mine came with the lowest HP Pontiac 400. It ran pretty good. Was fun to drive, got 20 MPG easily. I couldn't find ANY info on the rear gear ratio??? When I did, I laughed discovering why it was NOT advertised, it had the 2.41 gears, although a posi. I've read tht ALL T/A's had posi...

Best part is I still have it. Bringing it back to life. It's never been wrecked, just needs TLC.

[bnorth]

I'm partial to the 77 bandit TA's.
I also have a soft spot for the 4th gen WS6's with those totally over the top hood scoops.

[CG]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

I bought a 1977 Trans Am, May 7th, 1977, black. It didn't have lots of options, mostly the stuff that didn't cost a lot. It did come with AC, AM/FM radio.
No electric windows, locks or 8 track, or T tops, thankfully.
Mine came with the lowest HP Pontiac 400. It ran pretty good. Was fun to drive, got 20 MPG easily. I couldn't find ANY info on the rear gear ratio??? When I did, I laughed discovering why it was NOT advertised, it had the 2.41 gears, although a posi. I've read tht ALL T/A's had posi...

Best part is I still have it. Bringing it back to life. It's never been wrecked, just needs TLC.

That's great that you still have this. I wish I had the discipline to hang on to vehicles instead always constantly moving on to the next one that catches my eye

[raggedjim]

Well, I had a '73 Tran Am when I was in the Navy. It was fast, but it was problematic. The '73 firebird I have now is pretty reliable and draws a lot of attention. Everyone talks about how bad the later TA's were but almost any 400 Pontiac can be woke up with a little bit of work.

The 73 and 74 super duty's were running in the low 14's/ high 13's in the day when most cars were running 15's or worse. Pontiac had great engineer's who understood the American market. Low end torque and gearing is what makes me smile, Horsepower is a fools game for most drivers. I had a 68 Corvette that would turn 7,500 rpm all day but it never felt as fast as my 73 TA with 450 ft/pounds of torque.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

I bought a 1977 Trans Am, May 7th, 1977, black. It didn't have lots of options, mostly the stuff that didn't cost a lot. It did come with AC, AM/FM radio.
No electric windows, locks or 8 track, or T tops, thankfully.
Mine came with the lowest HP Pontiac 400. It ran pretty good. Was fun to drive, got 20 MPG easily. I couldn't find ANY info on the rear gear ratio??? When I did, I laughed discovering why it was NOT advertised, it had the 2.41 gears, although a posi. I've read tht ALL T/A's had posi...

Best part is I still have it. Bringing it back to life. It's never been wrecked, just needs TLC.

I had a '69 Camaro with a 327 and a 4-speed that got that kind of mileage (best, just over 24). It would turn high 15s in the 1/4, but I could get 140+ MPH out of it in the Nevada desert, back before the speed limit was reduced. I had a '66 LeMans with an RAIII 400 that I blew up in '75 driving through Nevada. I wound the snot out of it. Didn't realize how tight, until I went through a dip and the tach needle, which was sitting on 5500 (adjustable redline) popped over to 6800. DOH! By the time I slowed to 80, I could hear all those rods knocking. Spun 4.

[LS short box]

Pic of one the first cars I restored from the ground up. 73 TA clone. 455/400 turbo combo.
Very fun car. Went down the road a number of years ago to make room for other projects.

[raggedjim]

Originally Posted by LS short box

Pic of one the first cars I restored from the ground up. 73 TA clone. 455/400 turbo combo.
Very fun car. Went down the road a number of years ago to make room for other projects.

Great looking car! I love it.

Rg