I just picked up this 1979 Pontiac Trans Am 10th anniversary car down at Pick n Pull. A little oil and gas and it drove home. Only problem was one of the evap. lines on the gas tank was broken, so I had to drop the tank and re-solder to get it through smog check. The car is weathered and needs paint, but apparently 29K original miles and is completely stock and unmodified, even the special 10th anniversary T/A radio (AM/FM 8-track with RED leds to match the red gauges), OEM mufflers and shocks (shocks were bad). I found two build sheets -- a complete nearly perfect one in the back seat cushion and a partial on top of the tank. Also, all of the part # tags are still attached to the springs, lines, sway bars, etc. Later the trans started slipping, so I had that rebuilt. I also went through the brake hydraulics -- just to be safe. Overall not a big deal. I think it was sitting for a while -- probably outside. It runs like new now. I already ordered a new interior, and will start the body and paint next week. It's got a few dents, but no rust at all and is pretty clean, except for the weathering of the paint and interior. Why would this one have been junked? It really wasn't that bad.... Just what I need, another car...... You may not be a fan of these cars, but they are kind of interesting and represent the era pretty well -- it's basically 30 years old now.
Hard to believe they junked such a car! You got a find of a lifetime. Those cars are one of my favorites. I will own one one day. No they don't make many trips to the dragstrip, but hey were very cool cars.
Great save!:TU: Is it a 4speed car or automatic? Either way, they are great cars! I remember these in the showroom with a 11K sticker! That was alot then.
A month and a half ago,I went to a U pull it and there was a 2002 Green Camaro,T-Tops no body damage,decent interior and mostly complete with aluminum wheels.Someone wrote the word "WHY??" on the dirt on the radiator support. That car should not have been in there at all. Looks like a cleaning and maybe a good motor would have fixed it nice..Can't figure people out sometimes...
Well, it's a 403 Olds/automatic. Too bad it wasn't one of the 400 Pontiac/4 speeds! I really can't complain anyway -- I'm very happy, and these are kind of luxury cruisers so an auto trans is perfect. I forgot how good the handling and braking was in these old cars. All of the 10th anniversary cars had 4 wheel discs and WS6 suspension. They were geared for highway use.
I believe the 400 was last installed in the 78 model year. Why was it at the yard.......easy......someone said it is a 30+ year old Pontiac and did not want to be bothered with it.....selling it, answering phone calls, showing it, etc. This happens here in FL with Estate Sales.....children are away from here......let's say the northeast......parents pass away and they don't want to be bothered by the hassles of selling things.....basically they hire a liquidator or come down here and "clean out" everything in one sale to get things out of the house and sell the house too. You can find some good deals but not good cars like yours....mainly old Cadillacs, full size BOP cars, Ford Crown Vics/LTD, Chrysler Newports etc.
....and that 403 can be built to fly and hold together (finally). Olds 455's also bolt in place of that 403. :Brow: :Brow: :Brow: ....or diesel blocks....or Nascar blocks.....or any 350.......:TU: :TU:
In '79, the Pontiac 400 was used only in 4 speed equipped T/A's and Formula's. Automatic cars got the Olds built 403. California cars that were equipped with 4 speeds got the Chevy 305.
Pontiac Stopped building the Pontiac 400 in 1978. They built an extra 10,000 engines in 1978 so it could be optional on 79 Trans ams and formulas. BoBuick where do you live in California and how much di you pay for that TA? Nice save!
Yup, Almost bought one in '87 off a dealer's used car showfloor. 79 TA Pont 400, 4 speed, T tops, Discs, WS6, loaded, with 24,000 actual. Car looked like new. Beautiful Dark blue, with blue interior. Dealer wanted 10K, I offered 9, he wouldn't budge.. Went drag racing with my buddy and his 70 STG 1. That Buddy is Mike Bucy, who does the tech on the board here.. Don't regret not buying it, but do remember the car.. Anyway.. nice find, hard to belive someone junked that car. JW
I was at a junkyard in north carolina, when I lived there, in '06, and found a #'s matching 1970 Nova SS. The car needed a TON of work and was 99% complete, and after trying to convince the owner of the yard to sell it to me for over an hour... he wouldn't budge. I went back a few months later and the poor thing was picked clean... I've always had a thing for nova's... especially since that was what I set out looking for before I found my '69 skylark... I'm very happy with my buick but another project couldn't hurt could it? BTW that junkyard at one time was a gold mine... I found my 8.5" posi rear and '76 455 there, for a grand total of $150.
Congrats...:TU: very nice car...remembers me of my very first american car I bought back in 1982 here (F body as well: '74 Camaro LT with the one year only 'flat' rear window)
Awsome find. :beer . I found several awsome cars here in Texas at salvage yards. Over the years but they all ways tell me that they cant be sold. Some thing about a salvage title and that DMV wont allow it to be put back on the road. Are they telling the truth or just think they can get more off of parting it out.
They may not even have the title anymore. Ford and GM (maybe Chrysler, too) bought up huge junkyards and titles from cars in huge junkyards (mostly down your way and Southwest) to get CAFE credits from the government back in the 90's. Another typical scam that accomplished nothing, but added to the price of your new car. Just wait for carbon credits surcharges. Objective of the law was to retire older polluting and gas guzzler cars, but a car already in a junkyard does neither. Around here, it's hard to even junk a car without a title. They say it's because of their insurance, and maybe that is a factor. But guess where those titles end up? YUP, we have a winner. Not a big deal up here since most of what's getting junked should have been junked when they were new anyway. But every now and then something nice and collectible does get towed in. If you're lucky, the operator will set those aside in the corner away from the crusher/shredder stacks.....if he has room. I had a mint 79 10th anniversary 4 speed car with the Pontiac 400 hidden in my garage for a friend going through a divorce about 10 years ago. He offered it to me for $4k, but I passed. OOPS. Wasn't fast, but sure was fun to drive. He also dumped his mint 84 Hurst Olds. At least an Olds racer friend got that one. Figured he'd only get half their value in the divorce anyway, so passed that on to his friends rather than the woman he hated most in the world at that time.
Nice score! Once in a great while you'll see something nice (nice=not rusted out) in front of the yards around here, and they'll even be nice enough NOT to stamp the title so it can be resold. Never an old T/A though.
