1977 Pontiac Trans Am - Show Quality Restomod - matching numbers 400 engine

Description

Up for auction I have my 1977 Pontiac Trans Am. It has a Turbo 350 automatic trans, PS, PB, tilt steering column, and cold factory A/C. Air conditioning has been updated with a modern system by Classic Auto Air in 2015. Car has 119,600 original miles. It is a matching numbers car and I have Pontiac Historical Society (PHS) documentation. The car is restored front to back but should be considered a “restomod”. Car is show quality. The main portion of the restoration was completed in 2006. I purchased this car eight years ago in 2009 from the fourth owner in N.E. Tennessee. The car spent its entire life in that general area until I bought it and drove it here to N.W. Florida. After I purchased it, I took the unfinished restoration the rest of the way to its current condition.I won 3rdplace in a car show my very first try. It was in pretty nice condition when I got it and showed it that first time, but I have repaired and/or replaced numerous things since then. I only drive it once in a while to give it some exercise and to car shows.The previous owner made 4 passes down the drag strip at Bristol Raceway, TN in 2008 just for fun against the time clock. I was told by him that the best time was 14.00 seconds. I have never driven it that way and only babied it since I have owned it. Car has won seven 1stplace trophies, three 2ndplace trophies, and two 3rdplace trophies in car shows since I have owned it. It also won a “best interior” trophy.The latest 1st place trophy was won on 4/22/2017.

Features of the car are as follows:

Engine / engine compartment / exhaust / fuel / brakes:OriginalPontiac400 c.i. L-78 engine has a complete professional rebuild with about 5000 miles on it. It was bored .30 over and has flat top pistons. Has about 9.5 to 1 compression. It has a mild race cam, Edelbrock Performer aluminum intake manifold, factory HEI distributor with MSD ignition box, and headers with new header flange gaskets. The Rochester Q-jet carburetor is rebuilt (ethanol fuel compatible) and has a new choke, choke pull offs and all new vacuum lines. New gas tank and sending unit out back. A K&N air filter is installed. Engine also has a chrome oil pan, and chrome alternator. Pontiac "correct" chrome valve covers with internal oil drippers & gaskets are also new in 2015. It also has a polished aluminum water pump. It runs great on 91-93 octane ethanol pump gas. I always put marine "Sta-Bil" in the gas. Has a fresh oil change with a K&N filter and Royal Purple HPS high zinc synthetic oil. The engine has always had full synthetic high zinc content oil in it since it was rebuilt. There was a new dual exhaust system installed (2009) from the headers back to the original style chrome side-splitter tips. The mufflers are stainless steel Magnaflows. It sounds mean and has that lopey race cam sound when idling. I don’t know for sure but I would estimate the horsepower to be somewhere around 230-240. Engine has great oil pressure, and runs at normal operating temperature (180°) even in the hot summer months with the A/C on. The engine also got a fresh tune-up (distributer cap, rotor, plugs) when the new A/C was installed in 2015. Brand new MSD plug wires (April 2017). The entire engine compartment is show detailed!There are no fluid leaks.

The radiator is a heavy duty cooling 4-row and is brand new (June 2016). There is also an additional transmission cooler. The blower fan relay and resistor are new. New battery was installed (Jan 2015) and is top of the line AGM. It’s always on a tender when the car is garaged. All the belts and radiator hoses are new. The entire brake system is new including vacuum booster, master cylinder, proportioning valve, calipers and pads, wheel cylinders, rear drums and shoes, hardware, etc. The front rotors are not new but are in good shape. I also added a 12V vacuum pump with switch and relay to help improve braking since the vacuum produced by the engine isn’t the greatest due to the race cam. The windshield washer bottle, pump, and tubing are new. The drain tube assembly for the shaker is also new.

Driveline:The Turbo 350 automatic transmission was professionally rebuilt and has about 3000 miles on it. Also has a new Boss Hog torque converter with stock specs. Has nice positive shifts. The fluid pan is chrome. The driveshaft universal joints were also replaced. The original limited slip rear differential was also rebuilt. Car cruises beautifully on the highway. Runs about 2500 RPM at 70 mph and gets 16 mpg highway.

Suspension:The Hotchkis front coil springs are new as well as the upper and lower ball joints. Front end alignment was done after those new parts. New Bilstein shocks, new heavy duty front sway bar and bushings also installed up front. The steering linkage, idler arm and pitman arm are not new but have been replaced at some point and are in good shape. Car drives down the road strait, stops strait. In the rear, the heavy duty leaf springs and Bilstein shocks are also new. Car handles great and drives like a new Trans Am would have in 1977. The sub-frame bushings could probably use a replacement but it is nothing pressing. They are not bad, just old. I have a new complete polyurethane sub-frame bushing kit that goes with the car.

Wheels and tires:Rims are Year-One reproduction cast honeycomb 17” wheels with center caps and lug nuts. No scratches, no curb rash. The tires are Kumho Ecsta ASX’s size 255/50/17 with only about 500 miles on them. The wheels and tires were purchased in 2011.

Electrical / Instruments / Lighting:Every light bulb in the car is new including all the peanut bulbs in the instrument cluster. All of the light bulb sockets for the tail lights have been replaced and are also new. In the dash is a brand new (April 2017) reproduction tachometer by (OER) Original Equipment Reproductions. All other instruments working properly.

Body, glass, chassis:The body is in nice condition with a few very minor dings here and there. Really only noticeable up close and if you look at an angle down the side of the car . The car is rust free except for one small spot that I didn't even know was there until I took the photos. It is visible in one of the pictures. It is underneath on the driver's side. It would be an easy fix if you even wanted to.It is small, maybe 1" x 2" in size. It is not in the floor pan. It is on the outer wall of a double-wall section of the pan. It has been treated with POR 15 and painted so it will not continue to rust further. It is so minor I chose not to pursue it further. No other ruston the car anywhere. The floor pans, trunk, etc. are solid. The underside of the car is in beautiful condition, show quality. There are some minor scratches and chips here and there in the paint that have been touched up. There are some scratches under the front chin spoiler but are not noticeable unless you look under there. Probably scraped a steep driveway somewhere. They have been there since the last owner.

The paint on the car is single-stage DuPont Centari acrylic enamel and the color is called Spectramaster Blue. It is sort of a teal color. The paint color looks much darker in person than in the pictures in the bright sun. I bought the car already painted this way. Numerous people at car shows always comment that they love the color. The original color of the car was Sterling Silver. I would say the paint job is decent “driver” quality condition. The alignment on some external soft body pieces is not perfect. The fit and finish of these F-body cars wasn’t very good even when they were brand new. The windshield is like new. The side windows are very nice and roll up and down properly. They were adjusted and fit properly at the top and side seals. Side windows on 2ndgeneration F-Body cars are almost always an issue…not on this one. Brand new (April 2017) outer window trim / window felts. The roof rain drip rails were installed new around 2013. The rear window is good but has some very light scratches in it. Hardly noticeable but I want to be accurate in description. Scratches look like they might have come from a bad ice scraper at some time in the window’s life. The “Bird” decal on the hood and the small bird decals at the roof pillars were applied after the car was painted and they are still in nice condition. All the rest of the lettering graphics are new.

Interior:The whole interior has been reconditioned. Headliner, visors, carpet, seats, etc. Door panels are the originals but are still in nice condition and have brand new window felts installed (April 2017).

There is a new reproduction formula steering wheel installed. I still have the old original formula wheel and will include it. The tilt steering column is not original to the car and is from a Camaro. The previous owner wanted a tilt steering column which was a good addition for comfort and it works perfectly. The original dash is very nice but does have one small crack in it on top above the instruments. It has a new dash mat over it and overall the dash looks great. Inside the dash the A/C & heat control unit has been rebuilt and has new switches. All new vacuum hoses behind the dash as well.

All the A/C ducts behind the dash have been replaced with good used ones and the large main duct is a brand new reproduction unit. The A/C blows nice and cold. All the A/C dash vents work perfectly. The center console is brand new and is a repro from NPD. B&M console Mega shifter is installed with new neutral safety switch and backup lights switch. Also installed in the console is an original Pontiac Trans Am 8 track player that has been reconditioned and is fully functional. Even the cigarette lighter is new and works. The rear package shelf has new mesh package tray. It looks great and the speakers are mounted underneath so it has a clean stock look.

Sound system:Installed in the dash is a brand new (April 2017) AM/FM/AUX x 2/USB-MP3/Bluetooth “RetroSound" (model Hermosa) stereo. It looks like an old school pushbutton radio but there is nothing old school about it. It even has hands-free phone feature. The factory 8 track player in the console is hooked up to the auxiliary #1 input on the stereo via a line level output converter. There is also a USB port in the glove box. Just plug in a USB thumb drive with your favorite MP3 files on it and you’ll have great tunes. I use an 8 GB stick. Also has an additional aux #2 mini plug input in the glovebox. The speakers are Kicker 6X9’s under the rear deck and Infinity 4X6’s in the kick panels up front. These have foam speaker baffles behind them. The speaker grills up front have a Blaupunkt logo but the speakersareInfinity.

Trunk Area: The trunk area is show detailed and has an original space saver spare tire with inflator bottle. It has a new small scissor jack by GM performance. I do not have the original bumper jack but they are unsafe anyway. I also have a foam presentation board with lots of documentation on it such as a reproduction window sticker, dealer invoice, etc. etc. I display it at car shows on an aluminum folding easel. There is also a fire extinguisher mounted in the trunk and a 12V tire inflator (so you don’t have to use the inflator bottle) if you ever needed to inflate the spare.

Okay so, even though the car is a multiple show winner, there are some minor issues with it. After all, it is a 40 year old car. I have nothing to hide and the buyer should know exactly what issues there are if any. I wish people had done that for me in the past but it is usually not that way. There will be no surprises here.

1.The dome light is not working. It is new but there is no power going to it for some reason. (The courtesy lights underneath the dash on both sides do work properly so that is why I never pursued this issue)

2.The car has some minor water leakage into the trunk area when you wash the car. Comes from the small panel behind back window.

(It is only a little bit and it puddles on top of the rubber trunk liner. Easily wiped up with a towel. Almost all 2ndgen F-bodies have this condition. (The trunk floor is solid and original)

3. The A/C blower motor works on the three lower speeds but not on high. Just discovered high speed not working when I went to the last car show on 4/22. I think it is the switch.

4. The new stereo cuts in and out when in USB mode with the engine running. It is fine when the engine is off. I tried to fix this condition by adding a ground strap from the engine to the firewall. Also added a heavy ground wire from the engine to the body. New high-end low resistance MSD race plug wires installed as well. All of that helped but did not solve problem completely. It is probably interference from the Streetfire / MSD ignition box. The radio plays fine as well as Aux 1, Aux 2, and Bluetooth modes.

5. It is a PIA to change the oil filter due to the header clearance. That could be solved by installing a remote oil filter kit. Or, I have read in researching this issue that there are alternate oil filter part numbers that allow the filter to get past the header tubes as those filters have a slightly smaller case diameter. I have not tried that however. Another option is to remove the headers and reinstall the original cast iron manifolds. I have them and they are included with the car.

If you are looking for a "perfect" '77 Trans Am, this is not the one for you. You would need to spend $50,000 or more for that. But, if you’re looking for a great affordable classic muscle car, you have found it! Included are all the original owner’s manuals in the glove box. Also, an original GM factory demo 8-track tape unopened and still in plastic wrap.

If you go towww.nadaguides.comand click on the classic car tab, look up a 1977 Trans Am 2 door coupe, with aPontiac400 engine with A/C. here is what you will see:

Values

Value Type Definitions

The current valuation tool through Hagerty Classic Car insurance shows the following:

#1 Concours$47,700

Condition #1 vehicles are the best in the world. The visual image is of the best vehicle, in the right colors, driving onto the lawn at the finest concours. Perfectly clean, the vehicle has been groomed down to the tire treads. Painted and chromed surfaces are mirror-like. Dust and dirt are banned, and materials used are correct and superbly fitted. The one word description for #1 vehicles is "concours."

#2 Excellent$35,800

#2 vehicles could win a local or regional show. They can be former #1 vehicles that have been driven or have aged. Seasoned observers will have to look closely for flaws, but will be able to find some not seen by the general public. The paint, chrome, glass and finishes will all appear as excellent. No excessive smoke will be seen on startup, no unusual noises will emanate from the engine. The vehicle will drive as a new vehicle of its era would. The one word description for #2 vehicles is "excellent."

#3 Good$19,300

#3 vehicles could possess some, but not all of the issues of a #4 vehicle, but they will be balanced by other factors such as a fresh paint job or a new, correct interior where applicable. #3 vehicles drive and run well, but might have some incorrect parts. These vehicles are not used for daily transportation but are ready for a long tour without excuses, and the casual passerby will not find any visual flaws. "Good" is the one word description of a #3 vehicle.

#4 Fair$12,300

#4 vehicles are daily drivers, with flaws visible to the naked eye. The chrome might have pitting or scratches, the windshield might be chipped. Paintwork is imperfect, and perhaps the body has a minor dent. Split seams or a cracked dash, where applicable, might be present. No major parts are missing, but the wheels could differ from the originals, or other non-stock additions might be present. A #4 vehicle can also be a deteriorated restoration. "Fair" is the one word that describes a #4 vehicle.

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I have this car priced realistically and priced to sell! It will surely go up in value as the years go by. A great investment if you keep it even just a few years. The values on these T/A's just keeps going up and up, especially in the last few years.

My Buy-It-Now price is $23,875 which is $11,000 less than NADA average retail.Price is discounted due to the non-standard, non-factory paint with some minor flaws. Again, the car is still in much better condition than "average retail".Way better than what NADA average retail describes as a "20 footer". Hagerty says it's worth considerably more. I have done my research and I have seen many late 70's Trans Am's for sale here on eBay and elsewhere that are priced at $25,000 and up and they arenot even closeto the condition that mine is in. If you buy it and enter it into car shows, you will win…I did over a dozen times. Check out the pics!Also, the engine is a Pontiac 400, NOT an Oldsmobile 403.

Extras: Besides the original cast iron exhaust manifolds, also included is the original oil pan, valve covers, intake manifold, carburetor, shifter and steering wheel if you want them. Also included are all the trophies the car has won and dash plaques if you want them. Additionally, the ’77 Pontiac factory repair manuals, illustrated parts breakdown, pictures and much other Trans Am info is included on a DVD. Lastly, a box with a bunch of other miscellaneous parts, four spare K&N oil filters and a small 2 oz. glass jar with touch-up paint also come with it.

Also, I will leave my 8GB USB thumb drive in the glove box that is plugged into the USB port for the car stereo. It has nothing but lots and lots of 60's / 70's and 80's songs on it. Rock / Pop & Motown.

This car is always a super crowd pleaser at shows! I wish I had a nickel for every picture that was taken.

I literally have "hundreds" of hours of labor in this car over the last eight years. The car also has thousands, upon thousands of dollars worth of new parts in it. The only reason I am selling the car now is that my interests have changed. I want to buy a modern muscle car and I only have room to garage one car. I would be confident to drive this car anywhere in the country.

You could fly in and drive it home. I would be willing to pick you up from either one of our two local regional airports.

I am a retired U.S. Air Force cargo aircraft mechanic. I am also retired from The Boeing Company as an aircraft Field Service Representative. I have been working on cars, boats, and airplanes for over 40 years.

I’m sure that I have left some things out and there is much more I can tell about the car such as its history, etc. If you have any questions at all you can call me on my cell at 850-543-5502 or use eBay’s “Ask seller a question”.

Car is for sale locally and I reserve the right to cancel the listing if it sells.

Just some added info for prospective buyers to make it clear. The car hasNorust anywhere on any of the body panels. The front fenders, doors, rear quarter panels, hood, trunk, roof, areas around the windows, etc. are rust free. The cowl area forward of the windshield is also rust free. The body panels alsodo nothave any "patchwork" either. There is "none"-"zero" bubbling of previous rust repair on any body panels. The only "bondo" on the car is what was used to smooth surfaces. All body panels are 100% solid original metal. The left rear quarter panelwasreplaced when the car was in the shop during the bodywork process 11 years ago.

Also important to mention is the fact that the car has NO over-spray of paint anywhere. The car was completely disassembled during the body work and paint process. All body parts were painted separately and then the car was reassembled.

I would be willing to take additional photos of any areas of the car and e-mail them to you if you like. eBay would only let me post 24 photos. I hope that all this information answers your questions in advance. Prospective buyers are welcome to come and inspect the car prior to purchase.

On Apr-30-17 at 19:01:53 PDT, seller added the following information:

Today, 4/30/2017, I just happened to look underneath the car and saw that there was about 2-3 drops worth of oil in the drip pan that I have had under the engine and trans for the last 8 years. It is the first time that I have ever seen anything in there. The drops were directly underneath the front of the engine behind harmonic balancer. I drove the car to a car show on April 22nd. It was a 65 mile round trip. Since I parked the car back in the garage I now see these few drops of oil. I think I have not driven the car enough since I have owned it. I feel that I have to disclose this information. I want to be 100% honest in my description of this listing because that's just how I roll. The car has Zero fluid leaks otherwise. I wiped up those oil drops in the drip pan with a paper towel and have not seen any other drips since. Just because of this tiny oil leak I am reducing the Buy-It-Now price by $1000. I have reduced the reserve by the same amount, I would still not hesitate to drive the car anywhere in the country.