Photos courtesy Mecum
Okay, so you saw the Pontiac Trans Am in the rare Sundance Yellow, but how about a Screaming Chicken against the backdrop of Martinique Blue? Does the color even matter if it has the 400 cubic-inch V8 and other performance goodies? It also has just 6,141 miles on the clock.
[You Need This: A Pontiac Trans Am in special-order Sundance Yellow]
That’s right, it carries a Z-code, 400 with a four-barrel carb. It also comes with a three-speed automatic and a 3.23:1 Saf-T-Track diff.
Furthermore, this Trans Am is well optioned. It came from the showroom with the WS6 Trans Am Special Performance Package. What did you get with that? YJ8 8-inch cast aluminum Snowflake wheels, 225/70R-15 tires, 1.25-inch front stabilizer bar and .75-inch rear stabilizer bar.
It also has all 33 available factory options, too. Among them include: power steering and brakes, power windows and locks, Lamp and Dome Groups, tilt steering, cruise control, full Rally gauges with clock, custom color seatbelts, a full console, air conditioning, a Delco-GM AM/FM/Cassette radio, controlled cycle windshield wipers, remote decklid release, an electric rear window defroster, a visor mirror, floor mats and additional acoustic insulation.
Find this 1978 Pontiac Trans Am on Mecum.
"Performance goodies" that produced a whopping 180-220hp...from 400 cubic inches of displacement, lol.
Nice color, and I always liked the styling of that generation, but sometimes the good ol' days weren't really all that good from a performance standpoint.
Someone will pay the Nostalgia Premium for it, though, and there's nothing wrong with that.
When I picture second-gen Trans-Am, yeah, this might be the one.
And you forgot how different things were back then. This car, for the day, was a beast.
Doesn't look bad, but the previous poster is right - it was a sad time for muscle cars. I get double that horsepower from my lightly modded 2.0 4 cylinder daily driver (also a Pontiac as it happens).
Always love the dash face treatment in these, too. I’ll pull the front plate, though. I get it, it’s a Trans Am.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Well, I'm going to politely disagree by saying no, I didn't forget.
Almost nothing mass produced by the big 3 was a beast during The Malaise Era. It was the first era where the current vehicles performed objectively worse than those of the prior era. At best, a person alive at the time could argue that they were "less slow" than the then-current offerings.
220 wheezing hp (at best) from a 6.6L motor provides a good example for why so many of us flocked to the import market.
It remains what it was: a nice cruiser.
Horsepower numbers be damned, I'd still rock it eight ways from Sunday. Great, unique color just ups it's cool factor.
It certainly wouldn't be difficult to fix the horsepower output on that engine to get performance to match the looks.
My friend had that car in that color in high school. I always thought that was the best color for a TA.
We discussed the Sundance Yellow Trans Am plus some other unconventional colorways a little while back but, yeah, I could easily rock the triple blue.
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