Resto-Mod or Ratty Rod? 1979 Pontiac Trans Am
“It’s too late. She’s gone too far . . . She’s come undone” go the song lyrics, and so it is with some of the plastic trim parts on this 1979 Pontiac Firebird, located in Hollywood, FL and for sale here on eBay. The price? Sitting at $9000 with no mention of a reserve and four days to go in the auction. Might be worth a couple of hard looks.
The Pontiac has 87,000 miles on the clock and an automatic transmission backing up a 454 Chevy engine, obviously a replacement for the Tenth Anniversary car’s standard 400 or 403. The Chevrolet engine is supposed to be fast, with a claimed 375 hp, running headers, an aluminum manifold, and a Holley 750 carb. What you don’t know is how well any of this was matched up and who did the work. Where’d the engine come from? is another question. In short, this is a bit of a cobbled-up car (maybe you could give it credit as a resto-mod?), in no way a faithfully maintained anniversary commemoration model. It would be much more valuable stock, but obviously age and use has caught up to this one in a way that left no choice but to swap engines. One issue related to this might be the ability to title the car in your state. It’s subject to California smog check, being from 1979, made more complicated by the replacement engine.
So what do you do—repair the cracks where Pontiac attached moulded fender flares, spoilers, scoops, and the plastic nose? You then have to paint the whole car, most likely. Or do you leave it alone and carry on the originality? Well, originality be darned, because looking at the interior, it seems this old bird has been poorly treated over the years. The state of the carpet will tell you that. No big deal to change it, but it points to more neglect yet to be found. The seats, in addition, look plenty worn and probably in need of re-covering also. The driver’s seat is filthy. Hard to know how it could get this bad.
The engine bay similarly looks in need of help. At the very least, the next owner could undo the 80s cheapo catalogue accessories. Anybody else very suspicious of anyone who uses one of those tiny air cleaner assemblies? Gross. So bid carefully, because while 9K seems cheap, this car has only limited upside in the condition it’s in at present.
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Comments
If that left front fender is metal then the rust indicator is right there to look at. That and the Florida coast location would indicate a big look underneath the car. Quite honestly the price is getting to look a lot larger than it needs to be.
Those ” tiny air cleaners ” mean , ” I’ve beat the snot out of this thing and you are getting the leftover scraps” .
Assuming it stays in FL smog won’t be a hurdle to overcome when it comes time to title.
9K and a lot of work needed is out of my bounds. I have no problem with a restomod and a BBC is certainly not a bad thing but I would need a lower entry price.
For someone else though, good luck and go build a meat car.
Does it come with a complete VHS gift set of “The Dukes of Hazzard”? This would be a hit at the Florida Mom and Uncle Dad car show….
Some artiste in this car’s past tried fairing in the nose, spoiler, side vents and wheel doodads (never knew what to call them – heard they were totally non-functional). Nice idea, but probably involved at least 3 big cans of Bondo.
Ground-in soil on velour upholstery reeks of strange bacterial colonies living where you sit.
Hard pass.
Looks like a 10th Anniversary Trans Am. Pity it’s been left to rot like this.
The plastic flares, spoiler and nose being molded to steel was not done at the factory as suggested by the writer. Getting plastic molded to steel is hard but getting it to last is nearly impossible. The expansion and contraction rate greatly differ, more so in the Florida sun. The only way to make it original again would be to chop off all the plastic parts and replace the panels they were attached to. I won’t even comment on the engine or interior. Already overpriced.
The “bandit” prototype has molded in flares – still with original paint – it started as a ’73, was changed to a ’74 & then a ’76 – including modifying the rear window!
I sure would like to see this car in person to examine it closely —>
https://1973-76transamconcept.com/history.html
It has “molded fender spats instead of the bolt on ones used on the previous TA’s, hoping they would make it into production, but they never did (cost reasons).” Not sure if they are plastic or metal flares.
$9k…😅😅😂😂😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣 I’ll give him $2k
Step 1: Buy car.
Step 2: Regret buying car.