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Like New 1979 Pontiac Trans Am Headed To Arizona Auction

The Pontiac Firebird debuted five months after the Chevrolet Camaro, bowing in February of 1967. Both the Firebird and Camaro were built in response to the Ford Mustang. In March of 1969, the Trans Am Performance and Appearance package was introduced, named for the Trans Am racing series. Just 689 hardtops and eight convertibles of the 1969 Pontiac Trans Am left the factory.

A decade later, the Pontiac Trans Am had become a legend for the Excitement Division. The Trans Am 455 Super Duty was one of the few shining stars of the 1970s waning-horsepower Malaise Era. Being one of the stars of the Smokey and the Bandit franchise helped Trans Am sales reach new heights. Already enormously popular, the Trans Am sold 68,745 units in 1977, but after the release of the first movie in 1977, sales went through the roof. Pontiac sold 93,351 Trans Ams in 1978 and 117,078 in 1979, when Trans Am sales eclipsed those of the Chevy Camaro for the first time.

Our feature 1979 Pontiac Trans Am is a bit of a unicorn, in that it has only covered 110 miles from new, by a single owner. It is powered by the 400 cubic-inch V8 (the last of the line, the few 1979 400s were holdovers from the previous year) producing 220 horsepower, and backed by a four-speed manual transmission. The 6.6-liter is fed by a Rochester Quadrajet four-barrel carb, features a special cam, 8.1:1 compression (pretty decent for 1979), and exhales through dual exhaust. Only 1,107 copies of the Trans Am Special Edition were built.

The Pontiac Trans Am retains its glossy factory Starlight Black finish, pinstripes and decals. It has gold-tone “snowflake” wheels shod in the original Uniroyal raised-white-letter Steel Belted Radials. The glass is all quite clear, never having been exposed to anything that would compromise it. The weatherstrip appears to be in exceptional condition. There are no nicks, dings, or garage marks observed.

Inside, the Pontiac Trans Am has a Camel Tan interior. The factory Delco AM/FM stereo is still in the dash. The T/A is well equipped with power windows, power locks, power steering, power-assisted disc brakes at all four corners, tilt steering, and T-tops.

The engine bay on the Pontiac Trans Am is in nearly showroom condition, with little patina or deterioration noted. Finishes and componentry on the 400 cubic-inch V8 all appear to be as they left the factory, as one would expect from a car that had covered so little ground from new.

The sale of this Pontiac Trans Am includes the original purchase documents, Manufacturer Statement of Origin, window sticker, owner’s manual, sunvisor sleeve, dealer brochure, license plate bracket, radio manual, and build sheets.

This extraordinary Pontiac Trans Am will cross the auction block at the Mecum Auctions Glendale, Arizona sale March 16th through 19th.

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Comments

  1. What no comments, good article, a little T A history and a great looking car! Better than those stupid car crash and pet stories that Jo Lo puts out! Thank you Brett, your a breath of fresh air!

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  2. Incredible example. I’ll speculate: $225k. Anyone else care to?

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  3. Nice car. Shame nobody really got to enjoy it. It’s great to look at but wouldn’t you rather drive it? Oh, well.

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  4. The General kept performance alive in the Late ’70s. What great effort to make that happen! I very much appreciate our forebears and what they did to make automakers believe in bringing back the fast cars we see today. Well done!

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  5. I really wanted a Firebird in 1979. I was a senior in high school, going 1/2 day and working a full and part time job. Eight hours at Kent’s Department Store, then working the closing hours at a Burger King. Still, after checking over the inventory at the local Pontiac dealership, I could not afford what they had on the lot. The lowest prices were Pontiac Esprit’s that were almost $8000. Base Firebird prices were $5000, so their cars were optioned good. The salesman said he could order one with what I could afford. So base engine and transmission were a 3.8 V6 and 3 speed manual. Since I was driving a 71 Mercury Comet, I figured this would be sufficient. I ordered rear spoiler, white letter tires, Rally II body colored wheels, AM/FM 8-track, lamp group and chose Nocturne Blue as my color. My girlfriend said if I wanted to continue dating her, I should chose A/C. At $570 dollars, this was over 10% of base price! But I relented and ordered A/C. (We are married to this day, so I figure this amount was well spent!) So for $6200, I got my Firebird. It was so slow, but it looked great sitting still.

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    1. I’m surprised you had a girlfriend with a 71 Comet

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      1. LOL, Touché my friend!

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    2. Lol how many people know what the x11 was

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      1. I was working for Chevrolet when these came out. I did purchase a new 1985 X-11 and still have it. I don’t think it’ll ever be worth 10% of this Trans-Am, mostly because I drove it and it has 160K miles on it.

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  6. X11 Fan, Had similar story o yours. Was looking for a New Camaro in 1978. First year of rubber nose. Priced out at $6200 for base v8 auto. Had just started full time job so money was tight. Bought used ’76 for $4100 from GMAC manager, instead. Had 9000 miles. I like the bumpers better anyway. Firebirds were a little more expensive. My wife ordered a 1977 Camaro LT v8 with 3-speed stick and no air for like $5700. Before I knew her.

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  7. I was a senior in 1979 and I worked in the oil fields while a senior in high school I was declared an adult at 17 and I was on my own. I dreamed about a pontiac firebird or trans am but had a green Malibu with white interior until 10 years ago when ai bought a 1998 Trans Am T Top with a LS1 engine and currently at 96K miles. I had to wait till I was 51 and I have owned her 10 years and it was worth it!

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  8. I ordered a 79 gold anniversary TA and was there when it was unloaded with 3 Goodyear tires a one I think was BF Goodrich , no tilt wheel as I had ordered but had cruise it was so pretty I took it anyway , think I paid $8200 for it

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    1. Never heard of gold anniversary

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      1. They had a gold anniversary starting in 76 for the 50th anniversary of Pontiac. In 78 and 79 it was the gold special edition and the black special edition.

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  9. Forgot but the dealer replaced the one tire

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  10. My mom’s best friend had a silver automatic, that she sent me to buy beer with it when I was 14 years old. Great memory.

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  11. I think my favorite after the 68 and 69 model years has to be the 1980 Indy 500 version. I loved the color combination on that car … and if I weren’t married and kids were on their own, I’d probably own one right now! Instead, I’ll just have to settle for my 2009 6-speed G8 GXP

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  12. Why can’t Barra’s GM do special Trans AM and Firebird variants of Camaro? Dodge does various special edition Challengers yet GM lacks the creativity to offer different flavors of their failing muscle car.
    This is by far my favorite generation of the Camaro/Firebird twins. GM seems too distracted with redesigning Cadillac’s badge yearly, naming nomenclature, and the new GM logo to do much else yet meanwhile sales continue to slide.

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    1. For the same reason Boeing can’t bring a new aircraft to market, or update an old one appropriately or on schedule: Because they replaced the competent engineers and designers with woke bean counters that learned from their communist professors how to do everything…except actually accomplish production in the real world.

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      1. Lol yeah man if there’s one thing middle management of giant corporations are chock full of, it’s communists. That totally makes sense! 🤣

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        1. Professors in middle management of giant corporations?? Try reading that again, Stubbe.

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          1. Do the communists also hide in your closet, do they chase you in your dreams?

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            1. Had you set foot on a campus in the last 30 year you would understand colleges and universities are inundated with communist professors, spreading their propaganda and indoctrinating young, impressionable minds.

              I wrote that these companies are now lead not by the thinkers and doers upon which they achieved their prominence, but by the students of the aforementioned communists who know only how to tear down and not build and create.

              They aren’t hiding in closets, they are in plain sight in 2022. You don’t have to believe me, and I don’t care if you do or don’t. But, respectfully, if you aren’t smart enough to comprehend the difference between “communist professors” (what I wrote) and “middle managers,” (what you think you read), find a different hobby and stop wasting our time.

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              1. Just curious, what age were you when you first started noticing symptoms of schizophrenia?

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              2. @ PhD PE
                Don’t mind bill he suffers from a extreme case of white privilege he can’t help himself. If you go look at his previous comments it’s very overwhelming, you can smell it through the screen.

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                1. What’s white privilege?

                  Reply
                  1. It’s when white people employ their intelligence and work hard.

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    2. There’s a shop in Florida that take current Camero’s and transform them into present day Trans Am’s which look every bit like they came from gm.

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  13. I had this same car with the hobnail cloth interior,super fun car to drive wish I still had it. This one will end up being sold for near 6 figures

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  14. Shame it has not been driven. Since Smokey and the Bandit I’ve wanted a T/A. In high school I had a 69 SS Camaro but it was not the same. I used to drive by the Firestone dealer in town and a awesome 1979 two tone silver T/A was always out front. Many years latter I had an itch for a muscle car, but not a Camaro, been there done that. Then one day while driving on the freeway a 1979 two tone silver T/A get on the freeway with a for sale sign on it. I followed the guy home, we talked, I came back with the wife to buy it a drive it home. The whole time she told me she hated the car and would not ride in it. I bought it – Tenth Anniversary T/A. And when I got home I thanked my wife for helping me get a better price by hatting the car. I was informed it was not acting, she hated the car and very seldom rode in it because she could not see over the dash or door! Anyhow, drove it for a spell and sold it to buy a 2002 Thunderbird convertible she did like. Thanks for the memories.

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  15. Ummm 110 miles and the speedo numbers are not lined up. Cough twice and walk away.

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    1. Worked in the car biz back when late-70’s/early 80’s cars were the inventory…was told by one of the old timers back then that if you smack the dash (above the instrument cluster) and the odometer numbers moved, it’s been clocked…I don’t know know how reliable this really is, but whenever a car’s mileage seemed to be too low for the condition, those numbers seemed to always jump, while others didn’t. I always believed in this method. This car is certainly clean enough, but I’d definitely want to smack the dash a few times before placing a bid.

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  16. Had a 1973 Supty duty 455 / white / blue decals, red horse collar seats , auto, full loaded, honey cone wheels, & a 1978 black on black TA 400 fully loaded & auto & a 1979 as featured above with a 403 olds big block & two 1978 Camaro Z28’s both 4 gears , one blue on blue , one black on red ! Regard it today I sold any of them

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  17. Had one in the late ’80s early ’90s. It was a great car. You could actually drift that car. As I recall there were three inches that GM put into that car. All were 6.6, 400s. One was a Pontiac one was a GMC and I’m not sure what the other one was. All I know is that it had tall gears and once up and running it would run at speed well over 130 mph. I put it there several times and noticed that the front end got light. Any more than 130 or 140 and you were skipping the front tires off the road. All the front and aerodynamics were set up wrong.

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  18. My Dad had a blue 79 Trans and I just acquired it. I’m excited to be putting it on the road this year after over 20 years of sitting in a garage.

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  19. I wanted to buy a new 80 Trans am..in 1980..I could not afford.the insurance on the car..it was outrageous high..kept a grand prix.81.instead..odd thing..is in 2015 I was able to buy a 79 Trans am in texas with motor damage.mreturned home and restored the car..now I have a nice gold 79 Trans am car..rj

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