The Premier Firebird Trans Am Gallery

The 1977 Special Edition Trans Am
Lot#1


 

 Black Trans Am (199,631 bytes)

Black Trans Am (155,660 bytes)

Black Trans Am (134,802 bytes)

Black Trans Am (213,561 bytes)

Black Trans Am (144,110 bytes)

Black Trans Am (75,765 bytes)

Black Trans Am (260,411 bytes)
This Special Edition Trans Am is owned by Greg Vassar. Greg writes:

     "I'll tell you the story behind this Trans AM.

When I was in 11th Grade back in 1977, I worked at the indoor theater and Smokey and the Bandit came out. I must have seen that movie about 50 times. Ever since that movie came out I've always wanted a 1977 Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am. Well, 25 years later I finally purchased one. This Trans Am was a total restoration done by Raymond (Chip) Farr from Gonzales, Louisiana. It wasn't a frame off restoration, but it was close to it. I flew down to look at the TA and had the Bank Check in my pocket to make the final deal if it was what I wanted. Chip opened the garage door and my jaw dropped to the garage floor. I said where do I sign... It took Chip about 2 1/2 years to complete the all matching numbers, all GM restoration. A Comp Cam was replaced in the engine to give the Manual 4-Speed Hurst Shifter Pontiac 400 ci 6.6 liter a rating of 350HP. The dash was sent to California to Just Dashes. The upholstery was redone with original upholstery found from 1977 on a roll in Pontiac Michigan. The trunk carpet is from Buds Auto Carpet. The TA was shipped from Louisiana to Minnesota via (DAS) Dependable Auto Shippers in an enclosed semi. The Trans AM originally was purchased in 1977 in Minnesota, then it was purchased by someone and went to Oklahoma, then Chip purchased it for $5,000 and it went to Louisiana for the restoration. Now it's back in Minnesota. This Trans Am was worth the 25 year wait. Good things come to those who wait I guess. When I was 17, I couldn't wait to buy one, but just couldn't afford it. Now I finally have it."

Thanks!
Greg

Check out the 6th pic in the set. Its a pic taken of the TA before the restoration. Pretty rough!! The last pic is a poster Greg created himself with several pics of the TA during and after the resto. Its big and may take a bit to d/l. I left it big on purpose.

 


 

Black & Gold S.E. Trans Am A good shot of the front end of a Special Edition "Bandit" Trans Am. The '77 year model saw the end of single headlights for second generation TAs. It also saw the end of a shaker scoop that was either functional or could be easily modified to be functional. The shaker scoop was made of fiberglass and was completely sealed. The only option you had to make it functional was to cut holes in the fiberglass. I have seen all kinds of modifications to these scoops. One such mod is  to drill small holes into the area where the scoop should have been open, to allow for increased airflow. On yet other scoops I have seen the entire area cut out.

 


 

Black Trans Am (131,006 bytes)

Black Trans Am (135,588 bytes)

Black Trans Am (123,235 bytes)

Black Trans Am (101,229 bytes)

Black Trans Am (117,948 bytes)
With the release of "Smokey and the Bandit", the Bandit Special Edition black and gold Trans Am would become one of the most popular, most well known muscle cars of all time. The movie and the car generated an almost cult-like following. The movie and its popularity didn't hurt sales either. There were more Trans Ams sold in '77 and '78 than ever before, 93,351 to be exact. The movie was my own personal "first-exposure" to these awesome cars and probably like many other youths at the time I promised myself I would own one someday.

This particular SE was built in May of 1977 and shipped to Canada. It came with the M21 close ration 4-speed, GR70x15 Steel Belted Tires, 15x7 Snowflake Rims, Custom Air Conditioning, Heavy Duty Battery, Electric Rear Defrost, Soft Ray Glass (all windows), Additional Acoustical Insulation, Lamp Group, Front and Rear Floor Mats, Power Door Locks, Power Windows, AM Radio, Y-82 Special Edition Package including Hurst T-Tops, Deluxe Interior, Tilt Steering Column, Custom Trim Group, Mandatory Canadian Equipment, and T/A 6.6 Litre 400 W72 Motor.

 


 

  Here's an interesting pic of a '77 Limited Edition Trans Am. Two engines were offered for the Trans Am in '77. The L78 Pontiac 400 rated at 180hp or the W72 Pontiac 400 rated at 200hp. Trans Ams built in California came only with the L80 Oldsmobile 403 rated at 185hp. The Oldsmobile mill was only available to California and high altitude TAs. Also if a 4-speed was wanted the W72 400 was the only engine that could be had. An interesting fact about these confusing engine combos (and sometimes an easy way to tell what you've got) is that the L78 and L80 (Olds) TAs received a "6.6 Litre" decal on the shaker scoop while the more powerful W72 built TAs received a "T/A 6.6" decal on the shaker scoop.

 


 

77ta22.jpg (21740 bytes) This looks like a promotional graphic of a '77 S.E. Trans Am perhaps from some dealer literature. The "Special Edition" option was informally known as the "Blackbird" option at the time. A total of 15,567 of these T/As would be built by the end of the model year run.

 


 

77ta31.1.jpg (118831 bytes)

77ta31.2.jpg (114975 bytes)

77ta31.3.jpg (124824 bytes)
This is a very special edition to the site. This is one of the Special Edition "Bandit" Trans Ams owned by Burt Reynolds. You can easily see the special "Bandit" graphic on the driver's door in the first shot. The pics were submitted by Scott Reid who owned it briefly before selling it to a collector in Canada. Scott writes:

     "In July I Found a '77 S/E that was loaded, it happened to be Burt Reynolds' personal car! I'm enclosing a few pictures for you and yes it really was Burt's car. I had the documentation to prove it, original title with Burt's signature, the auction slip and newspaper articles with the persons name listed as the buyer, a brochure from Burt's home with he and his son sitting on the car (you can see those pictures on the Bandit club site) and a few more things."

Thanks Scott, for sharing these pics with us. Scott owns a 1979 SE Trans Am that can be seen at 1979 Special Edition Trans Ams Lot#1.



 

S.E. Trans Am (61428 bytes)

S.E. Trans Am (173316 bytes)

S.E. Trans Am (142556 bytes)

S.E. Trans Am (71761 bytes)

S.E. Trans Am (173274 bytes)
The pics of this S.E. Trans Am were graciously provided to me by the former owner. The car was sold recently in January of 2002. The former owner describes the condition of the car at time of sale:

     "This is a 1977 Y82-Special Edition (Bandit) T/A. The car was 1 of 2,699 W72 4spd S/Es built in '77 and had just 28,500 actual/original miles on it when I sold it in January of 2002."

The former owner now owns a spectacular low-mileage white '79 Trans Am that can be seen at the '79 Firebirds Lot#4.