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This TA was so amazing and I have had so few examples of these TAs I
chose to add several pics of this one. Its in truly rare condition and gives
the viewer a spectacular view of just how breath-taking these cars were when
they were new.
What's more amazing is this is a 1 of 20 Special Edition Trans Am coded Y84.
It was built with the 400/4-speed combo at the Van Nuys plant in California.
That plant only produced 20 400/4-speed cars, 68 400/autos, and 210
403/autos. Options include the Fisher T-Tops, WS6 package, 3.32
Safe-T-Track differential, A/C, power steering, power brakes, power locks,
rear defrost, power trunk, tilt, Lombardy Velour seats, tinted glass, 15x8
snowflake rims, and the space saver spare to name a few.
Of course this is easily the most recognizable Trans Am of
all time to just about anyone born in the last 30 years. The idea for the
car was actually founded by John Schinella who was assigned chief designer
for the Firebird in 1971. He based the paint scheme on the then popular
black and gold John Player Special Formula Gran Prix race cars. Once given
the green light to go ahead with the design from Bill Mitchell John debuted
the first black and gold Trans Am in the 1974 Chicago Auto Show. It featured
an SD455 which was of course Pontiac's champion engine in 1974. With the
positive feedback received from the show car the next step was to release a
Limited Edition run of black and Gold TAs in 1976 to commemorate the 50th
Anniversary of Pontiac. The program was such a success the trend continued
in 1977 and 1978 with the new name Special Edition.
The Special Edition was purely an appearance package during all years. The
WS6 option could be added for suspension enhancements and any of the potent
Pontiac mills along with the Olds 403 could be had. Visual enhancements
included the extra gold striping on various parts of the body, the gold
grills in the front, flat black window reveals, T-Tops, special Gothic Trans
Am lettering, gold tinted instrument bezel, gold tinted spokes on the
steering wheel and gold bird emblem in the center of the steering wheel cap.
Power window equipped cars received a plastic emblem with a gold bird to
cover up the hole where the cranks would have been installed. Gold painted
snowflakes were also added and came in various sizes and designs.
Its a common misconception that all SE TAs came with black interiors. That's
not true, they could be ordered with any color interior. Also while there
never has been a documented non-T-Top SE TA in 1978 there were several built
by the factory in 1977.
This particular S.E. is even more desirable because it sports the
400/4-speed combo. |