The 1978 Gold Special Edition Trans Am
Lot#1

Another nice looking Y88 Special Edition Gold Trans Am. Johnny Byargeon is the proud owner of this beauty. Johnny says the car is all original except the rims and T-Tops. The originals were stolen. He also plans on beginning a full restoration on the car as well as a rebuild on the 400.

This gold Special Edition Trans Am is owned by Bob Snapka. The bird comes with the 220hp 400c.i. engine, an automatic Performance Turbo 350 tranny,  WS6 Trans Am Special Performance Package, Fisher T-Tops, Power Windows, Power Door Locks, A/C, and cruise control. The engine has been rebuilt, balanced and blueprinted with Rhoads Lifters. Interior upgrades include Recaro Seats and a Hurst His/Hers Shifter. Four wheels disc brakes provide the stopping power and a 3.08 rear end gets the power to the pavement. Sub-frame connectors have been added as well as new Urethane bushings throughout the suspension. Both sets of front and rear springs have been lowered, the battery has been relocated to the trunk and a new set of 265/50/15s are mounted on the factory 15"x8" snowflake aluminum rims. Whew that makes for a nice cruise don't ya think.

John Greenough's Trans Am is a beautiful low-mileage (96K) example of a Y88 Gold Special Edition. An interesting fact about John's TA is that all the decals are not decals at all but rather hand-painted versions. He had the car repainted and could not locate the original decals at a reasonable price so he hired someone to hand paint the decals on. According to John it took the guy over 300 hours to complete. That's dedication!! The car was repainted Aztec Pearl Essence Gold. Under the hood the TA remains somewhat stock. The car still boasts its original 400c.i. engine and 4-speed transmission. Straight dual exhausts were installed and the carburetor was rebuilt. A K&N filter was added and the shaker scoop was cut out to allow for cold airflow into the carb. The distributor was re-curved with an HO curve kit and four KYB shocks were added. Ride and handling was improved with the installation of urethane bushings and an extra heavy duty rear sway bar. The car was refinished by AJ's Auto Bodyshop on Beaver St. Framingham, MA 01701. Their telephone number is 1-508-875-1877 and ask for Jim Thompson. E-mail: John Greenough John recently provided new pics!!

This Special Edition gold Trans Am came equipped with a set of T-Tops and snowflake wheels. This particular paint scheme was actually an appearance package offered about mid-year. It was given the option code Y88 and was called the Gold Special Edition. Besides the Solar Gold paint the package also added unique body striping and a new bird on the hood. Nothing changed cosmetically for the Trans Am between '77 and '78. Most of the changes came in engine and tranny combinations, new colors, and new equipment.

This is a good picture of the Y88 Gold Special Edition Trans Am. T-Tops were originally introduced into the Firebird's options group in 1976 on the 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Trans Am. At that time the Tops were manufactured by Hurst. Hurst continued to manufacture T-Tops into the 77' model year but during this same year Fisher also began to manufacture them. By 1978 Fisher was the sole supplier of the glass tops. The two tops are easily distinguishable from each other. The Hurst tops are smaller, the rear edge does not completely extend to the sail panel and the glass was rimmed by a thick rib of chrome. They also did not extend as far across the roof as the Fishers. Lastly they can easily be identified by Hurst's logo etched into the glass which looks like this:  H/H. In contrast the Fisher tops are larger, they extend farther across the roof and all the way to the sail panel. The edge is trimmed with a thin strip of dark metal. I believe the color was achieved by anodizing the metal. Lastly these tops can be identified by locating the word "Fisher" etched into the glass. Photo courtesy of Mark Allbaugh.

This fantastic Y88 Solar Gold S.E. Trans Am belongs to Brent Enman. Brent writes: "This is my '78 solar gold TA. It features a rare code 19N factory custom black interior , a factory 4-speed with a 3:73 rear, WS-6 option and Fisher T-Tops. Car is fully documented and original (has fresh paint however)."

This gold Y88 Trans Am is owned by Eric Schattschneider. Eric writes:      "This past summer I kind of started looking around for a Trans Am. Not really to buy, but just looking to see what was out there. I looked at two others before I found this one. The first car I looked at was a 1980 Trans Am turbo. The car was in real rough shape and he wanted $2200 dollars. The next car I looked at was a 1979 Trans Am. It was an Arizona car. It had a 455 with a 4-speed in it. The body and frame was in excellent condition. He wanted $3500. I was going to buy it, then the guy before me bought it. So I finally was getting over my Trans Am kick until I saw on the Internet a 1978 Y88 4-speed. I almost fell over. To find out it was only 1 hour from me. As you can see there is a bit of rust on the quarters and a little bondo. Not bad at all. That will all be replaced with sheet metal patches. Also a car had bumped the passenger door. The engine is a rebuilt 400. I did number crunching on it and it turns out the motor is a 1975 block. I guess I can deal with it. It has been rebuilt and runs very strong. I added a Performer intake and Performer carb by Edlebrock. I can say Edlebrock makes better carbs than Holley. The frame is perfect, so is the trunk. The seats have no tears in them whatsoever, and they are pretty clean. I am still going to get them refinished this summer anyway. I have put a new carpet in it, along with new tires and front springs. I also plan on replacing the rear springs (Air shocks keeping it in the air now). The car did leak some coolant when I got it and also a service guy tried to put a new power steering line in it. It leaked like no tomorrow. I pulled it apart and you could see dirt in the threads, so that is why it leaked. Also the pump leaked and I took care of that. She runs great though. There are no cracks in the dash or console at all. As you can see I have the original window sticker so it is the real mcoy. The price you ask? $2500 dollars. I always wanted to have a Trans Am with a 4-speed and now I have a Y88 4-speed." Email me with questions: Eric Schattschneider