I'm a glutton for pain and suffering.

So, I have a dream that one day I will own a 1977-1978 Pontiac Firebird. I have a dream that all Pontiac Firebirds are created equal so long as they all have T-tops, the gold snowflake wheels, shaker hoods and screamin' chicken on the hood. It can be any color as long as the color is black. *queue the rolling stones song*

So here's why I'm a glutton for pain, suffering and misery. I return to the good ol' USA in two years, and I'm in a position to afford one that's in the fixer-upper condition. I've seen rolling shells in good condition for $1500-$3000 depending on how pristine it is. Running cars that need a rear window or some other random thing often range in the $5000-$8000 range, completely restored cars I'm priced out of in the $15000-$25000 price tag. I'm more of the $20 dollars in my pocket to pop tags kinda guy so I'll be doing work... and for me that's not a problem. I know my around a wrench well enough to rebuild this car, besides it feels good to start a car that you just rebuilt. Also, Roadkill/MTOD is making a new series on how to rebuild a motor. I can't screw it up now, can I?

I can browse craigslist all day long and hit every major city to find them, but that's a pain to browse through. eBay can throw some good ones out as well, but it's mostly some schmuck trying to make a buck by selling the uglier 1980's for $22k.

So, GRM. Where do you go to shop for all of your dream cars/project cars?

Asking for a friend two years in the future.

Help me live out my childhood Smokey and the Bandit dreams.

Thanks for reading!

I've bought almost all my cars in the last decade off of craigslist.  Keeping an eye out on the classifieds here (and having cash in hand when the time is right) will help too.

Ready with cash in hand.

Watch local sales on craigslist

Join a local club if there is one, and put the word out what you are looking for.

Also tell any of your car guy buddies. Never hurts to have other sets of eyes on the lookout. 

There is a second generation Trans Am forum.  I'm on there, and so is John (NOTATA).   Join up and start reading and participating in threads, they know everything there is to know about Trans Ams.   

Does your car have to be a genuine Y82 special edition?   Because those have really gone up in value.  If you have to repaint the car anyhow any TA can be black with gold graphics.   

Also, if you are seeing fully restored 77/78 SE Trans Ams for $15-25k, you would be time and money ahead just getting one of those.   You couldn't restore one for close to $15k.   

no idea that those options were a special edition. prefer to have t-tops and the shaker hood on already but i'll settle for just t-tops. I'm willing to paint the car how i like or live with the current paint if its good.

I just want a 77-78 to daily and have fun with, call it blasphemy if you will but i believe cars should be DRIVEN and not sitting in a garage for 8 years half way put together or just polished its entire life.

seems like general answer is to sit and wait patiently with money to buy. maybe a road trip is in the future on my way back to the greatest nation on earth, EVER.

The sad reality:

I of all people know about the value proposition of building a car so that it is "Yours", so take this with the grain of salt it is intended for:

The reality is that rather than actually building the car in your garage, you should do a "Virtual Build". 

Go ahead and garner the funds to buy the project car. Say $2000. Now go on line and find a well described example and pretend you bought it. But....Rather than giving your $2000 to the seller, go stick it in the bank as the "Trans-Am" account. Pretend that, rather than a garage, your Trans-Am is worthy of being built in a bank vault.

Now go figure out what you want to do with "Your" Trans-Am. Daydreaming, bar-stool racing on the forums and Google surfing for parts and ideas is fun in itself....You want a new engine? Dream it up, price out the parts and labor and tools that it will cost, save up for the parts and when you actually have the $$$  for the engine or a component, put that into the account. Congratulations, "Your" car now has an engine.

Repeat for every single system on the car.

About halfway to having "Your" car finished, ( guessing about the point where you start to save for the paint job) you are going to realize that your account has enough money to buy the best Trans-Am on the planet.

The other bonus of the virtual build is that should you ever give up, you wont suffer the 75% "Unfinished Project" tax when you go to sell. You might have actually earned a bit of interest and be ahead, thus making your build an investment.

All Trans Ams from 77 and 78 will come with a shaker hood.   Base models and Esprits came with flat hoods, and Formulas got hoods with two (fake) scoops.  

In those years, lots of TA's have T-tops, and there are at least two types, Hurst and Fisher.   The "classic" black and gold Trans Am like the one Burt Reynolds pulled out of the trailer of his semi is a special edition, RPO code Y82 with Hurst tops.  You could also get a black TA with gold decals that wasn't a special edition.  Hitman's site has a good rundown on what makes an SE an SE:

http://www.hitmantransam.com/Sliders/special.htm

In reply to NOHOME :

Well my Ascona project is coming to a close, I think. I've got 4-ish saved up right now and could probably hit another 4 before I leave, add in a small personal loan from USAA and I could have a running driving TA Firebird in the driveway with a little patients and still have $$$ in the bank if things go south. Once I hit CONUS the ability to stock up and save money will be slightly ridiculous with the extra cash I SHOULD be able to save up. Plan for now is to just have a running driving car, I'm sure procharger dreams with LSD's will come in due time. The good news is that GM parts are relatively cheap and being an F body I'm sure there will be plenty of cross over. Elco could be a test bed if the wife allows me to play with the car.... doesn't seem promising at the moment. She loves her G-bodies.If I'm honest wife suggested what you're advising me while it was sitting in the back of my head, maybe I'll open up yet another USAA account just for saving up on a Firebird. $150 a month won't hurt that much and it'll keep me from spending money, if all fails I'll still have more cash right?

In reply to SEADave :

Thanks for the info man, now I know to just look for the "hurst" top. Rest of it looks like logos/paint on a 'real' special edition. I'm plenty ok with fooling myself into believing that i have a special edition when I don't. appreciate it!

Turbo-focus:

Just so we are clear. I rarely follow my own advice; I know what is right, but I just use that as a compass to do wrong.

In reply to NOHOME :

Part of it is owning what I can afford. If all I can swing is 3k when I get back, that what I'll do.

I'm not terrible at saving money either. I've got 15% of my money that I never see already going to retirement. Besides if I'm gonna do it, might as well go full nuclear right?

When I read the thread title, I thought you wanted to buy a neglected Audi...

Otherwise, recommendations are fairly standard. Buy the nicest car you can afford. Ebay. Craigslist. Facebook groups have become great source for cheap cars. Maybe even more so than Craigslist. Keeping your eyes open while driving - these are still fairly common cars and it's surprising how many projects I'll see with For Sale signs sitting in folks' driveways.

Where are you located?  We are excellent "enablers" on this forum and more than happy to post links to cars we find.

I  understand the nostalgia aspect but if it were me I'd go for one without T-Tops...they make the body less rigid, and  increase the chances that water leaks have caused even more body rust than you're almost sure to find.  Also, If you're on a budget and decide to get a non-T/A Firebird instead, I don't think they were even available on anything but a T/A (they maybe were available on Formulas, I can't remember.)

Another place you can look is http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/forums/ It's the biggest Pontiac web board out there. They have separate technical advice and for sale sections for each generation of Firebirds.

NOHOME said:

The sad reality:

I of all people know about the value proposition of building a car so that it is "Yours", so take this with the grain of salt it is intended for:

The reality is that rather than actually building the car in your garage, you should do a "Virtual Build". 

Go ahead and garner the funds to buy the project car. Say $2000. Now go on line and find a well described example and pretend you bought it. But....Rather than giving your $2000 to the seller, go stick it in the bank as the "Trans-Am" account. Pretend that, rather than a garage, your Trans-Am is worthy of being built in a bank vault.

Now go figure out what you want to do with "Your" Trans-Am. Daydreaming, bar-stool racing on the forums and Google surfing for parts and ideas is fun in itself....You want a new engine? Dream it up, price out the parts and labor and tools that it will cost, save up for the parts and when you actually have the $$$  for the engine or a component, put that into the account. Congratulations, "Your" car now has an engine.

Repeat for every single system on the car.

About halfway to having "Your" car finished, ( guessing about the point where you start to save for the paint job) you are going to realize that your account has enough money to buy the best Trans-Am on the planet.

The other bonus of the virtual build is that should you ever give up, you wont suffer the 75% "Unfinished Project" tax when you go to sell. You might have actually earned a bit of interest and be ahead, thus making your build an investment.

 

That should probably be stickeyed advise, but not many would follow it on this forum.

In reply to D2W :

Not with you dirty enablers.

I mean we do enough bench racing here that I don't want to have to really spend the money on it in advance :P