You Need This: A Pontiac Trans Am in special-order Sundance Yellow

SEADave said:

I am kind of at a loss on the "special-ordered" color on this one.  You could get a 79 in eleven colors, but only 9 of them on a Trans Am.   This is one of those 9 colors, and the decals are in the "standard" color for that exterior color (ie not D60 override).   So I'm not sure how that is any more special-order than any other 79 Trans Am in any other color combo.   Anyhow, not to nit-pick but it also has the wrong shaker call-out (403 should say "6.6 Litre") and an 81 fuel door.   

For your viewing pleasure, here are some D60 override  79's (non-recommended decal colors for the body color):

Not sure about the blue with orange (unless you’re a Mets or Knicks fan) but that red/gold, gold/black and yellow/black looks hawt. 

Keith Tanner said:

How could you want this car and NOT want the chicken? That's like saying you want a Superbird but without the wing.

Apparently some people back then did ask for the Superbird wing to be removed.

SEADave said:

I am kind of at a loss on the "special-ordered" color on this one.  You could get a 79 in eleven colors, but only 9 of them on a Trans Am.   This is one of those 9 colors, and the decals are in the "standard" color for that exterior color (ie not D60 override).   So I'm not sure how that is any more special-order than any other 79 Trans Am in any other color combo.   Anyhow, not to nit-pick but it also has the wrong shaker call-out (403 should say "6.6 Litre") and an 81 fuel door.   

For your viewing pleasure, here are some D60 override  79's (non-recommended decal colors for the body color):

Y'all are smashing the concept of the "Boomer Board".

In reply to GCrites :

As legend has it, the Superbird/Daytona was not a good seller for dealers. Ditto the Cobra and, much later, the M coupe and M3 LTW.

A 2nd Gen Trans Am without the Firechicken blazing on the hood is just wrong. If that's what you're looking for, just buy a Camaro! 

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't TA 6.6 mean 400 Pontiac instead of the much more common 403 Olds (6.6 Litre)?  Why they rolled the 'r' and 'e' I'll never understand.  More European?

This might be one of the better ones if Pontiac engined.  

Keith Tanner said:

How could you want this car and NOT want the chicken? That's like saying you want a Superbird but without the wing.

Well there were some documented cases of dealers un-Superbirding them.  The rear window is the telltale.  It's hard to undo.

A 401 CJ said:

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't TA 6.6 mean 400 Pontiac instead of the much more common 403 Olds (6.6 Litre)?  Why they rolled the 'r' and 'e' I'll never understand.  More European?

This might be one of the better ones if Pontiac engined.  

The "TA 6.6" is not only just for Pontiac 400 equipped cars, but only for the ones with the special high performance W72 version.    It's academic anyhow because by 79 the only Pontiac 400 you could get was a W72, and then only with a manual.   Out of all 79 Trans Am's almost 81% had the 403/automatic, and only 7% had the 400/4-speed.  It doesn't add to to 100% because people (rightfully) forget they also made 301 powered Trans Ams in 79.  

In reply to SEADave :

Exactly. A lot of the time when people re-apply the decals, they go for the "T/A 6.6" ones because it looks cooler. That's what someone did with mine. In '79, it was either 6.6 Litre (403 cars) or T/A 6.6 (W72 400 cars). I read somewhere that the cars with the 4.9/301 didn't get shaker decals, but I'm not sure how true that is. 

Tony Sestito said:

In reply to SEADave :

Exactly. A lot of the time when people re-apply the decals, they go for the "T/A 6.6" ones because it looks cooler. That's what someone did with mine. In '79, it was either 6.6 Litre (403 cars) or T/A 6.6 (W72 400 cars). I read somewhere that the cars with the 4.9/301 didn't get shaker decals, but I'm not sure how true that is. 

I know the Turbo cars had Turbo 4.9 on the hood bulge. I swear I've seen T/A-4.9 Shaker hoods, but I'm not sure if those were a later non-OEM addition or not. Realistically, I don't know why you'd want to brag to the world that you got a 4.9L N/A Trans Am. I was at a car show this fall looking through the car corral and there was aa decent-looking 1979 Trans Am project (still in primer, but complete) and the guy was trying to sell it to me and got going on about how he had "just had the engine rebuilt, new head gaskets, new rings, valves were ground, new water pump, new oil pump, all new crank and rod bearings" and finally I go "Well, what engine does it have?" and he said it had a 4.9L. I couldn't stop myself and I just went "Why?" He gave me a look and just walked away. But why spend all that money overhauling an absolutely wretched, gutless engine? 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

I think my favorite out of all of the 2nd gens Trans-Am's would be the car from McQ.  And I cannot imagine wanting a chicken sticker on the hood of that car.  Probably with a good running 350 from any of GM's brands and a manual transmission with overdrive.

This is probably why a yellow late 2nd gen, chicken or not, is really not my cup of tea.  And the orange chicken on the car that started this thread is just too much for me.  I really prefer the the '77 front clip to these later cars as well.  

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

I failed to mention this: I appreciate the non-Trans Am cars as well. Jim Rockford's brown Firebird comes to mind as a favorite, McQ's Trans Am is cool, and the Formula cars are also mega cool. One of my all-time favorite 2nd Gens is the sleepy 1973 Formula SD455. Look at these! I especially like them without the spoilers. So clean and innocuous. 



You could also get them with steelies and dogs. That rules. 



But when it comes to the full-boat Trans Am, it almost feels weird not having the hood bird, unless it's a 1970-72 car with the stripes. To me, it's a full-size Hot Wheels car, and it might as well look the part! YMMV, of course. 

In reply to NickD :

I think the 1980-81 cars without the turbo had those decals, and I would also think the 1979 ones with the "credit" 4.9/4-speed combo would have the same. I kinda did a double-take when I read that, so I'm not sure how true it is. 

There's a guy around here with a MINT 1980 Trans Am with 20k original miles on it, and it has the 4.9 N/A. It looks nearly identical to mine; silver with a red interior, but I'd much rather have my PontiMutt 400 mess than that anemic 4.9. He's been trying to sell it for years, and no one wants it.

The Turbo 4.9 on the other hand is a curiosity and I'd love to have one. I really wish they developed that engine more like they had planned. 

Dog-dish hubcaps on these seems odd.  Rally II's do it for me.  I don't really know what separates a Trans-Am from a Firebird for the 2nd gen cars though I figured more decals were available with the Trans-Am.

In reply to Tony Sestito :

A good friend bought an Admiralty Blue 1974 SD-455 Trans Am new back in the day.  He just sold it a year or two ago, I think it had only about 25,000 miles on it.  At the same time another friend had a 1972 455HO T/A.  Those were the days...

I don't have a problem with the outside BUT WHHHHHHYYYYY does everybody pair yellow paint with a tan interior?!

Worst combination ever!

In reply to Duke :

Cooler in the summer? I do hear you. My preference would be yellow over black.

Although this combo does look pretty sweet....

I am so over black interiors in the summertime.