1976 Pontiac Trans Am
1976 Pontiac Trans Am
1976 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
The 1976 Pontiac Firebird Limited edition Trans Am was a special version of Pontiac’s top Pony vehicle, an outgrowth of an idea advised by GM styling chief William L. Mitchell and executed by designer John R. Schinella.
Introduced to commemorate Pontiac’s fiftieth anniversary, the 1976 Pontiac Trans Am was mechanically the same as other Trans Ams — but you could not miss it at streetlevel. It was all black, highlighted by gold striping, grille insert and trim, with gold colored, honeycomb pattern polycast wheels. Within was a gold-anodized instrument panel appliquZ, gold steering wheel spokes, and special upholstery.
A Hurst T-bar roof with smoke-tinted removable glass panels was offered as an extra on 1976 Pontiac Trans Am, but leak problems led Pontiac to curtail installations to just 643. The deliberately restricted production run quickly sold out, which convinced Pontiac to supply a similar treatment under the handle Special Edition for 1977-1979.
These are much more numerous and hence less desirable from the collector standpoint, though they are enormously desirable cars. The big-block 455-cid V-8 disappeared after 1976.
The SD-455, a novel version of the 455 was offered I n 1973 and lasted one year. Using the leftover elements from Pontiac’s 366 NASCAR engine, it was built as a full bore racing engine. With the facility to produce over 540 h.p., the SD-455 needed to be toned down to satisfy the EPA and meet GM’s stern hp policy which needed all GM vehicles to hold the HP under three hundred.
Though manufacturing in final form, 371 HP SAE NET, approximately 440 gross h.p., the PMD engineers listed the SD-455 at 290 HP. The ease with which it may be returned to its 500+ horsepower form was what made this engine so unique. Some consider this SD-455 to be the strongest factory Pontiac engine to ever be produced.
The 1976 Pontiac Trans Am has only ten thousand original miles on the odometer and is completely original and un-restored. It has the factory installed plastic still on the seats and the floor.
Offered for a few more years, the limitations on car emissions at last became too much to the producers. With only a total of 7,100 units produced with the 455 engine, the 1976 Pontiac Trans Am was the final of the ‘Big Cube Birds’.
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