I stumbled on this on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ponti...spagenameZWDVW
It's a very rare - and highly optioned - 1976 Trans-Am 455 4-speed with AC, power locks and electric rear defrost, Honeycomb wheels - the works.
And some unkind/uncouth person has left it to rot like this...
The worst part is it has been sitting for 28 years and it only has 30K miles on it. If someone had just rolled it into a garage and properly stored it 28 years ago, it would be selling for $40K. The thing that scares me about this car, with the super low price some idiot may just scrap it for parts. This car deserves a restoration.
Don't be so quick to judge. A car I know had almost the same fate - it had been bought by a young man, driven only from the dealer to his parents yard, whereupon the young man went overseas with the Army and was killed. The grieving parents ignored all calls from friends to do something with the car - it wasn't until they died that the car could be taken out and restored.Originally Posted by Eric
Don't be so quick to judge. A car I know had almost the same fate - it had been bought by a young man, driven only from the dealer to his parents yard, whereupon the young man went overseas with the Army and was killed. The grieving parents ignored all calls from friends to do something with the car - it wasn't until they died that the car could be taken out and restored.
That's quite common after the two world wars down here.
Could be...Don't be so quick to judge. A car I know had almost the same fate - it had been bought by a young man, driven only from the dealer to his parents yard, whereupon the young man went overseas with the Army and was killed. The grieving parents ignored all calls from friends to do something with the car - it wasn't until they died that the car could be taken out and restored.
According to the ad, the car was parked in 1980 - so only four years old at the time. The part that makes me weep like Iron Eyes Cody is that no one thought to at least roll the thing into a garage (or under a carport) or make some effort to stave off the rot that now consumes it. That car is almost gone now. Just looking at it (and I can do this with second gen. Birds as I know them intimately) I can tell you it will need most of its bodywork replaced. The rust you see is just the beginning. I'd be surprised if even the front subframe (heavy gauge boxed steel) can be saved. The (rare) numbers matching 455 (last year for this engine and only a few hundred of these cars were so equipped) is probably a goner - filled with rust and now a paperweight.
From the looks of things, it will take $40k to bring it back... that's why it will probably be stripped for whatever parts can still be salvaged. One could buy a perfect/restored '76 455 4-speed for the amount it would cost to save this one; maybe less.
PS - Did you notice the unusual interior? If it's original, it has the rare contrasting dash/seat color palette rather than all one color. The electric rear defrost is also a very rare '76 option.
Sheesh....
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