Fred Schramm - Pontiac Power
A little about the car first. This is
a Special Edition Trans Am. You know the one, like Burt drove in "Smokey and the
Bandit". However, this car does not have the T-top roof. The T-top was very
popular and as a result 90% of the Special Editions made came with this option.
So, this non T-top car is quite rare. When you figure in the engine/trans combo,
this car is 1 of 549 made.
With some help from the Bandit Club I have found that there are a few
options
that make this already rare bird even better. The rear
seat console was quite rare for any year Trans Am. I have only seen on a few
cars through the years with these. Another option for this car was the
"downgrade" to Rally II wheels as seen above.
In 1977, the heavy poly-cast Honeycomb wheels were discontinued and were
replaced with the popular cast aluminum Snowflake wheels. These were an extra
cost item but they were standard with the Special Edition Package. This car is
the one of only a very few known Special Editions to have the Rally II's instead
of the Snowflake wheels.
There is a lot of work to do on this car yet. But there is a good foundation to
work from. The least of which is the fact that there are only 64,000 miles on
the odometer. The interior is in great original shape only needing to have the
head liner re-glued, and the drivers seat has some very small wear on the
piping. The rear quarters have been replaced with NOS quarters to fix the rust
that found its way in to them. The floor and frame are solid and have been sand
blasted and painted. The doors are in great shape needing only to be re-aligned.
The original Pontiac W72 400 V8 is no longer with the car after the original
owner blew it up some 20 years ago. Currently a 1972 455 Pontiac takes up
residence between the fenders. The engine has been rebuilt and features a Ram
Air cam, Edelbrock Performer intake and headers. I have a Holley 750 but am not
sure if this will be installed at this time.
Although the car is very complete, There are still many parts needed. I have
been collecting many of the parts needed to finish, most of what I needed from
friends, salvage yards and Ebay. So far I have the AC compressor, lines and
condenser. I have two sets of wheels, a set of correct 15x7" rally II's and
15x7" snowflakes. A very nice set of exhaust spliters. I have also gotten other
various trim and interior parts. And even a set of the "dull" chrome W72 valve
covers. Over the next few months will continue to search for the parts I need,
and once I have what I need, she will be ready for the road again.
Fred Schramm
