My first interest in Trans am’s began in high school in the mid 70-s. A girl at my school had a Formula 455. Upon graduation a friend of mine got a 75 TA Dark Blue in color, which he did not take very good care of. In 75 I tried to buy a silver 76 TA with a red interior, but just out of high school it was hard to get the more expensive TA so I had to settle for a Camaro. I still wanted the TA real Bad. In the spring of 1977 I saw the movie Smokey and the bandit which just made me want a TA even more. I went to several local dealers but could not find the 77 Special Edition. I was even told by one dealer good luck as he had sold a Special Edition for more than sticker. I had resolved myself that I was never going to find the elusive 77 Black and Gold TA . One day I was working on a local ambulance service in an area I did not normally work in. We were on the way back to the station when I saw 2 Special Editions setting outside the Pontiac Dealer. I turned on the emergency lights of the ambulance to make a u turn in the middle of the road. One of the salesmen came out and asked what the problem was . I advised him he had my car setting out front. I wrote him a check to hold the car and returned an hour later to trade in the Camaro and drive the Special Edition home. I did not get 5 miles from the dealership before I was pulled over by the local police. Luckily the officer saw I worked for the ambulance service and gave me a warning. Two years later the car was badly wrecked and was replaced by a solar gold 78 Special Edition. Over the years I have owned 10 Trans am’s from a 1972 to 1996, but I never forgot that beautiful Black and Gold 77 Special Edition,

In 1995 I came into some money and I decided to start looking for another 77 Special Edition. At the time I had a silver 1976 455 TA and a silver 79 TA. One day I was looking through the local old car trader book when I saw a 1976 50th Aniversity Special Edition. I contacted the seller of the vehicle who stated the car only had 7,200 miles on it . This I could not believe so I went to see the car even though I was really looking for a 77. When I saw the car it had the original tires,belts and hoses. The interior was perfect. It also had all the original paper work, books and even a key chain from the dealership. I bought the car and have had it ever since. I have the original bill of sale which shows the car was sold at Gene Carlyle Pontiac in Leavenworth Kansas. The car was sold on 9-2-76. The build sheet states the car was made 6-19-76 at the Norwood Ohio plant. The car has the Pontiac 400 engine which was rated at about 200 HP. It has the Turbo Hydramatic Transmission . One of the things this car has which you don’t see very much is the black chrome tail pipes. They only put these on a very few cars as I understand Pontiac said it was too expensive. It has an 8 Track player which still works and I have managed to find some 8 Track tapes to play in it. I trailer the car to shows and over the last 10 years the car has only had 3,000 miles put on it. I belong to the local Pontiac car club and take it to shows there and also in my hone town another local car club shuts down our old main street area the second Saturday of the month for a large car show. Since I live near Daytona Beach , they have 2 shows a year at the track which I go to every year. For several years one of the shows allowed you to drive your car on the Daytona track , which was really cool. In 1999 I picked up a 1996 Black Ram Air TA which I try to take to some shows and have the 76 and 96 next to each other. Since 2002 I started attending two National Pontiac shows. I travel to the Trans am Nationals every year near Dayton Ohio to hang out with all the other TA people. Last year the Nationals had a special section for the black and gold Special Editions from over the years. I was honored to find all my hard work on the car was rewarded with a first place trophy. Also since 2002 I have been attending the Southern Trans Am Regional show in Destin Fla. This show has been growing every year and is a really great show also. At the STARS show they a special class for the survivor cars , the unrestored Trans Am’s from all over the country. My car has also won trophys at this show also. I love going to the shows hanging out with all the Trans Am people and seeing Trans Am’s as far as the eye can see !