Photos courtesy Mecum Auctions, except where noted.
To most observers, the Special Edition Trans Am in the 1977 Pontiac catalog – the car that would later go on to incredible fame as the Bandit’s Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit – looked pretty straightforward. Screaming chicken, snowflakes, black and gold paint scheme, check check check. Looks can be deceiving, however, as we see from the 1976 Pontiac Trans Am going up for auction this week, a car that its owner believes could be worth up to $2 million.
Intended as one of a pair of cars celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pontiac (the 1976 Golden Anniversary Grand Prix wore special gold paint, white trim, and a buckskin interior), the Firebird Trans Am Special Edition first appeared at that year’s Chicago Auto Show as a production-ready car. Inspired by the John Schinella-designed 1974 Chicago Auto Show car (itself inspired by Bill Mitchell’s fondness of the John Player Special livery), the Special Edition Trans Am rocked a black-and-gold paint scheme, a 455 under the hood, and a set of T-tops installed by Hurst. With production scheduled to start April 1, 1976, Pontiac wouldn’t build many – the division built no more than 2,600.
One of the earliest of the Special Editions – serial number 2W87W6N561642, a car built on March 25, 1976 – didn’t make it into the public’s hands right away. Instead, Pontiac diverted it to California, where it went into use either as a press car or as an executive’s car (or possibly both) for several months. According to research by Jim Mattison at Pontiac Historic Services, Pontiac then decided to give it a makeover late in the 1976 model year. Apparently the division needed a 1977 Trans Am Special Edition for that year’s dealer catalog and didn’t have one, so instead dolled up 561642 with 1977 sheetmetal and snowflake wheels instead of its original honeycombs.
Image courtesy OldCarBrochures.
Not until January 1977, when a Pontiac dealer in California requested a 1976 Trans Am Special Edition for one of its customers, did Pontiac decide to revert 561642 back to its original 1976 configuration and get it off the books. While the division put pretty much everything back to stock, it did leave on the snowflakes and various other 1977 parts and decals. In the meantime, Hal Needham’s Smokey and the Bandit opened in May 1977, cementing the Trans Am Special Edition as the car to have for young American leadfoots and ensuring its place in Pontiac dealerships for the next four years.
That 1976-turned-1977-turned-back-into-a-1976 Trans Am Special Edition has since changed hands a few times but in nearly 40 years has racked up less than 45,000 miles. According to Rick Dieters, spokesperson for the car’s current owner, it has also since been repainted, but its drivetrain remains stock and its interior remains original. He said it now wears honeycomb wheels again – the owner wants it to look like it did in its original configuration, not as it did when it first sold, with a mix of 1976 and 1977 parts – but the snowflakes that Pontiac put on it for the brochure shoot remain with the car.
Now restored, the owner has put it up for sale – “with a very high reserve,” Dieters said – at this week’s Mecum Kissimmee auction. In addition, he has placed an ad on Hemmings Motor News for the car with a $2 million price tag, promising to donate 20 percent of the proceeds to Burt Reynolds if it sells for that much. “Will it sell for $2 million? I don’t know,” Dieters said. ‘the owner’s just trying to create as much buzz as possible.”
Last month, a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am Special Edition from Reynolds’s personal collection sold at auction for $450,000, surpassing its pre-auction estimate of $80,000.
The 1976 Trans Am will cross the block Thursday. Mecum’s Kissimmee auction, which started Friday, will run through this coming Sunday. For more information, visit Mecum.com.
from Hemmings Daily - News for the collector car enthusiast http://ift.tt/1J7SWa8
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