Buying a Trans Am
 

Im thinking of buying a 1979 Trans am with a 403 SBO as of right now its been sitting up for 10 years and was driven to the spot it sits at the body doesnt have too much rust Ill upload some pictures. Its one of the T/As with a towing package and i have no idea what the rear end gears are. Would this be a good project car to buy hes only asking $1700 for it :smash:

Welcome aboard

From the pictures I think there may be better deals out there on a 79 Firebird T/A...I would keep on looking.

Ray

Thanks for the input Ray and thanks for welcoming me. The car is being sold to me by my uncle who is willing to workout a payment plan for $100 a month and he has a around 25 of the 1979 model TA around his property I chose this one because he said it was running before and shouldn't be a hard fix but I'm wondering if the body is pretty solid for a start because he does bodywork and says he will do it for free and will take part from other cars to make this one whole again, or should i go with one that has a better body and start my work around the engine? I honestly don't know which one will take more time and i want to be driving one as soon as i can with a pretty decent looking car
Thanks in advance for any input

Send some pictures, hes got some neat stuff sitting in that yard. I see a Dodge Dart, Firebirds and an elCamino. A shame all that stuff just sitting there

If you have a number to choose from, take the one that has the best body....anything else can be changed easy enough. I would be concerned with the "T" tops....prone to leak and they are more prone to body flex than a solid roof car

Well from what i inspected on the car it didnt have any water inside of it and it wasnt moldy on the inside of the car whereas it just rained the day before i went, but the body will flex with t top cars? i did not know that. i really like the t tops it had they were cars and concept t-tops dont know much about em but they looked preety cool. So is it possible that there could be some subframe issues with it as well?

Great information thanks for your input

I will send some pictures of all the cars in his yard there A LOT it was like i was in heaven when i was there lol. But it is a shame that those cars sit there like that but he is in the process of restoring some of them so not all hope is lost for them. Hopefully ill be going back tomorrow.

About the "T" tops, jack up one wheel of the car and see if there is movement in the gaps around the tops and the doors etc..try it on each corner. That will tell you how solid the frame structure in the unibody is.

Just make sure the rear frame rails are ok in the areas around where the leaf springs attach. The frame rails go bad in those spots.

Thanks man that was some great info I will be sure to test that out tomorrow when i go back Ill let you know how it went.

It looks like that T/A is going to cost an arm and a leg to make it nice, it won't be worth a arm and leg when you get done with it. Start out with the best body you can find, everything else can be replaced.

If he was a good uncle he would be cutting you some slack on one of those shovel nose Firebirds or the El Caminos. A towing package and T tops? By 79 they were using highway gears for better fuel economy. There are codes on the rear end to find out what gears are in it. Look for a aluminum tag on differential cover to see if it has a posi.

My favorite model is the 1979 TA i could get one of those if i wanted but I'm not really into that style of TA. Also hes going to be doing all the body work and giving me all the replacement parts to make it nice so body work shouldn't cost me a penny, but starting off with a good body does sound like the best bet

They made more 79s than any other year. If it were me, I would be looking for a earlier year. A slab side would be best if he has one. It looks like he has some good builders in the pictures. I would run from the 79, it looks like a parts car.

I don't plan on selling the 79 once I'm done with it i just want it because i like the style of it not for the rarity. I am however gonna restore the 68 Firebird convertible he has in the back of his house once I'm done with my 79. but that's gonna be years in the making.