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Buying a Trans Am

8K views 34 replies 12 participants last post by  Goldduster360 
#1 · (Edited)
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:
 

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#3 ·
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
 
#7 ·
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.
 
#5 ·
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
 
#6 ·
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
 
#8 ·
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.
 
#12 · (Edited)
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.
 
#13 ·
If he was a good unckle he would be cutting you some slack on one of those shovel nose Firebirds or the El Caminos.
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
 
#15 ·
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.
 
#16 ·
If you have a 68, I would be putting your time and energy into that. Lots of people have good intentions when they start working on old cars and find out they are in over thier heads. Someone has to do the work on them and most times it ends up being you unless you have deep pockets.
 
#17 ·
My uncle is going to be doing the body work and me and my dad are going to be doing the engine work to make it faster so the only thing i really have to pay for is the engine parts. and again i like the 68 but the 79 is my favorite body style so i want to do it first
 
#21 ·
I have three cars that I built engines for, did trans work on, suspension, wheels, etc.

they all need body work and I am in the middle of doing one of them- body work is a PITA and takes a lot of time and money. engine work is infinitely easier.

There's also more money tied up in body work than you ever think upfront- a couple gallons of paint, primer, reducer, and maybe bondo are the LEAST of it. I've spent more on stripper and sandpaper alone than all the paint.
 
#22 ·
Yea hes collected for over 20 years. and he does quality work he really takes his time to perfect them a lot of people come to him when they need body work done. hes been doing bodywork for over 30 years so i trust him to get whatever needs to be done on it finished. ill try to put some pictures up tomorrow when i go over he has a garage with at least ten hes done so they can stay out of the weather
 
#23 ·
Get the 1 with the best body, try to get it on a lift before buying. Cars that have been setting tend to rust underneath and although you can get rails, floor boards etc, they are a pain to put in. I'd put a 455 pont eng in it, but thats me. I just worked on a 97 chevy 4x4 trk that had alum wheels, nice looking body but it had been setting for awhile in tall grass. I replaced gas tank, fuel lines, brk lines, you name it. Nothing came loose very easy, and there is still alot that could be replaced but he run out of money.
 
#26 ·
In 1978 with winnings from a tournament I was in, I bought my wife a new 1978 TA, although the car was a <200hp dog, I liked the style of the car and the wife liked the handling.

For last year have been watching for a nice 77-79 to restore and at same time build the engine to a more respectable 400-450 Hp range, so it can at least get out of its own way.

I have looked at a lot of them in the last year and the nice ones go for some big bucks but I have to tell you, that one is worth more as a parts car then anything and I will Guarantee you, the way that thing was setting in the mud, it has serious floorboard and trunk pan as well as frame rust damage.

The truth is, your Uncle hates you, just learn to live with it.
 
#29 ·
I think that Bandit movie w/Burt Reynolds sold more T-tops than GM ad men did!

T-tops are the worst! They leak, they let the body flex even more than it will anyway, and unless you just like the looks (I don't) there a total liability IMHO. Add the overall condition to that and I'd say to keep looking. A solid body (forget the paint and looks for now) is the main priority on the 2nd gen F-body.
 
#30 ·
I think with some of the older cars you take what you can get in terms of body, especially if you get a good price. With this car, even though the TA's are reasonably desirable, they're pretty common and not worth a ton unless they're in absolutely perfect condition.

Starting where you are, there's no chance you'll ever get your money back out of this car if you take it to mint. Maybe you're not concerned about that, I wasn't when I bought mine.

With this car being more common, however, I would start with a little nicer car. Just because you can get a car cheap doesn't mean its a good deal. The car you have there doesn't look like its in terrible shape, but it needs just about everything. Seals are all going to be shot, the interior is going to need to be redone, there is a very good portion of the body that needs serious work even though most of the car looks like its all there.

I think another 1-2 thousand spent on the front end of this project will save you 5-6 thousand on the back and probably a year's time.

Good luck

K
 
#35 ·
You can still get a running T/A in better shape for not much more than that. I know I'm gonna get flamed for this but there is a point where a car deteriorates to a point that it is not worth the effort to bring it back. If it were a 69 Firebird in the same shape it would be a no brainer. Too many 70's cars left to poke at. There is a hoarder in my town that has like 20 cars sitting in his yard, all 70's Lincolns and Cads sitting all over his yard, every one of them looks salvage yard fresh, rotting away in his yard for years. Just don't get it.
 
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