4 Facts About The 1977 Pontiac Trans Am Probably Only Hardcore Car Fans Know

Pontiac made its first major mark on muscle car history with the 1964 GTO, which began as an option package on the Tempest. The Firebird ran wheel-to-wheel with Chevy's Camaro from 1967 through 2002, and Pontiac also cranked out some underappreciated muscle cars like the Catalina and Grand Am before GM gave up on the brand in 2009. However, there may not be a more iconic or beloved Pontiac model than the Trans Am, the Firebird's high-performance variant.

The Trans Am debuted in 1969 and got its name from the American racing series where the Firebird and Camaro ran side by side. The elaborate bird decal that adorned the Trans Am's hood dominated our rundown of Pontiac's coolest graphics ever, but there are some interesting and somewhat obscure facts about the 1977 model in particular. Read on to discover some things that only hardcore car fans know about this legendary muscle car.

The 1977 Trans Am's looks and name imply whiplash-inducing performance, but the mid and late 1970s saw a significant decline in the performance of Detroit's cars. The OPEC oil embargo against the United States in 1973 and '74 led to gas shortages that turned the market toward smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, and the 1970 Clean Air Act mandated a 50% reduction in emissions by 1975. Beginning that year, all vehicles had to be equipped with catalytic converters. This led to the phasing out of leaded fuel, which lowered the compression ratios of engines. The '77 Trans Am's most powerful engine option was a 6.6-liter (400 cubic-inch) V8 that was weaker than earlier engines of the same size. 

Topped with a Rochester four-barrel carburetor, it produced 200 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque. That was enough to get it from 0-60 in 7.7 seconds and down the quarter-mile drag strip in an even 16 seconds. In contrast, the 1970 Trans Am with the same engine and carburetor made 345 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque. That car left its younger brother in the dust with a 0-60 time of 5.4 seconds and a quarter mile pace of 13.9 seconds. The base engine in the 1977 Trans Am was a 180-horsepower version of the 400, and California buyers got a 403 cubic-inch V8 that produced 185 horsepower.

Burt Reynolds made the Trans Am hotter than ever when he drove a black one with gold trim on an epic beer run in the 1977 film "Smokey and the Bandit." The paint scheme was designed by GM legend Bill Mitchell and first made available in 1976 to mark Pontiac's 50th anniversary. Y81 1977 Trans Ams with this design had a standard hardtop, while a Y82 option gave buyers the same colors and a T-top roof. 748 customers opted for the hardtop Y81 Special Edition, and more than 6,000 ponied up $1,143 (almost $6,000 today) extra for the T-top package.

Another popular selection on the option sheet was the W72 performance package, which included the high-output 400 cubic-inch engine and a four-speed manual transmission. 6,459 buyers chose this option, perhaps because it was the only way to get a stick shift with the 1977 Trans Am. The Y82 code remained in place until 1979, when it was changed to Y84 for the last three years of the Trans Am's second generation.   

The Trans Am was popular before "Smokey and the Bandit" hit theaters, but the film certainly helped boost sales. Pontiac sold just under 47,000 Trans Ams in 1976. By 1979, sales had leapt to more than 117,000 units. GM gave director Hal Needham four Trans Ams for the film, all of which sustained significant damage during filming.

Although none of the cars used in the film survived, Reynolds was given a Y82 Trans Am as a gift and had it restored by longtime friend Harold Murphy of Murphy Auto Body and Restoration in West Palm Beach, Florida. Reynolds sold the car in 2014 and died in 2018, but his Trans Am sold at auction for $495,000 in February of 2022. For the 1980 sequel, Reynolds drove a turbocharged model of the same vintage that sold in 2023 for $180,000. For the rest of time, the Trans Am will continuity to be associated with the film.

The sale price of the Trans Am from the first "Smokey and the Bandit" film was more than seven times that of the average surviving example from 1977, and the car from the sequel went for about two and a half times the average going price. At the time of this writing, Classic.com lists 83 sales of that particular car in the past five years, with an average price of $67,381.  

The cheapest was a substantially modified white example that sold in 2021 for $9,500, and the most expensive was a showroom-condition car with the original dealership window sticker that sold for $440,000 in 2022. As you'd expect, the black and gold Y81 and Y82 models fetch a premium, with a dozen going for more than $100,000. The most expensive 1977 Trans Am we could find that didn't sport the "Smokey and the Bandit" paint scheme was a red model that sold in 2021 for $46,200.