Topic: 1979 Y84 Bandit HARDTOP, rarest trans am ever??? what do I price it at???

[y84hardtop]

Hey guys, I'm new here and could really use some help, thank you so much to anyone that takes the time to read this and respond.  I can change an alternator or radiator but don't know about rebuilding a muscle car, not sure what I should do.  I recently purchased a 1979 trans am to drive around and play with and it turns out this is a 1979 Y84 special edition WITH A HARDTOP (no t-tops).  I confirmed it with vin/cowl/phs package.  No build sheet with this thing and I have no desire to learn how to tear apart seats and gas tanks to find one, the phs/cowl/vin all match up so I'm good.  I was told this might be the rarest trans am in existence, and after several days of research I'm of the opinion there are 12-16 of these cars out there, although pontiac says none were made (kinda cool to own a 1 of 0, lol).  Having said that, mine does not have original motor or transmission so numbers don't match and this car needs some work including a paint job to restore to original paint color. 
     -OVERALL: car is really cool, looks ok and drives good, imo, my friends have all drooled over it, but it's obviously not gonna win any show awards as it is right now.  I don't know if I should sell this thing now, or rebuild it from top to bottom, or don't touch it and put it into storage until it's worth a boatload of money 10 or 20 years from now.  In the meantime, I have to at least figure out how much to insure it for and its almost impossible to value because there aren't any similar ones out there for sale other than a guy in Chicago has one that he rebuilt completely (and put a 455 in it) and all he says for price is don't insult him with 10k or 20k offers.  If anyone knows anyone that has sold or wants to buy or at least researched these cars, I would love to talk to them.
     -EXTERIOR: frame/subframe/unibody/sheet metal panels are very solid, but it has a bad paint job that is the wrong color on top of the poor quality, cowl and phs says it should have u19black but some genius painted this gold from top to bottom including door handles and mud flaps.  it has a couple spots with dings and minor dents especially where the broken hood hinge makes hood open poorly.   The fenders now have small dents and scratches by the hinges because of the hood and it's so bad the hood even chipped and cracked the bottom of windshield.  None of the exterior window trim pieces are installed as most are in trunk because they don't want to go back on now due to some sort of gunk in the old clips.  also missing the little door between taillights where gas is put in.  Front nosing bumper is great but the 2 insert pieces on bottom with the small grilles need replacing.  All lights/blinkers/wipers seem to work, passenger door exterior handle broke but functions.  Gold honeycomb wheels in good shape, tires good (have great tread) but don't match original factory tires.
     -INTERIOR: very nice in some spots (dash/console/back seats/steering wheel/etc look great but interior has no headliner, door panels are pretty bad and missing parts, and front seats are very worn down.  Seems to have the rest of parts in the trunk like seat belts, visors, interior trim pieces, etc.  alpine cassette radio powers on but no volume, a/c and heat work but a/c is weak, and I think it might still have the original floor mats.  The machined gold dash panel and shifter knob and stering wheel all match what an SE should have and look good.
     -MILES/GUAGES: unknown miles, listed as 55k but speedometer and tachometer are not working correctly (speedometer bounces up and down depending on speed driving) so I assume odometer is off also.  Oil, water temp, and clock gauges work. 
     -ENGINE/TRANS/EXHAUST: the air filter and carburetor are ridiculous, looks like they couldn't make it fit in the hole in hood so they cut fiberglass around air filter and riveted the scoop to fiberglass/air filter, it's insane and it looks like only way to get it off is to take off carburetor but reinstalling that correctly might be problematic for my skill level.  Edelbrock carb and valve covers look great (aftermarket), but the engine is painted blue and just rusty enough in spots that I can't figure out the codes, other than 29N195787 looks like the serial number on block.  I've spent hours trying to figure out which engine I have looking at pics online, trying paint stripper and degreaser to see numbers, etc. but I give up at this point, assuming engine is not the big selling point here as it isn't pretty but it's not horrible other than exhaust manifold is very rusted.  Driving it the other day I opened it up on the highway for a couple minutes and it flew, most fun I've had driving in 20 years.  Tranny is a cfd6 made in 11/72, that code was very legible, it shifts gears and drives just fine, but my buddy says it has a small fluid leak somewhere.  Exhaust is solid and car sounds awesome imo.

I have already been offered 15k for it by someone that hasn't even seen it, and a buddy offered me his 2010 f150 for it but that was probably just the beer talking.  I've got a brother on the other side of the country who knows cars and he swears this car will go for huge money in 10 years cause it's rare as a unicorn and trans ams are rising in value now, so he says to park it and store it (he also calls the paint job on this car the world's most expensive primer job, lol).  What the hell do I have on my hands here, anybody have any suggestions/advice?  My buddy that knows cars very well and checked it out says he's never seen this before and suggested a pontiac forum would be my best bet so here I am.  He told me everything is very solid but the engine is definitely not the original and not a 403 like the vin calls for.  He says my options are drop 10-15k and a lot of time to make it an awesome period correct 79 SE hardtop and sell it at one of the big collector car auctions where he thinks it could go for 40k or more, or he says there are guys that collect only trans ams and others that collect only rare cars that would kill for one this rare and would rather get it before I put more money into it so they can get it cheaper and rebuild things their way.  I'm a single dad with kids running a small business, I don't have enough hours in my day already so I'm not overly excited at the prospect of dropping another 10-15k and lord only knows how much time learning how to make a show quality muscle car, unless we're talking about something that will sell for really big dollars.  And if I am selling it now, what do I ask for it??? 

Thanks for taking the time guys, I really appreciate the fact that someone would take the time to help out a complete stranger.  Hoping there are some trans am junkies on here that can point me in the right direction.

[y84hardtop]

FYI, if someone knows how to msg the administrator of this site they should know they're probably not getting a lot of new members because the security feature for signing up is out of whack.  When it asks 2 questions you have to answer to prove you're not a robot, it kept saying I was answering wrong when I answered there are 4 wheels on a car, tried it several times.  When I came back to site and it asked what year it was, it told me several times that 2017 was not the correct answer.  As a longshot I tried 2016 thinking maybe the date in the program was off, and it accepted that answer.  Very cool site, someone should try to fix that so more new people can get in.

[NOT A TA]

I sent a message to Hitman and copied/pasted your post above.

[Wallington]

If not comfortable pulling interior apart or dropping a fuel tank then don't attempt to rebuild an engine. Drop it to someone to test and get an idea of what's required or not. Especially if not original engine already, you may pick up good used or rebuilt to swap in less than rebuilding  yours and not paying time car is laid up either. Restored cars selling for big money already have more money spent on them plus original engine. What engine now if not 403?

If you are doing this to make money then there will be lots of shortcuts taken. Friends and people tend to talk too much. When you get a chance throw some pics up.

[TAKID455]

Less than a T TOP version due to to lack of desirability.  Its a niche optioned car. Most will want Ttops. They also sell better than hardtops regardless of rarity.  Non original motor hurts also.   TO gauge value, look at 79 Y84s and subtract some coin.

[y84hardtop]

Not looking to rebuild the engine at all, that would just get me into a big fat mess.  Found a nice 403 for a very fair price that I'll probably buy if I restore the car.  A friend looked at it that knows this stuff and he thinks it is a 301 turbo in it right now.  It runs great so my goal will be to trade the 301 for a 403, add some cash if I have to.  In a perfect world, find someone with a 403 who can put it in and gives me a solid discount to keep the 301turbo.  If it is the 301turbo, I think the tranny is fine as the code we found for the tranny said it was compatible with the 403 or the 301turbo.
     The interior needs a headliner and then the trim put back on, but other than that it looks awesome when you're sitting in it.  I'd love to finish that part but have no clue where to even start with finding the stuff I need and then installing it.   
     Worked on several things today and knocked 5 items off the to do list, starting by fixing the free/cheap stuff first.  More time I spend with this car the more I like what I see.  My dad ran a body shop before he passed so I know what to look for on that side of things and this car is solid all the way around.  The most important thing I gotta do asap is put new hood hinges on before it gets worse, then my to do list of about 15 little things (gas cap door, passenger door handle, console door, door armrests, ets).  If nothing else, it's a nice 1979 bandit with a documented collectible feature (the t-top delete), that is mostly in great shape but still needs some work.  I posted on another forum about it, and basically what I've learned is everyone has their own opinion on what they want most in their trans am (many of them hype what is in their car and downplay everything else) but it's not worth what I was hoping it would be (20k or more).  One guy said completely restored it might fetch 40k, but some guys basically said it's not worth a case of beer.  The offer for 15k was rescinded when I told him it wasn't a 403 in it, so I'm thinking I've gotta decide if I sell it now (list it on ebay or something) or restore the thing.  I could buy the engine and see if he wants it then, but if I go down that road of swapping an engine I'm just gonna restore it fully and take it to an auction and see what happens.  If I don't do the full restoration I'm gonna leave the gold paint on it (needs a couple touchups I can handle) and let someone else decide if the color code not matching really matters enough to repaint it.  I'll post some pics if I can, can you guys tell me what you would put for a reserve price on ebay if I just list it basically as is???  I'm thinking reserve price of 10k, buy it now price around 18k, thinking there are definitely collectors out there that focus on rare cars, wether it's a trans am or not.   

[y84hardtop]

I think this is the link to photobucket account I just created and downloaded some pics of car.

http://s345.photobucket.com/user/kzoonola/library/