Topic: 78 SE's - W72 or not?

[77 se ta]

Our SE is a regular L78 Pontiac engine.... really seemed like at the time, the only TA motors you saw were people who special ordered their cars in like my brother, I don't remember seeing a lot of TA 6.6 on dealer lots.... and I looked at a LOT of 77-78-79 TA's in the day

[John Witzke]

i am too young to remember when the W72s were new,but was this option advertise at all, or did it just fly under the radar, and only certain people knew about it.

because even now days i know more about new Pontiacs then some of the salesman do.

When we ordered our 1977 W72 Trans Am the salesman did mention the engine option.  All he new was it has a little more horsepower than the base 400.  From what I remember there were not many in dealer inventories.

There was at least one magazine article which explained the option fairly well, Street Power Magazine June 1977 written by Joe Oldham and two legit 1977 road test,  Super Stock May 1977 and Street Racer Oct 1977.

The W72 performance package accounted for a 72,247 cars, 36,915 automatics and 35,332 4-speeds.  That is quite a few cars but only equates to 20.6% of Trans Am and Formula production between 1977 and 1979.  

[Eagle 1]

I would actually like to see a SE with the W72 engine.
Does anybody on here own one thats not a clone?

[John Witzke]

There is a number of owners with real W72 SE's on this board.

[kentuckyyeti]

My wife's 1978 SE is a W72, all-original car down to the faded paint.  Exceptions being the battery and the tires.

[O'Neall]

I would actually like to see a SE with the W72 engine.
Does anybody on here own one thats not a clone?

I own a 77 Y81 SE (ie, hardtop) W72/auto.  And in the past have owned both a 77 Y82 and a 79 Y84... both W72/4spd cars.

[ta78w72]

I would actually like to see a SE with the W72 engine.
Does anybody on here own one thats not a clone?

You have.  I sent you pictures of Coolbirds 1977 SE hardtop with a fourspeed.  A drop dead gorgeous car.

[jphillips3333]

I've a '79 Y84 W72/4spd as well ...  there's a few around.  Not sure of the '77/'78 guys though.

[cbtransam07]

OK, so this may be a dumb question, but judging from the production numbers section on 78ta.com, it would seem that I have one of the 2,856 SE's (auto) that were made in 1978 that had the W72 option?  I guess that would qualify as rare?  (Sorry if this is a dumb question, I am new to the site and to T/A's....)

And, if statements above are correct regarding only about 20% of cars having the W72 between 77-79, why does the chart on the site say that out of 93,341 cars built in 1978, that 72,081 were W72 cars?  Or, is that not correct b/c it says that '78 was a bad year for Pontiac record keeping?

[John Witzke]

My in-depth article on the W72 Performacne Package found on this site details the production numbers that are known.  Model year 1978 was not the best for record keeping.  I do know based on Pontiac documentation, that Pontiac produced 34,886 W72 Firebirds (Trans Ams and Formulas) during the 1978 model year.  Of those, 13,502 were 4-speed manual and 21,384 were automantics.  The best I have been able to determine is of the 13,502 4-speeds, 810 were Formulas and 12,692 were Trans Ams.  Currently there is no documentation found that can help me determine the 1978 W72 automatic cars as far as how many were Trans Ams vs. Formulas. 

The 2,856 number for Y82 automatics includes both base L78 and optional W72

I believe Bretts 1978 production number is a typo

  

[transam dave]

Tell me about it i have a hard time myself. Lately there is a lot of 77-78 transams for sale every where  dave

[cbtransam07]

Thanks all for the replies!  This forum is a tremendous resource, thanks Brett for hosting it!  It is also truly impressive that you can ask a question (i.e. about the W72 engine option) and get a response from an expert like John.  Thanks, John!

Based on the info above, if around 25-35% of cars total in 1978 had the W72, and also based on the production numbers above, it might be safe to assume that about 1,000 or so of the Y82 SE's made in 1978 also had the W72 option?  Just a guesstimate since it appears the records are lost/ no longer available for '78.......

Would you agree, John?

[Hitman]

I always hate to give "guesstimates" on anything... because that is all it is, just a guess.

[John Witzke]

I agree 100 percent with Brett.  Never assume.  While it might seem logical a guess in only a guess.  I will only share with what I know to be accurate.   1978 was a difficult year for finding records. 

Now if you were to ask me how many 1977 W72 engines were produced without a baffled oil pans I would be able to share with you 2,136 buit prior to 10-20-76.  Of those 1,806 were WA code for 4-speed trans and 330 were code Y6 for auto trans.  Or that all very early 1977 W72 engines built prior to 9-28-76 (number of units unknown) were produced with 40 lbs oil pump instead of the 60 lbs unit and solid main cap dowels instead of the spring pin dowels.

[O'Neall]

You amaze me John!  Always have!!!!!!