Hitman's Pontiac Trans Am Forum
Trans Am Photos => Restoration Projects => Topic started by: Dangling Unit on July 21, 2009, 07:34:11 PM
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I purchased this vehicle a few days ago. It is painted brown; no stripes; no decals; just brown. When I looked at the car, I didn't pay much attention to emblems and such, that would be tell-tale signs of a Y88. I told the oldest (15) to start pulling the interior out, and as he was doing it, I started looking at the emblems, T-tops, etc., and I had a gut feeling it could be a SE. I had him pull out the rear seats to get to the build sheet, which to my surprise, was still there. Another surprise was the Y88 code on the build sheet. For $1600, it has a little corrosion, but not too bad for a numbers matching Y88. The build sheet does have the Y88 code and matches the VIN. It is not a WS6, though, and it's an automatic.
This changes what I was planning on doing to the car. I'm restoring the body and interior to the Y88 specifications, but will probably rebuild the chassis and powertrain to something more desireable. I won't do anything to the car that I cannot easily change back to original, i.e. no body or frame modifications. The original parts will be retained, in case I want to do a concourse restoration in the future.
Everything I've read says the Y88s had black exterior window trim; however, mine is chrome. I understand someone could have changed this, but I don't see the RPO codes (B77/B89) for black exterior trim on the build sheet. Is this common?
The cowl tag states 62B (Camel Tan) for the interior, but the build sheet states Buckskin. Is this because Buckskin was cancelled in '77, but orders for Y88s were taken in '77?
I can understand fading of the gold accented dash and steering wheel; however, my dash is silver. All of the gold would've had to fade off. I see no trace of gold on the bezel; however, I can clearly see it on the steering wheel spokes. Is this common, or is it a factory error or someone replaced it with the incorrect bezel?
I'm sure I'll have further questions later on. Thanks!
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Sounds like a previous owner has replaced some of the factory parts
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When I got my Y84, the gold on the bezel was almost completely gone but if you remove one of the black bezel trim rings (i.e. tach trim ring) it should show the gold under there. I doubt it's a factory error.
Again, my Y84 is supposed to have black window trim but in areas it has faded and it's showing chrome so I figure the chrome window trims must have been painted black for the special edition cars instead of producing seperate trims.
I can't help you with the interior color but your guess that buckskin was cancelled in 77 makes sense to me but I'm sure someone has a better explaination.
Sounds like a great find... rules are PICS?!
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When I got my Y88 the dash appeared silver. It wasn't until I popped off the trim rings that I found the gold. Pop a trim ring off one of your gauges and I'd wager that you'll see the same. Randy Combs is the man when it comes to refinishing these with the correct gold tint!
In regards to the window trim - yes it should be BLACK. Over the years it chips off, happening to mine currently due to the way I store the car, and would show as chrome. Easy enough to fix - got black? :)
As for the interior color...did the car come cloth or vinyl? I believe both should be camel tan but there were mid year / mid production changes on these cars so anything is possible.
I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in but before they do....Where's the Pics??? :)
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Some people also didnt like the gold dash and would replace it, or sand it off, in my case it was sanded off.
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To be perfectly sure. Id do a PHS on it. Then you can tell 100% if it is a Y88 or not. Pics would help also ;D ;D
Were crazy about pics...
Does the T Tops have a Gold Tinit to them. I know someone could have changed them but if it does then your closer to being sure.
Hope this helps!
Tommy Jr
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I would like pictures
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check Hitman's site for Y88 cars, should be able to learn alittle more.
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check Hitman's site for Y88 cars, should be able to learn alittle more.
Perfect! I almost forgot about tha\t.
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It's a Y88. It has the gold emblems throughout, gold mirrored T-tops, and the build sheet states Y88 Spc Ed T/A Gl.
So, the window trim is suppose to be black, but it's just painted black over the base model's chrome trim? Whoever painted the car brown must've polished all the black off, because I see no traces of black. They also painted the tail light plastic brown, instead of leaving it black.
The interior is custom cloth.
I'll have the wife send me the photos, so I can post them. I hope you guys don't do anything dirty with the photos. If you do, don't tell me. :)
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Cant wait to see the pics.
Dirty things like what? ::)
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Like was mentioned ,sounds like a good find .
hope you guys don't do anything dirty with the photos.
^^^ now who would do a thing like that ? :D
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Here's the build sheet. It scanned better in color, but was too big to attach.
What I don't get is why was it ordered with a 2.56 rear end? Highway? Pffff....
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Ohh so it came with the custom/deluxe interior? Then it should be Lombardy cloth - camel tan in color :)
Same as mine. My seats are shot and I don't like the lombardy cloth so what I'm going to do is get the hobnail cloth. But that's just me. Same reason mine has the camel tan carpet instead of the gold carpet...I liked the camel tan better.
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Sweet got any pics of the car?
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I'm out of town and the wife is trying to email them, but she took them too big and they're not sending correctly. I'll get them up as soon as I can.
The kid was gutting the interior and someone had left an old Adolph Coors twist-off bottle cap in the car. How ironic is that? I laugh inside and shake my head everytime I think of it.
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Please don't violate the photographs. ;)
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The floor pan has very little corrosion.
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I can't believe all of the gold on the bezel faded.
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Well, there you have it. I'll post photos and information as the project progresses.
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OK. How do I delete that second photo?
Click on "modify" in the post you wish to edit and make your changes there ;)
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I definitly did see this car on ksl
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And, it's all mine!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
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Sounds lke you are very proud of that too haha
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Told ya there would be gold behind the dash bezel trim rings! Looks like you have your hands full, make sure you take your time and do it right. I'm sure it'll turn out nice
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Glad you got it! Those floor pans are in Excellent shape! Congrats on the purchase!
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Sounds lke you are very proud of that too haha
I, nor the previous owner, knew it was a Y88. I almost feel bad.
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You are the lucky one. He lost out! Now you have a gem!
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Well you can make it a gem
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True!
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Weird my 78 y88 had gold window trim thought that it was original ???
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T-tops should be gold tinted. And one thing I noticed the other day was that the front window glass anti-glare is also tinted gold....or at least it is on mine :) Now if I can track down those gold t-tops and get $$ set aside to buy them....
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I mean all of the stainless around my windows it was gold and shinny (at one time) gold tinted t-tops and gold trim all around the edge with brown stripes. I am the second owner of the car bought it with only 50K on it in 1984. Could it have been a dealer add? Gold round center caps not the hex centers with gold birds also had and has 60 series tires. Bought it as a dealer trade in west TX, but I did get to talk to the previous owner she said it was all original just like it was when she bought it new except she added a second rear speaker and changed the radio out. My windshield glass is long gone I have replaced it twice myself (damn crow).
Brian,
I think I know where a set of gold fisher t's are here in Kansas. I will check on the price if the guy still has them, the guy is kind of old school not on the internet "that is the biggest waste of time ever" I was keeping track of them in case I ever trashed mine.
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The gold window trim could have been dealer change or someone with a little time on their hands and some spray bomb paint. In either case, definitely not original from the factory that way.
I know where there was a set of gold t-tops in NY...shop #1 had them. They brought them down when I pulled my car from the shop. Being the better person that I am, I told him that they weren't mine and what they would fit. No way am I going back there to get them - yes, I have that much hate for that shop. And hate is a mild word for my real feelings towards them.
IF the guy's interested in selling them, let me know a price and I'll see what I can swing :)
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well they did not look painted more like anodized anyway they got kind of dirty looking so some time in the early 90's I used steal wool and "cleaned them" they are kind of a mat silver now but I was thinking of having them plated gold or something some day and of course some one jacked all my centers so they are silver now too w/o the emblems the dash face same story as the trim but I know that can be restored but if they are supposed to be black guess I will go with that.