black Pontiac Trans Am with 34,600 Miles available now!

Description for Pontiac Trans Am 1978

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Black Horse is excited to have one of the most important and unique Gen II Trans Am's we've ever had the privilege of offering. From one of our most fastidious customers is this 1978 Pontiac Trans Am Coupe.
History of the 1978 Trans Am:
The 1978 T/A retained the look of the 1977 model but was offered with a new engine option; the W72 performance package which was an upgrade to the optional L-78 400 ci engine. It offered 40 additional horsepower and the best engine offered by Pontiac in the era.
There was a host of other performance options available, most notably, the WS6 option which improved handing and braking to match the L-78 W72 engine's output.
History of the Macho T/A
The 1970's were not a good time for automobile production. The EPA had changed emissions requirements which virtually choked off the ability of the auto manufactures to sell high performance automobiles. The T/A of the era...properly optioned...was one of the fasted and best handling cars of the period.
The history of the Macho Trans Am dates back to 1977 when two brothers, Dennis and Kyle Mecham, sons of a Phoenix area Pontiac dealer decided to begin modifying Firebirds to restore some of the missing performance brought about by the addition of more and more emissions equipment on factory cars.
The EPA stepped in reminding the brothers that their modified cars did not meet federal emissions criteria for NEW cars. Their workaround; title the cars and sell them as no mile USED cars!
To their pleasant surprise, it worked and the Mecham brothers began selling souped up Firebirds and Trans Ams for nearly double sticker price.
Performance upgrades were legitimate and significantly increased the performance, acceleration and handling of their cars. Each car got a unique plaque identifying it as what number car it was. The upgrades included a better intake manifold, performance distributer, upgraded carburetor, high performance shocks and springs, bigger snow flake rims and tires. Overall, it added about 30% more horsepower and significantly improved handling as well.
Pretty quickly, they ran out of inventory so they started buying cars from around the region that had been sitting on dealer lots. Typically, these cars were outfitted in a manner that did not appeal to the performance-minded buyer of the time, so they did not sell for the original dealer. Most were automatics. Many were manual equipped cars but had no air or no high performance performance options such as the WS6 suspension or the L-78 engine.
On very rare occasion, they found a car that had a very unusual set of options that for some reason had not sold. That is the case with Mecham Macho #78-104 offered by Black Horse Garage.
History of Macho #78-104
What makes 78-104 so important is that it was a dealer ordered Trans Am with nearly every factory performance and comfort option and four speed transmission. It was ordered form the factory with the highly sought after W72 engine and WS6 suspension.
It has factory air conditioning, power windows & locks, tilt wheel and remote outside mirror. It is probably one of the most highly equipped Tran Am's that Mecham Design Performance ever delivered.
The car was sold new in Arizona and eventually was sold into Colorado. The Arizona sun had done a job on the paint and the car war professionally repainted in its correct color scheme in the very early 2000's.
A letter of certification from Mecham Design Performance was obtained from Mecham certifying this car not only as an authentic macho, but the all important car #78-104 and verifying both it's vin and Macho build number.
The car then went to famed collector Richard Rawlings (of Fast N Loud fame) collection in Dallas, Texas and was shown on a famous episode where a huge collection of cars was sold in one transaction.
Outside of the paint, this car appears to be a completely original and correct car with 34,000 original miles. It is not a show car, but an incredibly honest and low mileage car that is ready to be enjoyed and displayed by new ownership.
The car has a host of documentation including its original build sheet that reads like a who's who list of desirable performance options. It has the Mecham certification as well as a host of other historically important documents relating to this car.
The vast majority of Macho Firebird's and Trans Am's were equipped with less desirable options like lower power engines and automatic transmission. Only a few have both four speed and air conditioning and even fewer still have the W72 and WS6 performance options. This car has all of the above and is likely singular in its option list, execution and performance.
It truly is a holy grail car.
**Inspections welcomed.**