1977-79 Pontiac Trans Am On the surface, the 1977-78 Trans Ams seem like no-brainers for our list. They’ re the Smokey and the Banditstyled cars and have the equivalent cultural resonance as orange 1969 Dodge Chargers with“ 01” painted on the doors. So it seems strange that we’ re also including the 1979 models on our list, because they had the admittedly lessdesirable“ split headlight” front-end styling. But here’ s the thing: 1979 represented the last year for the true Pontiac V-8 in the Trans Am, and those last-year cars have come to be quite collectable to Pontiac purists, especially the 10th anniversary models.
There’ s a caveat to the 1979 models’ desirability, however, and it all depends on the lettering on the car’ s shakerstyle hood scoop. If it reads“ T / A 6.6,” the car is powered by a Pontiac 400 and backed by a four-speed manual transmission. If it reads“ 6.6 Litre,” you’ re looking at a car saddled with an Olds-sourced 403 engine and slushbox trans. To be perfectly honest, the Olds engine was just as stout as the Pontiac 400 and was admirably smooth, but it just wasn’ t a Pontiac mill. The 1977 and 1978 models get away with their underhood heresy because of one word: Bandit. If it’ s a 1977 or 1978 and black, all is forgiven. And if it is a 1977 or 1978 and not originally black, there a good chance the color was changed during the last 30 years, so check the trim tag carefully. Originality is always worth more.
As for those 1979 10th anniversary models, only 1,817 of the 7,500 built were equipped with the Pontiac 400 engine / four-speed combination, making them very desirable.
1986-87 Buick Grand National / 1987 Buick GNX
Turbo Buicks had been around since the late 1970s, but the addition of an intercooler to the 3.8L V-6 in 1986 was the catalyst that transformed a merely good engine into a great one in the Buick Grand National. It was immediately elevated from respected performer to factory hot rod icon. The intercooler pushed output from 1985’ s rating of 200 horsepower to 235 – with 330 lb-ft of torque. Horsepower increased to 245 in 1987.
Out of the box, the Grand National could hit 60 mph in about 5 seconds flat and, if the driver was good, clip the quarter-mile in about 13.9 seconds. Nothing – and we mean nothing – was running 13s from the factory in those days. Not surprisingly, it was a strong seller, with more than 5,500 sold in 1986 and nearly 21,000 sold in 1987.
In a perfect, go-out-on-a-high-note performance, Buick commemorated the end of the G-body platform and the Grand National model with the sinister-looking, 276-horsepower GNX. Only 547 were built, and they became instant collector items and remain valuable holdovers from the 1980s. Like the popular muscle cars of the 1960s, many Grand National owners were quick to modify their car, so low-mileage and unmodified examples are getting more scarce. Also, the original lacquer paint jobs were notoriously thin and haven’ t stood up well over the years – even on otherwise well-preserved examples. Excellent, original cars are out there, but they’ ll cost you. And the still-in-the-wrapper
GNXs are pushing six figures.
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