Do you have this 1977 T/A?

[leadfoot4]

I'm feeling nostalgic, and wondering what happened to the 1977 T/A that I used to own. I ordered it from Ralph Pontiac in Rochester, NY, in September of 1976, and took delivery about 5 weeks later. I kept it until July of 2001, when I traded it off for a Corvette. The T/A was black, with a black interior, and a solid roof. It had the T/A 6.6 engine, backed by a 4 speed transmission. The VIN is 2W87Z7N118899. Any chance that anyone on this site currently has (or had) the car?

[farmington]

some states will do a title search. try there. Or maybe find a friendly police officer.

[leadfoot4]

Unfortunately, the only LEO that I was on friendly terms with, was a former neighbor of my mother. He divorced his wife, a few years back, and left their neighborhood. I asked DMV, but in New York, they have privacy laws. There are also those VIN search sites, but a 1977 car is too old for those sites.


I was just hoping I'd stumble into someone on this site, who knows something about the car. I was occasionally looking for my first brand new car, a 1971 Chevelle SS, that I sold in 1973. I knew it's whereabouts for several years after I regretfully sold it. It turned up on E-Bay, a little over a year ago. I was VERY surprised to see that it had survived all these years.....

[leadfoot4]

Just an update....While "surfing" through various discussions on the 'Corvette Forum' website, I came upon a discussion in which someone, like myself, was looking to find a previously owned car. Another poster on the site, suggested a VIN search site known as "DMVdesk". This search site is able to accommodate the older VINs, with fewer characters. The way it works, is you type in the VIN you want to search, and first, they'll tell you if they have any information, and if they do, there's a slight fee for e-mailing the info to you.

I figured "why not", so I typed in the VIN for my former T/A, and it got a hit. I paid the fee, it was $2.00, but I heard that they just bumped it to $4.95, and I got back some information. Although the info was far from comprehensive, it was interesting, nonetheless. The history from when I sold the car in 2001, to 2007 was blank, but in 2007 the car was titled/registered in Montana. It then was titled/registered in January of 2018 in Arizona, and in April of 2018, it was titled/registered in Nebraska. I don't remember exactly how many miles I put on the car, but it was in the mid 40,000, If I remember correctly. The mileage now, assuming it wasn't "fudged", is 59,000.

Now if I could just find out how the car got from western NY to Montana, that would be an interesting story...

[farmington]

If only old cars could talk. Imagine the stories they could tell.....

[DynoDave]

Good info leadfoot4. Thanks for sharing.

[leadfoot4]

I FOUND IT!!

I did another search, yesterday, using some different search terms, and found the car. It's currently at a muscle car dealer/repair shop, called 'Restore A Muscle Car', in Lincoln, Nebraska. It's listed as stock #975. It still looks pretty much as it was during my ownership, except for a new set of 17" wheels, which I DO understand, and the addition of all the Trans Am stickers, decals, and bird on the hood, which I DON'T understand. I prefer "stealth" cars. It appears that the car was driven sparingly, since I sold it, as it has only another 15,000 miles, or so, on it.

[farmington]

So, is a trip to Nebraska in the works?

[DynoDave]

Yes, is a purchase in your future? You've been damn lucky to find it...don't let it get away if you want it back.

[leadfoot4]

Actually, I don't have any overwhelming desire to have the car back. Although I never drove that car in the winter, it developed a couple of issues with rust, the worse of the two being in the RH rear quarter panel. In my opinion, in order to PROPERLY deal with that issue, the quarter needed to be replaced (the hood/inner liner pinch welds also began to rust). When I still owned the car, by the time I had the time and money to deal with it, GM has discontinued full quarter panels, and despite my efforts to locate one, I couldn't. I didn't want to "half-ass" it, and I didn't want to see the car just deteriorate, so I simply decided to let the car go. Of course, a year or so after selling the car, I saw a couple of full quarter panels listed on E-Bay!!

Anyway, at my age, I don't need another car, as things have changed for me, and I really don't have adequate room anymore. I sold my '96 Z/28 3 years ago, for that very reason. I have my Corvette for the summer and my Jeep for the winter, and while you can never have too many cars (if the space allows), it's enough for me, at the moment....

[Hugger Z]

Wow, cool that you were able to find it. I grew up in Rochester, NY. It was weird to see a familiar dealer name (Ralph Pontiac) in your original post.

[leadfoot4]

Wow, cool that you were able to find it. I grew up in Rochester, NY. It was weird to see a familiar dealer name (Ralph Pontiac) in your original post.

The Ralph organization is still in business, but of course, not selling Pontiacs. They picked up a Honda franchise, quite some time ago, I think just before they moved to Ridge Road in Greece, and that's now their only line of cars. Remember when they sold Ramblers?

[leadfoot4]

A couple pictures of the car, taken by the shop that's selling/sold it. It was easier to post what they took, because they were digital, and easy to copy and paste. However, sometime since I sold it, someone put all the T/A stickers back on it, as well as the bird on the hood. I didn't order the bird, and stripped the stickers, as soon as I got it. I like my cars to be rather "stealth". The current shop also added the 17" wheels/tires....

[MP81]

The snowflakes always translated well into a 17" wheel. Man, that shifter is so long, reminds me of the Hurst Comp+ mine had, prior to me changing it to the smallest lever they offer.

[leadfoot4]

I'm over 6' tall, with unusually long arms, so I had the seat as far back as it would go Therefore, I needed the long shift handle, in order to comfortably shift the car.