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| URL:
http://riceornot.ricecop.com/?auto=76615 |
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| Comments: 15 (Read/Post) Favorites: 0 (View) |
Submitted
on: 10-18-2008
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Category:
Car |
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Description:
1978 Pontiac Macho Trans Am, number 142 of 203. More information in comments. |
Showing page: 1 of 1
[ 1 ]
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| #1 |
10-18-2008 @ 10:28:22 PM |
| Posted By : Skid |
Reply | Edit | Del |
Dennis and Kyle Mecham were both the sons of a Pontiac dealer in Glendale, Arizona. In 1977, they started doing modifications to a number of new 1977 Trans Am and selling them through their father's dealership. They produced special stripe packages and minor performance modifications for these cars, and called them "Macho Trans Ams." No one is sure how many 1977 Macho Trans Ams were produced (a number have resurfaced), but they popular enough for the brothers to start their own aftermarket company, DKM designs, through which Mach T/As could be ordered starting in 1978.
For 1978, the brothers made further modifications to the Macho T/A. All Macho T/As used the W72 Pontiac 400 V8, but with a tweaked carb, ignition, Hooker headers, an opened factory hood scoop, and dual catalytic converters with no muffler whatsoever. This was supposedly good for an extra 50 NET hp.
(cont.)
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| #2 |
10-18-2008 @ 10:34:06 PM |
| Posted By : Skid |
Reply | Edit | Del |
#1, The Macho Trans Am could receive 4-speed Borg-Warner, an optional 5-speed Doug Nash transmission, or the automatic transmissions were reprogrammed for quicker shifts. Also, the dash got a 160 MPH speedo and a 8000+ RPM tach. The cars got WS6 sway bars and wider wheels, a forward-tilting fiberglass hood (which was 60 lbs. lighter than the factory unit), and also optional Recaro seats and an optional Fosgate stereo system.
Curiously, 1978 and 1979 cars also offered an optional 7 psi Rayjay turbocharger as an option. Only a few were built, horsepower gains are unknown.
As mentioned, 1977 production numbers are unknown, but 203 cars were produced in 1978 (8 were turbocharged), and 1979 production numbers were somewhere over 200 (22 were turbocharged).
The brothers attempted to sell the cars with 301 turbos in 1980, but they didn't perform as well and subsequently flopped. Production numbers are unknown for the 1980 cars.
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| #5 |
10-18-2008 @ 10:46:09 PM |
| Posted By : Skid |
Reply | Edit | Del |
#4, Same. Honeycombs were weird-looking, but these "Snowflake" wheels were a nice style.
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| #7 |
10-18-2008 @ 11:28:44 PM |
| Posted By : Skid |
Reply | Edit | Del |
#6, That's weird....the only GM 302 I know of was the 327 block, 283 stroke small block V8 used in the 1967-1969 Camaro Z/28. I don't see anything about another 302 on Wikipedia.
The car definitely wouldn't be a 301....Pontiac tabled those as "4.9 liter" on the hood. It's probably a Chevrolet 305, since it was offered in some T/As starting in 1980.
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| #10 |
10-19-2008 @ 12:31:50 AM |
| Posted By : Skid |
Reply | Edit | Del |
#8, Gotta be a misprint...I can't find anything on Google about a 302-powered Firebird. Also, notice that engine is under Firebird engine options, but not mentioned under the Trans Am section below.
The H.O. (L69) 305 was introduced in the Camaro and Firebird Trans Am in 1983.
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| #11 |
10-19-2008 @ 12:38:40 AM |
| Posted By : Skid |
Reply | Edit | Del |
#10, Addendum: Earlier 305s, particularly those used in Trans Am, might have used the "H.O." moniker, since three was never really a measure of what constitutes "High Output." But, the L69 was the first 305 that could really be considered a performance engine.
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| #13 |
10-19-2008 @ 12:48:27 AM |
| Posted By : Subourbon187 |
Reply | Edit | Del |
If I ever own a new car dealership I'm going to tinker under the hoods of the performance vehicles and slap my moniker on the side so they'll be worth extra tens of thousands of dollars in 40 years.
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| #14 |
7-27-2013 @ 01:16:52 AM |
| Posted By : Skid |
Reply | Edit | Del |
#1, 26 1977s are now known to have been built. 4 of those are known to exist today.
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