This SE marked the 50th anniversary...
This SE marked the 50th anniversary of the Pontiac Motor Division.
On a sunny, but cold, Saturday afternoon back in 2006, the editor made the trek to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to photograph a Pro-Touring '70 1/2 Trans Am. Artie Philipp Jr. had built it and we were going to get our HPP photo shoot in before it was delivered to it's owner, Loren Sheffer in Florida.
While shooting at Lookout Point on Route 307, a man pulled up in a pickup to check out the T/A. He told Artie and me that he had a Trans Am, too, and he was going to go home and get it to show us. A few minutes later he was back with a '76 SE Trans Am, replete with a 400 and a four-speed.
That person was Chuck Gifford and the Trans Am is the one you see here. Chuck hung out while we did road shots with the '70 1/2 T/A and ultimately became a customer of Artie's, since the T/A, though in good shape with low mileage, needed some paintwork and fresh graphics.
Code 19 Starlight Black and...
Code 19 Starlight Black and gold graphics prove a striking combination on the SE 50th Anniversary T/A for '76. Chuck simply couldn't resist it.
But let's go back to the beginning of Chuck's story. Living in Moscow, Pennsylvania, he is no stranger to iron, steel, and stone. Chuck is a longtime heavy-equipment operator and a blue-collar guy through-and-through. Not surprisingly, when he and his wife Ann Marie went out looking for some vintage American steel to recapture their youth, they found it very close to home.
After searching for a suitable Pontiac with no luck, in August 2006 Chuck contacted his friend Steve Serge of Serge's Auto of Northeast PA, who bought, detailed, and sold musclecars. He had just taken in a '76 SE T/A and invited the Giffords over to see it.
"As soon as I saw it, I fell in love with it," Chuck recalls. "At every red light during the hour-long test drive, people were giving my wife and I thumbs-up signs. My ego was through the roof!"
The interior surfaces show...
The interior surfaces show minor signs of wear but are thought by owner Chuck Gifford to be original. Gold accents on the horn button, steering wheel spokes (the wheel is a reproduction from Performance Years), and dash fascia set this SE apart from standard T/As of the day.
Once back at the lot, the deal was consummated and Chuck and Ann Marie became the proud owners of a 56,000-mile 50th Anniversary Trans Am SE.
Soon after our chance meeting at the Lookout, the T/A was on its way to Artie's shop for bodywork and paint. "We found some minor rust issues in the dash area under the windshield and where the emergency brake cable passes through the floor," he told HPP. "And we fixed some bubbling in the paint at the lower fenders, but the car was clean overall-the body sheetmetal appeared to be all original."
Chuck believes the 400 engine...
Chuck believes the 400 engine is original to the car and not rebuilt. A previous owner did detail it, however, and painted it Pontiac Silver Blue Metallic, a color used on earlier engines. This powerplant features a Q-jet, a secondary-restricted iron intake, 6X heads, an 067 cam with 273/289 degrees duration and 0.410/0.413 lift with 1.50 ratio rockers, and HEI ignition. The original exhaust system consisted of log-type manifolds that fed into a Y-pipe, a single GM pellet cat, and a single pipe to a crossflow muffler with dual outlets and chrome (or black chrome) tips. The stock system has since been replaced with Ram Air manifolds, aftermarket true duals, and repro tips.
Artie applied three coats of Starlight Black PPG basecoat, followed by three coats of clear. He then wet-sanded the finish with 1,000-, 1,500-, and finally, 2,000-grit paper, and polished it to a mirror-like shine. Artie also installed a reproduction decal package from Stencils and Stripes, as well as new urethane bushings for the subframe.
The Gifford's Trans Am is one of 1,628 Y82 50th Anniversary 400 cars produced sans the Hurst Hatches. Its four-speed trans and the fact that it's only averaged a paltry 1,800 miles per year adds even more collectability.
A Sales Information Bulletin, dated February 25, 1976, announced the introduction of the '76 Special Edition Trans Am with the following: "To make a great car greater and to increase floor traffic, Pontiac is offering a special edition of the black Trans Am." Clearly that sales strategy worked, as the Trans Am's sales figures eclipsed the Corvette's between '76 and '80. And thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign and a little help from Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham, the Trans Am's "cult" status is forever engrained on the American psyche.
Since Chuck's SE was built without the Hurst Hatches, the package cost was only $435 instead of $985. It, however, has an impressive list of additional amenities such as power windows, tilt wheel, pedal trim package, A/C, Soft Ray glass, AM/FM stereo and eight-track tape player, door-edge guards, floor mats, rear defroster, and GR70x15 white-letter tires.
The subtotal of all this extra-cost flash was $1,666.40 of the total invoice price of $6,898.52. The SE was sold through Maroon Pontiac in Wayne, New Jersey, which took delivery in September of 1976.