Volume 8 - Charter Oak Firebirds

Charter Oak Firebird and Trans Am Club Newsletter
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Niantic CT 06357. Please make your check
Payable to Charter Oak Firebird Club.
Volume 10. Issue 2, February 2011
The Official Newsletter of the Charter Oak
Firebird –Trans Am Club
Our 2011 Winter Party
February Club Meeting
The February Club meeting will be held on February
19th. It will be held at Basil‟s Pizza, 680 North Colony
Road Wallingford, CT 06492-2408. All Members are
encouraged to ATTEND. This is our 2011 Kick Off
Planning Meeting
Club Officers
Brad Benoit, President, 174 Coe Ave, East Haven CT
06512, 203-467-4482, or email
charteroakbirds@yahoo.com
By Larry Erhart
The Charter Oak Firebirds Winter Party was held at the
Pacific Buffet located at 20 Ives Road Wallingford, CT
on Saturday January 15, 2011.
There was time for a short meeting of the club, some
ideas exchanged for the 2011 season, discussion of the
Panera Bread Cruise, plenty of laughs, meeting new
members, talking about our cars and most important,
eating all that assortment of food.
Oh yes, Brad and I were there too. One photo did not
come out and I was taking the pictures...lol....
Neil Silberkleit, Vice President, 22 Middlefield Road
Oxford, CT 06478, 203-881-1411, or email
neil@isilm.com
Joe Wilkinson, Secretary, 1748 Mount Vernon Road,
Southington, CT 06489, 860-302-8453
or email cardoct@live.com
SueAnn Wilkos, Treasurer, 59 Bay View Road, Niantic
CT 06357, 860-739-3219, or email
sueseaq6@ct.metrocast.net
Treasurer Report:
Presented by SueAnn Wilkos
Beginning Balance: $1,456.12
Income: $43.80
Expenses: $20.00
Ending Balance: $1,479.92
From Your Charter Oak Firebird Secretary
There were no new members in the months of December
or January.
Membership dues are due. Please submit your
$20.00 to SueAnn Wilkos, 59 Bay View Road,
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Our Sponsors
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the coolest car ever. I told my parents when I got my
license I wanted to get a TA and they told me I
would have to buy it myself. If they thought that
Each month May – October a Members Firebird will be
pictured here and on the Web Site. If the member brings would discourage me it didn‟t. It had the exact
his/her firebird to one of the Panera Bread Cruises during opposite effect. I was determined from that day to
the month it‟s pictured. They will receive a Club T-Shirt. have one someday.
Featured Members Firebird Contest.
Congratulations to Richard Beer
Two years later when Smokey & The Bandit hit the
movie theaters, I was blown away again. I felt
Rich Beer (Bandit Rich) Made to cover of The Pontiac had taken the coolest car ever made– and
made it even cooler. That new mean-looking nose
REGISTRY.
with the quad headlights and the T-roofs made my
mouth drop. After that, I wanted a „77 or „78 TA
with T-roofs. I didn‟t care what color it was.
By: “Bandit Rich” • somewhere in Massachusetts
(check the back roads!)
In 1975 I was 10 years old. I saw a Trans Am for the
first time and was instantly hooked. I thought it was
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My “someday” came ten years after my mind was
made up that I wanted a TA. In 1985 I bought a red
„78 with T-roofs and power everything. I‟ve had
three others since then.
In the early 1990s I stumbled on a „77 Special
Edition TA; also known as a “Bandit.” It was a car
like in the movie. It was totally original and had
come from Florida; but it had spent its life near the
ocean and not in a garage. The paint was badly
faded with the decals and pinstripes cracked and
baked in. It had rusty quarters too. The good part– it
had the W72 400 and Hurst T-roofs, the dash was
perfect with no cracks, it had the owners manual
with all the related original paperwork in the
glove box; and it even had the space saver spare and
inflator bottle mounted in the trunk. After I bought it
I found the build sheet behind the rear seat. It ran
perfectly, so I didn‟t mind its less than stellar
appearance. I had a Bandit TA!
the assembly line (I wasn‟t happy about that at all)–
my wife gave me the 1:18 Ertl diecast “Bandit‟s
Trans Am.” That gave me the bug to get another TA
after not having one for 6 years. I started to look and
found one on ebay. A restored „77 SE from Texas.
I conversed several times with the seller on the
phone, and I even had contacted Intercity Lines auto
transport company to get it. The day the auction was
going to end a „78 SE was advertised for sale in the
local paper. For the heck of it I went to look at it.
What I saw was a Bandit that looked brand new.
The trim tag said Y88 on it which raised my
eyebrows– that‟s the code for the „78 GOLD Special
Edition. It had gold tinted T-roofs which were part
of the Y88 package, but I didn‟t know that at the
time. Y88s also had tan interiors, but this car had
black. I asked the seller about these things, but he
told me he had only had the car for six months. He
bought it from the original owner; and this is how it
was when he bought it. I was so impressed with the
shape of this car, all thoughts of the one on ebay
went right out the window. So for the price the body
shop gave me in 1996 to restore the „77 I used to
have, I bought this one ready to go. After I bought it,
I looked for the build sheet even though I knew it
was probably gone along with the original interior–
it was. So I sent the VIN to Pontiac Historic
Services to get the factory invoice and it confirmed
it was indeed a Y88.
My car came from the Norwood, Ohio factory and
apparently has spent its whole life in the state of
After having it for four years I finally decided to get Massachusetts. It didn‟t say on the invoice if it had
a resto estimate. I couldn‟t afford what the bodyshop the W72 400 which means it came from the factory
told me, so I sold it. I resolved to someday get
with the base 400. So I looked to see if it had the 6X
another TA; either a low-mileage original in good
#4 high compression heads that the W72s had
shape or one already restored.
instead of the #8s the base engine had. My TA has
the #4s. So then I looked on the back of the motor
On my birthday in 2002– which also happened to be for the block code. The „78 W72s had a code of
the same day the last Firebird ever made rolled off
#XX481988. The number on my car‟s motor was
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#500557; which is the number on a „77 W72 (but
it‟s also the same number on a „78 base 400). But
based on the fact it had the high compression heads I
concluded it had a „77 W72. It also had the 60 PSI
oil pump which the W72s came with instead of the
base model‟s 40 PSI pump.
When I got the car, it had the original exhaust
manifolds with true dual exhausts, a shift kit, and
trans cooler. I pulled the exhaust manifolds and put
on ceramic coated headers. I opened the hoodscoop.
I also put in an aluminum radiator with steel
braided radiator, heater, and fuel hoses. It also has
the Edelbrock Performer Power Package– carb,
manifold, and camshaft.
So why did the original owner turn a Y88 into a
Y82 Bandit and retrofit WS6 parts on it? The only
thing I can think of that makes sense is that when
he went to the Pontiac dealership he wanted a
Black & Gold Bandit, but was told they only came
gold at that time. He must have decided to buy it
anyway; and must have wanted to get the WS6
suspension but couldn‟t afford it. So when it came
time to restore it he did it the way he wanted it in the
first place.
My TA has the stiffer springs, thicker sway bars and
the 15 x 8 inch snowflake wheels the WS6 high
performance suspension system came with. The
factory invoice says nothing about WS6. It also has
subframe connectors and polyurethane sway bar
bushings.
When I bought my TA it had black headlight grilles,
it was missing the front spoiler, and the rubber seal
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on the base of the hoodscoop along with the drain
hose; it didn‟t have the stripes on the nose, rear
bumper or door mirrors; it had a silver dash and
steering wheel. The snowflake wheels needed
refinishing too.
My car has been in more car shows than I can
remember. It won first place in its class the first
show I ever put it in. It even won a very cool
specialty award– “Most Likely To Get Pulled Over”.
I restored the snowflake wheels myself, got all the
missing items and put in a gold dash and steering
wheel that Y82s came with. I even put in a CB to
complete the Smokey & The Bandit theme.
My TA has been in many nationally sold TA
calendars and is featured on fbodywarehouse‟s
company banner they display at their booth at the
Trans Am Nationals every August in Dayton, Ohio.
I feel lucky to own a piece of Pontiac history and do
my best to preserve it.
I recently found out that Pontiac motors had an engine stamp code on the front of the block just below
the passenger side cylinder head. So I looked at my
motor expecting to see the code for a „77 W72– Y6.
But to my surprise it said YU– which is the code for
a base „78 400. So at that point even though it has
the W72 heads there is the possibility it is the
original motor. So when I was putting it away for
the winter I got under the car with a flashlight
looking for the VIN, which I never did before
because I thought it wasn‟t the original motor
anyway. All I could make out was the last number
through the paint; but it is the same as the last digit
on the VIN. I will find out for sure in the spring. I‟m
going to have to strip the paint on that spot to see the
whole number.
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Web Masters Corner
Charter Oak Firebird’s Web Site
http://www.charteroakbirds.com/
If you have question on how to utilize the new functions
of our Web Site just send an Email at
richard.holloway@earthlink.net .
Any club forms i.e. by-laws, meeting minutes,
applications are available on your website.
With the upgrade to the Web Site you may have notices
a few of the improvements.
1. The new Event calendar. This feature better
allows the posting and reviewing of events.
2. You may have noticed that there is now a Club
Event Photos Area and a Cruise Photo Area. In
these areas you will be able to view pictures from
our Club events and Pictures from the Panera
Bread Cruises.
Charter Oak Firebird’s Message Board
http://www.the-birds-nest.com/forum.htm. If you know
of any Cruises and/or Show that are not on the Board
Calendar email them to me at
richard.holloway@earthlink.net.
Member’s Services
Each month a members Firebird will be posted in the
Charter Oak Firebird & Trans Am Club Area
http://cofb.guildealliance.com/f21-charter-oak-firebirdtrans-am-car-club. You must login to the Message Board
to have access to this area. As in the Featured Members
Firebird Contest. You must display your Firebird at one
of the Panera Bread Cruises in the month that it is post
on the Message Board. Also the prize is the same. A
Club T-Shirt.
Brad Benoit, Advanced Detail
This is a listing of services that our member can provide.
Larry Erhart – coins, currency sales & appraisal
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From The Birds Nest Message Board
Re: The Saratoga Lawn Show Party
by 69_RAG_TOP on Sat
Oct 23, 2010 6:39 pm
One of the nicest collections of Trans Ams and
Firebirds... I would love to own any of these cars.
Hat's off to Jim and the crew that hosted this event.
The hospitality and guided tours were fun. Thanks to Jim
for sponsoring this and picking up the tab for the party. I
will highly recommend this place to other high end
collectors.
I finally got to meet quite a few people who post on this
Board too. It was nice to put a face to a name...lol.
It was nice to see all those wonderful cars... Firebirds,
Trans Ams, Collector Editions, Pontiac GTOs, Dodge
Challengers, Superbirds, Cadillacs, Austin Healeys,
Aston Martins, Bentleys, Dusenbergs, Lambos, Ferrari's,
etc...
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Classified Advertisements
___CARS FOR SALE
CARS FOR SALE
CARS
FOR SALE
CARS FOR SALE
__BIRD PARTS
WANTED
BIRD PARTS
WANTED
BIRD PARTS
Parts Wanted: 1970 – 1972 Trans Am Air Cleaner
Base, 1970 - 74 Firebird BLUE interior parts, 1979 T/A
– Digital AM/FM 8-track radio, bell housing, clutch
linkage. Contact: Joe Genera (203) 508-3180, (203)
457-9340 or musclecargarage@comcast.net
Club Events
The February Club meeting will be held on February
19th. It will be held at Basil‟s Pizza, 680 North Colony
Road Wallingford, CT 06492-2408. All Members are
encouraged to ATTEND. This is our 2011 Kick Off
Planning Meeting
And Posted on Our Web Site
The Saratoga Lawn Show Party - Monday, December 20,
2010
If you have a suggestion for a Club Event PLEASE let
an officer know. You can do this by email, phone call,
and/or in person.
Thanks Jim Nap, Nick Rossi and Phil Ginsbreg for
putting this event together, paying for all the food, and
inviting All the members of The Charter Oak Firebird
& Trans Am Club. The hospitality was GREAT and
guided tours were FUN. To View more pictures follow
this link http://www.the-birds-nest.com/t754-thesaratoga-lawn-show-party. Charter Oak Firebird
Members can also view additional picture
herehttp://www.the-birds-nest.com/t827-link-to-pixsof-the-party-for-the-all-firebird-lawn-show.
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