1976 Pontiac Trans Am LE Limited Edition 455 4 Speed Survivor & Ride My Car Story with Lou Costabile 

The last of the 455s, and this one with a 4-speed. If I owned this rare car, the odometer would not read 14,000 for very long. I just couldn't resist.

Pontiac marched on zigging & zagging around the feds. This car was a miracle in 1976 - take a look at what the Mustang was in '76... Really nice find Lou!

People often say by 72 the muscle car era ended, I beg to differ

Last year for the 455. Still recall my copy of Motor Trend that reviewed the 76 Trans Am 455. As a first time car owner & new driver in 1976, that first car was going to be either a T/A or Camaro. The Camaro won out because of cost. But every F-Car fan like me back in those days knew the Pontiac was the better built car, every detail in and out was simply better then the cheaper Chevy. I miss Pontiac to this day. One of GM's biggest mistakes (among the many they've done) is dropping Pontiac and Olds. This fine, fine example shows perfectly why the Trans Am was such a winner in those days. Gets no better then this!

My best friends dad has this car so I was lucky enough to grow up with it too! He still has it too!

Hi Lou! Nice 76 Trans Am! Last of the 455 engines

Anyone who was a kid in the 70s knows that the Trans Am was the king of that decade. All of this cars competition was gone after 1974. I was 18 in 1974 and could not afford at $5,000 Trans Am. I have an original one now and will be keeping it a long time. These cars keep you young. Nice to see Arizona cars and thanks to the both of you for another great my car story.

Wow! Dave definitely brought out the Top Gun of the Gen 2s today! The '77s definitely get alot of attention, but I've always preferred the 76's w/their front end and the 455 HO, of course! Thanks Lou!

Right about now a rip through that Arizona backdrop in this T/A would awesome! Thanks for sharing guys.

This is a car! A real car! Thank you Lou. Ciao Claudio from Italy north of Milan☺

Yep, I am also a product of the 70's, I was 16 in 1975 and the Gen 2 T/A's are my favorite cars! Thanks Lou!

Love the Trans Am ! Especially the 455 4 spd.! What a rare treat, with those special options, too. He was "lucky "to find one with low mileage like that one. Would have loved to hear a little burning of some rubber, though.... thanks to Dave ,and you Lou. ! Great feature today.!

Very nice car! I'm 68 yrs old so I love all those 70's muscle cars. I currently own a 1971 Demon 340 four speed with 14, 220 original miles. They keep you young!!

Love Pontiac torque and Dave's beautiful '76. These cars were bright spots during very dark times. Thanks Lou!

Nice T/A! What an incredible survivor. Even the low compression 455's were pretty powerful especially in 1976. I had a 1977 T/A with a 400, 4spd and it was so cool putting every cent you had into the gas tank to cruise all Friday and Saturday night. GREAT VIDEO LOU.

This is a new one to me. This is the first I ever saw of a tan interior in a 1976 special edition Trans Am. And I have been looking at these cars since 1975.

Love it Lou. Always loved the machine turned dash. Very beautiful. Thanks

Very nice Trans Am! Love the survivors. Thanks Dave for taking care of it and sharing it with us. Lou, thanks for everything you do! Btw- 50 Trans Ams?!? Wow.

What a beauty!

Before watching this video I would like to say one thing about Lou… If you live in Oakbrook or burr Ridge … And you have that super car that keeps driving by… Let Lou show it on RU-vid. He does a great job. I was in Hinsdale and saw The man’s Ford GT… That was a car to show. And Lou is the man… He does a great job. You get to see the car how he does it. Just a thought… Now to take a look at this bad to the bone Trans Am.

GREETINGS. From Venezuela, . .

second generation trans am is my favorite car(had about 10 of them) and this one is a very rare one. The rarest T-A i've owned was a 1972. Sold it more than 20 years ago. Stupid. Now I own a 1978 with a pontiac 400ci, nice cruiser also, but my favorit still are between 1970-73. Maybe one day again... Thanks Lou for this great video. Cheers from France

Great to see a survivor like this one shine like new still.

Great Trunk & Treats - I love the old brochures. My mom had a 1975 Astre - keeping in her string of slightly suspect car choices.

Always great when an owner treats Lou to an acceleration run right up to the posted speed limit. Beautiful day, beautiful car and a friendly, knowledgable owner. Thanks!

I ordered a black '76 Trans Am from the dealer. Black with red interior, 455 with 4 on the floor, HD radiator. My first new car. My wife loved driving it and loved making the tires give a little squeal when she took off. LOL

I was 18 in 1977 and the Trans Am was just about the coolest car out there at that time! From the minute I saw my first T-Top Trans Am I was dreaming of the day I could get one! In 1979 I was finally able to buy a 4 Sp. T-Top Gold Edition Trans Am! It was and still is the car I liked the best of all the cars I have owned. This includes a 69 RS Z/28 in Lemans Blue, a 69 RS SS Camaro convertible in Green & my current favorite car a 2007 Parnelli Jones Mustang! My Parnelli can out perform the Trans Am in just about any category you can think of but back in 79 the Trans Am was beyond cool! It was the car to own for sure! To this day I still miss my Gold Edition Trans Am! Thanks for posting Lou!

Forget the Bandit '77, the '76 black and gold 50th anniversary with the honeycomb wheels, the screaming chicken on the hood and the almighty 455 underneath, that's my dream car.

At 2:21 I was so oping you were gonna say, "Let's step back and just take in the vibe." which would be even more appropriate - to just go all Zen on this marvel machine! Just a Trans Am? Hayul no! It's a groove machine! A groovy mind-altering-state of power and awesomeness! Even Mr. T has to bow to this beasty and pay due homage. Okay - him being Mr. T, he can do what he want to do - so I sure wouldn't stop him. Another cool treasure, Lou!

This car was a "Bandit" before there was a "Bandit"!!! Awesome car!!! Love the trunk treats as well. I have an uncle that had a '76 Sunbird "Formula" that had the black and gold treatment also, looked like a mini Trans Am!!!

One of 110! amazing car! Wow 14k miles Thanks Lou! always enjoy your work!

Great car! Love those T/As, especially the rare ones! Can't wait to retire, going straight to the AZ asap.

this is actually the Bandit car, all 3 they used were 1976 models, the 77 front was not in production at the time of filming but Hal Needham managed to get the nose for the the movie cars & the movie was filmed around my hometown where I actually got to see some of it the summer of '76! PEACE LOVE n HIPPYNESS!

I love it I want it .great episode Lou.

Thanks Lou and Dave for this great review. Brings back great memories. My father had a Pontiac, Buick, GMC dealership in the 70s, I can remember all three of those brands, they were top notch, the Grand Prix was great sporty luxury car as were the Buicks and the GMC trucks were a step up in luxury over the Chevys, what is a great era. For my demonstrators I selected to drive a Pontiac Grand Prix, a yellow formula 400 Trans Am and a Buick Electra Convertible. As far as the 1976 Pontiac Trans Am 455 4 Speed if we could get one it was already sold before reaching our dealership. We actually had a local restaurant owner follow the auto transport trailer from out of town to see where it was going it was going, he wanted one so bad and he found out it was us his local dealership.

WOW!!! That’s what I’m talking about!! My dream car yet again!! Thanks Lou!! 😎👍🏾🥳🥰

Awesome Car, I owned a 1981 Turbo Trans Am with 15,000 miles, brown with saddle interior,every day I wish I never sold that car😊

In 1988 I bought a trans am out of a local paper in LA, CA. I paid $1600 for it. It was a Z code 455 4 speed car. It had the Hurst hatches. After I researched the car I discovered I actually had one of the 110 built. It had the gold trim in the grill & headlight surrounds. I forget what wheels were on it but in the trunk was one gold snowflake rim & tire. All the right clues were there. The original 455 was long gone when I got it. In its place was (I ran the numbers on the block) a 455 HO from a GTO. The torque this thing made would twist the body, it really needed frame connectors. The Hurst Hatches got stolen. I got pissed & discouraged & sold it for cheap. But yup, I had one.

Lou. My Brother and his first wife bought a 1977 Trans am, in 1983. It was black with white upholstery. Of course it had a 400cid, 4 speed. I got to drive it a couple of times back then, And while driving it on the interstate, I buried the speedometer at 110 mph.It was a fun car to drive. My Nephew, as far as I know, still has it, having bought it from his mom. He blew the 400 along time agp, while racing it.

In 1976 I was deciding on three cars that I liked. One was a Cosworth Vega, the second a 455 Trans Am, and the third a Cutlass Salon 455. The Chevrolet dealer that had a Coswoth, would not let me test drive it, so I moved on to the Pontiac, since I had a new '75 Formula Firebird 350. Granger Pontiac had a bright Yellow Trans Am with a 455 and four speed. I feel bad today about test driving the car with a rather old salesman as I pulled out on to LaGrange Road really going through the gears. I ended up buying the 455 Cutlass Salon which I ordered fairly loaded. Another nice video Lou, with an exceptional Trans Am. I did eventually ordered a Cameo White with tan interior '79 Trans Am WS6 with a four speed and the last Year Pontiac 400 engine. Kept that car for nine years.

now thats a sweet mid 1970s pontiac transam!!

Hi, Lou! Speaking as a long-time Pontiac fan who has been a Pontiac owner since December 1988 (I got a 1987 Grand Am for my first car got my 1967 Bonneville wagon while I still had the Grand Am), I think it's was just a great coincidence that Pontiac got to celebrate its golden anniversary during America's bicentennial! Pontiac had to make a lot of adjustments in the Seventies after thriving on a performance image during the Sixties, but thanks to the Firebird and especially the Trans Am, they were able to maintain at least a vestige of that old image. Such a shame we don't have Pontiac around today, so Dave is certainly wise to keep preserving this one so that it sees America's 250th birthday coming in five years. Many thanks to you and Trans Am Dave for taking us along on this amazing grand touring thrill ride!

Another classic muscle car from my youth! Very nice Trams Am! Love those cars a long with the 2nd generation Camaro. You got me addicted again!!

One of the Pontiac 50th anniversary editions trans ams and Hurst Grand Prix,s both cars came standard with the H. O. 455 V8 engine, trans am with either a 4sp or Th400.

Very nice car,and a 4 speed as well. I had a '73 Formula 4 speed car as my high school driver and fell in love with these Poncho's way back then. I'm currently restoring a '76 Trans Am 455 car--not a SE/LE, but it is a genuine TA. I noticed something during the video though,that I'd like to mention.The owner called it a "survivor",and as nice as it is,I couldn't help but notice the factory color code on the close-up shot of the cowl tag--the paint code showing is "19L" and "19U",which stands for lower and upper body color. 19 is the code # for Gold,not Starlight Black,which is code 50.If this car was a factory black car,the cowl tag should read "50U" and "50L" and also explains the Buckskin interior color. The owner did not mention a re-paint,but according to the cowl tag,this car should be Gold. Just wondering if I missed something along the way....

I still say Lou Constable does the best shows. Your voice is great, and you feature the most important things most of the time.

Such a brilliant video. Amazing informations and documents. Thank you guys👍

Beautiful car. I had the same 455 with a 4 and hurst ttop in the 50th anniversary. I had the black interior and 52k miles. I bought the car in 1992 and sold it in 2005. It was all numbers matching but, did have some minor rust issues. Amazingly, as rare as the 110 built, I've personally seen a handful in person.

I remember this model car in CHIP'S TV séries, with the Cop Frank Pontchrello (Eric Strada). I have models in my colletion miniature. Congratulations and tanks Lou!

Such a nice car. 76 50th 4spd car with hurst hatch tops . Rear console etc... that car is awesome

Fun fact: It is assumed that the Bandit Trans Am was a 1977. That would be incorrect. They basically took this car (with 400 engine) and grafted onto it a 1977 Trans Am front clip since the 1977 had not been released yet. So technically both the 1976 and 77 Trans Am were in the movie. 😁

Dave has one sweet Trans-Am. The tire squeal at the beginning of the video was sweet. I can see why you guys were smiling. I occasionally hear that tire squeal when I ride in my friend Steve's 1969 Charger. Music to the ears 🎶

I had a cousin that had powder blue/white '76 Formula. I used to drool over it! LOL '76 was a great year. The bicentennial celebrations, great music, and some great cars. Muscle cars evolved from raw street racers to more comfortable accessorized sporty cars. These cars might have been bogged down by emissions, but make no mistake, they were plenty fast. Beautiful car and I really like the rare contrasting camel interior.

Hermoso este Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 76’. La combinación en negro con franjas y aros dorados es, simplemente, magnifica... ¡Excelente vídeo!

The factories were struggling bad with emissions control so they really couldn't make them go fast. BUT they could make them look like they could go fast, and GM figured this out with the Firebird and Camaro lineup. Nice original survivor car with 14,000 miles thats crazy. Thanks for sharing it you guys!

How could anyone hate a Trans Am, It's fast, badass, and a legend. The only people that could hate it are the people that only saw the tail-lights of it while they were meters behind.

Wow the owner of this TA has so much documentation from Pontiac its so cool seeing that again I remember going through those catalogs as a kid and seeing that camper tent on the astre was a blast actually Pontiac had that feature advertised for the Pontiac astec this is pure gold

76 was a really bad year for cars making the ugliest looking and most under powered car was the thing then so when you saw a car like this it was really something!! It was the coolest car on the road! As you know they didn't even make a Z-28 in 75 -76. This car is a dream car if it was made in any year but in 76 it took it next level!

What a neat car Lou! I love Pontiac of any kind. I love these better than Camaro's. The owner sure loves his car that is awesome and it sure is a keeper for sure. Loved all the details you had with this unit very fun to watch and learn with. I bet that sure was a fun ride along. Nothing like a Trans Am or a Firebird of any kind. Just a immaculate vehicle all the way around. I really enjoyed this video it was so much fun to watch. Thanks as always Lou for Sharing!

Beautiful 😍 Thanks Lou.

Thank you, DAVE & Lou! Great overviews…. Interestingly, this is the CAR *&/76 Trans Am really got me interested in TAs: ordering our 1977 HURST HAtch Tops, *Special ED: cruise: AUTO, tilt:PS & PB,REAR DEF,MAts, BKACK * Velour Interior, WINDOW tint DELETE, ZIEBARTED(* probable waste , needs protection spats),400 6.6 L.(* gas concerns::thanks to NUNZI’s Pontiac, HO PRODUCTS, KONI, GOODYEAR for build ups) ordering in Late OCT 1976, & receiving in March* 3,1977 (ODDLY, my Dealers paperwork showed coming through *HURST PRODUCTS , MICHIGAN, immediately Prior, less* some Gold PinStripes!)…..same BUICK/ Pontiac Dealer my Parents got 1953 BUICK YELLOW/ Black DYNAFLOW…. Actually, we probably had 14,000 miles first year DRIVEN *& our Kids used the TRANS AM IN some, of their High School too! Anyways, obscenely WORE out, &* rotted out with INDIANA ROAD salts,etc(* the HURST HATCHES , leak, &/SEEP, too) : by 1996(?) we did start some * Restorations,,but gave up as Life, Money &;Time interfered with OLD Trans Am work.. Interestingly, remembering the Salvage Yard gave me $100 for “Complete Car”::: the Gold Snowflake 1977 SPECIAL wheels were very scarce couple or,years ago…!, Anyways fun build over the years! Great Memories & use :: especially the T Tops (** did have one TTOP STOLEN EARLY== had to drive to Indianapolis to get a Hurst Replacement,etc., later only the GMC TOPS ,ETC)….

Brings back memories

That's what I call a "street toy"!!! Dave is a lucky man to have this one in his collection, but I'm sure if I owned one it would have a lot more miles on it. Thanks for another awesome video and another great car guy 👍👍

Very cool TransAm. Iconic American car here. I used to cruise around my friend's Mom's blue 78 back in the day. Of course it wasn't in near as good of shape as this example, but yes, you do feel so cool in them. This one would be a keeper for me too being so rare and in this shape. The four speed seems so different in these. I rarely saw one with a manual. Thank you for sharing Lou. Take care.

Love the trans am 1976 my uncle has tge same one with the 50th anniversary Pontiac logo Pontiac had the logo on all their cars that year commemorating pontiacs 50 years awesome plus the Hurst t tops GM eventually had them made in house by fisher body this car brings back memories as a kid my uncle paid like 7,100 hundred dollars back then they don't make them like they used to

The owners manuals alone are very desirable to collectors.

Wow! Super car!

Awesome video!!!

My friend had one with black interior. That 455 with the stick was awesome! He traded it in for a Ford Bronco because traveling in snow was not fun. I didn’t know that he traded it until months later. I would have bought it, but was to late.

I've always loved this year model. It's just too bad the big 3 didn't put a lot of horse power in the because of the EPA.

Very very cool love Pontiac Trans Am👍

Beautiful exhaust note!

In the early 80s I had a '76 Trans Am - SD455 / 4 Speed. Sold it for $3000. Makes me a little ill when i think about it......

For a short period of time in 1977 I owned a brown 1970 Formula 400 w/AT and what I considered ugly factory honeycomb wheels.. wish I still had it

Hi Lou! Thank you for a very nice video! You might arranged to block the road during your filming! I like that sound of brakes and it looks like the 1976 Pontiac decided to show all strength and to prove that age is not an issue! :)

Great car Lou.Love to have one ...

Nice run thru the gears☺☺

I had a orange 76 black int 4 speed got it with 52,000 miles it was clean. Nice car

But yes, it's true, most the Trans Am/Formula's competition had fallen by the wayside by 1976. That's why the return of the Z/28 in mid-1977 generated such excitement, and the Camaro's best-ever sales year was in fact 1979.

There is no better looking car 😊

Very neat car !

Final assembly point was Norwood, OH!?!? I live in Cincinnati and went to college down there that’s awesome to see! Had no idea

Good one Lou...This was definitely a chick magnet back in the day.

Man that is very nice indeed.

Nice one

love it

Pretty insane !! Survivor, owned for years and still super low mileage. oh, a Four Speed. I believe these were gone from Ca by then. man, '76. Year i moved out at 19. Luckily never had go back. That summer was pretty great.

very nice

Drill out those 3 rivets and open up that shaker scoop!

👍

great,,

Nice 😃

Best SE Imo, 455+4 speed, ttops and 3.23 gears I believe.

Had a76 T/A chicken 🐔 delete car black over red with a 400 great sound when that 4 barrel opened and I punched out my shaker scoop and made it fully functional great burn outs too

Love this car. I always prefered round headlights models. Nothing wrong with square headlights it's just that in my eye round headlights fits the 'Bird' look better

The cars in the movie were actually '76 cars with a '77 nose put on them.

Love this car! I will trade you my Buccaneer Red 77 even up!😂

I completely forgot how many cars were made by Pontiac, at the time, compared to Buick and Olds. GM sunk some serious investment into that line. So sad Pontiac is gone.

Such a sweet ride, but it does sound so choked ,I ripped my 78 trans am apart like a foolish kid.but it went from a 17 second car to High 12’s low 13 seconds no ac in the summer sucked in Texas lol..

I've had x3 2nd gens to date; a '75, '80 pace, & '81 pace. I still have the '81 Daytona 500 pace with the amazing Recaro edition! Lou, I was not aware of the "black chrome" splitter tailpipe option, & I know a lot about 2nd gens. I wish I was in Scottsdale about now, as the weather is still a little too chilly in Colorado, to go out on racing slicks. I don't know why the owner wasn't impressed with the handling of his '76, as mine handles superbly!? Come check mine out this Summer!