Thread: 78 Trans Am getting some love

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Christian has got on me enough about the T/A lately that I finally kicked the bird out of its nest.It's been about 4 years since it's last run and it's time for some miles to be put on it, I'm sure most will be by Christian. It does have a list of needs and should be done things to get it back into shape. The first pic is just out of the shed and the second is after a quick bath.

First on the list is to update the radio to a nice modern one The after market one in there now doesn't work anymore and I found this gem which will look real nice in there. These old radios are getting harder to find, looks like I better not forget to adjust the antennae though

Look at my moniker and ask me if I'm TOTALLY THRILLED!

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Look at my moniker and ask me if I'm TOTALLY THRILLED!

lol, Sound like it right up your alley!

Hell yeah!

I'll trade Christian a 2000 Silverado with new tires, straight up.


Good luck with the cassettes.

You can get a cassette adapter which takes an earphone jack from any media.

Holy cow, that was awful, the dash is torn to pieces but it's in and it sounds way better than I thought it would. Did these old analog radios get better reception than the radios now? I was in a steel building and I was picking up everything. I've searched all over the house and I can't find one cassette tape anywhere, I suppose they are long dumped, I'm going to have to get some just because.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Hell yeah!

I'll trade Christian a 2000 Silverado with new tires, straight up.


Good luck with the cassettes.

You can get a cassette adapter which takes an earphone jack from any media.

Christian is going to get gifted the 82 Camaro, I'm not ready to part with the T/A yet, I'll let him drive it though It kind of a good time watching him learn to drive a clutch

"......It kind of a good time watching him learn to drive a clutch ........."

It's also fun watching them change a clutch out(although Cade didn't seem to be have such a good time)

You're right about the dual shaft radios being almost impossible to find. My 57 Plymouth and 37 Dodge both still have them but I used up all my spares a long time ago. I still look on E bay for them once in a while just to have a spare back on the shelf. Fortunately I'm still good on cassette tapes. My home stereo is 30 years old and I have the cassette deck hooked up so I can still record tapes if I want to (although I haven't in ages). I do have one of the old cassette tape cases I carry in the 57 with about 20 tapes in it........but since I added the satellite radio that just pretty much collects dust now too.

The TA brings back some fond memories of my 81 TA clone.

81 TA clone by M Patterson, on Flickr


It was kind of a Frankenstein car project I traded another project for. It started life as a plain Firebird and eventually got the TA body parts a 400, TH350 and quickie white paint job.......it was a ball to drive though.

On mine I relocated the AC vent to the where the clock delete underneath them was (can't remember what stole the vent out of) and them put aftermarket gauges in all 4 holes,.......looked pretty neat.

Being a clone it was insured as a Firebird instead of a TA so that saved a few bucks.

When we sold the wife's 77 Cobra II Donna had a choice between me redoing the TA or 74 Mustang II for her....she chose the Mustang II (that's Cade's car now).......I was kind of pulling for the TA but what you going to do

The TA went to a guy in Tucson who bought it as a father son project.

Anyway sorry for the Hijack.


.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

Holy cow, that was awful, I've searched all over the house and I can't find one cassette tape anywhere, I suppose they are long dumped, I'm going to have to get some just because.

If you can't find any tapes local, give me a shout... I think I have a couple hundred still sitting in boxes in the basement.

Thanks for the offer, maybe I'll hit some thrift stores first , maybe I'll get lucky and find a Jerry Reed cassette lol

It's not a hijack Mike it's just good conversation. I'll be honest, I have never downloaded a song yet, I think it's probably some ADHD kicking in, I always freak out and get mad cuz I never remember what button I have to push next to find what I'm looking for

OHHH, the days, nothin' quite like looking at the radio and seeing an accordion of tape coming out onto the floor. LOL!

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

It's not a hijack Mike it's just good conversation. I'll be honest, I have never downloaded a song yet, I think it's probably some ADHD kicking in, I always freak out and get mad cuz I never remember what button I have to push next to find what I'm looking for

Go to You Tube and you can download most any song you want. Then use this to convert https://ytmp3.cc/en13/ and add to your playlist.
I have a decent collection of CD's, many from the late 50's and early 60's, and I make my own CD's using Lightscribe. I have an Alpine head unit in both the truck and corvette with a 6 disc changer in the center console of the truck and one behind the drivers seat in the Vette.
Somewhere in the garage I have an old Alpine auto reverse cassette player I had in the Mustang. I also have a number of cassettes I recorded and you're welcome to any of them.

Thanks Ken, I will have to try that sometime, its getting harder and harder to find anything good on the radio.

I got the interior put together and I decided it's time to teach Christian how to drive this thing. I figured he was ready cuz he he was walking out of the house door as soon as he heard it running lol. I drove it at first and went to the nearest blacktop and had to demonstrate how to let the clutch out nice and easy as you slowly gave it gas. Of course my idea of slowly giving it gas is a little different, I revved it up to 4500 dumped the clutch and hammered on it ! we were squirreling back and forth and going sideways and he was hanging on to the dash , It was hilarious! Maybe I'm a bad example lol. After that, I did let him drive and to be honest this car is probably the worst four-speed to learn to drive on, it is not smooth at all. I figure if he masters this one he can drive anything.

VERY bad example. Surely you realize he will emulate your actions, without your skill and experience. But then, he'd have done it anyway.

I bought a NOS vintage 8 track player for my bird. I quickly learned that even though the player was new in box, the tapes were 30 years old, and I was lucky to get two plays before the player ate them.

Get the adapter, and he can play tunes from his phone or MP3.

Oh. And probably good we can't swap for the truck. Getting in and out of the bird would hurt my back.

It sucks to be old. Youth is wasted on the young.