The new Bandit

[JG_Detailing]

[OhioCarBuff]

Re: The new Bandit

The 1978 TA- what a hot car. Even though the newer musclecars are better in just about every way (power, effeciency, reliability etc), that model will remain a timeless classic

[BlueTooth]

Re: The new Bandit

lol.. I still watch that movie still great

[Setec Astronomy]

Re: The new Bandit

The 1978 TA- what a hot car. Even though the newer musclecars are better in just about every way (power, effeciency, reliability etc), that model will remain a timeless classic

Certainly the pinnacle of that generation of F-Body. '79 brought the droop-snoot 'bird and the loss of the 400 T/A engine, replaced by the 6.6 T/A, which was a station wagon engine....and ushered us into the dark days thru the early '80's, in-between carburetors and MFI...those days of mixture-control solenoid carbs and TBI...with no horsepower and terrible cold driveability.

The screaming-chicken look was certainly in-your-face, and some didn't care for it, but it really wasn't out of character in a world where Saturday Night Fever had just been a big hit and Urban Cowboy was about to be, and people were wearing spandex pants or cowboy hats for a night out.

[RamAirV1]

Re: The new Bandit

The Trans Am!!!!!!



RamAirV1

[STG]

Re: The new Bandit

Certainly the pinnacle of that generation of F-Body. '79 brought the droop-snoot 'bird and the loss of the 400 T/A engine, replaced by the 6.6 T/A, which was a station wagon engine....and ushered us into the dark days thru the early '80's, in-between carburetors and MFI...those days of mixture-control solenoid carbs and TBI...with no horsepower and terrible cold driveability.

The 1977 Trans Am (that's the correct Smokey and the Bandit model year) is the pinnacle of that generation F-Body???

The 1977 Pontiac 400 T/A engine was actually an Olds 403 with a WHOPPING 180 horsepower!

The second generation pinnacle was the 1970 Trans Am with the (special order )Ram Air V engine reputed to exceed 500 hp. It looks a damn site better than a 1977 too.

[Setec Astronomy]

Re: The new Bandit

The 1977 Trans Am (that's the correct Smokey and the Bandit model year) is the pinnacle of that generation F-Body???

The 1977 Pontiac 400 T/A engine was actually an Olds 403 with a WHOPPING 180 horsepower!

The second generation pinnacle was the 1970 Trans Am with the (special order )Ram Air V engine reputed to exceed 500 hp. It looks a damn site better than a 1977 too.

Well, we're all entitled to our opinion, however, the 403 engine you describe is the 6.6 T/A. The 400 T/A from '77 or maybe just '78 was 220 net, IIRC (unless I have it backwards, I just remember the '79 was a dog). And of course in '70 the hp numbers were gross, not net.

[RamAirV1]

Re: The new Bandit

We've come a long way with powertrains, from a 6.6L with 180HP to a 5.7L with 325 HP (my '01 WS6) to a 6.0L with 400HP! (my '06 GTO). No doubt the new Camaro will also have the LS2. Now if they would just bring back the TA too!

RamAirV1

[STG]

Re: The new Bandit

Well, we're all entitled to our opinion, however, the 403 engine you describe is the 6.6 T/A. The 400 T/A from '77 or maybe just '78 was 220 net, IIRC (unless I have it backwards, I just remember the '79 was a dog). And of course in '70 the hp numbers were gross, not net.

If we take the Dodge 426 Hemi of 1970 as an example, the same exact (1970) engine went from 425 hp to (1971) net 375 hp. Using the same percentage loss, a 500 hp gross Ram V would net out at 441 hp - twice that of your "pinnacle" 1977 engine.

[Setec Astronomy]

Re: The new Bandit

If we take the Dodge 426 Hemi of 1970 as an example, the same exact (1970) engine went from 425 hp to (1971) net 375 hp. Using the same percentage loss, a 500 hp gross Ram V would net out at 441 hp - twice that of your "pinnacle" 1977 engine.

Hey, take it easy, can't we like different cars? I would take exception to your generalization about comparing gross and net numbers, Chrysler and GM's techniques and transparency for reporting gross and net numbers may not be comparable. Plus I'm sure that 500 hp engine was a limited edition--anybody with a big enough checkbook could order up a T/A engine later on.

I don't know why you have your shorts in a bunch, I was just having fond memories of bygone times. How about I retract my "pinnacle" statement, and replace it with "boy, thinking about those cars sure brings back memories..."; is that better?

[STG]

Re: The new Bandit

Just for giggles:

Did you know the Trans Am used for the second Bandit film was so gutless it couldn't spin its tires until the installation of nitrous?

[OhioCarBuff]

Re: The new Bandit

Just for giggles:

Did you know the Trans Am used for the second Bandit film was so gutless it couldn't spin its tires until the installation of nitrous?

Geeze- that's crazy! I bet it got like 15 MPG highway too. The 78 & 79 TA is such a handsome & classic bodystyle that it would be worth it to put a motor from a wrecked late model GTO, vette, or camaro into one of them, with a modern overdrive transmission too of course.

[STG]

Re: The new Bandit

In the second Fast & Furious movie, part of the story line involved setting up a 1968 (?) Mustang for drifting by installing a twin turbo Japanese Skyline six cylinder engine. The swap was actually done, but the engine was torn out and replaced with a 400+hp Ford V8 in order to get the car to drift for the cameras.

[yakky]

Re: The new Bandit

Just for giggles:

Did you know the Trans Am used for the second Bandit film was so gutless it couldn't spin its tires until the installation of nitrous?

So someone else visited the TA wiki?

[Skuz]

Re: The new Bandit

The '77-78 Firebird, that's one of my two favorite body styles. Timeless. The '79-81 was also good looking, but the front end wasn't as good.