Pontiac Power

Spotter's Guide
1978 Trans AM SE (Y88) "Gold Edition"

Mid-year, 1978 Pontiac introduced the Special Edition Trans Am in Solar Gold with Gold accents. This replaced the Black and Gold SE's. There were made in two different assembly plants, Norwood, OH or Van Nuys, CA. You can tell this by the 7th digit in the VIN, L for Norwood and U for Van Nuys. Because of the Environmental laws in CA, they used a different water based paint. It is easy to spot cars from the CA plant because they had a greenish-tint to them. Pontiac had many problems with this paint and eventually stopped using this color, and therefore the gold SE's as well. They offered once again the Black and Gold SE after they stopped producing the Gold SEs.

What to look for:

Solar Gold Paint

Hood Bird with 5 shades of Gold with Yellow highlights

Gold Accented Grille

Gold nose emblem

Gold Snowflake Wheels

Gold Bird on Center Caps

Camel Tan Interior

Gold tinted swirl dash

Steering Wheel with Gold Spokes and Gold Bird in Center Cap

Gold Bird on door panels (pwr. windows only)

Gold Bird on Shifter knob (Automatic only)

Brown Pin-striping

Gold bird decal on c-pilar

Black-out Window Trim

T-top Roof with gold tinted glass

Also look for Y88 stamped on the body tag on the cowl. If the car was built at the Norwood, OH plant it should have the Y88 stamped on it. The cars built at the Van Nuys, CA plant do not seem to have Y88 stamped on them. If there is any documentation with the car look for the SE option on it. It should be on the window sticker and invoice for the car. It will also be on the build sheet as well. The Build Sheet is most commonly found in the rear seat back between the springs. Other common places are under the carpet, drivers or passengers side. Behind the kick panels and even between the gas tank and the trunk floor but are usually are in poor condition.
The standard interior was Camel Tan. A non-SE had a black steering wheel with black spokes. However if, the car was an SE it came with matching tan steering wheel and gold spokes and gold bird center cap. Although most came with tan interior, they could be special ordered in a different color such as black or even red!

If none of these items are present with the car, the only way to be 100% sure that the car is a true SE is to have it documented with Pontiac Historical Services (PHS). For a very small fee of $35 (or $45 for fax back) PHS will send you a copy of the original invoice or billing history, a letter decoding the car's options, a copy of a dealer order for that model year, a official photo of the year and model, and other miscellaneous info that may be available for that year and model. The information that PHS provides will show what options are on the car. Since the SE package is an extra-cost option it will show on the invoice and therefore provide the proof needed.

Production breaks down as follows:

Engine	Trans	Total
400	Automatic	6,529
400	4-speed Manual	1,297
403	Automatic	880
	Total	8,676

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