Yes they did, and NPD now has it. See High Performance Pontiac August 2006 issue for the facts.

Special edition 76-78 bird heads faced left, 78-81 standard hood birds on non-turbo T/A models faced right, with the Turbo models facing left with the flame up on the bulge of the hood.

Derek

nice to see someone with correct answers lol,76-78 left 78-81 standard right and 80-81 turbos to the left 73-75 was also to the left i believe

The 73-mid 78 was to the right, after mid 78 when the decal changed to the more detailed bird all TA's had them facing the left mid 78-81 non turbo models, as for the turbo birds they are all facing the right side, cause the hood bulge is on the right. I am 100% sure that these are right. Such as the Bandit 77 had the bird facing the right.

Sorry I didn't clarify in my earlier post on right and left facing :emb:

For example, if the bird is facing left (towards driver side) like on this '77 model: http://www.highperformancepontiac.co.../photo_01.html

On this S/E gold '78 model facing right (towards passenger side): http://www.highperformancepontiac.co.../photo_05.html

Derek

the buldge on the turbos isnt on the right! its on the left side of the hood and the head is facing the left as well!get your info right somws6bird.73-78 to the left side(drivers side)78-81 to the right and some aftermarket to the left and 80-81 turbos to the left.look on ebay or id even scan pics of any year t/a to prove so.and the 77 bandit t/a had the eagle head facing left towards drivers side!

All first style birds 73-78 face the same way, The second style ( more "feathers) could be facing L or R depending on the car ie: Pace car, Annv. And although there were Black SE trans Ams in 78 I don't believe Pontiac ever called them "bandits". The gold 78 in the pics above has a 79 and up style bird.

This is my sister's boyfriend in his '77 he restored. They are at a Halloween party.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...0/TA-Burt1.jpg


This is my brand new '78 on day one with my sister posing in her prom dress. You don't want to know what happened on day 20. :cry:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...00/thecar3.jpg

Cool pictures, Thanks for sharing.

very cool pics

Sorry for the late post but hey the4spbandit not to be a jerk but first of all my info is correct, you got all your stuff the opposite way man, the hood bulge is on the drivers side, with the bird facing the right as you look at the car, so when you say that other people are wrong you better be sure your right. Some of the birds even came with a turbocharged emblem in the scoop, right in front so the driver can see it. 1st style birds faces the right and the turbo birds also, the 78-81 non turbo modeled birds all faced the left or passenger side if some people are getting mixed up.

By the way timberman00 those are some awsome pics I wish I had some pics of when my dad was driving his car to highschool with his friends. My dad had a black 78 with gold rims and gold pinstripping with the 1st style bird, then after after a while I guess his brother just got jealous and had to buy a 78 Y88 Gold SE with the more detailed bird, they would cruise all over the place together allways racing back and forth to see who's is faster and even took up the only spots in the garage with a family of 7.

im the one stated that the 80-81 turbos had the scoop on drivers side with eagle head facing drivers side and all 80-81 turbos and the turbo formulas had the turbo 4.9 decal on each side of the scoop!and like i said before i have pictures of every year t/a and can prove what i say.

The drivers side is the right side, passenger is left if you look at the car from the outside facing the front end. if you are looking at it from the inside out its the other way around.

Now those were some tasty looking 2Gen's. Especially that red one. Really wished I'd have kept my Bandit T/A now. Oh well...

That was the best movie!! (part 1) I bet I have watched it 200 times..I know every word.....Love the TA's as well, my mom had a black one just like (sorta) the one in the movie! God I loved that car!

From what I understand there were 5-7 cars used for the 1st movie. 2 of them had 455 big blocks with 4 speeds installed and the rest were 403 Olds big block powered.

However, GM didn't begin dropping 403's into the Trans AM until 1977.

The part in the beginning where Bandit lights up the tires at the stop light just before Snowman and Fred come thru with the semi was one of the 455/4 speed cars....most likely the driver of that car was free revving the engine and then dumped the clutch.

To my understanding none of the cars in the film survived. The part where the Bandit jumps airborne over the river where the bridge is out in Arkansas is said to have totaled that particular car.

I would also guess the part where Frog goes thru the football field probably totaled that car too, but I am not sure.

I also believe I read the part where the Bandit hits the curb after being chased by the Alabama cop taking a leak at night caused some extensive damage to the car.

Part II used the 1980 Turbo Trans Am's. From what I have gathered the stunt crew was not impressed with the poor power they had to they utilized nitrous oxide on the cars.

Ya know the funniest thing about this thread? It shows that almost noone actually reads the replies, just the initial post. I lost count of the people who gave the same info of six 1966 model cars, two with 455/4-speed setups. If people actually read before replying, they would see that their knowledge is of the T/A's is backed up by others and confirms their info is correct instead of saying "I believe.....", "To my knowledge....", "I read that.....:, etc. Read the replies people, you' re backing up someone else' s info, have confidence in your replies and confirm the validity of others. :judge: ;)

Brings back a lot of memories, I learned how to drive and took my drivers test in a 78 Special Edition TA, Black on Black with the gold stripes, Hurst Hatch Tops, Hurst Shifter, 400 cid (Pontiac not 403 Olds), 4-Speed, 3.73 gears. My parents ordered it new, there were about a 100 TA's on the lot and not one 4-speed, my Dad had to have a 4-speed.

It had a ton of torque and felt fast, you could easily get rubber in all four gears with the crappy uniroyal radials. When you power shifted to 2nd it was all over the place. When we took it to track it was very disappointing, it only ran low 15's. It sure felt faster, but I guess in 78 nothing from the factory was very fast.

You know what the funny thing is, that no one reads the replies. They just read the initial post. If people read other posts they would be able to confirm their information instead of saying, I think or I believe.

Doh! Lol