These people are like rabbits.....They just keep multiplying!

The last two posts have stirred up the crazies. Got a ton more e-mails from people claiming to have rare cars that again-don't exist. Here's some more good ones. # 1. 5-speed manual transmissioned '70's Trans-Ams. Pontiac never built a T/A with a 5-speed stick until 1983-and those were the 3rd generation 305 Chevy powered models. From 1977-79 DKM inc.-builders of the "Macho T/A"-offered the Doug Nash 5-speed as a dealer-installed option. ( The "Macho" mods were performed in the service department of Mecham Pontiac in Glendale, Arizona.). Also in this time period former Pontiac engineer Herb Adams-who partnered with Cars&Concepts in Michigan offered a similar performance package called the "Fire-Am", and they too offered to swap the stock T10 4-speed for the Doug Nash / Richmond 5-speed. So it's possible that these people bought these cars new from a dealer-but since GM wouldn't give the "Machos" or the "Fire-Ams" an MSO-Manufacturer's certificate of originality-they were sold to DKM and Cars&Concepts, modified, and then re-sold by dealers as used cars, even though they may not have had 10 miles on them. But the fact remains that the Doug Nash / Richmond 5-speed was never a factory option installed by GM. # 2. 400 / 455 Powered 1980-81 Trans-Am. Same thing-Tuners were everywhere in the late '70's and early '80's. There was an individual that was offering a "Bandit" performance package-playing on the popularity of the 1st two "Smokey&The Bandit" movies. The package included Recaro seats, and swapping the normally aspirated 301 Pontiac or 305 Chevy, or Turbocharged 301 V8s for a pumped-up 400 or 455 inch "Real" Pontiac V8. The guy was charging as much as $30,000 for these cars in 1981. But the last factory-built 455 T/A was made in 1976, and the last 400 model was made in 1979. So, these "Bandit" editions exist-but they weren't built by Pontiac. # 3. 1973-75 Rat-Motored Camaro, Nova or Firebird. The 396 was discontinued in the Nova after 1970, and in the Camaro after 1972. However-Joel Rosen of Motion Performance-partnered with Baldwin Chevrolet in New York, or Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago would sell you a new Camaro or Nova with an L88 427, or LS6 or LS7 454 crate engine installed. Hot Rod magazine did an extensive road test of a 1973 Nova SS with an L88 stuffed in it. They also did this swap on a few Pontiac Firebirds as well. The advent of Catalytic Converters and ever-tightening emission laws made these cars unfeasible-which is why Baldwin and Nickey stopped selling them. But again-yes you may have walked into a dealer and financed the car-but it wasn't built by GM, it was Hot-Rodded by these performance oriented dealers, and sold as a used car. # 4. 1978-79 5-speed L82S Corvette. Riding high on the success of the "Macho T/A", Dennis and Kyle Mecham offered a similar performance package for the Corvette. He called it the "L82S". They took an L82 / 4-speed 'Vette, and swapped in the Doug Nash 5-speed and Hurst shifter, added Hooker Headers and real dual exhausts ( with two cats like the Macho T/A's ) re-curved the distributor and re-jetted the carb. They also lowered the suspension, installed Koni shocks, and larger wheels and tires and Recaro seats. Car Craft tested one and raved about how badass it was. DKM also did a few Z/28 Camaros and called them the "Macho Z". Neither of these were as wildly popular as the "Macho T/A", but a handful were built, by DKM, not Chevrolet. # 5. 1978-79 "Ringer" "Li'l Red Express" truck. The "Little Red Truck" was popular with the buff magazines of the day. They all mused-why did Dodge choose to use a 360 in this hot-rod pickup-when you could get a 454 in a short-box 2wd Chevy / GMC, and a 460 in a Ford F150. Why didn't they use the 440? To this day-some Mopar Freaks claim this was the fastest American car built in 1978-79. This stemmed from a November 1977 Car & Driver test where a "Prototype" "Li'l Red Express" blew the doors off both a 400, 4-speed Trans Am, and an L82 / 4-speed Corvette. However this "prototype" had a 360 V8 with the camshaft out of the old 340 V8, a set of NASCAR-spec "W2" cylinder heads, an aluminum Holley "Street Dominator" intake manifold, and a 650 cfm Holley Double-Pumper carb, and catalyst-free dual exhausts!! Rest assured- the production examples with a garden-variety 360 with stock heads and cam, and a Carter Thermo-Quad on a stock iron intake manifold were substantially slower!! I test-drove one, and it wasn't any faster than my dad's 350 Chevy pickup!. But the legend persists to this day. # 6. 1979 "W30" Hurst / Olds. This car was built entirely by Oldmobile in Lansing, Michigan, on the '78 and later downsized "G" body Cutlass platform. They had a 350 Olds V8 that wheezed out 160 hp, that the marketers shamelessly put W30 emblems on, trying to capitalize on the 442's late 60's and early '70s glory. The last W30 455 was built in 1972. There was nothing special about these cars other than the white and gold paint job and Hurst shifter. The "W30" designation meant absolutely nothing, and they couldn't even break out of the 16s in the 1/4. These are a "Hurst / Olds" in name only-not like the Hurst-Performance built special editions based on the "A" body Cutlass 442 from 1968-75.  Mastermind