76 HURST 50TH ANNIVERSARY

[StealthBird]

OK, gotcha now. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

Production began in the last week of March 1976. The first few hundred all had Hurst hatches, up until sometime in May 1976, when they realized there were some problems with the Hurst hatches. The bare bodies were sent to Hurst, which used another facility to cut the roofs and add a structural panel, then the bodies were shipped back to the plant. It was around May 1976 when the quality control guys, and those responsible for overseeing structural integrity, put a stop to the Hurst hatch conversions because of all the issues. After that point (May 1976), Pontiac began building them without t-tops, but a few more orders were accepted, with the t-tops now being an option. Originally, t-tops were supposed to be available on regular Trans Am's and Formulas after the initial build out of the 50th Anniversary cars, but the issues with the Hurst hatches negated that plan.

One little known trivia item (aside from those cool black chrome exhaust splitters) was that these cars were originally supposed to have gold lettered Goodyear tires, but that plan was nixed because of cost.

So in summary, since the production of these cars began in the last week of March 1976, I would say that your car may be one of the earliest.