1978 #1 - #50
1978 was the most popular year for the Macho T/A’s, where development was full swing, Pontiac re-introduced the stronger cast 400 block, the WS6 Special Performance Package was now on offer from factory with the larger 15x8 aluminium wheels, and DKM was exploring more performance options, such as the H.O. Racing Specialties Turbo Kit, the Doug Nash 4+1 manual transmission and more! Word was spreading, and interstate dealers were now ordering Macho T/A’s for their showroom floors from DKM. A total of 204 Macho T/A’s were produced in 1978, with 203 and 204 being converted into Macho T/A’s at a later time.
1978 Macho T/A #1
Owner: Jimmy’s Speed Shop
The first 1978 Macho T/A appears to be in excellent condition, and was in the care of Jimmy’s Speed Shop in Mesa, Arizona. A video uploaded to YouTube in 2017 showed the T/A on a hoist under being cleaned and inspected. It appeared to be straight and clean, with tired paint. However, there was a report that the original block had cracked at some point due to the block freezing. Sadly, Jimmy G. the Dentist passed away a few years back, so it’s not certain what’s happened to 1978 #1. Jimmy’s son also owns 1978 Macho T/A #194, and drove home from his wedding in it!
1978 Macho T/A #4
Owner: ???
There doesn’t seem to be too much information for 1978 #4 right now, but these recent photos show it’s being safely stored high and dry.
1978 Macho T/A #5
Owner: Rob Thomas
Woof. 1978 #5 has sure copped it, Rob only just recently rescued 1978 #5 out of the 2nd owner’s backyard in Utah. He knew it had been there for a while, and it definitely looks like it’s gone a little down hill since the last photo of it. The hood was stuck half open, but it appears it may not have had the original 400 W72 engine based on the visible code, but this is yet to be confirmed. Either way, the motor was apparently filled with rain water, and will need a lot of love. The hood, a door, the trunk lid and other parts were stolen! On top of that, some racoons terminated the rest of the interior. Rob recently had the car for sale this year, so hopefully it’s getting restored soon.
1978 Macho T/A #8
Owner: Chris B. B.
1978 Macho T/A #8 was given a second lease on life thanks to Chris B. B., who managed to score the car from an Auto Recycler in Colorado, and saved it from being turned into tin cans by trading it for a Mopar shell. It was in very rough shape, with someone taking some practise shots at the fender decals! It’s great to hear that Chris has begun a restoration on this one and has saved it from the crusher.
1978 Macho T/A #11
Owner: ???
Macho T/A 1978 #11 is in excellent survivor condition, with a previous owner, Dave, advising it retained around 80% of the original paint. The T/A is painted in Cameo White with red stripes, with deluxe Carmine Red velour interior. It was a factory Pontiac 400 W72 and 4-speed manual, but something’s up. This one was on eBay a number of times, and a Dave from Salt Lake City had sold the car. David H., who had 4 Machos including this one at one point, listed in on eBay a few years ago and had clearly advised it did not have the numbers matching motor. It recently went through the auctions and sold to a private buyer, hopefully they contact us so we can check this one out.
1978 Macho T/A #12
Owner: Mike B.
Macho T/A 1978 #12 was rescued by Mike by trading a bunch of parts in exchange for this T/A! He received it with some assembly required, with the Borg Warner Super T-10 sitting in pieces in the interior. The original Cameo White and red paint scheme was faded, and the complete original Carmine Red deluxe velour interior was still with the car. He is currently restoring the T/A.
1978 Macho T/A #16
Owner: Brian B.
Macho T/A 1978 #16 is another example of an excellent survivor. This Macho T/A has a number of DKM options, such as the interior-matched Hooker Roll Bar and fibreglass lift-off hood. It is factory equipped with the WS6 Handling Package, W72 400, and 4-speed manual. Brian picked up this one a few years back, and has kept it high n’ dry. It looks like this one has the H.O. Specialties Oil Pressure restorer too. A listing that was preserved on one of those eBay recycling websites detailed some interesting history. The original owner had ordered the car through the Woodland Hills, CA Pontiac dealership until it was bought by the second owner, Chris Banning who bought it in 1980, and had kept it until 2005. Apparently, Chris was some street racer in Cali in the 70’s and 80’s and had written a book called "The Mulholland Experience" detailing his exploits in night-time street racing with his Porsche 911 RSR, as well as this Macho which is why it was modified with additional Cibie halogen headlights. The third owner added the Recaro seats and had them trimmed to appear like the 1981 Y85 Pace Car interior.
1978 Macho T/A #18
Owner: ???
1978 #18 had sold about a year or two ago, and apparently had made it’s way up to New York City. It was sold via eBay by Rob Thomas, but it is not clear where the car is now. It apparently had the original W72/4-speed driveline, and featured a Cameo White/red paint combo. We ended up confirming exactly where this Macho is, it is still at the large backlot with 40-50 other abandoned and rare Trans Ams in NYC. If it’s not saved, the operator of the yard explained the vehicle will be destroyed in Feb 2025. We’ve hopefully got some people heading over to try save some of these T/A’s.
1978 Macho T/A #21
Owner: Jeff G.
Jeff recently acquired this one from an auction, 1978 #21 had a bit of rust, and was recovered with 15x7 Honeycomb wheels on it. Rob Thomas had sold the car to the guy Jeff G. bought the car from, and it sounds like this car was trying to audition for Smokey and the Bandit II, as it had apparently taken a big dive at some point. It apparently had some significant frame damage at one point, and the original 400 Pontiac was destroyed. Jeff has since reached out to comment, and has given us some pretty cool background on how he got it! Get this, right? One of Jeff’s customers is a house painter, and while they were working on a renovation job out in Santa Fe, New Mexico, they spotted some sort of old car underneath some covers in the carport next door when they were cleaning up after the job. They mentioned it to Jeff, and Jeff started asking around, and found out hey presto, it’s a Macho T/A under there! So Jeff was put in contact with the owner of this T/A, who actually lived out of state in Idaho! The story goes, the guy who owned this Macho actually lives out in Idaho, but drove down to visit some friends in New Mexico. The motor blew up, and since it was broken down and going nowhere fast, he stashed it at his friends house. 20 years later, the car had still been sitting there forgotten about! The owner in Idaho was in contact with Jeff, and provided him with a B.o.S and the title! Jeff plans on restoring the car to the factory colors and trim, but may be looking at an LS driveline since the original motor sounds to be long gone.
1978 Macho T/A #27
Owner: Will P.
Will has owned 1978 #27 for some time, and it has had a lot of money spent. This one has a heavily built 1976 455 Pontiac with aluminium heads. It also has a Fisher T-Top roof, and it has been re-done in Cameo White/Martinique Blue paint. It has a number of DKM options added on, such as the Koni shocks, fibreglass lift-off hood, and a chrome Hooker roll cage.
1978 Macho T/A #28
Owner: Chris J.
Chris has spent considerable time fully restoring Macho T/A 1978 #28, and has owned it for several years. #28 was a factory 3-speed TH350 automatic with a 400 W72, however, he has reported that the original engine had been swapped out some time before he had gotten the car with another W72 engine. He has made some other modifications, such as the fantastic Recaro seats trimmed in factory 1979-80 Hobnail cloth material. The original owner, Toby D. won first prize in a Car Craft Magazine burnout competition with this photo of 1978 #28 back in the day!
1978 Macho T/A #30
Owner: Gary D.
1978 #30 is a heavily optioned Starlight Black/Solar Gold combo paired with deluxe Camel Tan velour cloth interior. It may have had a factory Hurst T-Top roof (or potentially the Texas T-Tops some other Machos had) with the W72/WS6 Special Handling package and a 4-speed manual. It looked to have been an excellent condition back when these photos were taken, hopefully it has remained that way! It turns out Gary D. owns this one, and he had taken these photos all the way back in the ‘90’s when he had first picked up 1978 #30! It retains all the original paperwork, and boasts a number of expensive DKM extra options. This one is still in his personal collection, and he has advised he’ll get some fresh photos of it soon.
Specs
Factory Options:
C60 Custom Air Conditioning
AK1 Custom Seat Belts
A01 Soft Ray Glass
B93 Door Edge Guards
Y92 Lamp Group
D34 RH Vanity Visor mirror
UN9 Radio Accommodation Package
N33 Tilt Steering Wheel
WS6 Special Performance Package
Y90 Custom Trim Group - Cloth
Color: Starlight Black/Solar Gold
Interior: 62B Deluxe Camel Tan Velour Cloth
Engine: Pontiac 400 W72
Transmission: Borg Warner Super T-10 4-speed
Numbers Matching?: Yes
DKM Options:
Macho Package
Undercoat
Rivet-on body side mouldings
Firebird Hood Decal (Small)
Front Floor Mats
AM/FM Stereo CB
Craig Speakers
Tri-Band Antenna
Polyglycoat
1978 Macho T/A #31
Owner: Robert O.
Robert O. is the original owner of 1978 #31, and the car somehow ended up in a great state of disrepair. It appears it was a factory Starlight Black/Solar Gold car with deluxe Camel Tan interior, with a TH350 automatic and 400 W72. He still has this Macho and is working on restoring it.
1978 Macho T/A #32
Owner: Chris D.
Bittersweet story with #32, at one point, 1978 #32 was undergoing restoration at a body shop in Arizona. At one point in the past, it was stolen, and at some point, recovered and had 15x7 snowflakes from a Redbird Esprit put on it. The person who had it at the time had planned on restoring it. The car was prepped, was left outside overnight, and the car was stripped in the night, with the original 400 W72 and TH350 automatic being taken from the car in the process. However, some good news is, Chris, who owned the car in high school, re-acquired the T/A and plans on saving it!
1978 Macho T/A #33
Owner: ???
Editor’s note: I vaaaaguley remember seeing this one on a eBay repost recycler website years ago online. The photos were regurgitated through some aggregate websites that would lift photos and pictures from old eBay or Craigslist ads. Rob Thomas had bought the car with 73,000 original miles, and it hadn't have started in over 20 years. The original woman owner parked the car in 1992, and a family member got the car off her and tried to restore it but didn't finish due to family issues on his end. Rob sold it about a decade back, and I’m not sure where it ended up after that.
1978 Macho T/A #35
Owner: ???
How baller is this, here’s a photo of the original owner James B. with his brand new 1978 Macho #35! Unfortunately, this one hasn’t resurfaced yet, but hopefully James will be able to see his old T/A again! James explained that he sold the car in the mid-1980’s to some “hippies who probably wrecked the car”. Hopefully it’s still alive!
1978 Macho T/A #36
Owner: Garry K.
Here’s one that many might not have seen, 1978 Macho #36 actually seems to have been kept in excellent condition and was apparently owned by Garry Koons of Phoenix, Arizona, who was planning to give this Macho to his grandson as a present for graduating his Navy course. Garry had made a video of the car in around 2012 (which is why the quality of these photos isn’t great), documenting the highly original looking condition of #36 as he was taking careful measurements of all the stripes and decals, as he may have been planning to repaint this one. It has the Cameo White/Solar Gold paint scheme with deluxe Camel Tan velour interior, and the 4-speed W72/WS6 driveline. There hasn’t been any word on this one since, hopefully his grandson has been taking good care of it! After a little bit of digging, it looks like First Sergeant Garry K. has sadly passed away back in 2012. I hope he was able to see his grandson drive his Macho around before he passed.
Update: It looks like we may have been able to get in contact with Garry’s son Jeff, who advises the family still has the car! Jeff shared a little bit of history, and explained that Garry bought Macho #36 brand new! It has stayed in the family on a trailer, but Jeff plans on bringing in for restoration soon. Hopefully we will get some updates and fresh photos soon!
1978 Macho T/A #37
Owner: ???
The photos of this Macho are a bit old and out of date, but they show clearly the unique Platinum Silver/Martinique Blue combination with black deluxe velour cloth interior. It appears it retains the original 400 W72 and TH350 automatic.
1978 Macho T/A #46
Owner: Max I.
Editor’s Note: Full disclosure, this one’s mine! I spent 7 years tracking down 1978 Macho T/A #46 ever since I had seen those old digital camera photos posted to the ol’ Firebird Gallery website. #46 has a very… storied history. It was originally ordered as dealer stock to a Pontiac dealer in Salt Lake City, Utah. From there, the car was acquired by Carl Kuper the “Vette King” who owned a performance car dealership in California, and in 1982, it was sold and exported to Australia, where it was converted to right hand drive. It is the only Macho T/A (but not the only DKM car!) to be exported to the Southern Hemisphere! It was abandoned in a field down here in Australia, over in the Yarra Valley, Victoria around 2010 where I had rescued it from. It retains the original deluxe velour cloth blue interior, as well as the numbers matching 400 W72 and Borg Warner Super T-10 driveline! The original Cameo White/Marty blue exterior is in pretty poor shape, and it’s still a work in progress!
Specs
Factory Options:
C60 Custom Air Conditioning
AK1 Custom Seat Belts
A01 Soft Ray Glass
B93 Door Edge Guards
Y92 Lamp Group
D34 RH Vanity Visor mirror
UN9 Radio Accommodation Package
N33 Tilt Steering Wheel
WS6 Special Performance Package
Y90 Custom Trim Group - Cloth
Color: Cameo White/Martinique Blue
Interior: 24B Blue Deluxe Velour Cloth
Engine: Pontiac 400 W72
Transmission: Borg Warner Super T-10 4-speed
Numbers Matching?: Yes
DKM Options:
Macho Package
Undercoat
Rivet-on body side mouldings
Firebird Hood Decal (Small)
