1978 Macho T/A #52
Owner: ???
1978 Macho T/A #52 was previously owned by Logan, had reportedly travelled over 125,000 miles, and still retained the original Borg Warner Super T-10 and 400 W72 driveline! Logan reportedly sold the car in around 2022 to a buyer based in Mississippi. It had aftermarket Texas T-Tops installed around the time the car was new.
Specs
Factory Options:
??
Color: Starlight Black/Solar Gold
Interior: 62B Deluxe Camel Tan Velour Cloth
Engine: Pontiac 400 W72
Transmission: Borg Warner Super T-10
Numbers Matching?: Yes
DKM Options:
Macho Package
1978 Macho T/A #54
Owner: Steve C.
1978 Macho T/A #54 was owned by Jimmy Macho for a time, and while under his ownership, Jim and Macho #54 were featured on the front cover of a High Performance Pontiac magazine issue! #54 was kept in excellent condition, and was part of the batch of Machos that were distributed through Utah when new. Steve had remembered seeing the car brand new, knew he had to have it, and it is now under his care! Jimmy kept copies of the original DKM papers, which show this Macho was delivered new to Reno, Nevada.
Specs
Factory Options:
C60 Air Conditioning
AK1 Color-Keyed Seatbelts
A01 Tinted Glass
B93 Door Edge Guards
Y92 Lamp Group
D34 Vanity Visor Mirror
A31 Power Windows
UN9 Radio Accommodation
N33 Tilt Steering Wheel
WS6 Special Performance Package
Color: Cameo White/Mayan Red
Interior: 74B Deluxe Carmine Red Velour Cloth
Engine: Pontiac 400 W72
Transmission: Borg Warner Super T-10
Numbers Matching?: Yes
DKM Options:
Macho Package
Front Springs
1978 Macho T/A #55
Owner: Paul T.
This one was shared to Barry’s brother, Bruce on the Barnfinds (say that three times fast) website where he luckily captured this one in one of his articles! 1978 #55 looked to be in decent condition, however it was reported that it had not actually run in over 30 years! For a non-running project Macho sitting in a driveway in Los Lunas, New Mexico, the bids apparently were getting just under the $30,000 mark back in August of 2022. Apparently, #55 had 70,000 original miles at the time of the listing, and the owner had purchased the car from the second owner the year prior, and it’d been sitting since 1992. I’ve since figured out, Paul T. picked this one up, and snapped this great photo of the T/A on the trailer home!
1978 Macho T/A #56
Owner: Ski K.
#56 appeared on Craigslist in Los Angeles, California several years ago. At the time, the seller mentioned it had a non-matching driveline in the car, but the original 400 came with the car as well. I’m really pleased to say I have an update on this one! I saw a comment from over half a decade ago on a Barnfinds article about a Macho, and the commenter posted a photo of a Macho’s door and mentioned he was in California. Hmm.
I decided to look into that poster’s comment, and a few web searches later… I think I found a contact for a business that seemed to have closed down a few years back in Cali that had an owner with a similar name. After a couple of calls, I had no answer, but, as I was leaving a voicemail, someone picked up! Well, we found Macho 1978 #56! Ski was very kind enough to send me a bit of history behind this one. Ski stumbled across the car at a tow yard in Yucaipa, Cali in March of 2003 when the graphics on the T/A caught his eye. When he found the car, the hood was placed on the roof, and it was in a rough state, with some of the flares cracked and a couple of pinhole from parts in the paint that seemed to have been prepped poorly. He asked the tow yard owner if the car was for sale, and he advised that it belonged to a kid there who’d blown up the motor, and it was floating around the yard somewhere. The tow yard owner called the guy who owned it, and sure enough, ski scored himself 1978 #56 and the original block alongside it. The next week, there was another tow yard nearby that was closing down and going through a liquidation sale. At the sale, there was a fully rebuilt Pontiac 400 hanging on a stand that the sellers advised was built by a previous employee not too long ago. He dropped that one into the Macho to get the car running. So, Ski’s still got #56 and although he doesn’t drive it, it’s apparently in a running state!
1978 Macho T/A #57
Owner: Bruce B.
1978 #57 was reported to be in excellent original condition in the early 2000’s. It features a very unique Mayan Red/Solar Gold combo with deluxe Camel Tan velour interior. The family who own the car advised it is in highly original survivor condition, and has just under 60,000 original miles. It is a factory 400 W72, however, has aftermarket Turbine wheels. These could be original DKM equipped wheels if the vehicle may not have been a WS6 T/A.
1978 Macho T/A #59
Owner: Austin B.
Austin has owned #59 for around a decade, and has touched up a few bits and pieces to help preserve this Macho. Previously, this car was tracked down by Gary Seymour, who had been searching for this specific Macho for quite a while! Gary had purchased #59 in Wadsworth, Nevada back in 2003 from a relative of the previous owner, who had owned the car from the early 1980’s. He had rebuilt the original 400 W72, and had sold the car to the current owner, Austin.
1978 Macho T/A #60
Owner: Previously Chris P.
1978 #60 is an outstanding example of an excellent condition 1978 Macho, and was under the care of Chris for many years. Chris has recently sold #60 a couple of years back. It was signed by DKM, and the Cameo White/Carmine Red combination really stands as a spectacular example of one of the more notable Macho T/A paint scehemes!
1978 Macho T/A #64
Owner: Alexandra B.
Alexandra in Arizona was the last reported owner of Macho T/A #64, and she had apparently commenced restoring this T/A back in the early 2000’s. This one is another 400 W72/4-speed Macho in Cameo White/Carmine Red. While it looks to be in great condition, it appears there are some inconsistencies they might have been correcting, such as the standard door panels and the 1979-81 style WS6 snowflakes. Otherwise, it doesn’t look like there’s much that needs restoring!
1978 Macho T/A #65
Owner: Mitch Drouillard
Oooh this one is interesting. I’ve been waiting to hear back on an update on this one, and there’s a lot to unpack here. There hasn’t been updates on this once since, so if you see this Mitch, send us an update! Mitch Drouillard had recovered this Macho T/A out of a backyard somewhere in California. He had advised that it wore it’s original paint, had 20,000 original miles, had all of the original paperwork, and was still held by the original owner! He also advised that it was a turbocharged 455, but it’s unclear if Mitch had bought the car or not. Interestingly, it appears this one may have been an L78 400 Pontiac/TH350 3-speed automatic car due to the shape of the air cleaner. Additionally, the dash seems to be an incredibly rare early-1970 chrome ringed dash bezel? The turbocharged decals don’t seem to be DKM style decals, so it may have been turbocharged at a later point in it’s life.
1978 Macho T/A #66
Owner: Randy F.
Randy recently picked up 1978 Macho T/A #66 from Venom Classics in Arizona, who had recently conducted a refresh on this T/A. It appears in a Platinum Silver/Starlight black combo, and retains the original 400 W72/4-speed driveline. It may have originally been a fibreglass lift-off hood, but this was replaced (but kept with the car!) when Venom Classics conducted their refresh of the car.
1978 Macho T/A #67
Owner: Paul M.
1978 #67 has had some serious work done. This one was found out in Salt Lake City missing the original driveline in need of a full restoration, and in place of the original 4-speed/W72 is a 6-speed T56 box and an LS2 out of a 2006 GTO. It has also been signed by the Mecham brothers!
1978 Macho T/A #68
Owner: ???
Heath, a Macho alumni, had spotted this Macho somewhere in Arizona years ago, undergoing partial restoration. It appears to have a 4-speed transmission, as well as Hurst or Texas T-Tops, it may have still had the driveline in the car at the time. This was over a decade ago, so we’re not sure what the status of this one is now. If someone has more information, contact us!
1978 Macho T/A #69
Owner: ???
I gotta tell ya, this has to be one of the best looking Machos they made in my opinion. Maybe the number has something to do with it, but that Martinique Blue and Solar Gold combo is just hot. Hot, hot, hot, like the additional heat generated from the H.O Racing Specialties Turbo kit on-top of the numbers matching 400 W72 backed up by the original Borg Warner Super T-10, topped off with Texas (or Hurst) T-Tops. This is also first Macho T-T/A! Bob K. had completed a restoration on #69 back in 2004, but it looks like some corners were cut at the time, as in the most recent restoration of the vehicle a couple of years ago, they re-added the factory A/C set up, and gave it an overall refresh.
1978 Macho T/A #71
Owner: ???
1978 #71 was pretty well recorded over a decade ago by Mark B, who had sold it to Scott Y. in Salt Lake City, Utah, as a Father-and-Son restoration project that was in dire need of restoration. Well, it looks like they did a great job as the photos from when Rob Thomas had it shows it in great shape compared to when Mark sold it! It appears they had also included the addition of a hood decal to this Macho as well.
1978 Macho T/A #73
Owner: ???
1978 #73 was found pretty bashed up. Not many other photos are available at this time, and I’m not really sure where this one came from, but it appears to be in a rough state needing restoration. The front chin spoiler seems to be missing and replaced with a 1979-81 type chin spoiler, and the body has taken a beating on the right side. However, it looks highly original, with all 4 WS6 wheels still on the car, and the original interior seems to be complete. If anyone has more information about this one, get in contact with us!
1978 Macho T/A #77
Owner: Rob Thomas
1978 #77 is currently owned by the Macho Head Honcho himself, Rob Thomas. Originally a Solar Gold/Chesterfield Brown and TH350 automatic car, Rob had the car painted in a black Macho livery and swapped the transmission to a 4-speed manual. This one has a great story behind it too, the original owner had to sell the car years back when he had started a family, and was trying to find out what happened to it. They were able to find Rob and are happy to find out it was saved and is still on the road!
1978 Macho T/A #79
Owner: Casey Criss
I think we’ve figured out that the photos for 1978 #75 were actually this one. These ones are really interesting, as this is one of the E-Type Machos, a handful of Machos were designated as “E-Types” as they were to be for Export Use Only. Apparently, there were only #5 E-Types produced, and the E-Types came with a whopping additional $715.21 to the price of the base line Macho, and this was excluding a number of other options you could still request on-top of the E-Type. The owner Casey Criss had purchased this E-Type off Tim Owens a couple decades ago, and it seemed to have been in great condition with the original 400 W72 and 4-speed. This one apparently had some heavy-duty performance modifications from DKM, and Casey had pretty thoroughly recorded the specs and components on the 400 when he had gotten the car from New Mexico and brought it home to Oklahoma. Casey had apparently commenced a restoration on this E-Type, and it looks like it was completed! Gary D. recognized this one, and recalled it in Oklahoma, as well as something about it coming from New Mexico decades back so it looks like this is the same car.
1978 Macho T/A #81
Owner: Jimmy Min.
A few Macho Members mentioned a man named JM. (we do love a bit of alliteration here!) might have 1978 #81. I managed to make contact with him from a 10 year old Facebook comment, and it does indeed appear we’ve found another Macho! I’m not sure what the connection with Machos and owners called Jimmy with last names starting with M are, but there’s quite a few! Jimmy has explained that he bought this one all the way back in 2001 from Knoxville, Tennessee. This one is a 400 automatic, and it looks to be Chesterfield Brown/Solar Gold with Camel Tan interior. Jimmy is currently restoring this one, it looks like he has plenty of work ahead of him.
1978 Macho T/A #86
Owner: ???
Here’s another interesting one. I bet you’ve seen these pictures and said: “Hey that’s a 1979, not a 19- oh.” 1978 #86 had a bit of a rough past, where the previous owner Richard G had bought the car from someone who had biffed it pretty badly. The front end was apparently destroyed, and was replaced with a 1979 front assembly. The original engine was apparently long gone by the time Richard got the car. Richard had gotten the car roadworthy and freshened it up with a 1971 400 block with #96 heads and moved the T/A on not long after. This one was originally Chesterfield Brown/Solar Gold with Camel Tan interior. Richard did do an awesome job of documenting it however, as he kept great copies of all the original ordering records!
1978 Macho T/A #87
Owner: David Howell (?)
1978 #87 was at one point owned by Rob Thomas, and in 2006 was bought by David Howell. Interesting point to note, is that this one is an automatic, and is reported to be a W72 400. However, looking closely at the engine bay, it appears it may have been an L78 400 automatic. Hopefully the current owner gets in touch with us, and we can update the entry with the buildsheet to clarify which 400 it has. I’m not sure if this one is still owned by David, as he also previously owned 1978 #104, which has also changed hands.
1978 Macho T/A #88
Owner: ???
Richard B. sent in some really great high resolution photos of his dad’s old Macho! His dad seemed to have had taken excellent care of 1978 #88, as it seems absolutely pristine in the photos. Hopefully he has some more information so we can find where this one went!
1978 Macho T/A #90
Owner: Brian B.
Cool story behind this one, so one of the original owners was Danny B, who really loved that T/A, and had some great photos to share of the car racing at the Salt Flats! He added a Hooker roll bar, louvers, as well as other period add ons, but had sold it years later. Rob Thomas had seen the car at a dealer and gave it a test drive to his mother’s house, where he had taken these photos on the front lawn. Someone else had already put a deposit down on it, so unfortunately he missed out. He got another chance about 15 years later, but by that point, the car was thrashed, with rust issues, the Chesterfield Brown/Solar Gold paint faded, very worn suspension, and the driveline being completely flogged. It has since then been restored and has changed it to the black Macho livery it has on it now. It’s current owner is now Brian B.
1978 Macho T/A #91
Owner: ???
Don’t have much information on 1978 #91 at the moment, but it looks like it’s not in a great state. It seems to be surrounded by a number of other T/A’s. In 2010, it was for sale by a used car dealership called Car Biz on Broadway Road in Phoenix, Arizona, which has since gone out of business. At the time, it was recovered from Missouri, and brought to the dealer and they had advised the engine was gone, still had the TH350 3-speed automatic, and one of the T-Tops was cracked.
1978 Macho T/A #95
Owner: Jon J.
1978 Macho T/A #95 was previously mis-identified as #25. It was spotted at a car meet in Illinois, it does not appear to have retained the original Macho livery, and seems to have had extensive engine work. It did retain the original console plaque. Jon the owner actually saw his car here on the registry, and wrote in to clarify that it’s actually #95. I hope to hear some more information from Jon soon.
1978 Macho T/A #97
Owner: Paul S.
This one’s a bit out there compared to the other Machos. Yep, it’s the same car (and same owner!) Paul bought 1978 #97 off the original owner back in 1981 with 16,000 miles on the clock. It had a DKM installed electric sunroof on it, which he immediately had changed to an National Coach Engineering Convertible conversion after seeing some NCE cars in the Thunder Am magazines in 1980. He’s taken it to a very different level!
1978 Macho T/A #99
Owner: ???
1978 #99 had popped up for sale about 10 years ago in Hot Springs, Idaho. The ad at the time explained the car was highly original, with original paint, a 400 W72 / 4-speed, and had been garage kept at the time. No good pics are available at this time.
Update: I tried following up on a very old print out of that ad from 10 years ago, and I may have been able to contact the owner’s nephew, who has advised the family still have the car! More to come as we follow this up.
1978 Macho T/A #100
Owner: Manny S
1978 #100 is a real stand-out Macho, as this is one of the Macho Turbo’s. Not only that, but this one (that’s it there at the Mecham dealership front lot!) had a number of high-end DKM options making this a really Mucho Macho Turbo! Manny and his dad Antonio rescued this one years back out of California, and it retains the original 400 W72 with a H.O turbo kit, and 4-speed manual. It’s one of few 1978 Macho Turbos that still has the original engine. This one also features a Hurst T-Top that was outsourced to a local sunroof shop called Coulter Cadillac Sunroof Center nearby in Phoenix, and once that was completed and returned to DKM, the hood decal was added on. After Manny had picked up Macho T/A #102 in June of 2004, he had spotted this one for sale on eBay around the same time for $7,500. As he had done his homework and had knew of the Macho Turbos, he didn’t want to miss his chance to get this one, so he convinced his dad to jump on it, and managed to score the car off eBay on July 4th, 2004. He had the T/A transported from California to Texas, and when it arrived, the car had a different hood decal as well as Hobnail Camel Tan interior out of a 1979-80 Firebird. This one sat on the backburner for about 12 years, and in that time he ended up selling 1978 #102, bringing this one over to the forefront. Many has been slowly working with his dad to restore this Macho, and has since sourced some replacement tan Recaro LS Series seats, as well as a Hooker roll bar and Concord HPL deck to complete this Macho.
Specs
Factory Options:
C60 Air Conditioning
AK1 Color-Keyed Seatbelts
A01 Tinted Glass
B93 Door Edge Guards
Y92 Lamp Group
D34 Vanity Visor Mirror
UN9 Radio Accommodation
N33 Tilt Steering Wheel
WS6 Special Performance Package
Color: Cameo White/Solar Gold
Interior: 62B Deluxe Camel Tan Velour Cloth
Engine: H.O. Turbo Pontiac 400 W72
Transmission: Borg Warner Super T-10
Numbers Matching?: Yes
DKM Options:
Macho Package
H.O. Specialties Turbo
Recaro Interior
HR60 Goodyear Tyres
Hurst Competition + and Linkage
Oil Pressure Restorer
Rear Mounted Battery Kit
Hurst T-Tops
