1978 #101 - #150
1978 Macho T/A #101
Last previous owner: Rob Thomas
1978 #101 was previously part of Rob Thomas’ collection, and was sold at the Nevada 2019 Mecum auction. This one has an absolutely spectacular two-tone Martinique Blue/Cameo White with rare matching factory two-tone 11N/24X deluxe blue and white interior! This one was reported to have approximately 90,000 miles on the clock in 2019, and retained the original numbers matching 400 W72 and TH350 3-speed automatic driveline.
1978 Macho T/A #102
Owner: Last seen at Pedal to the Metal (PTTM) Netherlands
1978 #102 was fully and meticulously restored by Macho Manny, the owner of 1978 #100. He then had sold this one to his cousin and then began restoring his Macho Turbo T/A. The Adidas jacket is pretty baller too Manny! This one is an automatic TH350 3-speed / 400 W72 numbers matching car. Manny fully restored the car around the late 2000’s, and it was sold a couple of years ago through RevUp Motors by Stephen P. At some point in the timeline, it was exported to Europe. It was then reported to be in Belgium, where at the time it was owned by a husband and wife couple who both had 1979 #92 and this one together! However, both then appeared for sale at a muscle car specialist dealership in the Netherlands called PTTM. #92 is now owned by Atilla the Hun(garian), so I’m not sure where 1978 #102 ended up. I’ve reached out to the PTTM for some more information.
Specs
Factory Options:
C60 Custom Air Conditioning
K30 Cruise Control
A01 Tinted Glass
WW7 Hood Decal
Y92 Lamp Group
A31 Power Windows
U58 Delco AM/FM Stereo Radio
N33 Tilt Steering Column
Y90 Deluxe Interior
Color: Platinum Silver/Mayan Red
Interior: 74B Deluxe Carmine Red Velour Cloth
Engine: Pontiac 400 W72
Transmission: Turbo-Hydramatic 350
Numbers Matching?: Yes
DKM Options:
Macho Package
1978 Macho T/A #103
Owner: ???
Nothing on this one just yet, it was mis-identified for #183.
1978 Macho T/A #104
Owner: Reportedly en route to Dubai
1978 #102 was rescued back in the early 2000’s by David H, who had fully restored the car at the time. However, Dave had found that the original 400 W72 engine was destroyed and replaced by the previous owner before he got the car. It was apparently featured in an episode of Fast n’ Loud. This Mecham car was passed in at a Mecum auction (couldn’t resist) in 2018, and was recently spotted in Hamburg, Germany, and is apparently on it’s way to the current owner in Dubai, UAE. It was also used as the basis for a Greenlight model car!
1978 Macho T/A #106
Owner: Jon S.
Ah. The Bruise. 1978 #106 is a bit of a heavy, has a bit of a race history, and it was bought by Gary C. in 1999. Michelle R was one of the previous owners, who was a lady that raced the car pretty extensively at the time! Gary had sold the car to Heath at one point, and it is now owned by Jon. This blue and black livery was the only car to come from DKM in this combo, and it was only done due to the original customer Jeff insisting upon ordering the Macho in this combo, which Dennis was first apprehensive about but was pleasantly surprised with the final result. Although there are a couple of Machos that have been repainted in this scheme, this one is the real deal. Richard G. captured these photos of the car when it was for sale in the late 90’s. This one has pretty extensive original documentation in excellent condition! To think… someone bought this for $3,000 at one point!!
Specs
Factory Options:
C60 Custom Air Conditioning
UA1 HD Battery
A01 Tinted Glass
B93 Door Edge Guards
Y92 Lamp Group
D34 Visor Mirror
AU3 Power Door Locks
A31 Power Windows
UN9 Radio Accommodation
N33 Tilt Steering Column
WS6 Special Performance Package
V02 4-Core Radiator
Y90 Deluxe Interior
Color: Starlight Black/Martinique Blue
Interior: 19B Deluxe Black Velour Cloth
Engine: Pontiac 400 W72
Transmission: Borg Warner Super T-10
Numbers Matching?: Yes
DKM Options:
Macho Package
Goodyear GT Radial HR60 Tyres
H.O. Specialties Oil Pressure Restorer
Fibreglass Lift-Off Hood
Hurst Competition + and Linkages
1978 Macho T/A #108
Last Reported Owner: Ken Crocie
Imagine this for a company car! 1978 Macho Turbo T/A #108 was specially ordered by Craig Hendrickson of H.O Racing Specialties as one of their testbed prototypes for the Turbo set up! They ordered the car as a 1978 Macho T/A with a W72 400 / TH350 3-speed automatic with the Turbo decals already applied to the car, but no Turbo, as they were planning on installing the set up once they got the car. When the Macho Turboless T/A was delivered, they pulled the 400 W72 and installed their own Pontiac 455 with their in-house Turbo set up. Surely, this had to be one of the most powerful T/A’s on the street in 1978! As this car was technically owned by the company H.O. Specialties, when Craig sold the business to Ken Crocie, the car was transferred to him as part of a company asset. I actually had a brief conversation with Ken about this Macho! Ken kept the car for a number of years, recalled that it was infact an automatic, and not a 4-speed. He mentioned that the 455 used might have been a HO, but was definitely a 4-bolt main block. He doesn’t recall exactly when it was when he had sold it, or to whom, and even after keeping an eye out for it after all of these years, has not seen the car since. We will hopefully be able to come up with some more information after Ken tries the DMV to pull some records.
1978 Macho T/A #109
Owner: ???
1978 #109 was in a very rough state back in the early 2000’s, these photos were snapped by one of the previous owners, Cameron H, when he had spotted it parked with no registration plates or tags on it at a gas station in Phoenix, Arizona. He recalled that 12 years before he had spotted it, he had sold the car in a good, highly original state. This one doesn’t seem to have resurfaced since. I’ve been trying to get a hold of Cameron, who apparently also owned 1978 #202 at one point for more information, but haven’t been able to get a hold of him.
1978 Macho T/A #111
Owner: Dustin C.
Dustin rescued 1978 #111 from behind a barn, where it was dumped for over 20 years! What’s even better, is that Dustin owned the car when he was much younger, and is fortunate enough to get his old car back! The bad news is, boy it’s rough. Sadly, it sounds like the original engine had gone missing in this time, but may retain the original transmission. The car has serious rust, but that’s been no issue for Dustin as a lot of the panel work is underway, with plenty of work done to get #111 back on the road soon.
1978 Macho T/A #112
Owner: Gary H.
Shake N’ Bake baby, 1978 #112 was owned by Gary C for a while, and is no stranger to the track. Gary H. is now the owner, and has given #112 plenty of track time.
1978 Macho T/A #113
Owner: ???
Unlucky number #13. Well, #113 anyway. Ok, I got the backstory on this one, and yeah, it is pretty unlucky. “ta6point6” was the one who had taken these photos, and gave me the history. A friend of his had told him that they had seen a wrecked T/A parked out the side of a plumbing business. “ta6point6” went to go check it out, and was told by a guy inside of the plumbing business that an ex-employee had owned the car, and gave him the ex-employee’s number. Sure enough, the ex-employee got in contact with “ta6point6” and came past his work and said he could buy the car for $200, but it had no title. This plumbing ex-employee guy explained that his ex-wife had stolen the car while drunk, and absolutely obliterated the car. It was that bad that the first responders had to pry the door to get her out of it. “ta6point6” was in his 20’s and didn’t have much to spend, nor a place to keep the car, so he offered the guy $100. After he paid the guy, he mentioned in passing while he was walking away that he had 3 days to move that Macho or it was getting towed. Since he couldn’t do much with it, he went over to his newly bought Macho and took whatever parts he could off it, including the DKM steering wheel, WS6 Snowflakes, shaker hood, and console tags. The car had apparently been sitting there since the 90’s, as the seats and transmission were already gone. He had taken some of the parts off on a Friday, but by Saturday, when he returned again, the car was gone! The owner came out and scolded “ta6point6” asking why he was on his property. When he explained he had bought the car, the owner of the business told him to kick rocks, as he had already junked the car.
A pretty disappointing end to the story, but I hope not the end to #113. There are almost a dozen Machos on this registry that have been saved from scrapyards in debatably similar states within the last couple of years, so I hope someone spots this in a wrecking yard somewhere in Colorado and gets it out.
1978 Macho T/A #114
Owner: John S.
This one was apparently being chased by a few of the Macho collectors, as it was reported to have very low mileage for a Macho, with a few people recalling from the early 2000’s that it was highly original and in excellent shape. It was reported to be a 400 W72 with the TH350 3-speed automatic. Tim from Jackson, GA was a big Corvette collector and bought this one in the early 2000’s. After trying to look up Tim’s information, I think he has sadly passed away in 2007. I’ve spotted photos from 2015 of 1978 #114 on a Facebook group with the poster mentioning the current owner is be John S.
1978 Macho T/A #118
Owner: Rich Olivia
As seen in the pictures, 1978 #118 was very heavily built back in the early 2000’s by Rich, who had owned the car for a couple of decades. It’s unclear if Rich still owns the car, but he was based in the Marlboro, NJ area. It was completely decked out as a show car with now full Hotckis suspension, a 455 Pontiac that was producing over 500HP backed up by a 4-speed 700r4 automatic transmission going to a Ford 9” rear end. Rich’s eyesight was apparently not as good as it used to be, as he had asked his friend JT from JT's Restoration Services in Aberdeen, NJ to promote the car for him back in the mid 2000’s. This car hasn’t resurfaced, so if anyone has any further information about it, please get in touch with us!
1978 Macho T/A #121
Owner: Randy C.
1978 #121 was another Macho rescued by Rob Thomas. In the early 2000’s, it was for sale in a tired state, rough interior, and all four original WS6 wheels sitting on deflated tyres. Rob had restored #121 and had sold it in Utah, however it was missing the WS6 wheels at the time. Randy is now the owner of #121, and has been making sure it’s represented well at local shows. This is a bit of an interesting combination, as Randy confirmed it’s actually just an L78 400 Pontiac car, and it does not feature the optional W72 but curiously this one has a big, fat buildsheet with a pile of options on it! More than many other Machos on this list, but it only features the DKM options of the Macho package and larger hood decal.
Specs
Factory Options:
C60 Custom Air Conditioning
UA1 HD Battery
AK1 Color-Keyed Seatbelts
K30 Cruise Control
A90 Power Trunk Release
C49 Rear Window Defroster
A01 Tinted Glass
B93 Door Edge Guards
CC1 Fisher T-Tops
WW7 Hood Decal
BS1 Additional Insulation
Y92 Lamp Group
D34 Visor Vanity Mirror
AU3 Power Door Locks
A31 Power Windows
UN9 Radio Accommodation
N33 Tilt Steering Column
WS6 Special Performance Package
CD4 Pulse Wipers
Y90 Deluxe Interior
Color: Mayan Red/Solar Gold
Interior: 62B Deluxe Camel Tan Velour Cloth
Engine: Pontiac 400 L78
Transmission: Turbo-Hydramatic 350
Numbers Matching?: Yes
DKM Options:
Macho Package
1978 Macho T/A #122
Last reported owner: Randy S.
Funnily enough, a Randy also once owned 1978 #122. Although we don’t have any great or current photos, Randy S. from Utah apparently owned 1978 #122 when he was a teenager, and it seems it was a Cameo White/Carmine Red Macho with no hood decal. His father had made him sell the car after his 5th speeding ticket for $4500 many decades ago. He recalls that someone in the next town over painted the entire car a maroon color as the police seemed to have recognize the car and expected the same troublemaker to be driving it! This seems like the last anyone’s heard of Macho #122. Interestingly, this one appeared to have standard vinyl 74R Carmine Red interior, when most Machos had deluxe interiors. This one hasn’t resurfaced, so hopefully we can find more information on this one.
1978 Macho T/A #123
Owner: Wayne H.
Wayne’s Macho goes down the track as easy as 1-2-3, and has owned 1978 #123 for a few decades. At one point, Wayne had also owned 1978 #87 at one point (which can just be seen poking out of his garage in one of the older pics). #123 is powered by a beefed up turbocharged (look at the size of that thing!) 455 Pontiac with NOS, and spends plenty of time smoking up the track!
1978 Macho T/A #124
Owner: Bill G.
On this episode of Hardcore Pawn, we have a look at 1978 #124 that was found dumped behind a pawn shop in Idaho back in 2008 by Jim M., and as usual, he had completed an excellent freshen up on it. John McK. had owned this car at one point, and it had since made it’s way to Restore a Muscle Car, which was then purchased by Bill G. who had spent a great amount of time and detail fully repainting #124 to a much higher standard to how he got it. This is one of four DKM Silver Anniversary cars, and this one is different as it was the only one out of the four with a 4-speed manual / W72 400 combo. (Unrelated to the Pontiac Y89 Tenth Anniversary Trans Am)
1978 Macho T/A #126
Owner: Chris J.
Here’s another Silver Anniversary (again, not the same as a Y89!) This one is an automatic, and it looks like this one came from Rob Thomas too, and was sold to Chris. (who also owns #28!) This one is an TH350 3-speed automatic / 400 W72. Chris meticulously restored 1978 #126, and the before and after pictures speak for themselves!
1978 Macho T/A #129
Owner: Excel2gthr (?)
Oh, I remember this one. Well, at least I thought I did until I realized… this is the same car as the maroon one in the pictures! I thought they were two different Machos! 1978 #129 has bounced around a couple of times, with the earliest account being Matt L. who owned this car about a decade ago where it was sitting in that field. Steve J. was considering selling this one within the last year, and had only purchased it a year or so ago from Jack. N. And again, only a few months before that, Multiple Macho Jim M. had helped sell #129 for the owner to Jack N. Jeff B. got this one in around 2022, and it was totally clapped out. It had a 60’s 428 Pontiac in it, someone swapped out the original 15x8 snowflakes for some junk weld wheels, and if I recall correctly, it still had the numbers matching Borg Warner Super T-10 4-speed. But it had serious rust issues at the time. It popped up again on Barnfinds after Jeff had sold it, and the dealer that had listed it had said they had apparently fully stripped the paint to bare metal and had re-done it? You be the judge with these photos published to the auction. 1978 #129 was won by “Excel2gthr” on the 23rd of September 2023 for $13,013. Hopefully it’s a good long term home.
Color: Platinum Silver/Mayan Red
Interior: 74B Deluxe Carmine Red Velour Cloth
Engine: Pontiac 400 L78
Transmission: Borg Warner Super T-10
Numbers Matching?: No
Current Engine: Late 60’s Pontiac 428
DKM Options:
Macho Package
1978 Macho T/A #130
Owner: Devin Z.
1978 #130 was one of Rob's cars that he sold at the 2019 Las Vegas Mecum auction. I got the scoop on this one on Macho Jim, who had found this one many years back missing the original driveline. He then powered this one with a heavily built LS1 from a 2000 WS6 T/A, backed by a 6-speed gear box and finally topped off with very rare 1981 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am Pace Car Recaro interior. It has since been bought by Devin Z, who has further upgraded the car with an S1 sequential shifter. He has hidden the Macho livery under a black wrap as well.
Color: Starlight Black/Mayan Red
Interior: 74B Deluxe Carmine Red Velour Cloth
Engine: Pontiac 400 W72
Transmission: Borg Warner Super T-10
Numbers Matching?: No
Current Engine: LS1
DKM Options:
Macho Package
1978 Macho T/A #131
Last recorded owner: Gary C.
Update, Gary found a photo! Another one with a storied history, but this one doesn’t really have a satisfying conclusion. According to Gary C. (who’s had plenty of Machos under his belt), 1978 #131 was one of the E-Type Machos, and featured a Chesterfield Brown exterior with small Solar Gold decals and a D98 Esprit type stripe, with no Macho lettering, just the rear spoiler numbers, and the E-Type sail panel decals. It apparently had some hang-on Scheel seats trimmed in the Camel Tan material, a Concord HPL deck with a matching Fosgate “The Punch” audio controller, Fisher T-Tops, a TH350 3-speed automatic, zero emissions equipment, and the 400 W72 was modified with 1968 RA II heads as part of the E-Type upgrades requested by the customer who ordered the car. Gary remembers the car intricately, and had plenty of stories behind it. Gary bought the car for around $20,000 in 1980 when it was only two years old from a used car dealer called "Biarritz Motors" that was on Camelback Road in Glendale, Arizona. He didn’t know much about the car, but had seen that it came from the Mecham Dealership not too far away. He’d brought the car to the Mecham Dealer to show the car to Dennis Mecham, who was apparently surprised to see the car. Gary explained that the original owner of this E-Type had seen the car in the dealership when it was being prepped to be exported to Saudi Arabia, and this guy from California was so infatuated with it, that he was insistent on buying that he convinced Dennis to sell him that Export only Macho, and paid the full retail cost, which was significantly over the sticker price of a standard Macho T/A. That’s apparently why Dennis was so surprised to see the car back so soon. He thoroughly enjoyed the car throughout it’s life, and even recounts that he was carjacked! One night, when he was heading to a friend’s ballgame with the T-Tops off, he was carjacked at gunpoint, and they took the car and ran! Gary wasn’t one to take that lying down, and he recalled the carjackers had a black Mercury that he kept an eye out for. Eventually, he thinks he figured out who had taken the car, and after turning over some rocks and knocking on doors, the car was found by the local police relatively unharmed, with the keys in the ignition.
After all that, Gary ended up selling or trading the E-Type in for a Ford Highboy in the late 90’s, and even though he’s spent plenty of time looking, has never heard from the E-Type again. We would absolutely love to try help him find his E-Type (again!), so if you have an information, please fill out the contact form!
1978 Macho T/A #135
Owner: Kevin D. F.
This one you’ve probably seen doing the rounds on a few pages, Kevin’s Macho is beefed up with a stroked 400 Pontiac, and wider billet snowflake wheels. This one was previously owned by Gary C. (as seen giving us a thumbs up!) too, he bought it in 2000’s from the original owner. Gary took out the original drivetrain and had sold or traded it to another Macho collector in Pheonix, and had the Pontiac 400 heavily built, with a stroker assembly backed up by a 5-speed box. Jim G. the Dentist (a few dentists ended up with Machos, don’t know the connection!) who had collected a few Machos bought this one from Gary before he had passed away.
1978 Macho T/A #137
Owner: ??
This one was reported as KIA a few decades ago, and was rumoured to be a body or tag swap. I don’t think there was anything to substantiate that, and nothing else has surfaced. The story goes, that the real #137 was destroyed or wrecked in New Mexico, and when someone had checked the VIN for the car pictured below, it didn’t actually correspond to the DKM records for #137. This was over a decade ago, and the car was listed for $5,500 at the time, and never resurfaced again. Upon closer inspection, little details suggest that it does look like a legitimate Macho, and it’s not recorded what the actual VIN from that listing was. Otherwise, not much else is known about 1978 #137 and there hasn’t been anything on this car for some time. Hopefully the owner gets in touch with us!
1978 Macho T/A #140
Last recorded owner: Tym L.
1978 #140 had made a bit of a round trip over it’s lifetime. The previous owners had kept good track of it, as it had around 5 owners by the early 2000’s. It was sold new at Larry Miller Pontiac in July 1978, and then repossessed in February of 1982 with 21,000 miles on the clock. It went without an owner for a year or two until Duane B. from Phoenix, Az bought the car after his other Macho, 1978 #151, was wiped out in an accident. Duane frequently drove #140 around and got the mileage up to around 48,900 miles in 1988, at which point, the T/A was parked up for around 11 years. Paul R. then bought the car in March of 1999, and had it transported to Weston, FL. It then changed owners again in June 2002 with 51, 345 miles on the clock, when it was then sold to Tracy Pruitt in Tampa, FL. Between all of these owners, it was kept in excellent shape, until it became heavily modified within the last few years. It even had the original DKM owner’s leather jacket neatly stored in the trunk! Eventually, Tym L. ended up with the car, and recently sold it within the last few years.
1978 Macho T/A #142
Owner: David D.
1978 #142 was Dennis’ wife’s personal Macho! Gary D had first bought this one decades back from the first owner who had bought the car from Mecham. As seen in the earlier pictures, it had Foilers on it painted to match the Macho livery, and was a bit tired back then in need of a bit of a tidy up. Gary sold it to his friend Lauren, who then restored the car but omitted the Foilers. This one was not a W72 400, and was instead the base L78 400 / TH350 3-speed automatic from factory. It has since been through a couple of dealerships. Most recently, it was sold through the Mutual Enterprises Dealership in Springfield, MA. As seen in the pictures, it looks like everyone’s made sure the boss’ wife’s car was nice and clean since then! A few of these photos show #142 brand new on the Mecham showroom floor! David D. is currently the owner of this one.
1978 Macho T/A #146
Owner: Bill P.
Poor #146. Editor’s note: I remembered how badly I wanted this one, I tried so hard to make it work when this one came up for sale a few years back! Some of these photos came from when I had the car inspected. Macho #146 was another rescue by Rob Thomas who had found this one in a junkyard in Idaho, the T/A had rust issues, a GM Delco stereo in it and the original WS6 wheels were missing. This one interestingly enough, was a L78 400 automatic car, not a W72, which makes it one of very few (if not the only) Macho T/A’s to feature the standard, weaker 400 engine. Bill has owned it for a few years and is currently restoring the car. He has added a Concord HPL stereo, Hurst Dual-Gate and Hooker show bar to #146 since he had purchased it.
Specs
Factory Options:
C60 Custom Air Conditioning
UA1 HD Battery
A01 Tinted Glass
AK1 Color-Keyed Belts
B93 Door Edge Guards
TR9 Lamp Group
B37 F+R Floor Mats
CC1 Fisher T-Tops
C49 Rear Window Defroster
CD4 Pulse Wipers
K30 Cruise Control
AU3 Power Door Locks
A31 Power Windows
A90 Power Trunk Release
V02 4-Core Radiator
UN9 Radio Accommodation
N33 Tilt Steering Column
WS6 Special Performance Package
VK3 Front Licence Plate Bracket
Y90 Deluxe Interior
Color: Starlight Black/Solar Gold
Interior: 62B Deluxe Camel Tan Velour Cloth
Engine: Pontiac 400 L78
Transmission: Turbo-Hydramatic 350
Numbers Matching?: Yes
DKM Options:
Macho Package
1978 Macho T/A #147
Owner: Joe B.
Always good to hear another one made it out. Joe B. spotted this 1978 T/A shell being parted out back in 2007 by a guy called Tom who ran a joint called Muscle Car Alley near him in New York. Apparently, he specialized in restoring T/A’s but has since moved to Georgia. He didn’t apparently specialize in T/A’s enough to know what he had, as this relatively complete at the time Macho was apparently being pulled apart as it didn’t come with a title! Joe spotted it and decided to save it as he had just seen it as a very clean T/A shell that shouldn’t been scrapped. If only he had gotten to it sooner! Joe was told it was a Macho, but wasn’t really certain. One clue was the lower hint of a gold stripe along the bottom of the door channel. Within the last few years, he got a hold of the Macho T/A owners group, and had the car validated with Rob, and sure enough, he had saved 1978 #147! He’s since gotten the title for it and begun restoring it slowly but surely. He’s not a big fan of the original Mayan Red/Solar Gold combo, so he’s still working on it. There’s a 6.0L LS and 4L80e waiting for it, but Joe’s got a few T/A’s to keep him busy in the meantime. It’s good to hear he’s given this Macho a good home and saved it from being cut up!
