I am hopeful that someday there will be some clarity on the W72 Y88 Automatic cars.
As several of you guys know, This has bothered me for the last 5 years for sure..
When I was just out of high school, (1986) a buddy of mine had a Y88 automatic car that would spank my 78 trans am. We never knew why at the time, but it sure ticked me off a bit. Maybe it was the chrome valve covers I thought?........ haha.
There was no info out on these cars at the time, they weren't collector cars, no internet wealth of information, none of that stuff. If somebody would have said WS6, Y88 or W72, you would probably just get a black eye for talking stupid. They were just cool cars that were aging just enough were if you were 18-20 years old & had a good job you just might be able to pick one up for $4000- $6000 with 50-60K on the clock.
So fast forward to 1994. I start looking for a Y88 car like my buddy had. At that time Auto Trader magazine was the only way you were going to find one. I located a Y88 about 6 hours South of me & I hit the road. I bought the car (still have it today) but was surprised to learn it didn't have the high output engine. Back then I thought it was part of the special edition package. That's when I started to learn about the Y88, WS6, W72, & all the options that were never part of the S/E package. My buddies car had every option, so I just thought it was standard equipment.
From that day forward I continued to look for W72 automatic Y88's I had zero luck finding one after several years of hunting. As luck would have it, I eventually found one. As it turned out it was a vin match to my buddies lost Y88 from 1986. The car is priceless to me.....
Over the last decade I have for sure seen more 4 speed cars than Automatic W72's while I don't think the w72 auto's are crazy rare, I don't think there are a lot of them. Not sure how there really could be. A car that came out in April of 78, has the option stripped away the same month. How many got through? Who knows. But I feel its very conservitivly less then 2,000. If somebody found the numbers & I had to guess I would say 400-600 maybe.....
The 6000 listed on various sites is ludicrous.
As these cars are gaining popularity, its a crying shame the numbers are so garbled.