So how does a long time Mopar nut wind up owning a Pontiac
Trans Am? Well first you have a friend by the name of Paul
Neumann, (no not the actor). Then your friend goes out and
buys himself a 1974 Trans Am, but doesn't quite posses the
know how, and especially the proper tools to work on it. Of
course, as you could guess by now, yours truly wound up being
the wrench man on that 1974 Trans Am my friend Paul bought.
I didn't mind though, as Paul was always willing to lend a
hand if I needed spare set when I was working on my car. Well
one thing led to another, and another friend of mine, Steve,
also bought himself a Trans Am, a 1975 model. Steve was a
bit better able to handle work on his T/A, possessing first
of all the necessary complement of tools, and the ability
to use them. However, since Steve had also helped me out with
my car projects, I often helped him when he needed an extra
pair of hands to complete projects on his T/A. All this assisting
did pay off. For one thing, I had the chance to probe a vehicle
other than my own, decide if I liked it, or not, and I wasn't
stuck with the car if I didn't like it.
I caught the bug, and decided I wanted
my own T/A. After some time of searching, and with the help
of my friend Steve, I came across a "carousel red"
1976 Trans Am, in October 1981, which was to become mine.
The car had relatively low mileage for its age, approximately
49,000 miles, and the body was in fair condition. Upon finishing
my inspection of the car, I sat down with its owner to discuss
price. At first the owner was asking a rather high price for
the car, considering it had rot in the bottoms of both quarters,
needed all new hoses, belts, the interior a thorough scrub
job, and the front seats some upholstery work. After some
back and forth negotiations over what was, or wasn't in need
of repair/replacement, the owner of the T/A came down to a
price I felt was reasonable, $3,300.00. I gave the owner a
deposit, and returned the next evening, mischief night, to
pick up my new toy.
I took care of the mechanical repairs
immediately, (i.e. the hoses, belts, and a new battery tray),
and then pressed my T/A into daily service, so I could get
back to finishing a restoration project that was in the works
for about six years at that point in time.
Not content to leave things alone,
and with just a little gentle persuasion from my friend Steve,
I decided to engage in some amateur bodywork on my T/A about
2 years after purchasing it. What started out as a minor effort
on just my T/A, turned into just a wee bit more. Seems a few
friends decided that while the garage was open, and tools
were available, heh, why not work on their cars too. By the
time all was said, and done, I had five other vehicles scattered
about the back driveway, street, and my car up along side
the garage. We all took turns helping each other out, and
by around 10:00 p.m. we had finished all our projects. Thank
g-d I had understanding neighbors, and still do. The bodywork
was, as I said, amateur, but it was an improvement over what
the car had looked like before I started. The professional
job would have to wait until much later when I could scrape
up the money.
The time line by this point in our
story had brought me to 1987, when I had begun to realize
that I needed to get serious about saving my money for bodywork,
having blown a goodly sum souping up the engine. I also had
expended some of my funds on some suspension upgrades, in
the form of urethane bushings in the shock mounts, and front
and rear sway bars. Finally, there was that nice set of gas
shocks to top things off. Thus by the time would I be able
to save the money for the body work, my T/A would have to
endure ten years of service, in all kinds of weather, over
just about every kind of road. Of course ten years of New
Jersey winters, and gobs of road salt, eroded major portions
of my car's structure. Some additional quick and dirty bodywork
jobs kept things looking good on the surface, but the bondo
was beginning to become the major component of the car. In
addition to that, there was the growing problem of floor rot
to deal with.
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Of course there was to be another development
that impacted my progress on saving money for the T/A's bodywork,
I started dating a young lady in late 1987. This is not to
say she had any problem with my plans for my T/A. As a matter
of fact this young lady I was dating, and who later became
my wife, said- "she always wanted to date a guy with
one of those sports cars". I oft wonder if that's why
she married me. Do you think? Nah. However, given my tendencies
to show off the T/A's cornering abilities, I think it's a
miracle she married me at all. One thing though she didn't
seem to mind, were the stints of straight line acceleration,
other than to in later years strongly suggest I buy one of
those magnet stickers that says: "get in, sit down, shut
up, and hold on". No matter what though, I think the
girl who was to become my wife would have vehemently objected
to paying for her dates with me, so guess what, that's right,
progress toward saving up for the T/A's body restoration slowed
again. Oh well, but I did get the girl, and she liked the
car.
Finally, on August 12, 1991, one day
after my wedding, my T/A went into V & F Autobody in Metuchen,
New Jersey. I visited my car periodically over the next 2«
months, both to check on its progress, and to authorize any
additional work. It seems that each time a panel was removed,
more rot was found hiding. By the time the job was done, the
only body panels which were completely original, were the
hood, roof, and decklid. Every other major panel had either
been completely been replaced, or some portion of it had.
The cost, let's just say I try not think about it for health
reasons, mine that is!
Looking better than it had after the
numerous intermediate bondo jobs I had done, I took my toy
home. The bodyshop's work got rave reviews from all, even
Dad. About a year later I added a nice new set of wheels,
which unfortunately dad was no longer here to give his review
on them. I also upgraded the stereo.
Now my T/A leads a life of quiet semi-retirement,
only coming out of its snug garage on sunny days for shows,
parades, and the occasional test blast after whatever work
has, shall we say, given rise to the need for a test blast.
There is one little extra detail though
I haven't quite figured out how to fix. In June 1993, my wife
and I, became the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy. This
little boy, now eight years old, has decided, "he will
have my T/A when he grows up", his exact words by the
way. By the way, he seems quite determined to make good on
his promise, if you can consider the fact he calls his pedal
car his Trans Am, any indication of his interest in the big
car. When the time comes, I figure if I crazy glue the car
to the garage floor, that will slow him a little. If that
doesn't work, I'll try praying.
