Automatic Trans Ams

[ted]

I like the 76 Trans Am, but if they are anything like my old Camaro I'd pass.
Had a 70.5 Z28 Camaro with a Muncie 4 speed.
Fun to shift.
The power steering felt over boosted, too light.
Added a restrictor in the power steering line to reduce the boost but did not really help.
It handled like a 70s half ton pick up to me.
It was a collector car so it appreciated nicely in the 3 years I owned it.
New cars do everything so well that it's really a disappointment to drive 60s/70s muscle cars.

I do have 2 Camaro road race cars (88 and a 93) that are fun to race.
Those are tube chassis Trans Am/IMSA GTO spec, the only production part on them is the rear tail light lens.

[MMARSH]

Funny I've been on the early TA kick lately as well. I'm not interested in a stock driving or handling one, but there are a ton of upgrades that can be made to them. Detroit Speed has built some great handling F bodies. When done right, they do not handle like a pick up truck.

[stomachmonkey]

I had an 86' IROC, it was auto.

I'd wanted a "stripped" car, things like manual window cranks, no t-top, manual transmission.

Went to the dealer to order one, minimum 6 month build time.

[pavulon]

Originally Posted by MMARSH

Funny I've been on the early TA kick lately as well. I'm not interested in a stock driving or handling one, but there are a ton of upgrades that can be made to them. Detroit Speed has built some great handling F bodies. When done right, they do not handle like a pick up truck.

There are lots of great suspension options for a lot of classic cars today. Detroit speed makes some great stuff. Their decalink rear suspension for C3 Corvettes is especially intriguing to me.

[MMARSH]

Originally Posted by pavulon

There are lots of great suspension options for a lot of classic cars today. Detroit speed makes some great stuff. Their decalink rear suspension for C3 Corvettes is especially intriguing to me.

Yes sir, I've completely gone thru the suspension on my 69 GTO. Coil overs, differently designed spindles/upper control arms, sway bars, frame stiffening, bushings, 4 wheel disc brakes, custom built steering box. It does not handle like anything in 1969. Adding the Tremec TKX 5 speed and the Holley sniper EFI finished it off. Really enjoyable car to drive. Great thing is from the outside, Other then the stance and the stock style 18inch wheels, it still looks very stockish and like the car my dad bought home new in 69.

[Steve Carlton]

When I was in college, I really wanted to factory order a 1977 Z/28 from this place that would do it for $100 over invoice- around $5,250 at the time. It was a one-off year with the grille and front bumper. Still like the look of it.





I used to read the classifieds in the LA Times, too. I watched V12 XKE roadsters vary between $8-12K there. God knows what other bargains lurked there. Got a 1977 Lancia Scorpion in blue with 200 miles on it for $8,000. I must have signed 100 disclosures and waivers on it- I think I bought it from Fiat Corporate or something. It was a cool enough car, but I could have done so much better with something else.

The Road & Track classifieds were the best.

[fastfredracing]

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/3730456630519794/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3Ac4949484-4282-4453-a199-95839048b79e&__tn__=!%3AD
Here is a later Iroc car with a stick .

[herr_oberst]

I've always admired Freiberger's F Bomb. Cool stance, paint, wheels, engine, graphics....

[wilnj]

Here’s a ‘78 with a manual and the 6.6.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/134609976405?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=OeBIjI4NRdK&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Qr3CrwlmRY-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/3730456630519794/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3Ac4949484-4282-4453-a199-95839048b79e&__tn__=!%3AD
Here is a later Iroc car with a stick .

Thanks Fred, I'm going to focus on just TA's. For an IROC, red or black for me though the blue was nice too.

For a Trans Am, black or gold only.

[ted]

Originally Posted by MMARSH

Yes sir, I've completely gone thru the suspension on my 69 GTO. Coil overs, differently designed spindles/upper control arms, sway bars, frame stiffening, bushings, 4 wheel disc brakes, custom built steering box. It does not handle like anything in 1969. Adding the Tremec TKX 5 speed and the Holley sniper EFI finished it off. Really enjoyable car to drive. Great thing is from the outside, Other then the stance and the stock style 18inch wheels, it still looks very stockish and like the car my dad bought home new in 69.

Mike at Big Willow how well would your GTO be able to keep up with your old 911?
GTO similar speeds on the long straights? but slower in the corners?
Your 911 was dialed in and the GTO must weigh 1000lbs more?
Still got the 911? Like to see you run it with VARA.

[MMARSH]

Originally Posted by ted

Mike at Big Willow how well would your GTO be able to keep up with your old 911?
GTO similar speeds on the long straights? but slower in the corners?
Your 911 was dialed in and the GTO must weigh 1000lbs more?
Still got the 911? Like to see you run it with VARA.

Lol, probably not very well, but then again the 911 only weighed 2170 lbs and was built specifically to go around a race track. But, driving up Angeles Crest/Angeles Forest you can confidently go at a pretty good clip. I was pleasantly surprised with how well it worked.

Nah, I sold the 911 a couple of years ago. It was just taking up space in the garage and quite frankly, the thrill was gone. Had other car and motorcycle stuff I was interested in.

[Tobra]

There was a kid when I was in high school had an IROC Camaro. He was always trying to get me to race him in Dad's XKE

[gsxrken]

Had two of them back in the 80s. The white one had an Oldsmobile 403 engine, slow as molasses. The Bandit started with a 301 Turbo that was even slower, but got a 1967 Ram Air motor with some goodies from Nunzi in Brooklyn. I happen to have a few photos from that swap (we never took enough pictures). That was an honest 425HP car and with 3.73s was reasonably quick for its day.
I liked them, still do. They are fun cars with the T-tops off. Performance is meh.
Photo of a photo:

[gsxrken]

I still like muscle cars, though. Just got back from the Hot Rod Power Tour in the Carolinas. 6,000 cars, 5 days of driving between racetracks in NASCAR land. Got to spend some time with my son who was on block leave from the Army, so it was doubly worthwhile. People LOVE these cars... horn tooting, waving, cell phones, conversations at gas stations. I like having the muscle car AND the 930. Two different things.
My 1969 Mach 1:

[MMARSH]

Originally Posted by gsxrken

I still like muscle cars, though. Just got back from the Hot Rod Power Tour in the Carolinas. 6,000 cars, 5 days of driving between racetracks in NASCAR land. Got to spend some time with my son who was on block leave from the Army, so it was doubly worthwhile. People LOVE these cars... horn tooting, waving, cell phones, conversations at gas stations. I like having the muscle car AND the 930. Two different things.
My 1969 Mach 1:

Thats awesome, been watching power tour videos the last couple of days. Called my buddy and said we are doing it next year. How'd the car do? How many miles you do? It was pretty hot, looked like alot of cars were having trouble dealing with the heat.

[jhynesrockmtn]

We had a gym teacher in high school (late 70's early 80's) who had a brand new black/gold Trans Am. It fit his personality perfectly :-)

I'm getting ready to sell this 65 convertible which has been in my son in law's family since new. I'm simply the guy who retrieved the car after Grandpa died and got it running and ready to sell after sitting for several years. I thought about maybe buying it from the family but not after driving it. Handles like a tractor compared to my 356. I've had Mustangs in the past and didn't think twice about how they drove at the time.

What is it with these cars and overheating? The car was restored 20+ years ago including an engine rebuild of the stock 289 2bbl. After several visits back to the shop, they installed an aftermarket electric fan set up. The thing kicks on almost immediately and is loud. I drove my 356 in 90 degree weather to the West Coast Holiday a few years back. Stock cooling with a built 1750cc Super 90 motor. No heat issues at all.

I love the look of the car but it would just sit if I owned it.

[BK911]

Originally Posted by jhynesrockmtn

What is it with these cars and overheating? The car was restored 20+ years ago including an engine rebuild of the stock 289 2bbl. After several visits back to the shop, they installed an aftermarket electric fan set up. The thing kicks on almost immediately and is loud. I drove my 356 in 90 degree weather to the West Coast Holiday a few years back. Stock cooling with a built 1750cc Super 90 motor. No heat issues at all.

I love the look of the car but it would just sit if I owned it.

I had over heating issues with my 65.
Installed a temp gauge before and after the radiator.
Turns out the electric fan was the issue, it just didn't move enough air.
Put the stock belt driven fan back on and all is good.

[gsxrken]

Originally Posted by MMARSH

Thats awesome, been watching power tour videos the last couple of days. Called my buddy and said we are doing it next year. How'd the car do? How many miles you do? It was pretty hot, looked like alot of cars were having trouble dealing with the heat.

This was the first Power Tour for me, but it seemed like most of the attendees have done multiple ones. Like 5+. It helps if you're local, obviously, but as I understand it it is not always in the same place every year. I trailered from metro-NY to Charleston SC where my FIL lives, and then we unloaded the Mustang and drove to Columbia to catch Day 2. From there we drove to Rockingham, then Charlotte, then Bristol TN. All in all I'd say it was 1,000 miles? My odometer is suspect. I'm not opposed to doing it again at all, but this year with my son's leave and my availability, the stars aligned. I wouldn't go alone...

The car did fine, with some trepidations... it did complete the loop and didn't strand us. But it started running like crap until I determined that I had some trash in my fuel bowls and metering blocks that had to be dealt with (that's the pic of me draining the bowl), my rear discs decided to begin to shudder on this outing (I was able to mostly dial out with my adjustable proportioning valve for the rest of the trip), and my clutch started slipping on the last day when attempting to accelerate in overdrive. So we babied it from Bristol back to NC to the trailer hoping it didn't get worse. There was some overheating, but no one who pulled over didn't have 4 other cars pull over to see if they could help. With a group of mostly home-built hot rods, there was some capable and well-stocked participants at every turn.

It's a unique experience to drive through towns with people in lawn chairs all along the way waving, or to pull into a gas station with 10 other vintage cars and have the locals jaws drop wondering what the heck is going on.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by LWJ

It was an enormous pig. Terrible MPG, acceptable acceleration. Not able to turn or stop very well.

My 1978 with the TA 6.6 Pontiac engine was 220HP. It was peppy but not a beast. Around 15.1 in the quarter bone stock. If the stories I hear are correct a 1969 428 Cobra Jet Mustang, stock but with performance enhancing tires, would turn a 13.8. Faster but not that much faster.

The 6.6 Trans Am was a 180hp Oldsmobile engine.

The WS6 suspension on the Trans Am allowed it to handle/turn really well. Not sure if it had a brake upgrade worthy of note.