Vintage Pontiac GTOs from the 1960's through the 70's have been expensive for many years. Having that sort of muscle car as your favorite while you're a broke high school student could make you yearn for something that's simply out of reach. Evan Rose was a GTO fan for these formative gearhead years as a kid. Thankfully, he one day happened to see a 1979 10th anniversary Firebird Trans Am at a car show that really caught his eye.
Above: The Trans Am is on its fourth engine, an LS3, and its second transmission, a Tremec T56 Magnum six-speed manual. Edelbrock headers and a custom three-inch exhaust system with Flowmaster mufflers achieves a most excellent engine sound for the Firebird. The engine was mounted in the front subframe with Dirty Dingo setback plates. There's a Cold Case aluminum radiator and a custom air cleaner installed for keeping the mill cool and operating at optimum temperature for those long road trips that the owner likes to spend some quality time accomplishing. The new driveshaft is a custom component from Dan's Driveline in Las Vegas. Sweet! This Trans Am gets driven!
At this critical point in time, he decided to shift his focus to the 1979 Pontiac Trans Am. This discovery led Evan to learn everything he could about this specific model year Trans AM and to search for an affordable one in newspaper classified advertisements and in Craigslist to find and build. Evan didn't just wish to restore a Trans Am to stock. His desire was to build the Pontiac to his ideal.
Above: The instruments are Auto Meter Phantom II's. An American Autowire harness update keeps the gauges firing their electrical impulses accurately for optimal vehicle monitoring. A stock repop steering wheel crowns the dash, while a Tick Performance shifter adroitly handles the Tremec six-speed T56 Magnum-F (for F-Body) shifting duties with aplomb.
By the spring of 2003 he enrolled in several evening auto shop classes at the local junior college. His instructor was also a Trans Am fan and in fact had a 1977 Smokey and the Bandit style black and gold vehicle with the small T-tops.
Above: Still in great shape, the seating surfaces are original GM vinyl, circa 1979.
For spring break Evan traveled to Ohio to visit his grandparents with his parents. His dad came across an Ohio newspaper classified ad for a 1979 modified Trans Am with a 403 cubic inch V8 engine. Father and son went to test drive the car and wound up buying it. They stored the car at Evan's grandparents' house until the summer, when they would be back in town to tow the Trans Am home to Washington D.C.
Once Evan was back in auto shop after the spring break vacation, his teacher told him that he would give him his '77 Trans Am, if he could tow it away by the end of the week. Within the span of two weeks, Evan had two Trans Ams, one that was his ideal year, a 1979, and one that he might use as a parts car.
Above: The 17-inch Year One Snowflake wheels are shod with 275/40/17-inch radial rubber in the front and rear. The professional painter was a shop called Restore a Muscle Car. The paint brand is PPG. There are Kore C5 Corvette disc brakes in the front and 2002 Trans Am brakes in the rear that are fed hydraulic fluid with Right Stuff Detailing brake lines and a hydroboost power assist master cylinder. Pro-Touring F-Body springs in the front and rear smooth out the bumps in concert with AFCO Shocks. An Aeromotive Stealth fuel tank supplies the F-Bird with petrol.
After watching Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in Smokey and the Bandit for the first time, Evan deemed that the '77 Bandit car was too valuable to part out, so he towed it to his family's Ohio barn for safe storage. The father/son team towed the 1979 Firebird home so that Evan could drive the Trans Am for a while, as it was still a reliable runner.
The Trans Am was still robust enough to run high 12-second 1/4-mile passes at Evan's local drag strip somewhere in the Maryland region close to his home in Washington D.C. He and his buddies enjoyed the vehicle for a couple of years until everyone realized that the Firebird was still looking great so long as it was still fast enough to outrun the smoke billowing out the exhaust pipes. The restoration started in the spring/summer of 2005.
Evan's best buddy and his father owned an auto body and paint shop, so the Firebird became reassembled with some must-have Classic Industries sourced parts and was primered/sanded and getting ready for paint. Meanwhile, Evan enlisted in the Air Force in 2007 and was immediately shipped to live in Italy, while the Trans Am went into hibernation. Evan was deployed to Iraq and had the responsibility of driving convoys and resupplying bases all over Iraq.
Before his deployment, Mr. Rose negotiated to have a professional auto body and paint shop spray his '79 Trans Am in exchange for bartering the 1977 Trans Am for the professional paint job. After Evan returned stateside, his Firebird sat in the new shop for two years. During that time, he learned that the original 403 cubic inch V8 was dead. With the help of another buddy, Larry Middleton at 2nd Gen Engineering, the guys pieced together everything to swap an LS power plant into the stock chassis.
Above: When the father/son team first bought the Firebird, it was a hardtop. The large T-tops look factory fresh and are no doubt free of leaks.
At the Firebird's first show it placed First in Class at an event in Saratoga Springs, NY. Then Evan started to really drive and show the car. Since he always wanted a manual trans in the Trans Am, he performed extensive research to swap in a T56 Magnum six-speed Tremec manual. While he was at it, Evan pulled the LS1 engine and dropped in a 6.3-liter LS3 engine in its place, which was closer to the original mill's 403 cubic inch or 6.6-liter displacement. He made the most of Covid-19 time by visiting three coasts in the U.S. and putting 35,000 miles on the Trans Am's odometer.
Whether you're restoring your Firebird to Pontiac factory new condition, or you are building a Trans Am for those long road trips to the three U.S. coasts like Mr. Rose, or anything in between, you may rest assured that Classic Industries has the parts that you're seeking. You can start your online search on the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am shopping page. You can also enhance your Firebird Trans Am shopping experience by obtaining a Firebird Trans Am Parts & Accessories Catalog. Simply click the button below to download a pdf version and/or to have a printed catalog mailed to you. Happy shopping!