Words: Tommy Parry
Like many of us in the hobby, Jon developed an interest in cars through his family. His grandfather owned five Trans Ams, his dad owned two and he’s owned four: three 1979s and a 1998. Fair to say that a love for Flaming Chickens ran in the family.
Both his dad and his grandpa owned silver 1979s with red interiors. So for Jon, this 1979 is a continuation of a family tradition. Far from the typical “Smokey and The Bandit” fan project, this particular build is an experiment in what budget modifications could make with this platform.
“Today, many people have gotten on the wagon of disguising performance parts as factory-appearing. I think that has been one of the best movements in the pro-touring and restomod scene as of late,” Jon remarks.
Because he wants to keep things simple and factory whenever possible, he’s stocked his garage with a slew of bits from a variety of other Trans- Am models. Included in his collection are an ’82-’84 Trans Am cowl induction air cleaner, an ’80-’81 Turbo T/A hood (that style carried all the way through 1992) and ’84-’87 16×8 WS6 wheels.
The first engine modification Jon made was adding a Edelbrock Super Victor 4500 EFI intake, as well as their whole FAST XFI 2.0 system, ignition and distributor. Some minor grinding later, and he was content with these minor bolt-ons. A coat of GM Corporate Blue came after, and he was well on his way.
He began focusing on the footwork next. A set of leafs and springs from Hotchkis were in keeping with his aim of keeping the Trans Am near-factory; the leafs had to be retained. Then came the PTFB swaybars, as well as fourth-generation TA brakes and the spacers needed to fit him.
The rear end required a bit of tinkering to get it up to Jon’s standards. The list of modifications is short but sweet: Moser 30 spline axles, an Eaton Detroit Truetrac carrier, a Strange Engineering 1350 driveshaft yoke, axle tubes fully welded to the center section and custom-length wheel studs.
Sensing the need for more body control, he opted for Viking’s hybrid coilovers, Global West upper control arms, Lab-14 lower control arm reinforcement plates. Next came a set of 16×8 Convex ’84-’86 Trans Am wheels and the following list of goodies:
-U-Pol Raptor Liner kit
-U-Pol Raptor Epoxy Primer Kit
-Lanolin wax kit for rust proofing the insides of cavities.
-’79-’81 WS6 backing plates from Facebook
-Hawk HPS front pads
-Solid body mounts
-Complete steering rebuild kit
-Afco lower control arm bushings
-B-Body spindles for the 11.86″ 1LE rotors
With the suspension largely sorted, Jon decided on a motor. For peanuts, he found 4.8-liter LS with a computer and a second-gen rear end with UMI LS swap brackets and a 621 bellhousing for using a 4-speed transmission with the LS. Unfortunately, after pulling the heads, he found glass inside his bargain motor. His budget buy hadn’t paid off, so he took a deep breath and shelled out a pretty penny for an LS1 that he knew would work.
Though he’s been through hell trying to get this old gem running, Jon hasn’t slowed any. There’s a bright future in store for this Trans Am, and once Jon’s got the motor humming, he’ll be a regular at the local autocrosses and drag strips.
“This car is going to be a true blend of 2nd, 3rd and maybe some 4th-gen parts, so that it is a really nice sports car for the street. It would be fun to trick some enthusiasts with the later styling points at some shows – possibly the annual Bandit Run and Hot Rod Power Tour,” he says
There’s a great deal ahead for this gorgeous Trans Am. To keep tabs on Jon’s tasteful build, you can follow his progress here.
