The Last Of The 455 Pontiac Trans Ams
By: Sue and Chuck DeFiore
Those of us lucky enough to be around in the 70s when this fantastic car came out drool every time we think of it. Imagine getting a car from the factory with a 455 cubic inch engine in it!This car kicked butt! Then if you did some work, like we did to ours, as in having the engine blue printed, balanced and a lot more, it did even better. Let's just say it was doing much better then one horsepower per cubic inch!
This was the era of Smokey and the Bandit movies. Good ole boy Burt Reynolds drove a black Trans Am in the movie and everyone and his uncle all of a sudden wanted one. Of course, by that time the ones they were selling were watered down versions with no where near the power of the original ones.
Since we're not sure of the statute of limitations, let's just say that any stories are assumed to start "Once Upon A Time".
One of our favorite stories is when we eere getting onto Sunrise Highway late one evening and a Camaro rolled up next to us and started revving his engine, well you can imagine the rest.
Here was a poor soul who had not a clue of what was in store. Since we do not believe in street racing, it was a good thing we were both going onto the entrance ramp. Once we were satisfied that no one was on the parkway at that time of night, we let the Beast Out To Play. We never did see any more then his fading headlights.
One of the funniest moments was when we lived in upstate NY and my husband went to the store to pick something up and this guy in a Mustang 2 pulled up next to him and my husband had some fun(hey, we are all entitled sometimes). As Chuck tells it: You see at that time a local car dealer was running a TV spot featuring a Mustang 2 just destroying a Trans Am. So this gentleman pulls up next to me, gunning his engine for all he's worth. The light changes, he chirps his tires and flashes me a big grin as he takes off. Well, I idle away from the light,give it just enough gas in first to pull even with him, then drop the hammer, lighting up both tires, throw second, light them up again and then ease off. Drive down the road to the store.
When I come out of the store this guy has finally got there and is waiting for me and says, "but the commercial says Mustangs will beat the pants off the Trans Am." I very blithely replied, "Not this Trans Am!"
They don't make them like this anymore. It's sad when you think about it! Those of us who lived and grew up in the era of the muscle cars, street rods, Saturday night cruise nights were very,very lucky. I feel sorry for the youth of today that they missed out on all of this.
So what happened to that great 455 Trans Am, unfortunately the harsh upstate NY winters aren'tkind to cars and rust took the Trans Am from us. However, we did replace it - with a customized 1973 Vette, which we drove cross country to California, but that's a whole nother story!
DeFiore Enterprises, Copyright 2005
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