About “trigger”

Everyone has fond memories of there first car, my frist was a 1976 Trans am. Carousel red (orange) with black interior, & only three years old. We had a lot of great times together, she always carried more beer then gas! Unfortunately, ... I sold her back in the 80's.

Twenty seven years later, here's how her restored twin came to be. My son looking on e-bay found a 1976 T/A for sale and said " dad-look, you should biuld one like the old car " . I thought trying something like this wouldn't be easy, most of these car have to be beat - striped and-or badly rusted by now!
Still, I bought that car. It was in Maryland, and another in Jersey. We even saved a 75 firebird from the crusher, but just like I thought anything good was gone - removed long ago. Not to mention the rust! I realized there's no turning back now, there's to much invested already!

Salvage yards that still had the old T/A's were as rare as the cars themselves, but are out there! Most of the cars I found were to far gone to save, now my cars didn't look so bad. I saved whatever original pontiac parts I could with each visit. A good factory original hood was a difficult find, but I met someone trying to sell a 76 T/A. - B.S.ing with him - he had a extra hood, boy did get I lucky! Swap meets and e-bay were the only places left to get good original parts I needed to finish. I used year one and classic industries for the new stuff, like seat upholstery, rug, weather stripping ect. I wanted to keep her original as possible, doing the work myself - I could.

2 1/2 years later my work paid off, she was finished. A true factory correct 1976 Trans am, right down to the original working delco 8 track player & I fix that myself to.

The color, Carousel Red (orange) is a factory Pontiac color for 76. Remember " The 68 GTO Judge " same color.

The look of the car - sounds of the Pontiac motor brings me back to the old days ,....that 4 barrels opening,.... and the duels .... Bat out-a hell, in the 8 track - feels great!
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A little Pontiac history ; 1976 marked the 50th anniversary for Pontiac, and there flagship car was the T/A . This was the 1st year black was offered on the T/A's & Pontiac would use the all new Hurst T-tops!..... The first Black/Gold T/A was built calling it "The 50th Anniversary model" and a badge was placed below the name on the fenders. These cars were built in very limited #s, with or with out the tops or 455 optional motor.

Pontiac kept the Black/Gold colors option for 1977 calling it a SE~T/A, but dropped the 455 motor. This was the year of Smokey & the Bandit.....Pontiac only gave one car to film the movie - it proved to be a good idea for sales - we all know how well they did!
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Why not black here?....Many people today would have painted this car black claiming it's a 50th, or change the nose saying its a bandit car -something it's not. We all have seen plenty of that stuff, tribute cars & little white lies. Only built to stick it to someone & make a buck in the end.

My memories of the old bird ment much more to me, it was the reason I built this car.She was differant back in the day and stood out.... Today she still turns heads!

Thanks Tommy