It was summer 1981. I was 18 and visiting my buddy the "repo"man.
As I walked out into his holding yard behind his office I saw a black on black 78 T-Top Trans Am & walked over to take a look. In the last 3 years since it had been new it had been rode hard & put away wet a LOT! I opened the drivers door & was hit by a wave of hot air from it sitting in the sun all day. But what really caused me to gag was the thick smell of unwashed dog that had apparently been raised in the car since it was a pup. I closed the door & managed to walk away w/o losing my lunch & wondering what possesses people to treat their cars like that. In the back of his lot I found my dream car! It was a 1981 VW Scirocco S. Basically brand new & loaded with Recarro seats etc. I went in and asked him about the car & if there was anything I could start doing around his lot to start saving towards that car when it became available. He told me he had a 78 Trans Am that he needed to clean up & that if I wanted to take the car & clean it up & sell it That I could keep half the profit that we made on the car.
Well, at the time I didn't think much of American cars, (face it, growing up in the 70's & 80's there was a majority of crap being regurgitated from US automakers) (Mostly by Ford & Chrysler) but figured that sounded like a plan.
So I went out & held my breath long enough to remove the T-Tops & I took it home.
I was amazed. I started reading all the info I could find in Road & Track, Car & Driver, Hot Rod & anything else I could find on them.
I discovered that here was an American company that did care!
In 1978, Not only could a Trans Am blow the doors off pretty much anything American made, including the Z-28's & Corvettes, they took on most of what the world made! You had to start comparing it to stuff life Ferrari's before you could find things that were as fast or could corner as well! (No joke!) Pick up any copy of Car & Driver from the late 70's and the have a section that has all the cars performance comparisons at the front (or close to the front) of the magazine. It's impressive!
So I called him the next day & asked what I could buy it for.
I have been a fan ever since.
I had to sell it when I was 19.
I regretted it almost immediately.
I traded 3 cars & a motorcycle to get it back when I was 21.
I traded it in on a Porsche 911 Turbolook when I was 24.
I spotted it driving down the road & followed the guy for miles until I boxed him in at a TacoBell Drive Thru when I was 27 & talked him into trading me another car within 3 months. (He & I are still friends to this day & I will never sell it again.
Since then I have had nearly 90 Firebirds & Trans Ams.
I currently have over 30.
Well years have passed since that summer day in 81 when I was 18. I am now 45 & over the years I have aquired several nicknames in these parts. (Some are even complimentary!)
TransAm Man, Firebird Man & Pontiac Man among others (I also collect other Pontiacs since I have grown to love the parent company) Probably well over 50 ponchos on hand currently including GP's, Catalinas, Bonnevilles, Tempests, LeMans', 2 GTO's & even an Astre coupe & a Sunbird Woody Wagon!
=)
(Don't talk to me for a while about Pontiac's current state of affairs!)
But it looks like I have found some friends today that may understand my "addiction", when I stumbled across your website.
So! Hello Guys!
Nice to meet you!
=)

Welcome! Cool story.

Definitely great to read your story! Glad you got her back! Hold on to her this time! Welcome to SCC! Enjoy the site.

Enjoyable read - thanks for sharing. Even more enjoyable once you get around to sharing pics!

welcome to SCC awesome story some pics would make the stroy better

Welcome man! That was a REALLY cool story! Make yourself at home in the SCC Garage.