1973 Pontiac Trans Am 455 - A Primed Example

"I explained to Jim that I was a small-town Iowa dealer and had a customer who was looking to purchase a black Trans Am as a graduation gift for his son," he says. "I also told him that the customer had purchased a new Pontiac from me in each of the past 10 years and said that if Pontiac couldn't produce a black Trans Am for him, he was going to buy a new Camaro instead. I never once mentioned the Super-Duty engine in our conversation, however."

Wilson told Larry that he'd return his call once he had a chance to look into the matter. "When Jim called back, he told me that some of the Trans Am's parts are sourced in color, so there wasn't any way the assembly plant could paint the car black, but if I would be willing to paint the car for the customer, he'd be willing to ship it to us in primer," Larry recalls. "I liked black anyway, so I figured I could get a black Trans Am this way, but what I really wanted was the Super-Duty engine!"

Larry was instructed on how to order the car to ensure the bogus customer got exactly what he wanted, and he had to specify his choice for the color-sourced pieces. "Jim told me to write on the order blank 'primer with red air dams O.K. by Jim Wilson at Pontiac, Michigan,' and he would see that the order got processed with priority. I simply adjusted the last Super-Duty order form I submitted and sent it in again in late April 1973," adds Larry.

The order sat in cue for a few weeks because, unbeknownst to Larry at the time, delays with emissions certification process prevented the Super-Duty's release until mid-May of the '73 model year, and that's the reason for the rejection of his initial orders all along. The Super-Duty engine was finally released for production on or about May 15, and Pontiac advised Larry that his order was accepted on May 18, 1973.

Taking Delivery Larry's T/A was among the first SD-455 cars assembled, which was on June 6 at the Norwood, Ohio, plant. It was then shipped on June 14 and delivered to his dealership on June 17. "I remember it taking three weeks and six days from the time the order was accepted until the day it arrived. I showed up for work one morning and there it sat, fresh off the transport. Before I had a chance to explain it to him, my dad asked me, 'Who ordered that thing? It's the ugliest color I've ever seen,'" Larry jokes.

As specified, Larry's T/A was delivered in primer with its front bumper, valance and spoiler, and four wheel flares in Buccaneer Red. "The body was a darker shade of gray primer than the front clip, and the front half of the car was somewhat shiny, while the body shell was dull," he adds. And as the buildsheet stated, the decals were shipped loose in the trunk.

Upon initial inspection, Larry wasn't totally pleased when he saw chunks of rubber in the Trans Am's wheelwells. "Typically when a new car was delivered to us, it had a mile or two on its odometer, but this Trans Am had about 15 miles on it. It was probably the first time the transport unloaders at the rail head had ever seen an SD-455 car, and it looked as if somebody had fun with it."

The car was in primer only long enough for Larry to take a few pictures with it, and then it was off for paint. "I heard Larson Body Shop in Ames, Iowa, did good work and was familiar with show-quality street-rod paintjobs, so I took the Trans Am there. They disassembled the entire body and painted it in black lacquer. I remember it took eight months to complete and cost $243, but I was very happy with the result. The job they did was much better than anything the factory ever could have applied."

Along with the body shop owner, Larry was somewhat concerned that the fresh black paint wouldn't adhere to the pieces that were originally molded in color. "I decided to leave them red and found the contrast somewhat appealing, so I had the Shaker scoop, fender extractors, and rear spoiler painted to match. It was very different-looking, to say the least, but I was always attracted to weird combinations."