1978 Pontiac Trans Am - Sensible Spontaneity

"I really loved the way the T/A looked in its blue paint, and it was in excellent shape," he says, and that's all she wrote. Robert bought it for $9,500 and brought it back from Daytona Beach, Florida, to his home in Winter Garden.

The body and paint were mint-the only part of the car that stood out was the naked, silver hood. No, that's not a misprint. Along with the fact that Robert didn't like the silver hood when the rest of the car was blue, "It just didn't seem right to me that this T/A didn't have a Screaming Chicken on the hood, so I wanted to change that," he says.

He brought it to his friend Farrell Duncan, who worked at Duston and Roberts Collision Center. Farrell was able to paint-match the hood with the rest of the Lucerne Blue body, and then applied a brand-new reproduction bird hood decal.

The next thing that bothered Robert was the interior. "It was an all-original interior, which was in terrific shape, but needed some attention," he says. Robert called up National Parts Depot (NPD) in Ocala, Florida, and received the necessary parts to revive the light blue Custom cloth guts, and he installed the parts himself.

With the aesthetics out of the way, it was time for him to get down to the business of performance. "The whole reason I bought it was to build a cool-looking, fast street car." So now that the look was properly addressed, the power level could increase.

The original engine, a 220-horse W72 400, and the Turbo 350 trans were removed and set aside in his garage, and he called Butler Performance in Leoma, Tennessee, to satisfy his power production needs. Butler delivered a 461ci Pontiac short-block filled with the goods. Inside are 4.155-inch Ross forged pistons, 6.800-inch SCAT H-beam rods, and a 4.250-inch-stroke Eagle crankshaft. Compression is bumped to 10.5:1 thanks to the aluminum Kauffman Racing Equipment cylinder heads, ported by Bill Anderson in Ocoee, Florida, which flow 268/200 cfm at 0.600 lift. They use 2.11/1.77-inch Ferrea valves, Comp springs and pushrods, and Butler 1.65:1-ratio roller rockers. The lethal combination is controlled by a 236/242-degrees at 0.050 duration, 0.520/0.540-inch-lift Comp hydraulic-roller cam.

To draw air into the big-cube Poncho, a Performer RPM intake with a Quick Fuel Q-series 950-cfm carb is mated to the engine. A Barry Grant 220-series pump provides fuel through the required -10AN feed lines. An MSD Blaster 2 coil, 6AL controller, Pro-Billet distributor, and 8mm wires deliver the spark. Hooker Headers with 1.625-inch primaries and 3-inch collectors move the gases out to the back of the car after navigating through dual 3-inch pipes, and two 3-inch chambered Thrush mufflers.

To withstand the punishment of the Butler 461, and extended road use, Robert sourced a Turbo 400 transmission and sent it off to Ken's Performance in Orlando, where it received a B&M 2,800 stall converter, a SCAT flexplate, and stronger internals. The original 10-bolt was also treated to Moser axles and an Auburn posi with 3.23 gears.

After the driveline was strengthened, Robert replaced every suspension bushing with factory WS6 pieces and installed KYB shocks on all four ends. The original 15x8 Snowflake wheels were refurbished by Thomas Hegland in Lino Lakes, Minnesota, and wear 245/60R15 radial tires.

With the T/A on the road, Robert certainly has to be satisfied that his sensible spontaneity paid off, resulting in this tire-smokin' street machine.

Unfortunately, Robert's son, Robert Elmore III, passed away before he could enjoy the T/A with his dad. "I would like to dedicate the car and the article to my son," says Robert. "I wanted to have the car done in time for him to see it, but I couldn't."