Lingenfelter's TA's recipe...
Lingenfelter's TA's recipe for success includes a '70-'73 T/A-style front fascia, a functional Shaker scoop, and a new-design "Screaming Chicken" one-piece hood decal, but that's just the start of what makes the LTA true to its Trans Am heritage.
If you're a true Trans Am lover, you already know that no amount of arm-twisting in the world can tempt you to turn from your favorite Pontiac breed. Others can rave about how fantastic the Fifth-Generation Camaro is, but you crave a Fifth-Generation Trans Am and nothing else will do. No matter how popular Chevy's pony car is to the American public, for you it's the Trans Am or nothing.
Luckily, Ken Lingenfelter, the owner of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) in Decatur, Indiana, is a Trans Am lover, too. "Ken is a huge Pontiac diehard and owns more than a dozen of his favorite Pontiac models, including a '69 Firebird 400 and a '71 455 H.O. Trans Am " says Nathan Sheets, LPE's marketing manager. "Throughout history there have always been those hobbyists who embraced the Camaro or the Firebird-but not both. When Ken heard Pontiac was no longer in the General Motors family, he decided to ensure the Pontiac legacy continued. He felt the Trans Am needed to survive, so he began to build his own versions of the '10 Trans Am, which he calls the LTA."
Lingenfelter stunned the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in November 2009, with a prototype of its first Lingenfelter TA (the name was shortened later to LTA)-a '10 Camaro-based retro-styled reinterpretation of the '70-'72 Trans Am, complete with custom White paint, a Lucerne Blue stripe, functional Shaker scoop, split twin-grilles, a Pontiac-style rear fascia with integrated rear decklid spoiler, a Bright Blue Morrokide vinyl interior, and an LPE LS-based 455ci powerplant. It was an instant hit and no wonder. Lingenfelter had accomplished what GM had refused to do-recreate the classic Trans Am for the 21st century.
Lingenfelter continued to build more prototypes, including three more variations: Lucerne Blue with a Cameo White stripe, Starlight Black with gold-colored graphics, and a red one which recalls the '73 model year, when T/As first became available in Buccaneer Red.
We've shared renderings and photographs of some of Lingenfelter's TA prototypes in past issues of HPP, but we had to wait for our opportunity to get behind the wheel of one. That moment came in August 2010, when LPE sent its Victory Red '10 LTA and Nathan to Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, to allow us some private time with the concept car during an HPP Pavement Pounders Shootout. Our goal was to see how the LTA's retro features held firm to its Second-Generation T/A roots while fitting within the design limits of the '10 Camaro. We also jumped on the opportunity to test the LTA's street-trim performance on Summit's quarter-mile track, followed by driving impressions on the cornfield-lined country roads on the outskirts of Norwalk.
Just as comfortable on the...
Just as comfortable on the dragstrip as it is on the streets, this LTA prototype-which Lingenfelter hopes it can bring to the retail market soon-smokes the competition, thanks to a GM Gen IV LSX/Lingenfelter 455ci engine, backed by a Lingenfelter six-bolt LS9 twin-disc flywheel and clutch assembly, which puts a set of Nitto NT05 maximum-performance street tires to the test.
To create a '10 LTA, Lingenfelter starts with a '10 Camaro 2SS, which includes an LS3/6.2L 426hp engine, a TR6060 six-speed manual transmission, leather-appointed front seats, and 20x8 and 20x9 aluminum wheels wrapped in Pirelli PZero P245/45ZR20, front, and P275/40ZR20 rubber. Lingenfelter changes out much of that to create the LTA.
First, the company removes the Camaro's front and rear fascias, replacing them with Lingenfelter-designed, retro-Pontiac-inspired fiberglass pieces. Though the conversion retains the Camaro's front fenders, Lingenfelter adds genuine Second-Generation Trans Am air extractors behind the front wheels and smoothes out the Camaro's chevrons on the rear quarters. Then technicians remove the Camaro's stock LS3 and fill the engine bay with a preassembled Lingenfelter 455 crate engine, which they calibrate with an in-house custom tune.
Paintwork varies on a car-to-car basis. "Each LTA prototype is slightly different," Nathan says. "On some, we retained the Chevrolet color (like the LTA HPP tested) and use OE paints to match the body panels to the factory body color. On others-such as our Cameo White and Lucerne Blue Lingenfelter TA prototypes-we repainted the entire car because the vintage Pontiac exterior paint colors are not available on the '10 Camaro." (In these instances, the engine bay color was painted after the LS3 was pulled and before the LPE 455 was installed.)