Pontiac Trans Am Restoration - Restoration Instead Of Replacement

Under the hood, the typical ravages of time were evident in the surface rust and few missing stock parts, like most of the A/C system and the correct carb and ignition components. The fan shroud melted in an underhood fire prior to Steve purchasing the T/A.

Who saves the carpet? Steve does. Instead of replacing it with a reproduction, he will remove the original and redye it—the same with the dash pad. The yellowed dash panel will be stripped of its clearcoat and reshot with clear to bring back its bright aluminum hue.

Though the idea was preservation, Steve first thought the original front valance was too far gone, so he bought another less broken one (painted blue, not shown) and restored it instead. Then he decided to try to fix the original valance. He liked the results so much, he used it instead. The nose itself makes a great fixture to hold the valance while working on it.

During the body restoration, Rich Pasqualone of Cornerstone Restoration discovered that the driver side had previous body panel damage under the paint. The fender was too wrinkled to correct, but instead of simply buying another fender, Steve had Rich repair this one by welding in a patch.

The door wasn’t spared in the accident, which resulted in having to pull a dent with a slide hammer, requiring lots of holes to do it, as seen here on the back side of the skin. Instead of buying a good used door, which would have saved cash in labor charges, Steve had the body shop replace the door skin.

The damage extended to the driver-side rear quarter, and the same repair method was employed using a patch from a good used quarter-panel.

Steve had his children become an integral part of the restoration and preservation process. Here they are applying paint markings to the rear, which had come off during the process of stripping the case to bare metal.

While the gas tank and exhaust are reproductions, the original springs were stripped and repainted with Eastwood’s Spray Gray, and the part numbers were restenciled. The sway bar was cleaned to reveal black paint underneath.

The rear was stripped to bare and rebuilt by Bontempo Brothers Competition in Linden, New Jersey, reusing the original limited slip. Steve used Spray Gray and Detail Gray from Eastwood to replicate the finishes he found on the carrier and axle tubes respectively. He says that there wasn’t any black paint on this rear, as has been seen on other T/As of this era. Only the backing plates were black. Pressure washing revealed the kind treatment of its previous California lifestyle, as the factory red oxide primer and white overspray remained on the floorpans. Rust remover was used in a few areas where needed.

The driveshaft, which also has the identifying stripes reapplied, is bare metal and treated with Nyalic Clear Surface Protectant.

At the trans tunnel, some remnants of the factory undercoat used to quell heat and noise are visible. The rest of the floorpans were not factory undercoated. The subframe was, of course, restored and the bushings are new.

Except for a few wear items, the front suspension retains many of its original parts, now cosmetically restored replicating the finishes Steve found beneath years of road sludge. Note the black A-arm paint that stops just before the ball joints. The green paint mark on the driver’s side tie-rod is original. Nyalic was used on the spindles and a few other parts and Eastwood paints on the rest.