The 1973 Pontiac Trans Am I first saw at 17 is mine and ready to finally hit the road
I was 17 in 1980, riding shotgun in my buddy’s ’75 Trans Am, when this green Trans Am pulled up to the light beside us. The guy told me it was a factory color, then the light changed, and off he went. Over the next few years, I saw the car around town, and each time I gave the guy my number, if he ever wanted to sell it.
By 1999, my wife and I had just opened a business, bought a new house, and started our little family. Money was not something we had, but one day, I came across an ad that said “1973 Trans Am, needs work, $2000.” I called, and all I asked about was the color; when the seller said green, I went straight to the bank and withdrew nearly everything we had. After reminding him I was the guy who gave him my number a hundred times, I picked up the T/A for $1200, with the promise I would restore it one day.
It was all there but was rusty and needed a lot, so the Trans Am sat in my garage for a few years. My neighbor happened to be a body man and said he could bring the car back to life if I were willing to help. It took us a year to restore the shell. Then it sat for another 15 years.
When I turned 55, I knew I needed to have the Trans Am back on the road, so I found a shop to work with. During the two-year rotisserie restoration, we discovered that only a few Brewster Green Trans Ams made it to Canada in 1973, so mine’s a real needle in a haystack. I debuted it in February 2020 at the World of Wheels in Calgary, but I wasn’t able to drive it much. This summer, however, I cannot wait to get it on the road.
