Watch this test drive of a restored 1973 Trans Am. See anything unusual? (1 Viewer)

[ModerationNow!]

This is a car dealership that specializes in restored classic American cars from the 60s and early 70s. (Trigger warning!)Here we have the LAST good year for the Trans Am(or pretty much any other classic American sports car) for quite a long time! The "Smokey and the Bandit" era "disco chicken" Trans Ams blew in comparison to the 1967-73 Firebirds and Trans ams!

Anyway, it's a 1973, with the 455(7.4L) Pontiac engine, but unfortunately an automatic transmission. Although you can't really hear the engine, you can clearly see that it accelerates really quickly, and handles the narrow back roads well.

But it doesn't take long to notice some unusual and unexpected goings-on!

 

[Rexedgar]

This is a car dealership that specializes in restored classic American cars from the 60s and early 70s. (Trigger warning!)Here we have the LAST good year for the Trans Am(or pretty much any other classic American sports car) for quite a long time! The "Smokey and the Bandit" era "disco chicken" Trans Ams blew in comparison to the 1967-73 Firebirds and Trans ams!

Anyway, it's a 1973, with the 455(7.4L) Pontiac engine, but unfortunately an automatic transmission. Although you can't really hear the engine, you can clearly see that it accelerates really quickly, and handles the narrow back roads well.

But it doesn't take long to notice some unusual and unexpected goings-on!

Before he got in the left lane, I thought that it looked like UK!

 

[ModerationNow!]

Before he got in the left lane, I thought that it looked like UK!

At first, considering that it's a classic American car dealer, I was confused as to why he was in the left lane during the first 45 secs, as he made several turns at intersections. I was thinking, "damn, I've never seen so many one way streets, even the rural roads are one way"! But it turned out it's just VERY narrow English roads!

 

[Mycroft]

This is a car dealership that specializes in restored classic American cars from the 60s and early 70s. (Trigger warning!)Here we have the LAST good year for the Trans Am(or pretty much any other classic American sports car) for quite a long time! The "Smokey and the Bandit" era "disco chicken" Trans Ams blew in comparison to the 1967-73 Firebirds and Trans ams!

Anyway, it's a 1973, with the 455(7.4L) Pontiac engine, but unfortunately an automatic transmission. Although you can't really hear the engine, you can clearly see that it accelerates really quickly, and handles the narrow back roads well.

But it doesn't take long to notice some unusual and unexpected goings-on!

Nice car...they didn't really put it through it's paces.

Other than the fact that they were driving in the UK (wrong side of the road), I noticed the tach wasn't working.

This is what my 71 Formula 455 looked like except mine also had the rear spoiler...4-speed standard transmission, Positraction rear end. It was a damned rocket ship.

 

[Rexedgar]

Nice car...they didn't really put it through it's paces.

Other than the fact that they were driving in the UK (wrong side of the road), I noticed the tach wasn't working.

This is what my 71 Formula 455 looked like except mine also had the rear spoiler...4-speed standard transmission, Positraction rear end. It was a damned rocket ship.

View attachment 67294509

My good friend from HS came from a ‘comfortable’ family. At graduation in 1971, he was gifted a blue convertible 4-4-2. I cannot remember if it was manual or auto. Man, did I like to ride in that car!

 

[Mycroft]

My good friend from HS came from a ‘comfortable’ family. At graduation in 1971, he was gifted a blue convertible 4-4-2. I cannot remember if it was manual or auto. Man, did I like to ride in that car!

I bought mine with cash I had saved during my second tour in Nam.

 

[ModerationNow!]

Nice car...they didn't really put it through it's paces.

Other than the fact that they were driving in the UK (wrong side of the road), I noticed the tach wasn't working.

This is what my 71 Formula 455 looked like except mine also had the rear spoiler...4-speed standard transmission, Positraction rear end. It was a damned rocket ship.

View attachment 67294509

That's cool. The manual transmission makes it SO much more desirable to me! I'm a Ford guy, and although I grudgingly admit that I like 67-73 Camaros, I actually kinda prefer Firebirds and Trans Ams over Camaros.

A stock 1971 Firebird or TA with a certain setup, would probably have been a bit better than the stock 1973 model with the same options. Although Pontiac engine performance didn't plummet quite as fast as Chevy and others did after about 1970-71, it would probably be slightly less powerful than a 1970 or 71.

Probably my current favorite body style of all the "pony cars", is the 1967-68 Firebird. The front end is just great!

 

[Manc Skipper]

If someone wanted me to buy that "restored" Transam I'd ask if they forgot to do the steering! The suspension looks iffy too!

 

[Fledermaus]

If someone wanted me to buy that "restored" Transam I'd ask if they forgot to do the steering! The suspension looks iffy too!

Suspension was always iffy in cars of that era. I drove a 454 1970 Corvette Turbohydromatic 400 (Same transmission as in many Jaguars) for a while. Practically every car I have driven since the 1980s handled better in tighter corners.

 

[beerftw]

This is a car dealership that specializes in restored classic American cars from the 60s and early 70s. (Trigger warning!)Here we have the LAST good year for the Trans Am(or pretty much any other classic American sports car) for quite a long time! The "Smokey and the Bandit" era "disco chicken" Trans Ams blew in comparison to the 1967-73 Firebirds and Trans ams!

Anyway, it's a 1973, with the 455(7.4L) Pontiac engine, but unfortunately an automatic transmission. Although you can't really hear the engine, you can clearly see that it accelerates really quickly, and handles the narrow back roads well.

But it doesn't take long to notice some unusual and unexpected goings-on!

You bring up smokey and the bandit, I actually got to be in and drive one of the cars from smokey and the bandit, it was the parked scene car, registered to burt reynolds, it was a stock car with a stock engine and transmission a 400 cid engine with a th 350 transmission, and a custom exhaust to make it sound more mean than it was(it was literally a parked scene car)

 

[ModerationNow!]

Suspension was always iffy in cars of that era. I drove a 454 1970 Corvette Turbohydromatic 400 (Same transmission as in many Jaguars) for a while. Practically every car I have driven since the 1980s handled better in tighter corners.

It's possible, even likely, that the 1970 Corvette with the 454 and TH400 had either worn shocks/springs and/or other front end issues. But, even if it was new, there are some pretty obvious weight & balance issues with that car, especially involving it's front end! The 1970 Corvette is a smaller car, but the 454 V8 engine and TH400 auto trans are HEAVY compared with the smaller, lighter engines and transmissions installed in most similarly sized sports cars of the world.

So, having a 454 and TH400, along with all the extra heavy components required to handle all that weight and power, leads to a VERY heavy front end, which would equate to a car that's not-so quick and nimble around corners.

Having said that, I had a friend in 1985, who owned a 1973 Rally Sport Camaro with a 350 & a 4 speed. It was 12 years old, garage kept, low mileage(60,000-ish)and he paid $1900 for it. We lived in rural southeastern PA, with lots of nice twisty, hilly back roads. That Camaro came with stock anti-sway bars that kept it flat and steady around tight corners. There was practically NO body roll, which meant it handled corners surprisingly well! He would leave me in the dust on curvy roads in my 1978 Cobra II at the time, because I didn't have sway bars, and my shocks were probably worn(I was 17, so I didn't know). So my car suffered from major body roll around corners.

 

[Fledermaus]

It's possible, even likely, that the 1970 Corvette with the 454 and TH400 had either worn shocks/springs and/or other front end issues. But, even if it was new, there are some pretty obvious weight & balance issues with that car, especially involving it's front end! The 1970 Corvette is a smaller car, but the 454 V8 engine and TH400 auto trans are HEAVY compared with the smaller, lighter engines and transmissions installed in most similarly sized sports cars of the world.

So, having a 454 and TH400, along with all the extra heavy components required to handle all that weight and power, leads to a VERY heavy front end, which would equate to a car that's not-so quick and nimble around corners.

Having said that, I had a friend in 1985, who owned a 1973 Rally Sport Camaro with a 350 & a 4 speed. It was 12 years old, garage kept, low mileage(60,000-ish)and he paid $1900 for it. We lived in rural southeastern PA, with lots of nice twisty, hilly back roads. That Camaro came with stock anti-sway bars that kept it flat and steady around tight corners. There was practically NO body roll, which meant it handled corners surprisingly well! He would leave me in the dust on curvy roads in my 1978 Cobra II at the time, because I didn't have sway bars, and my shocks were probably worn(I was 17, so I didn't know). So my car suffered from major body roll around corners.

Shocks replaced, Polyurethane bushings, various tires mounted.... It was a 4,000 lbs sled.

Here is one like it.

1970 Chevrolet 454 Corvette

A personal Corvette that is something a little bit special.

www.roadandtrack.com

Over smooth roads the big 2-seater rides fairly well, though the lack of suspension travel decrees the use of shocks with too much damping in the up direction and too little in the down; the result is considerable harshness over sharp bumps but a distinct "floatiness" over gentle undulations at speed. On bad roads the Corvette simply loses its cool, rattling, shaking and squeaking in a scandalous manner.

The 7.4-liter automatic Corvette was one of the better Corvettes we've driven lately, but its great weight, small luggage capacity, limited cruising range and incompetence on any but the smoothest roads keep it from being an outstanding GT or sports car.

 

[Helix]

oh man. i want that car. +1.

 

[Glitch]

This is a car dealership that specializes in restored classic American cars from the 60s and early 70s. (Trigger warning!)Here we have the LAST good year for the Trans Am(or pretty much any other classic American sports car) for quite a long time! The "Smokey and the Bandit" era "disco chicken" Trans Ams blew in comparison to the 1967-73 Firebirds and Trans ams!

Anyway, it's a 1973, with the 455(7.4L) Pontiac engine, but unfortunately an automatic transmission. Although you can't really hear the engine, you can clearly see that it accelerates really quickly, and handles the narrow back roads well.

But it doesn't take long to notice some unusual and unexpected goings-on!

Can they be a "classic American car" dealership if the vehicle is configured for England? Not only are they driving on the left, but so are all the instruments in the vehicle. This may indeed be a classic 1973 Trans Am, but it is certainly not American.

 

[RAMOSS]

oh man. i want that car. +1.

How about this car?

 

[Helix]

How about this car?

i wouldn't turn that one down. also, the video is pretty funny. i hope that the salesman recovered.