1979 Pontiac Trans Am
Personal story and photograph submitted by owner Michael Klucka
for participation in the the 2008 GM Century Cruise
I guess the reason why I started working for this company back in the 80's was because I loved cars. It is pretty hard to NOT love cars when you grow up in the Detroit area, as a teenage boy. The auto industry was all around me. I had relatives who worked for each of the "Big 3". You might say it was in my blood, but I had no desire to be a mechanic or engineer. I loved the beauty of the machine, and where it could take you, what it could do for you, but did not care so much for "how it worked".
My friends and I loved the T/As. Back in the 70's, one of the best selling sports cars, was the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Every young man wanted to be "The Bandit", drive fast, pick up girls, and have a lot of fun. My best friend in high school turned us on to them. His dad was the assistant chief engineer at Pontiac then, and we "drove" many a company car T/As up and down Woodward during my youth. I got my "baby" in 1981, right after I finished college. It was 2 years old, and I bought it from the original owner. I still have the Mulroney Label*. I had some fun with mine, but did not want to put a lot of miles on it, because I knew it would be worth some $$, and I could always get around in a "clunker" or "winter rat". I've only put 7 - 8,000 miles on it myself. Less than half of what the speedometer reads now, (< 23,000 miles).
Although mine is not a '78 or '81 model year, (like in the Smokey and the Bandit movies), it is a '79 Special Edition. Everything is original except the radio, speakers and Panif exhaust. Yeah it sounds good! Every young guy wanted to drive a stick, but it was even more important to get one on the '79 model Trans Am, as that is the only way you could get the Pontiac 400 engine that year. All automatics were built with the less desirable 403 Oldsmobile engine. Her original paint still shines, and aside from a few minor items, which I can get repaired shortly, the car would probably be classified as near mint condition. That is my son in the pictures. I let him drive it to his senior prom 2 years ago. All his class mates thought they were cool in limos, but they drooled when he pulled up in my T/A.
If chosen, I would have the trim moldings repainted original black, as the paint is flaking, like they all did. The radiator needs replacing, and the door molding on the driver's door needs to be re-attached. That's about it. I am a 23 year GM employee, currently working as a District Sales Manager in Nashville, Tennessee. If chosen, I would trailer the vehicle up to Detroit a few days before the event....
Watch GM Century Cruise participants explain what makes their cars special.
Video Courtesy of General Motors Corporation
Note: The Mulroney label is a Federal required vehicle price sticker which must be displayed in the window of all new vehicles. This system provides individual or batch printing of this sticker for car dealerships.
GM’s Century Cruise pays tribute to GM’s past and the passion owners have for their vehicles. On Saturday, August 16, 2008 this vehicle and more than 100 other classic GM vehicles will cruise from the GM Global Headquarters at the Renaissance Center up Woodward Avenue to the heart of the Woodward Dream Cruise in Royal Oak and the surrounding suburbs. One of these vehicles will be crowned “top cruiser” based on a text voting campaign.
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