Jerry's '78 Trans Am

This is the first of hopefully many more Featured Cars. This month's car, which is special enough to be the first, is Jerry McMillan's 1978 Limited Edition Trans Am. Read what Jerry has to say about this awesome car!

Hey, it's not one of the classy Y-88's or anything, but it's a $12,000 investment and my pulse as well. I was looking for a 77-78 TA and found this one that was being restored by a father and son. It was a 78 Trans Am LE, black with t-tops. Well, the son did something he should not have done, and dad sold the car to make a point. They had already rebuilt the engine, or should I say, had it professionally rebuilt. It was a Pontiac 400; it is now a balanced and blueprinted 455 with a Wolverine blue racing camshaft, high volume output oil pump, 4 core radiator. Eveything in the car is new: the dash, steering wheel, trim inside, as far down as the plastic bottle for the radiator and washer fluid. New springs, shocks, a 750 Holley double pumper, new turbo 400 transmission with shift kit, and 1800-2100 stall converter, B&M shifter, rebuilt 12 bolt rear end with Richmon 411 gears, new axels, drive shaft. I could go on and on. Now the body....I took it to Candy Apple Customs in Cartersville. They took the car completely apart: fenders, doors, hood, everything that could come off, and stripped it down to the metal.

The car has never been wrecked!!!! No bondo, a little rust on the rear end behind the rear bumper. They cut that out and welded in new plates, primed and prepped it 4 times, then painted it with 3 coats of base and 3 of clear. All new decals from Year One. Thank God I did not have to buy the pinstripe kit. It was $750.00 by itself. Since this was not a Bandit car, it just had all the decals and emblems on the sail panal. I replaced the emblems with decals and went with the German style lettering instead of the block. This is one beautiful car. I have centerlines with 10 inch 50's on the back and 60's on the front. It had Cragers, but I liked these better. You don't see one like this everyday. I know, I sound like some teenager the way I am babbling. I'm just proud to have finally seen my dream car come true! I am 36. It stays locked away in my climate-controlled basement: no rain, pretty weather only. The only thing original is the black velour interior and it's still in good shape.