 Things all went "wrong" for me when I bought my first 1976 Trans Am, I loved her but the body work was, well too much work for me. But the noise and the acceleration got me hooked to the American Car scene.
I sold the Trans Am on Ebay for £1500 (about double what I expected) to an American Guy who had a body shop (he was going to need one) and then purchased the Camaro for a measly £1420 (with it's current paint job), when I bought it, it had no carpet and a hole in the floor. Although the paint job is perfect.
The rocker cover leaked oil like a river so that was replaced first along with the brake valves (which was a job), have you ever noticed how a "simple" job can turn into a complete nightmare with these cars.
The engine was obviously tuned by a piano tuner due to the amount of black smoke that was coming out. This turned out to be to compensate for the fact someone had taken half of the parts of the carburetor, I have a new one on the way but American Car Services in Kent were kind enough to let me have a carburetor from a diesel truck so I could rebuilt mine, she's running quite nicely now.
I was quite pleased when I discovered a strange bar mounted in front of the radiator, especially when I connected it to the battery and it did the "Knight Rider" thing. Since then I've changed the steering wheel for the chrome and wood one and managed to purchase some carpet for the car and get the floor fixed. Unfortunately there was not a V8 lurking under the bonnet somewhere.
The car is only a 4.2 litre straight 6, however it does have advantages as I can use it more as a runabout as well due to the fact it doesn't require me to empty the local petrol station of petrol just to get down the road.
Proposed additions and changes, I'm looking for a way to have a switch and control a compressor to raise and lower the car's suspension at the back. For instance for city driving I have the suspension up because of speed humps (which we have a LOT of here in Ewell) and then motorway driving I can lower it down.
I would also love to put a V8 in it next year, I know it's bad on petrol, but its worth it for the speed.
 Final advice. Don't watch the Fast and the Furious and then take the wife to the shops… you can find yourself scaring her as you drive on the wrong side of the road at very high speed "just to see what it's like".
Paul Clevett
02083970131
www.bigcar.co.uk
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