 Back in 1998 I purchased my first American car and I started out right, I'd bought a Pontiac.
My brother Nathan had a 1980 Trans Am which had been nothing but trouble since the day he bought it but I felt with enough care and thought I might be able to land a user-friendly daily driver.
I looked at several cars but was really interested in an F Body as I thought saloons and vans could come later and after two years driving a Renault 21 I was hungry for something with a little more go. My search took me around several dealers around the country until I saw an advert in 'Great Cars' for a dealer in Wembly called Auto Handers UK who had a gorgeous 92 Firebird T top in teal blue metallic for £5995. The car looked and sounded awesome and following a short test drive the deal was done and I picked her up about four days later.
As a first yank the Firebird was a dream, easy to drive, great looking drawing glances from everyone wherever I went. It wasn't a supercar-killer but the 3.1 V6 did everything I needed, which for the most part meant cruising around slowly for everyone to see me!
I made a few changes most noticably fitting a turbo-muffler exhaust system which changed the sound to something like a V8 burble, which was all the push I needed and after two years it was time for a change to a V8.
The Firebird was chopped in against an 89 Camaro convertible with a 305 V8 that was a world away from the Pontiac in terms of performance and looks but little did I know how involved I would become with Pontiacs in the future.
Fast forward to 2004 and several American cars later that included an 1980 Mustang, 95 Lincoln Towncar, 94 Z28 Coupe and at the time a 99 Caddy STS and I was now on the committee of the POC-UK and according to my committee friends badly in need of another Pontiac. I had had the Caddy for six months but hadn't really gelled with it. Don't get me wrong it was a stunning car with power everything and road presence to rival anything, but to me it was too damn sensible not to mention thirsty.
I put it up for sale at £7500 and Geoff Carverhill of POC-UK sponsor Astoria Chevrolet Trucks had it valeted for me bringing up like new. I remember picking it up from Geoff's premisis thinking how stunning it looked and Geoff telling me that if the guy looking at it the next day didn't buy it then he wasn't really after one!
Well luckily he was and handed over £7300 in cash and took the Caddy away. I already knew what was going to replace it since several weeks before a man had called me asking if any of my members (AACI Northants) would be interested in his car he had for sale. I asked what it was and he said a 92 Trans Am GTA which was the one Firebird model I wanted.
He emailed me the pictures and it was awesome! Finished in jade grey metallic with full leather interior it had undergone an extensive rebuild and restoration a few years earlier. After viewing several emailed pictures I knew I had to have it so when the Caddy was still pulling out of my road I was on the phone to the vendor telling him I was on the way.
I had seen the car in person at Billing about three months before but not really paid it any attention as the asking price was £9500 which did include a valuable private registration 479 GTA.
The seller Marc and I had discussed and agreed the price he'd take for the car minus the plate which was £6500, top money for a third gen but this was a top money car. Kept mainly in his air conditioned garage it had seen little use since it's resto. The mileage when I bought it was just 30,800 with full history, infact across four MOT's there had been just 240 miles which Marc told me was it's annual trip to Billing.
After a quick run around the block the money was counted out and I was driving home the proud owner of this perfect car which I would say is one of the finest third generation cars anywhere.
During the restoration it had been taken back to bear metal and resprayed in the original colour with six coats of paint, the wheels had been refurbished and colour matched inside the spokes, it had also had all new glass, new seals and all-round enamal badges in place of the factory ones.
It also has the unique feature of two rear spoilers. This is because when the car was being taken apart for the resto the original spoiler was broken and Marc phoned around to find a replacement. He found a place in New Jersey who had two so he ordered the pair in case anything happened to the one he intended to put on. Luckily it went back together with no hitches but he felt that one spoiler "didn't give it enough" hence the second one was angled on the top for it's one-off look.
Six weeks after I bought her the number still hadn't changed and Marc did offer it to me for £1200 but that is a lot of money to find with a mortgage, wife and child so I politely declined and bought J 5 BOV which is what the car currently wears, which I think was £250 well spent.
 I've done nothing to the car but clean and drive her. It's not a daily driver more of a show & cruise car although I did use her for work during the summer a few times and now the oddometer is showing 33400 just below the 3000 annual threshold she's insured for.
In a flash the show season has gone and so the car is under cover for the winter and I'm exclusively in my other yank a 1992 Chevy Corsica which is quite a change from the Trans Am. In fact apart from the position of the steering wheel they have nothing else in common!
But I can tell you having had 8 daily drivers in a row having a second special car is a real buzz and driving the Trans Am is always an occasion!
The committee were so pleased with my new car that somehow I ended up club secretary!
Now greatly looking forward to next years events calender.
See you around the shows Regards Toby
Club Secretary
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