Solving the Mystery of the “Lost” Eighth 1969 Pontiac Trans Am Convertible
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Growing up in the Motor City, the mere mention of the name "Trans Am" brought excitement to a young boy's heart. My father used to take me down to our local dealership, Woody Pontiac in Hamtramck, which always had a great selection of hot Pontiacs. Can you imagine it being March 1969, and the local salesman tells you about this great new car just released from General Motors, the Trans Am? For just under $750 you could upgrade your normal Firebird to legendary status.
That first year a mere 689 Trans Am hardtops were built. Even rarer are the convertibles, as only eight were made. These cars launched a generation of performance that lasted up until 2002, when the last Trans Am rolled off the assembly line
All of the Trans Am convertibles were built at the Norwood, Ohio, assembly plant and produced in Cameo Ivory with Tryrol Blue stripes, with a special Ram Air hood and signature decklid spoiler. They were all powered by a 400 H.O. engine with Ram Air III cylinder heads and topped by a four-barrel Quadrajet carburetor. The motor was rated at 335 hp at 5,000 rpm. Buyers had a choice of transmissions, either a M20 four-speed manual or Turbo 400 automatic. Of the eight convertibles, four of the cars were ordered with four-speeds and other four automatics. The interiors mixed it up a bit, with six cars ordered with blue upholstery, one black, and the other parchment. Of the batch, five had white tops, while three received blue. Three of the eight were exported to Canada.
In 2014, the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) celebrated the Trans Am's 45th anniversary with a special convertible exhibit. Six of the original eight produced were on display at the show, and the seventh one was displayed the following year by Mecum Auctions. During the 2014 show, there was a lot of conversation about the lost last car. There were rumors that the car was in Hawaii, or was shipped out to the West Coast, but no one was sure. Did it even still exist?
Car collector Rick Mahoney had long been searching for that missing eighth convertible. He had owned the one in the Mecum booth, and after seeing all the cars together at MCACN, he decided to see if he could accelerate the search for the eighth car. He employed the help of several private investigators, and within a short amount of time the last owner was located in Michigan. Rick made a call to him, but he was less than enthusiastic to speak with him about the car.
After about a month the guy called Rick back. Apparently the owner's father was part of the original design team that created the first generation of Firebirds. He had a soft spot for the car, but knew that the car needed a ton of work, so he gave Rick the opportunity to come and look at it. Rick contacted Scott Tiemann of Supercar Specialties in Portland, Michigan, to go check the car out for him.
It was one of the four-speed cars, with a blue interior, power top, and rally gauge cluster. But unlike the other seven, it was not ordered with a console, making it one of a kind. It was delivered to Southpark Motors in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where it spent most of the first couple years of it life. Then the car crossed back into the United States, having been sold to a new owner in upstate New York.
The car saw hard use, as most performance cars of the time did. An accident damaged the car, and it was repaired, only to be damaged again in 1973. The insurance company didn't want to fix the car, so it was sent to a salvage yard in New York. It laid dormant there until it made the trip back across the border, having been sold to another yard in Canada. It continued to sit there for almost another decade until the mid 1990s, when it was purchased by the owner in Michigan.
Upon arriving, Scott inspected the car to make sure it was the real deal. The owner pulled off the cover, and as you could imagine, the car had seen better days. It had extensive damage to the front and rear from the 1973 accident, but was very fixable by today's standards. Since it had been sitting for years in salvage yards, some of the pieces were missing. The original motor was long gone, but the transmission and rearend were still in place.
Scott pulled back the heater box to reveal the stampings on the firewall and checked under the cowl as well. Everything proved that this was the lost Trans Am convertible. He contacted Rick to tell him the good news, and Rick then spent the next six months negotiating a price for the car. Once the deal was done, Scott loaded the car and piles of parts into a trailer and headed back to his shop.
After making an inventory of the parts, Scott started the restoration process. Lots of new and N.O.S. pieces were ordered, but whenever possible, original parts that could be saved were restored. More than 1,000 hours went into the metal work alone, and there were certainly challenges along the way.
When the body came back from the media blaster, it was very apparent that the years sitting in muddy salvage yards did not help the car. The floor pan had to be removed, as did both quarter-panels. After the new sheetmetal was welded in, the car was placed on a rotisserie and sanded and blocked until straight.
The hood that came with the car was a bit rough, so another used one was sourced. After looking at the sourced hood, Scott and his crew determined that the inner structure wasn't quite like the original. So they drilled out the fresh hood's spot welds and then mated the new hood to the original inner structure. The final result is much closer to the way the car rolled off the assembly line.
There were a few pieces of the original top material left on the convertible frame, and both the material and the frame were blue, which was absolutely original to the car. But the undersides of the aftermarket tops that were available were black. Rick asked a large convertible top manufacturer in the Northeast if it could match the original material. The company agreed, but to do so it would have to purchase and custom-dye enough yardage for approximately 25 to 35 convertible tops. Rick reluctantly agreed, so his car would be authentic. And now all the other blue-top Trans Am convertibles will have the correct tops, as he contacted all the owners and supplied tops to them. He has a few spares, too, just in case.
After a year and half of work, the "Lost" Trans Am made its debut at the 2016 MCACN. Rick would like to thank Scott Tiemann, Dan Farr, Tim Fish, and Randy Jensen of Supercar Specialties for the incredible restoration.
At a Glance
1969 Trans Am Convertible
Owned by: Rick Mahoney
Restored by: Supercar Specialties, Portland, MI
Engine: 400ci/335hp Ram Air HO V-8
Transmission: Muncie M20 4-speed manual
Rearend: 3.55 gears with Safe-T-Track
Interior: Blue vinyl bucket seat
Wheels: 14-inch Rally II
Tires: F70-14 Goodyear Polyglas
Special parts: Power top, Rally gauges, AM radio, extra antifreeze (for Canadian delivery)
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I had a 69 350 H.O. Convertible back in the day. My buddy and I talked about turning it into a Trans-Am Tribute car. I'm glad we didn't. I knew there werre only 8 69 Convertible Trans Ams produced, glad they found the last one and were able to bring it back.....I always loved the 69 as it was the transition year between Gen I and Gen II Firbirds. Here's a pic of mine at the restorer's shop. The color of this one is called Windward Blue.
I need to apologize, I am so keen on certain race series I skip right past the resto projects sometimes.
You've got as great project there. What are your goals for it? A strict resto or maybe a resto mod?
Do you plan on keeping us updated on your progress?..with pics, of course.
Cheers.
Unfortunately I had to sell it. Actually had the oroginal engine, a replacement transmission and all. I was restoring it back as close to factory as I could. It was my daily driver for many years, then it sat, then started the resto on it. Had a black top, but when I went got the build sheet, it specifie a white top. I did find some Rally II wheels for it, though form the fasctory it was a hubcap car. Unfortuantly, my wife and I clashed. and I ended up getting rid of it. Got rid of her a few years later.......
It fetched a pretty penny disassembled....a guy in Florida, who had it for a while (though he really wanted a convertible, 400 eng. A/C car), he sold it to a gentleman in Ohio. I lost track of it after that.
I understand long term projects don't always go as expected. In the end, always look past the lemons and search for the lemonade.
I am glad it was your daily driver rather than a garage queen.
For quite a long time a '69 Mach I was my daily driver, but I built it as street driven SCCA B prod type car reminiscent of the 60s and early-mid 70s.
Combination of Maier Racing and Global West suspension, steering and chassis mods and components a Baer Brakes system.
A well prepped +030 351 Weezer, wide ratio toploader, 3.25 rear w/Detroit Locker. It only dynoed at 375hp, but was a blast to drive. For perspective, the 426 Street Hemi and L-89 tri-power 427 of the day really dynoed at 390 and 375 hp, respectively. So my modded Weezer was in good company.
It was a blast to drive.
These days I help other folks with their projects. Here's a good mate of mine in Perth with a very well restored '67 Falcon XT. Note the 4 door. They love 4 doors down there. It's his first 9 second run in a street legal car. DOT tyres, full exhaust, full interior, pump fuel.I designed the exhaust system, camshaft and spec'd the valve train and a few other things:
Sweet run! I'm a fan of Street Outlaws....those guys do it fast......they are doing 'No Prep' races on dragstrips now too.
Thanks, these guys aren't the outlaw type racers. The cars must be absolutely street legal, as close to factory appearance as possible, run pump fuel and ready to go on a moments notice for a weekend "power cruise".
We are actually stepping it up by another 100hp and will soon be on the engine dyno.
I'm a little proud of the headers and exhaust.
Wow, that's impressive!
Thanks, to get the headers to physically fit and meet the inherent power and rpm features of the engine design and configuration, I had to combine my personal algorithms with those a friend to come up with the final engineered design.
The target is 850fwhp on pump fuel.
440cid Windsor Ford (Dart race block) and heavily ported CHI 225 (now 255) heads and a lot of other goodies.
I love articles like this. I especially liked the Trans-Am series of the era.
IIRC, wasn't there at least 1 1969 T/A with 303 cid and tunnel port Ram Air V heads? I think it was in the possession of Jerry Titus, who at the time was chief editor of Sports Car Graphic. He was preparing for a 1970 T/A effort with the Gen II car which would in fact be powered by the 303 rather than the 302 Z/28 engine as previous Firebirds running the T/A series had been powered.
A rules change for 1970 allowed for the use of destroked motors to compete, rather than enforcing a then 5 litre maximum displacement engine that had met a certain homologation criteria.
Good article,
Cheers
I don't know...I had (still have) a complete history fo the Firebird book......which goes back to the very roots in like 1963 when the concept came into being, one of the designers was John DeLorean.....I have a couple sports cars now that I enjoy.....I did just buy my 2nd ever convertible.......about 3 weeks ago.
There is a good chance the 303 T/A was not registered in Jerry's name and remained a Pontiac one off, but a write up of the car was published at least by Sports Car Graphic and even Paul Van Valkenburgh was a bit involved (also a writer at SCG and an SCCA B Prod Club Racer with ties to the Penske/Donahue #6 Sunoco Camaro).
In "the days" I ran with some really intelligent gear heads, one is a consultant for NHRA still.
My part was not the engineering, it was to take their 67' Chevelle's back to factory or what was needed. In return, my weakness was Land Yachts, Buick Electra 225, Had several Lincolns with Suicide doors.....They would damn near stand on the rear wheels.
This was way before "Base coat / Clear coat" ...weeks of spraying, sanding and rubbing lacquer.
Oh yes, base/clear can be a pain in the ass sometimes.
When still in my late teens may best friend and I did a resto on a '54 Merc. He was 15 years older than me and he and his wife became somewhat my second family/parents. Among oher things he had extensive automotive experience.
So he got this homely '54 Merc just asking for some TLC. In addition to an engine swap and other mechanical mods it was my first lacquer painting experience. My arms are still sore from that. hahaha.
She was beautiful.
I did a rebuild of a 455 Buick destined for a Boat tail Riviera. I had 2 rules to follow.
1. It needs to run 12s.
2. It needs to idle like stock.
In the end it idled like a mild GS. It ran high 12s on a single pull rear.
For the Lincolns, did you keep the 462 MEL motors?
No, I was a fan of the 460. Just seemed more reliable to me but then again...I barely have basics down in engines. Put a Binks in my hand and I get serious.
Ahhh, Okay.
I owned a spray shop for a few years. It is a different world.
Anyhow, the MEL series is fascinating and shares some significant dimensions with the 385 series (429/460), 4.900" bore spacing in particular. It also shared some FE characteristics and along with some other families.
It was of that era where the efficiency of the completely flat, valve in head. cylinder head feeding into and out of the chamber was under experimentation by others as well, most notably the Chevy 348 and 409. The pure wedge chamber was achieved by how the block was cast whereby the deck surface was not perpendicular to the cylinder bore, but rather at an angle different than 90* resulting in the outer edge of the bore extended beyond the distance of the inner edges.
Still, like any engine, done correctly can make plenty of power.
Had both in '59 Impalas I had....Both had weak Cranks.
Never tossed my boats down the run, I'm sure it would have been impressive at least to me. We did have plenty of fun running the streets with "Booka tank I and Booka Tank II" as they named them.
On the idle? I loved getting to a stop light, hearing the "Blap, Blap, blapblap" Lope and watching 3 tons of 16ga. steel rock back and forth. 90/10 shocks in the front, air shocks in the back. Skinny (ish) tires in the front and L60/15's in the back with Cragar "baby moons" all around. Uncapping the headers was fun but drew the attention of the local dogs frequently.
6 miles (about 10km) per gallon...with the A/C on 4 miles per.
My very favorite paint job I did was when a member of the "crew" who was always ready to help, got really "50/50 if he's going to make it" sick. He was restoring a 68 Dart at the time. The boys convinced his Mom to let them take it. They pulled the motor, tranny, suspension and rear end and handed me the shell. New steam fitted carpet, tuck n' roll leather seats, and a bright yellow with black stripes smooth as glass body....His Mom picked him up at the hospital with it. 6 hard core machine guys and one scruffy painter blubbering...
That is a good story. Hope your buddy was okay.
Big cars with a lot of power can be fun.
Just an fyi, that idle you liked is what gave you the poor fuel mileage, more so than anything else.
I gave up taking cam advice from "the smart tech guy" at the end of a phone close 40 years ago when the cam advice was totally wrong from the smart guy from cam company "CC". How do you screw up a 377 Cleveland? ...and I was stupid enough to let him convince me when I knew in my heart of hearts it was wrong and he would not listen. That SBC spec'd cam for a 4V stroker Cleveland was the best thing since sliced bread in his sales pitch.
Developed my own algorithms, created my own database which I maintain to this day. From that event forward, I tell suppliers what I need rather than ask what will work.
Don't get me wrong, those heavy sleds will never get great mileage, but I wager with a proper cam swap, I could get you a 50% increase, more power, but the idle wont be as raucous
Listen to a Pro Stock motor idle. Compared to the typical Friday night cruise in hot rods, they idle smooth as glass. It is an easy formula to get there. Primary requirement is a proper valve train.
Cheers
I read about this, this morning. Even though I'm a Ford person ……… "Till I Die", I always liked the old Pontiac/Camaro Trans Am.
I really liked Pontiacs. My father gifted me a brand new 1959 Pontiac Parisienne (Canadian Bonneville model) convertible as a university graduation present. I traded it eventually for a new 1964 Pontiac Parisienne convertible, and later on I bought a new 1972 Pontiac Grand Am (the one with the rubbery nose). While we were in LA for my daughter's USC graduation, I stayed at the West Hollywood apartment of a Canadian actor friend who was back in Toronto, and drove his great vintage Trans Am he kept there. I was sorry to see the Pontiac brand discontinued.
GM should have kept Pontiac instead of Buick
During its decline Pontiac ruined it reputation for quality with the plastic Grand Am which was not grand.
The last Pontiac I owned was a 2007 Grand Prix GT. Compared with my first one, a 1969, disappointing...
My mistake, my car was a 1973 model, but it was introduced in late 1972, when I bought it. Did you ever own that car? What you called "plastic" only had to do with its nose. From Wikipedia:
It was an amazing car, and even my friends who drove it remarked on how it handled, and how powerful it was. Mine was British racing green, but here are a couple of photos of that model.
I was speaking of later models of Grand Am Pontiac made. That last Grand Am iterations were cheapo.
Pontiac produced the Grand Am up till 2005 and it was a value leader but you nearly never see one...
Oh, okay, I'm not surprised that American car manufacturers looked for every possible way to save a buck to increae the bottom line, rather than perfect what they built.
If Pontiac wasn't selling well in the later years, I guess that's why they terminated the brand.
My best friend of decades, had a '64 Tempest GTO way back when with a dealer installed 421 tri-power motor. That thing was wicked. Originally meant as an NHRA B/FX class competitor it could punish just about any street car in the area.
Later another friend would borrow his Fathers '66 or '67(?) Bonneville convertible with a more sedate 428 on weekends. Instant "babe" magnet.
My brother had a black firebird. Great looking car. However, it attracted more cops than chicks with many speeding tickets to show for it. In a straight line and with no cops around, the car was a blast to drive but on curves and slippery roads it was a hair raising experience.
Many factory street cars of the era were like that. However, it didn't take much to "retrain" them.
Did you know that the 69 (not sure about other years) had a 'shaker' can in each corner to help harmonize the suspension....my understanding is, it was way worse a driver before they put those in......
GM had an issue with how they matched inherent frequency rates of front vs rear springs that often resulted in a pitch and yaw sometimes. I wonder if the shaker cans you mentioned were to negate that?
I believe so.
Weren't they all! When stock, body roll was part of the excitement. Remember the big 'ol huge Grand Prix? It was a fast moving barge.
I'm in the process of selling a Lincoln Town Car (97-another landyacht....).
We had a 59 Plymouth Fury - the one with the high fins on the quarter panels.
Eventually we realized that they were tire indicators - the bigger the tire problem - balance, belt shift or underinflated - the more those fins vibrated.
Bias tires and drum brakes, combined with too much horsepower and too much weight - a recipe for disaster.
Fond memories though, lol
My first car was a 59 Plymouth Belvedere, the two-door sporty version of the Plymouth. Lol
My second dud was a 61 Ply Savoy with a 198 or 225 slant six with 3speed shift on the column that jammed in 2nd gear all the time.
Ugly car, good times......no AC, no PS just an AM radio and heater.
A few years after that I had a 170 Dodge Dart convertible that we swapped out for a 225 block with a 2bbl
I was a glutton for punishment but we all worked at Chrysler dealerships...so we bought their crap.
I read about this earlier. I watched an auction of a 69 trans am, not a convertible, it sold for $180,000.
Cars that were relatively cheap new are worth a fortune.
Had a Plymouth Duster back as a teenager then had a 72 Barracuda.