|
I had originally sent the following information with pictures to Tom Demauro on August 6, 2005. I also made a couple of phone calls to him and he had said he would put a story in High Performance Pontiac with my first call. The second call he said he did not see information with the pictures, but I told him it was there and he said he would look. But nothing was ever published, so I thought I would share the story here, after finding this place to do so. It appears I can't put a picture in here.
My name is David L. Dennis and I was born on 19 March 1952 in Colchester, Vermont and raised in Colchester. I worked at the Vermont Air National Guard with the 158th Fighter Wing and the 158th Security Forces Squadron and retired in June of 2006 after a lengthy career of 34 years. In the month of March, 1991, I was visiting Russell G. Berger III, brother-in-law to my ex-wife's brother, with my ex-wife's brother at Russell's home in Richmond, Vermont. Russ asked me if I had ever seen his ‘78 TA, to which I responded no and had only heard about his nice TA. He proceeded to take me to his garage, pulled off a car cover from his TA and there appeared before me this incredibly gorgeous white ‘78 TA. I looked it over with awe, finding the exterior, interior, under the hood and in the trunk in perfect immaculate condition, with the odometer reading 36,004 miles on it. I asked him if he was selling it, to which he replied “no, but for the right price I might sell it”. I called my ex-wife, Lori and asked her if she wanted to be the owner of Russell's TA. She knew the car and was understandably pretty excited and of course said yes. On March 20th 1991, I purchased the TA for $7000.00, for Lori to drive during summer months, from Russ and Lori became the proud owner of a TA. Lori drove it that one summer of ‘91 and word got back to me that she was not too timid a driver with it and laid down her share of rubber on the roads. Well, I put the TA away for the winter of ‘91 and ‘92 and sometime during the winter Lori confided in me that the TA was eating to much gas and she could not afford it. My thought processes started to kick in. I already had a pretty sharp 1978 Camaro at the time with approximately 186,000 miles on it that I had owned since it was brand new. Would I actually sell my Camaro to make our winter car Chevette a car she would drive in the summer and me take over the TA for my summer car? Yes I would! Yes she wanted to! In the spring of ‘92 I had the Chevette repainted, put on a little hood scoop, chrome wheels and a set of Good Year Eagles and she was very pleased and I was also very pleased with my TA and we had enough money left over for a Florida vacation. Woo Hoo! I have the following documents with the TA. The 1978 Pontiac Owners Manual, the Pontiac Maintenance Schedule (which has never been written in, but don't let that fool you, it has been well maintained), the ECP Corrosion Proofing Certificate from MAY of ‘78, the Manufacturer's Statement of origin to a Motor Vehicle (this shows the Pontiac Motor Division General Motors Corporation has transferred this 1978 Trans Am Pontiac to Traynor Pontiac Inc. in Danbury CT. on December 20th where it was transferred to Green Tree Pontiac Corporation, also of Danbury, on March 31st ‘78 then to its first owner, Marcle Gingue of St. Johnsberg, Vermont, on May 2nd ‘78) and a certificate showing on May 2nd ‘78 PolyClyCoat was laid on this vehicle when new. Price for this car new was $7,500.00. Well, I blew the engine late in the summer of 1996, umm, doing about 140 MPH on the interstate and I swear that was the only time I went that fast with it. Keep this part out if you want. In February of 1997 I found a 1973 Firebird Formula 400 engine, in the newspaper, that was rebuilt for racing on oval tracks and was only used twice. I paid $400.00 for it, took out the original engine from my TA, which I now have stored in the corner of my garage, and had David Wimble of Georgia, Vermont install the engine in the TA. I called GM Pontiac for advice and Dave put on the original manifold, carburetor, distributor and spark plug wires from the ‘78 engine. Obviously that alone makes the ‘73 engine more powerful then its original state when it was in the ‘73 Formula. In February ‘98 I installed a K&N air filter. In April ‘98 I installed a colder thermostat. In August ‘03 I installed a Flame Thrower coil and Accel Racing 300+ spark plug wires. In 1999 I installed, from Custom Auto sound Mfg. Innovative Audio, a Model USA-6 Electronically Tuned AMFM Receiver CD changer Controller, Custom made for “THE GREAT AMERICAN CAR”. It is a 6 CD changer hidden in a corner of the trunk and the radio looks pretty much authentic like it was the original radio. The two speakers are 100 watt Jensen's located on the back window dash, which were popular in 1978. While on vacation in Florida in Aug of ‘99, Mieneke put on rear Gabriel Air Shocks. Then I did the next unthinkable in July 2000. I took out the perfect original exhaust! Now, 2 pipes come out from the engine, I eliminated the catalytic converter, to the newer x-pipe system, to two Thrush Glass Packs from Jeg's and out the original tail pipes for the total original exterior look. In July of 2001 I did a complete cleaning, 29 hours worth, inside and out of the TA and entered my first ever car show. I entered the Vermont Classic Car Show and got a third place! I, personally, was thrilled. In early 2004 my brother-in-law, Scott Lavigne changed my Shaker Hood Scoop, which was non functional, to a functional Scoop, just like the ‘69 and ‘70 TA's. The grill is a cross hatch arrangement, painted low gloss black with chrome bezels. A “Pontiac” logo is bolted to the grille on the left side. Chromed Firebird emblems are mounted on the c-pillars. Standard equipment: Dual Body Color OSRV mirrors, LH remote; Power assisted front disc brakes, Saf-T-Track differential, Power steering, Front and rear stabilizer bars, Rally II wheels, vinyl bucket seats, Rally gauges with clock and tachometer, Formula steering wheel, Front seat floor console, Rear air spoiler, Cigarette lighter, Shaker hood and Front air *** The Trans Am decal colors are Black-Red-Charcoal-Red. The car is an automatic thus is WS6 equipped and has the obligatory stiffer rear springs (25-lbin higher deflection rating) that in Detroit-speak means “tuned” and it says on the dash above the steering column “radial tuned suspension”. The rear stabilizer bar is .75” and all stabilizer bars have polyurethane link bushing. The steering gearbox has a ratio of 14:1. The rubber on the wheels, which are 15 x 8 inch wide snowflake, are P22570R15 Goodyear Eagle GT 4s. This vehicle of course, has positraction. I read an article from 1978 that referred to this vehicle as handling like the 1978 corvette. I can attest to that. I always use full synthetic oil in the engine and use a special racing fluid in the radiator to help keep the engine cooler, as the Pontiac 400 6.6L is known to easily run too hot. My engine never gets too hot. In closing, I feel my car is unusual in that the body has not been restored, with the paint (Cameo White), interior (Firethorn Red), under the hood and in the trunk, in like new condition with 66,000 miles on it. I hope all reading this will appreciate my car along with me. Thank you. Sincerely, David L. Dennis
|