Angie decided it was finally time to build the Trans Am she’d wanted since childhood. She and Alan first found a low-mileage 10th Anniversary ’79 Trans Am but ultimately decided it was too nice to modify. So, with the help of Boris at Street Machinery, they came up with an ’80 Pace Car model that was just right – decent, solid, and complete, but in need of bodywork, paint, and a lot of love.
“The 1980 Pace Car was the only year in which both Indy and NASCAR selected this car as their Pace Car,” Angie says. “The vision was to refine an already iconic Pontiac design, to maintain the integrity of the car, bring it up to date, and use both the 10th Anniversary and Pace Car aesthetics, as these were back-to-back years.”
The team at Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop began the update process with a Roadster Shop Spec chassis, giving the car a more modern performance front suspension, rack-and-pinion steering, a four-link rear suspension, Strange rearend, and Wilwood 14- and 13-inch disc brakes. The wheels are a nod to Pontiac originals and were designed and machined in-house at JHRS. They measure 18×8-inches in front and 19×9-inches in the rear and wear 255/45/18 and 265/50/19 tires for a slight hot rod rake.
“The 1980 Pace Car was the only year in which both Indy and NASCAR selected this car as their Pace Car,” Angie says. “The vision was to refine an already iconic Pontiac design, to maintain the integrity of the car, bring it up to date, and use both the 10th Anniversary and Pace Car aesthetics, as these were back-to-back years.”
The team at Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop began the update process with a Roadster Shop Spec chassis, giving the car a more modern performance front suspension, rack-and-pinion steering, a four-link rear suspension, Strange rearend, and Wilwood 14- and 13-inch disc brakes. The wheels are a nod to Pontiac originals and were designed and machined in-house at JHRS. They measure 18×8-inches in front and 19×9-inches in the rear and wear 255/45/18 and 265/50/19 tires for a slight hot rod rake.
