Tenth Anniversary Trans Am

I first heard about this car while on vacation in Maine in the summer of 1999. It had been in storage in a barn close to the Vermont/New Hampshire border since 1994 and the owner was considering selling it as she had moved to Arizona. I stopped in to see it on my way home and found it sitting under a thick layer of dust, a bit bruised up but still a very solid car. It's 1 of 1817 Tenth Anniversary TAs built with the 400 motor and 4 speed transmission in 1979.

I struck a deal with Monica, the owner of the TATA since March of 1986, shown here with the car shortly after she bought it. She kept it out of the snow and rain but had a "little incident" with the parking brake not holding one morning resulting in a bruised tree in her driveway, and the TATA getting an all silver paint job when the nose and hood were repaired.

In October of 1999 I returned with a new battery and some fresh gas, it started right away and I was able to drive it onto my trailer. Saw some great fall colors and joined the other tourists on a bumpy ride across Lake Champlain from Vermont to New York.

At home - with the dust washed off - it actually cleaned up pretty good! Bonus, the car came with it's original paperwork right back to the day it was sold new to Terry A. Pierce of Wenham New Hampshire on June 22, 1979 by Marshall Pontiac on Rte 1 in Saugus MA

In February 2003 another project came along that I just couldn't pass up, a low mileage 1966 Corvair Corsa turbo-charged 4 speed from Texas.

I decided to sell the TATA to a friend in Georgia who had been looking for a car like this to restore, so it left the snow belt for a new home in the deep south - temporarily!!.

Click here for the Missing Years!

2008 and the TATA is back - the Real Restoration Starts

Home again and cleaned up once more - now to take it all apart again and start the real restoration.

The seats were removed and taken to a local upholstery shop to see about some repairs, the driver seat bottom had come apart at the seams and some of the others were showing signs of wear. It was determined the original leather was getting pretty brittle and would start cracking and tearing with use so new TATA upholstery has been ordered for front and back.

Next up was to remove the original carpet which was pretty badly worn and dirty. Out of the car the bottom of the carpet didn't look too bad, but the underlay was hiding the bad news, and over two dollars in loose change.

The drivers side floor had rusted out from the inside, most likely from moisture under the carpet, the passenger side also had some small rust holes. A trip was in order to Kerr Auto Body in Orillia Ontario, Guy Kerr soon had the rusty parts removed and new floors installed, sealed and covered with epoxy primer. Next up was to wire brush the entire bottom of the car clean and coat the frame rails and suspension with Zero Rust