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.

TATA-1999-1.jpg (26418 bytes) TATA-1999-2.jpg (67429 bytes) TATA-1999-3.jpg (68076 bytes) TATA-1999-4.jpg (109350 bytes)

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.

Monica-and-TATA.jpg (71812 bytes)

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.

Oct-8-4.jpg (55933 bytes) Oct-8-5.jpg (65490 bytes) Oct-8-6.jpg (81227 bytes) Oct-10-1A.jpg (52351 bytes) Oct-10-2A.jpg (56370 bytes) Oct-10-3A.jpg (35059 bytes)

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

TATA7.jpg (50899 bytes)    TAs-3.jpg (84096 bytes)  TATA-ON-1.jpg (132534 bytes) Home-08-2.jpg (113947 bytes) TATA-ON-5.jpg (91755 bytes) TATA-ON-3.jpg (138405 bytes) TATA-ON-08.jpg (102385 bytes) TATA-ON-2.jpg (647813 bytes)

It's now been 25 years since it was last on the road - restoration pictures to follow.

TATA-ON-11.jpg (59691 bytes)

 

The restoration begins

          

The drivers side floor had rusted out from the inside, most likely from leaking T-tops and 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. I took the car home to continue working on it. Next up was to wire brush the entire bottom of the car clean and coat the frame rails and suspension with Zero Rust

Int-20.jpg (117190 bytes)Int-21.jpg (105997 bytes)Int-22.jpg (91807 bytes)Int-28.jpg (78530 bytes)   TATA-bottom-cleaned-1.jpg (130417 bytes) TATA-bottom-cleaned.jpg (108841 bytes)

The interior has been completely removed and is being refurbished including new TATA seat covers, carpets and headliner. 

All exterior parts that could be removed were off to the body shop

2011

In 2011 the rad support and inner fenders are finished and reinstalled, the motor was treated with engine conditioner to try to clean up some sticky rings and noisy lifters. A short from the main starter cable to the engine block put an unexpected early end to the engine treatment and resulted in ordering some new wiring from the battery to the starter - on hold again.

2013

The motor is running and the car ready to be transported to the body shop for reassembly. At the last moment, after loading it on the trailer I got the word the body shop is full and it would be better to wait until next winter. At least the car has seen some day light again!

13-0.jpg (246311 bytes) 13-1.jpg (227860 bytes) 13-2.jpg (258548 bytes) 13-3.jpg (280298 bytes) 13-4.jpg (234215 bytes) 13-5.jpg (203206 bytes) 13-6.jpg (243877 bytes) 13-7.jpg (203561 bytes)

2015

Moved to it's new home with a lot bigger garage, finally have everything organized and in one place!

DSCN4438.jpg (133804 bytes)

2017

I came across a new cat back factory exhaust system and 4 perfectly refinished TATA turbine rims at the Trans Am Nationals

W72-exhaust-3.jpg (115284 bytes) W72-exhaust-1.jpg (177108 bytes) W72-exhaust-2.jpg (100412 bytes) 79TATA-Rims-1.jpg (98133 bytes) 79TATA-Rims-2.jpg (113445 bytes)

2018

Time to pull the motor and transmission to get them rebuilt, and clean up the engine compartment while their out.

2018-TTA-Day1.jpg (341305 bytes) 2018-W72-4.jpg (497046 bytes) 2018-TTA-bay.jpg (431728 bytes)

 

It's December and the motor and transmission are back from a complete rebuild of both - but no room in the shop this time of year to work on the car :(

  IMG_0200.jpg (527211 bytes) IMG_0202.jpg (526588 bytes)

2019

The engine has been freshened to factory specs with a new cam, lifters, pistons, all bearings and timing chain. The original #'s matching carb is rebuilt, along with the alternator. The engine compartment has been cleaned up and the driveline re-installed. All factory emission devices have been retained.

IMG_1739.jpg (566525 bytes) P1050804.jpg (484637 bytes) P1050805.jpg (424830 bytes) P1050818.jpg (749889 bytes) 79-Carb.jpg (683649 bytes) P1050799.jpg (651858 bytes) P1050800.jpg (648719 bytes) P1050801.jpg (587224 bytes) 79-Emissions-Diagram.jpg (597180 bytes) 79-400-Air-Emissions.jpg (202253 bytes)

2020

The COVID-19 virus has me staying at home for over 2 months, with the extra time I removed the rear axle, suspension, gas tank and exhaust to get complete access to the bottom of the car. I cleaned off all of the dirt and some of the dealer installed undercoating, once cleaned it was obvious there are no rust issues in this car at all. I cleaned up the axle and springs and installed new bushings and spring pads. I replaced the the brake and fuel lines with new ones, installed an NOS exhaust system and a new gas tank. I needed to have a custom Y pipe made to connect the catalytic converter to the mufflers, there isn't an aftermarket one available.

P1060030.jpg (560595 bytes) P1060024.jpg (351090 bytes) P1060025.jpg (313919 bytes) P1060063.jpg (428074 bytes) P1060064-1300.jpg (506085 bytes) P1060328.jpg (222497 bytes) P1060332.jpg (183884 bytes)

 

2021

The A/C is now reinstalled and the nose installed on the car. The original 4 speed rad was re-cored and reinstalled

P1070005.jpg (148043 bytes) P1070002.jpg (117081 bytes) P1070004.jpg (193088 bytes) IMG_1284.jpg (282309 bytes) P1060511.jpg (206933 bytes)

2022

Now we are moving along - Noico sound deadening mat was installed on the floors, then the factory type underlay and replacement high pile carpet

P1060410.jpg (277885 bytes) P1060421.jpg (254908 bytes) P1060424.jpg (372467 bytes) IMG_1561.jpg (242271 bytes)

Next was the seats and other interior panels

 IMG_1562.jpg (331748 bytes) P1070093.jpg (198175 bytes) P1070105.jpg (224824 bytes) P1070109.jpg (209946 bytes) P1070118.jpg (201429 bytes)

and finally .... all of the original body panels, plus replacement nose cone, are reinstalled and properly gapped on the car!!

P1070147.jpg (197510 bytes) P1070133.jpg (141844 bytes) P1070151.jpg (200848 bytes)

.......to be continued!

 

 

 

What it will look like again......someday!

10th-0.jpg (143397 bytes) 10th-1.jpg (123952 bytes) 10th-2.jpg (112241 bytes) 10th-3.jpg (106280 bytes) 10th-4.jpg (99423 bytes) 10th-5.jpg (142289 bytes) 10th-6.jpg (140911 bytes)

Back to Home Page