The car Pontiac so graciously allowed us to drive on the 1999 Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour was a very special 1999 30th Anniversary Trans Am. The car was built for the 1999 Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise, where hundreds of thousands of people and cars clog Woodward Avenue between Detroit and Royal Oak, Michigan. The car features a number of modifications, profiled below.
The first thing you notice about this car is the paint scheme. All production 30th Anniversary Trans Ams wore white paint, with two-toned blue graphics. The 30th Anniversary TA Daytona Pace Cars also had extra graphics on the sides of the car, again in two colors of blue against the white bodywork. The Dream Cruise car is painted in reverse: It featured a dark blue body with white graphics, including those used on the Daytona cars. The car also featured a white convertible top, and a special white-with-blue-inserts leather interior. As you can tell from the photos, the effects of this paint scheme were stunning.
The wheels used on the TA were 18” magnesium units borrowed from the Corvette parts bin. The wheels were powdercoated white to go along with the white graphics on the car. A complete Baer 4-wheel disc system replaced the OEM binders. The fronts featured monster 14” rotors, cross-drilled, with Baer aluminum calipers. The rears were 12” rotors capped again by Baer aluminum calipers. One thing is for sure, the car had tremendous grip and stopped on a dime.
Hotchkis suspension goodies abounded on the car. Subframe connectors were used to stiffen the ragtop chassis, along with a Hotchkis strut tower brace, lower rear control arms and panhard rod. The car sat on special springs that dropped the body 2” compared to production ride height.
Borla supplied the stainless-steel exhaust system, which added a nice mellow sound to the LS-1 V8 under the Ram Air hood. The engine itself was not modified, but it really didn’t need to be with 320-horsepower available with the stab of the gas pedal.Rowing the 6-speed gearbox was a pleasure, and the overall drivetrain combo provides plenty of adrenaline-laced thrills while returing around 28 miles-per-gallon on the highway. Truly amazing.
One of the coolest things about the car, however, was the little plaque on the console. On production 30th Anniversary Trans Ams this plaque lists the number of the particular car its on, such as “257 of 1500.” On the Dream Cruise car, however, the little plaque summed up just how special this Trans Am is; it read simply “1 of 1.”
The wheels used on the TA were 18” magnesium units borrowed from the Corvette parts bin. The wheels were powdercoated white to go along with the white graphics on the car. A complete Baer 4-wheel disc system replaced the OEM binders. The fronts featured monster 14” rotors, cross-drilled, with Baer aluminum calipers. The rears were 12” rotors capped again by Baer aluminum calipers. One thing is for sure, the car had tremendous grip and stopped on a dime.
Hotchkis suspension goodies abounded on the car. Subframe connectors were used to stiffen the ragtop chassis, along with a Hotchkis strut tower brace, lower rear control arms and panhard rod. The car sat on special springs that dropped the body 2” compared to production ride height.
Borla supplied the stainless-steel exhaust system, which added a nice mellow sound to the LS-1 V8 under the Ram Air hood. The engine itself was not modified, but it really didn’t need to be with 320-horsepower available with the stab of the gas pedal.Rowing the 6-speed gearbox was a pleasure, and the overall drivetrain combo provides plenty of adrenaline-laced thrills while returing around 28 miles-per-gallon on the highway. Truly amazing.
One of the coolest things about the car, however, was the little plaque on the console. On production 30th Anniversary Trans Ams this plaque lists the number of the particular car its on, such as “257 of 1500.” On the Dream Cruise car, however, the little plaque summed up just how special this Trans Am is; it read simply “1 of 1.”
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