My 76' and I

[1_Car_Guy]

Entry 1: 2/10/2022

My name is Andrew, and this is the story of my 76’ Trans Am. I’m a long-time lurker on lateral-g and other pro-touring type websites. I’ve probably started this thread 5 times over the years. I’ve found it difficult to keep a thread alive since my life has changed so drastically and my car’s progress has been painstakingly slow and sporadic. I have a young growing family and with that, a limited budget for my 76’ with big dreams; ‘a champagne-taste with a beer money type-budget’. I’m finally situated in a decent career for the long haul and will hopefully have more cash to throw at it in the future.

There are so many great builds on this forum composed by professionals with great photos, accompanying technical write-ups that are backed by top tier results. There are also plenty of threads out there written by guys with far more experience building cars, more time, and a seemingly endless budget.

With that, I can’t imagine anyone getting much information or technical advice out of this thread other than pure entertainment. I just hope to stay on top of this thread once and for all. I plan on giving a great back story behind the car, what it means to me, why it means what it does and where we’re going. I’m not to be confused as a writer and that will become more and more evident as I continue to add content.

This thread will hopefully serve a multitude of purposes. First and foremost, documenting the journey from beginning to end of the project. I’d like to look back someday and have a record of exactly what the whole trip was like, the steps I took and in what order. I’ll include the setbacks, both mechanical and personal. I’ll incorporate the timing of everything, personal milestones with my defeats. Mixed in there somewhere will be car content. It will also serve as motivation to continue making progress, hopefully an avenue to prevent my childhood dream from evading me.

Any dream must have goals. Without goals the destination is unknown. Let’s keep this simple. As of writing this my dad is 67 years old, my son is 21 months old and I’m 34. I’d like to give my dad a ride in this thing before he’s too old to crawl over the roll cage. I’d like to finish this thing before my son starts referring to the car as a project instead of what it is, a car. In short, lets shoot for 12 years – so 2034. Jesus that seems like a long time from now. A lifetime away.

That’s enough of a general introduction for now. My next post will be a back story of the car, its history, and place in my family. No post is complete without some photos so here are a few to set the mood.

Mom, Dad, and the 76' in 1978:


My 16 month old son and the 76' in 2021:


Current state of 76' in 2022: