What have you been doing with your alone time?
With the coronavirus panic many people are spending their days cramming chips in their mouth while catching up on all those “great” TV series on Netflix. Thankfully, not all of the kids are following the bad examples adults are setting. Case in point: a teenager in Ontario, Canada used his time locked up at home to restore his father’s 1980 Pontiac Trans Am.
Christopher Blair, who’s going to a be a senior in high school, began this past spring to bring the ’80 Trans Am back to its fully glory instead of letting his hands sit idle. It took him two months, but the end results is an American muscle car that not only looks great but probably runs better than when it was new.
Blair cleaned the car thoroughly and repainted it, so it’s ready to take to cruises and shows once those come back. He didn’t stop with that, but also rebuilt the suspension and power steering. When the teen ran into problems getting certain parts because of stores being closed, he used a metal lathe to make what was necessary. We’d say this kid has a seriously bright future ahead of him!
Not content with just working out the kinks, Blair decided to upgrade the engine to a 6.0-liter V8 he located at a junkyard. Using some help from a mechanic, he rebuilt the engine. He also installed a new transmission he was able to source with all his free time. He says the Trans Am is much more powerful than before, performing “like a Corvette engine”, and it’s no wonder why.
His father bought the Pontiac back in 1987 and says it’s “the last of the true muscle cars.” The son obviously has respect for his father and shares his tastes, because he labored tirelessly to make the car really shine.
You might think Blair wants to be a mechanic or do something else in the auto industry. According to the local news, he instead wants to be a firefighter but plans to restore cars on the side. The next car he’s looking to restore is a 1984 Pontiac Fiero, so he might already have a favorite brand.
Source and photo credit: The Sarnia Journal
h/t: Timeless Muscle
