Automotive

Trans Am revives the dead with 1,000-hp modern-day Firebird

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Trans Am hasn't listed any performance figures, but with 1,000 hp and 1,046 lb-ft, the Super Duty will not be slow
Trans Am Worldwide
Super Duty sill plates and floor mats
Trans Am Worldwide
The Trans Am Super Duty features a 455 cu in (7.5-liter) modified GM V8
Trans Am Worldwide
For those that don't need or get all the power and price of a Super Duty, Trans Am also offers the Outlaw Series
Trans Am Worldwide
Trans Am is showing both the Super Duty and Outlaw at the NY Auto Show
Trans Am Worldwide
With help from a NASCAR engine builder, Magnuson supercharger and cold air intake, Trans Am pulls 1,000 horses out of GM's LT1 engine
Trans Am Worldwide
Inside the Trans Am Super Duty
Trans Am Worldwide
Inside the Trans Am Super Duty
Trans Am Worldwide
Trans Am Super Duty
Trans Am Worldwide
The Trans Am Super Duty's Pontiac looks are created by a body kit with a lot of carbon fiber
Trans Am Worldwide
Trans Am Super Duty
Trans Am Worldwide
Trans Am Super Duty
Trans Am Worldwide
Trans Am hasn't listed any performance figures, but with 1,000 hp and 1,046 lb-ft, the Super Duty will not be slow
Trans Am Worldwide
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With the 840-hp Demon, you'd think Dodge would have the most powerful muscle car debut at the New York Auto Show. But you'd be wrong. Florida-based Trans Am Worldwide has revealed a wild project that combines GM Alpha underpinnings, 1970s Pontiac Firebird Trans Am looks, and 1,000 hp of supercharged V8 muscle. This is the Trans Am 455 Super Duty, and it's just the cure for anyone that still pines for throaty Pontiacs of old.

Having covered the new Spyder GT not long ago, Trans Am reminds us of an all-American muscle car version of Eagle. It restores classic Firebirds, builds restomods and offers its very own Trans Am creations. It started off as a small customs shop, before securing exclusive rights to the Trans Am brand and building a business creating modern-day reinterpretations. Demand quickly outpaced supply, and it grew into a full-blown production facility, offering limited edition models.

Trans Am revealed the Bandit Edition at last year's New York Auto Show and the entire run sold out, helped out by the fact that each one was signed by Burt Reynolds himself. The company's back at this year's show with a pair of all-new models, the headliner being the 1,000-hp Trans Am 455 Super Duty.

The Super Duty is built atop GM's Alpha platform, which serves as the basis for the current Camaro and Cadillac ATS and CTS models. With in-house chief designer/engineer Tom Sawyer and Swedish auto designer Bo Zolland at the helm, Trans Am turned those underpinnings into a modern-day Firebird Trans Am complete with hood graphic and accents all around. A mullet isn't required for purchase, but it'll definitely look more natural flurrying freely in the air streaming through an open window.

Trans Am is showing both the Super Duty and Outlaw at the NY Auto Show
Trans Am Worldwide

The Super Duty's Pontiac-inspired body is covered in carbon fiber, including a carbon shaker hood, front and rear fascias, fenders, deck lid and rear spoiler. The workup also includes a ground effects package.

True to the spirit of the muscle car, and the Trans Am SD-455 specifically, the Super Duty's real claim to fame is under its tattooed hood, where you'll find a big ol' 7.5-liter (455-cu in) version of GM's LT1 V8 engine, modified with help from a NASCAR engine builder. A 2.3-liter Magnuson supercharger blows on that engine, releasing the gates for the full 1,000-horse stampede. Torque tops out at 1,046 lb-ft.

Other Super Duty package standards include 1-in lowering springs, anti-roll bars, 20-in three-piece, 10-spoke wheels, and Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. The interior includes a Super Duty shifter handle, "455" embroidered headrests on the leather seats, vintage-styled AC vents, Super Duty gauge cluster, and various other custom embroideries, paints and badges. A T-top and Brembo performance brakes are available as options.

Inside the Trans Am Super Duty
Trans Am Worldwide

Trans Am will offer just 50 examples of the 1,000-hp Super Duty, but for those that don't snag one, it'll also be selling the more humble 2017 Outlaw Edition Trans Am. This model still looks every bit the part of a Trans Am but comes powered by the standard 6.2-liter LT1 V8 engine with Magnuson supercharger for more down-to-earth, three-digit output numbers: 602 hp and 625 lb-ft. It includes 20-in snowflake-style wheels, Goodyear Eagle tires, lowering springs and anti-roll bars, and its own custom interior.

The Super Duty and Outlaw Edition are on display at the New York Auto Show, which runs through Sunday, April 23. For a look at the Bandit and other past Trans Am creations, check out the website link below the video.

Source: Trans Am Worldwide

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10 comments
guzmanchinky
VERY COOL. But what I want is the same car with electric motors and a battery that can be charged in 5 minutes. Play vroom noises if needed. Equip it with an amazing self driving system that also keeps the driver from crashing the vehicle under any human driving conditions. It's coming. Soon.
Daishi
Pontiac is dead but the shop "Trans Am Worldwide" that makes this is using the GM Alpha platform that the current generation Camaro is built on. The Camaro seems like a likely donor car for the project as there are some similarities.
Derek Howe
guzmanchinky - I'll take that as well. But this one is pretty damn bad ass.
Bruce H. Anderson
The trouble with a battery (or supercapacitor) that can be fully charged in 5 minutes is that you may have to be a qualified electrician to refuel. The 455 is a beast, with a torque curve flat as Kansas. I hate to think how scary this would be to drive, but I do love me some pistons, and the noise, and the heat, and the tremors, and the smell of dinosaurs (I probably am one).
Bob Flint
It most likely will kill you, but not a chance to bring you back to life...
James Sullivan
"1,000-hp" !?!? This is just stupid-ridiculousness!! At 19 I loved my 74' Cuda' and and at 55 would love to have it back and convert it to an EV. In 2017 to not promote a pure electric muscle car is not only extremely foolish it also shows how little corporate America cares about our environment. "Catering to male insecurity & Vanity: The almighty dollar 1st B1tches!"
McDesign
Great that it actually displaces 455 cubic inches - viva la verisimilitude!
Nelson Hyde Chick
How small does your penis need to be to need a thousand horsepower car?
EcoLogical
I had a 1991 'Pontiac' Trans Am and loved it! It was much sleeker than the GM 'Alpha' Camaro particularly the front, which on the current Camaro I find hideous :( Of course I'd never buy one now unless it was electric!
Michael Wilson
Looks great. I'd imagine the 1000hp version is the halo car and they'll move quite a few of the more pedestrian models and body kits. I like it!