You have to love a black Pontiac Trans Am that is legitimately fast. I know the colors are supposed to be white/blue, or black/gold, but all-black, especially on the third-gen cars, just suits it’s purpose. Make it loud, make it haul ass, and I’m sold all day long. There’s just one deal that could give it away: the hood. Third-gen F-bodies don’t leave a lot of clearance underhood, so what do you do? Punch a hole through the hood or go aftermarket, right? Not this car…this is the furthest stretching of the term “sleeper”, because honestly you could pin the car as fast from space, but just how fast would be up for debate. On the surface, if you didn’t see the required parachute, you’d believe that this Trans Am could run 11 second quarters all day long. When it blasts down into the low eights, jaws will be on the floor. There is no massive body work, no obvious mods…it looks like a nearly stock Pontiac. But the “Vader” Trans Am won’t look like this much longer…according to owner Brian Konczyk, he’s reached the limit of what he is able to do under the stock hood, so for this year’s racing, he’s shifting to a cowl hood to gain some clearance. Can’t wait to see what a cowl hood means for the E.T.!
That is the perfect “Street” sleeper! Too bad he changing to a cowl hood, the car is perfect as it stands now.
I would leave it alone and build another ‘Bird!
Sounds awesome!!!
That’s really great work.
A street Sleeper!
Flat hood? We’ve seen everything from the appearance of cowl hoods from the factory Camaros to MoPars with cowl hoods to gain clearance over carbs and adding some airflow depending how they are installed. My opinion is these are so common, they’re “flat hoods”.
Question: did FoMoCo “goiter” bulges do anything other than provide clearance for high-rise manifolds/carbs have any airflow benefit? They may have let some engine heat escape, but nothing beyond that.
Now, have tunnel ram carb scoops or injector hats through the cowl hoods, that’s a different story.
Incredible.