Back in the mid 1970's, amidst governmental concerns over roll over crash worthiness and the fact that they just weren't selling very well, the Big Three stopped producing convertibles. For safety's sake they also stopped making hard tops that emulated the styling of convertibles. That didn't stop folks who really wanted a convertible from having customizers sawzall off the roofs of cars and turn whatever into one. Our subject here, a 1981 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am, was one of those, umm, conversions.
Just a little surprising to see, though, that instead of being hacked into a drop top years ago, it was done as recently as October of 2013. Interesting. Our surprisingly handsome subject, wait, let me qualify that - handsome subject with the top down, was chopped up by Newport Specialty Cars of Placentia, California. "NSC" appears to be a legitimate operation and from the looks of vehicles featured on their website, they'll convert just about anything into a convertible. Including old stuff like our Turbo T/A here. Some of the customization works while others...well...see for yourself. Here's a link to their website.
Why someone would go through the expense of this is beyond me but it does look much better than I would think it would. And it being a relatively low dollar 1981 Turbo Trans Am, there's no harm in it. Now, if they torched a perfectly good 6.6 T/A that would be a different story.
Personally, I'd have put the ten to fifteen grand spent on the conversion into a LS-1 swap but that's just me. For more on these funky Pontiac 4.9 liter turbocharged V-8 Trans Am's, click here for my blog I recently did on them.
It has to be because I've never seen a convertible T/A before that has me stuck between liking this and feeling as though it looks like a car that's been in an accident were the roof had to be removed to get the passengers out. I can only imagine how jiggly this contraption is too; even with a roof these weren't the most rock solid of automobiles. Can't imagine this thing wouldn't crunch up like a tin can in an accident too.
However, put the top up and things get California weird AF. What was once a fairly interesting looking car with the top down looks like someone with a bad toupee with it up. Ouch. Something's wrong here.
Things look somewhat better from back here but it might just be the camera angle. Those are some pretty nasty blind spots too. Imagine changing lanes in this thing with the top up.
But, oh this profile. Pretty harsh. The original lines of the car, of which I've always believed were wonderful, are completely ruined. Sorry. This don't work - then again, while the car is for sale in Tampa, Florida, it was customized in car crazy SoCal so consider where it came from.
To each their own and live and let live. This isn't my cup of tea but perhaps it's yours. Here's the listing. Have fun.
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