i haven’t seen this mentioned yet - sorry if i missed it but there is a new Trans Am show debuting on Discovery Channel tonight (10/2/18) at 10pm.
https://press.discovery.com/us/dsc/programs/trans-am/

 

Thanks for the heads up. Looks like it will be a weekly series.

Louis

 

 

Looking forward to checking it out as well.

 

Sounds a bit second gen and 6th gen (or whatever the current gen is), oriented for my tastes. Someone watch it and report back...

 

 

I watched about 2/3 of the show. Not to bad but it's on kinda late for a guy that wakes up at 4am

 

I watched the whole thing. The cars are nice and the show seems well done. It was a little silly when the two customers picking up their $300k worth of new Trans Ams showed up with their pet monkey in a diaper and let him crawl all over the car...

 

I watched it, found it interesting. Got a kick out of the couple with the monkey. More money than brains.

Louis

 

That's the vibe I got. From the looks of the coming season, they most likely disown thirdgens. We'll see though. Personally, I'm not a fan of the new Camaros turned into Trans Ams. Really doesn't matter how much money these people pour into it, they will never be true Trans Ams and are still Camaros dressed up as Trans Ams. I like 2nd gens, so I'll tune in for that. And...seriously over 300,000 for two cars? So, over 150k per car?? Jeez. I'd rather buy a 90s Ferrari Testarossa for that kind of coin and actually have something worth talking about, but that's just me!

 

Wasn't seeing any third gen love for sure. Did see one of their trans-am re-creations at a show this spring and it was impressive. Not $150k impressive though. I'd rather have 6 or 8 really nice third gens and maybe even a Bandit car in the mix if i had that much $ to spend on a car.

 

it's definitely a 2nd and 6th gen show. it looks like the brothers own two shops - one restores older TAs and the other creates the new 6th gens versions. i thought the show was decent.
i'd be interested in an episode dedicated to the story of how they came to acquire the Trans Am name rights and what is involved in making all these custom conversion parts DOT legal. it would be cool if these types of shows were more informative than drama related. Gas Monkey started out as a pretty cool show that actually showed how they did stuff. That didn't last long and now it's like a soap opera.

 

IIRC, there is a youtube video that shows what all goes into making one of those new T/As. A lot more indepth than the show.

 

Trouble with so many of these shows is they orbit around a central character. The egos and personalities of those central characters come before the cars. In extreme cases it turns into another TLC Freak Show, where they want you to come watch the backward, hyper-religious freaks with 37 kids and no common sense, or the bearded woman, morbidly obese, hoarder, or the midget clan. I see enough crazy at the grocery store, I don't need to watch a bunch of loudmouth braggarts who dress like everyday is Oct 31st, and go out of their way to harass their staff and clientele.

 

This show is primarily going to be based around 2nd and 6th gen conversion trans am but one of the mechanics at Trans Am Depot his name is Robert Friemoth he is in the 1st episode and he loves third gens, we are friends on facebook and he knows his stuff. I got to meet him about 6 or 7 years ago at a meet when he had his 91 GTA Trans Am, i included pics of his car which is unfortuntely not around anymore he got rear ended and the car was parted out. But there is someone in the show that loves third gens at least.

 

They installed t tops on the sixth gen that are true to the originals. They leak right out of the factory.

 

My guess on the naming would be they do it like Pontiac themselves did it...they PAY the SCCA to use it, as the SCCA owns it.

Customs and low volume production cars meet a much lower std. for NHTSA/DOT approval. At least for now. But don't worry. Even as we speak, the government is hard at work trying to ruin the fun.

 

I'll really be curious to see if they show some thirdgen love down the line. It would really be a shame if not. But at the end of the day the show is not as much about Trans Am history (at least not in episode 1) as I'd hoped. As Drew said what we don't need is another drama masquerading as a car show. I really enjoyed Gas Monkey initially and several other shows but it eventually isn't about the work that goes into the cars and all about the few goofy guys in the shop that are "good for TV".

 

What I do not get is the overpriced Camaro to Trans Am conversions... Seriously, I have a 2016 Roush RS3, it got a special front fascia, special rear fascia, some fake scoops on the side, and some stickers. Also got a custom Roush interior, a Supercharger to get 670hp, and a special suspension setup, and a 3 year 36,000 Mile warranty on the conversion parts... The Roush conversion cost around $20,000... (I did not pay full price mind you) When you look at these Camaros made to look like Trans Ams... And they are seriously asking 6 figures??? Honestly, if they cannot do a Conversion for $30,000 or less, it is no wonder they don't seem to sell many of them.

John

 

i agree. for the money, you're better off buying the top of the line new camaro. i believe the latest ZL1 1LE camaro can be had for around $70k.

 

If I were going to do a conversion (which I'm not planning to), I've always preferred these Lingenfelter kits over the other designs.

 

1st gen styling looks better on a 1st gen styled car but I see why they went with the 2ndgen stuff.