Lingenfelter Trans Am 455 Concept Makes Pontiac Fans Very Happy
A few years ago when Camaro rumors started to surface, there were a number of Pontiac fans speculating that GM was going to pull out a version of the Pontiac Firebird, to go along with it. Well, that never happened…
The Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am are legends in their time. One of the more infamous would have to be the famed T/A 455 Super-Duty (made even more famous by the film, Smokey and the Bandit). Back in its glory days (early 70s), the Super-Duty featured a full fledge 455 cubic inch big block, and 4-speed Muncie “Rock Crusher” transmission. Even though it had a pile of government emissions restrictions nearly chocking it to death, it still managed to muster a tire squealing 290 horsepower and 395 ft-lbs of torque.
Imagine what a T/A 455 would be like in this day and age?
…Well, imagine no more!
The 2010 T/A 455 Concept
The famed performance guru, Lingenfelter, has taken it upon themselves to make a few altercations on the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro body shell, interior, and engine cavity, and come up with his best rendition of what a 2010 Pontiac Trans Am should have been. And they have done a darn fine job, if you ask most fans.
The Lingenfelter Trans Am 455 Concept has a number of notable modifications To begin with, they have custom fabricated a front fascia, which pays excellent homage to the original split grill design. They threw on a shaker hood, classic-style, “wrap around” rear spoiler, functional front fender air vents, modified rear quarter panels, and a nifty set of custom 20-inch honeycomb rims.
Next, they replaced the interior with some classic vinyl seats, vinyl trim, and a little chrome bling here and there, but the engine is where things would really get interesting.
Starting with an aluminum 455 cubic-inch (known as a 7.5-liter in today’s tech language) big block, Lingenfelter took a pair of their ported and polished heads (11.5:1 compression), a forged crank shaft, performance intake, and stainless Corsa exhaust, and tuned the old/new bird to the tune of about 655 horsepower and 610 lb-ft of torque.
Who would have guessed we’d have to wait nearly 40 years for that 455 to hum like it was meant to.
…But who cares, we like it!
[Photos via Car and Driver]
