A Rare 1971 Pontiac Trans Am 455 H.O. Continues A Family Legacy
When Richard Primavera II purchased his ’71 Trans Am back in 1974, we’re sure the young gun didn’t know how much of an impact his new-to-him Pontiac would have on his future family, and for years to come. Over the following decades, this stunning survivor F-body has transcended generations in the Primavera household and has since become a priceless family heirloom, handed down after Richard’s passing to the sons who were mesmerized by its mere presence in the family garage.
Brothers Richard III, Vincent, and Michael Primavera have lived their lives around their dad’s favorite ride, sharing a trailer full of memories of the brilliant white Firebird along the way. Vincent fondly remembers his dad’s vim and vigor dealing with the automotive hobby and how proud he was of his stunning Pontiac-bred muscle ride. “When we were growing up, this car was always the coolest, the fastest, and the baddest car out there, bar none.” Richard III recalls his dad’s sense of humor and self-assuredness this way: “Dad used to say to us, ‘I’m cooler than Burt Reynolds because I had a Trans Am before he did, and mine is a lot faster.’” Without a doubt, these memories are a blast from the past, and as we’ll see, these memories were the key that opened the doors to the muscle car hobby for the Primavera boys.
Richard Primavera wasn’t afraid to use his ’71 Trans Am for competition, as seen here in the ’70s at New Jersey’s Atco Raceway.
So, the story goes, when young Richard reached his early teens, he already knew what brand of sporty ride was in his future. “When my dad got his driver’s license in 1973, he had already been on the hunt for a muscle car to buy. At first, he wanted a ’69 GTO Judge, but somehow, he ended up looking at a lot of different cars. In October 1974 he came across an ad that said, ‘1971 Trans Am for sale, with power steering, power brakes, for $2,200.’ He went and checked it out and immediately fell in love with it. That was this Trans Am right here,” Vincent says.
On October 4, 1974, Richard II made a deal for the used Pontiac for the sum of $2,050, the car showing just 29,000 miles on the odometer. The 17-year-old was now the proud owner of a 455-motivated, Cameo White Trans Am, a car that was significantly above his current pay grade, and a ride that he had to work hard to afford. “Our dad could not get all the money up for the car initially, and figured the deal would not happen. My grandfather (his dad, Richard I) told him that he had to buy the car because he would probably never find another one like it. The car really impressed Grandpop, who by that point was a Ford fanatic through and through,” Vincent says.
With soon-to-be wife, Anna
What Richard II bought was an interesting ride to say the least. The car was sold new at Teefy Pontiac in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, just a short ride from the Primavera household in Philadelphia. A mere 2,116 T/As left the assembly line in the 1971 model year, with 1,231 being automatics, which is the transmission Richard’s was built with. Power was provided by the vaunted LS5 455 H.O. round-port engine, good for a factory rating of 335 hp with 8.4:1 advertised compression. The bulletproof TH400 got the T/A through the gears and power was fed to a sturdy Safe-T-Track 10-bolt rear, stuffed with road-friendly 3.08 gears.
Inside, the Trans Am was built with the standard black vinyl bucket-seat interior with a host of racy features that were actually standard equipment on the top-tier Firebird, including the Formula steering wheel, 160-mph speedometer, and an 8,000-rpm tach with inset clock. High-back bucket seats were new for the 1971 model year, and this car also sported extras like a Delco AM/FM radio, tinted glass, power windows, and air conditioning.
For 1971, the Trans Am continued offering exclusive features, starting with the color scheme: Cameo White with hood, roof, and trunk stripes in Lucerne Blue as seen here, or a Lucerne Blue paint finish with contrasting white stripes. A special T/A air cleaner assembly with rear-facing cold air induction “shaker scoop” highlighted with 455 H.O. callouts gave the car a modern, aggressive look while feeding its engine fresh, cool air from outside the engine bay. Functional front air extractors and front and rear spoilers helped keep the car planted under high speed, and Pontiac made sure to inform consumers that those pieces were genuinely functional. Goodyear Polyglas GT F60-15 white-letter tires aided cornering grip while the 15×7-inch Rally II steel wheels provided another touch of flair.
When you put a fast car in the hands of a young speed freak, well, things are going to happen. From the start, Richard and his Trans Am were staples on Front Street in Philadelphia, a notorious proving ground for eager racers looking to put their mark on the local competition. “Growing up I remember hearing stories of how this car would terrorize the streets of Philly, how that scoop would open, and that car would just take off. That’s the one story that started my interest in the Trans Am,” states youngest son Michael.
The “round-port” 455 H.O. was standard equipment for the Trans Am in 1971. The Primavera family’s T/A still has its undisturbed, numbers-matching original.
The stories of the Trans Am’s racing pedigree handed down orally from father to sons over the years are now making their way to the grandchildren. “Dad told us stories constantly,” Vincent says, though the car’s history wasn’t just about racing.
“Another high note was that my parents had their first date in this car. Later, the couple would get engaged to be married, and of course the Trans Am was involved in the act, with Richard popping the question in the Trans Am while the two were out on a date and parked at Victoria Station Steak House in Northeast Philly.
Not all of the Trans Am’s exploits happened on the street, as Richard II was not averse to bringing the Trans Am to sanctioned tracks and taking on the competition. One such time was in 1976 at nearby Atco Raceway in Atco, New Jersey, where Richard entered the stock Trans Am at a Pontiac race. “He ended up winning his class. We still have the trophy from that event. It was definitely something that made Dad proud,” Richard III says.
From day one, Richard was able to keep the car in reasonably good shape for someone who was both racing the car and driving it daily in such a rough environment as 1970s Philadelphia. The car does have a little bit of damage to it that the boys have noted. “When Dad was coming home from dropping his then girlfriend Anna (our mom) home for the night, he stopped at a red light outside a bar where he was greeted by six men out in the street. They tried to carjack him, but he sped away. The one man had a beer bottle and hit the top of the roof on the driver’s side. The dent and cracked paint are still there to this day,” Vincent says.
Richard and Anna were married in the early ’80s and started a family soon after. Like many muscle cars of the era, the Trans Am wasn’t much of a family mover, so it was put aside for more child-friendly transportation. “The car spent most of the ’80s tucked away, but Dad did take it out one time in 1991. Rich and I vividly remember going for the ride in the T/A and my dad laying into it and the scoop flap slamming open,” Vincent says. After that, the Trans Am was retired for another long hibernation in the Primavera garage.
As the boys grew older, they too followed in their dad’s footsteps, becoming involved in the car hobby. Each of them imitated their father in one way or another, buying up Pontiacs for their main rides. “My first car was a white 1971 Pontiac Formula 455 H.O. that I got in 2004,” Vincent says. Michael also started off his driving career with an ’84 Trans Am, a car he still owns to this day. Richard III didn’t get a Pontiac for his first car–his was a Crown Victoria that he won in high school–but he’s managed to have owned over 50 Trans Ams since, an amazing feat of auto archeology for sure.
Over the years, though his original Trans Am continued to be tucked away, Richard II stayed involved in the classic car hobby, amassing a nice collection of rides for himself. “What Dad had included two red Super Duty T/As (a ’73 and a ’74), a Lucerne Blue ’71 455 H.O. Trans Am, two Apollo White ’70 Buick GSXs, and a 1970 Buick GS Stage 1. He also scored a ’70 Ram Air IV GTO, a ’79 400/four-speed 10th anniversary T/A, a cool ’66 Shelby Cobra replica, and a ’70 Skylark. To add to his collection, he stashed away tons of rare round-port Pontiac parts and a complete Pontiac Ram Air V engine,” says Richard III.
“The bulk of this collection was rounded up in the ’80s when Dad and our grandfather, Richard I, owned a Getty Station in Philadelphia. Dad would scoop up cars he liked and stash them away. He had a warehouse where most of his collection was hidden over the years,” continues Richard III. The brothers remember even more cars in their dad’s possession. “Other interesting cars I remember included ’68 400/four-speed Firebird, a ’69 400/four-speed Firebird, a rare ’69 GTX, ’70 GTO Judge, and two ’70 Trans Ams. However, his real love was for round-port Pontiacs. Every round-port he ever had he held onto for keeps,” Richard III says.
Then suddenly, Richard II passed away unexpectedly in 2014, leaving the family devastated. It was particularly crushing to the family because it happened during the week of Vincent’s wedding. “My dad just ran out of time. His dream was always to get the car back on the road and to have it featured in a magazine, which sadly didn’t happen in his lifetime,” Richard III says. Along with the many memories he made and the lives he affected, he left behind his collection of muscle cars and rare parts to be handed down to his sons.
A month after he passed, Richard III, Mike, and Vincent sat down with a blank piece of paper and went over the inventory of their dad’s cars, cataloging each ride. “Each of us got a car that dad really loved, and then we split up the remaining rides.” Richard III received the ’71 Lucerne Blue Trans Am, paired with a Ram Air V engine their father bought years earlier, hoping to mate the two, to create his own “what if” supercar. Michael got the Cobra, which was near and dear to their father, because he actually inherited it from his father. Lastly, Vincent received the Cameo White ’71 Trans Am, which the family considered the “Crown Jewel” of the collection.
The Trans Am would then sit another eight years after Richard’s passing, stored in their mother’s garage, waiting for its turn to get back on the streets where it belonged. “In 2022 we started the process of getting the Trans Am ready for the road. Rich, Mike, and I then spent a couple of days getting the car running and driving. Dad was good at keeping it maintained and adamant about changing the oil every 750 miles. I also remembered that the last time the car was out on the street, I was my daughter’s current age and Dad was my age. I just knew it was the right time to get it going,” says Vincent.
Minimal replacement parts were needed to get the car up to snuff. “I’ve driven the car 2,000 miles since we got it back on the road, which was more than my dad drove that car for 35 years. It is a great driver that brings back special memories. My daughter, Sophia, who is now 4-1/2 refers to the Trans Am as ‘Pop-Pop’s Car’ and asks to go for rides in it without being prompted,” Vincent says.
All in all, the car lives up to all the family hoopla, while still being basically stock from the factory. “Dad did a few minor things to the car over the years. The engine, trans, and rear are all numbers-matching pieces, but the transmission was rebuilt with a shift kit and an LS6 converter. He also added a CB radio, which was all the rage back in the ’70s. His and my mom’s high school graduation tassels still hang from the rear view along with an Italian ‘horn,’ which was placed there back in the ’70s,” Vincent details.
Vincent sums up the Trans Am like this: “Although I am the outright owner and keeper of the Trans Am, it is equally special and shared by all of us. I am merely the keeper of the car, and it is all of ours. The memories, the stories, the special nostalgia that the car captures are shared by all of us. This Trans Am will never truly be ‘Vincent’s Trans Am.’ It will always be remembered as ‘Dad’s Trans Am’ to us.”
Specifications – 1971 Pontiac Trans Am
PRICE
Base Price: $5,352.52
ENGINE
Type: Pontiac OHV V-8, cast-iron
Cylinder heads: Pontiac “round-port” 455 H.O. #197
Displacement: 455 cu.in.
Bore x stroke: 4.15 x 4.21 in
Compression Ratio: 8.4:1
Horsepower @ rpm: 335 @ 4,800
Torque @ rpm: 480 @ 3,200
Camshaft: Pontiac “068” hydraulic flat-tappet, 288/302 duration, intake exhaust, .408/.408-in lift
Valvetrain: Pontiac stamped steel 1.5:1 rocker arms
Induction system: Pontiac aluminum 455. H.O. dual-plane intake manifold, Quadrajet 4-bbl carburetor
Ignition system: Pontiac “transistorized”
Exhaust system: Pontiac cast-iron high-flow “Ram Air” exhaust manifold, dual exhaust
TRANSMISSION
Type: GM Turbo Hydramatic 400 three-speed automatic with shift kit and LS6 converter
Ratios: 1st/2.48:1 … 2nd/1.48:1 … 3rd/1.00:1 … Reverse/2.07:1
DIFFERENTIAL
Type: GM 8.5-in 10-bolt w/ Safe-T-Track limited-slip
Ratio: 3.08:1
STEERING
Type: Power-assisted recirculating ball
Ratio: Variable, 16.6:1 to 14.3:1
BRAKES
Type: Hydraulic front disc/rear drum
Front: 11-inch rotors and single-piston sliding calipers
Rear: 9.5 x 2.0-in drums
SUSPENSION
Front: Independent w/ upper and lower A-arms, coil springs, tubular shocks, and anti-sway bar
Rear: Solid axle with semi-elliptic multi-leaf springs, tubular shocks, and anti-sway bar
WHEELS & TIRES
Wheels: Pontiac stamped-steel Rally II
Front/rear: 15 x 7 in
Tires: Goodyear Polyglas GT (Currently BF Goodrich Radial T/A)
Front/rear: F60-15 (Currently 245/60-15)
PRODUCTION
The Pontiac Division of GM produced 2,116 Firebird Trans Ams with the 455 H.O. engine for the 1971 model year, of which 1,231 were equipped with automatic transmissions.
PERFORMANCE
ј-mile: 13.88 @ 101 mph