Our first rescue from 1998. It was a 1975 Firebird that was dragged out of the woods for $250. A running Pontiac 350 and TH350 was about all the car had going for it. We made a valiant effort to save this car, but after layers of body filler and rust were removed, the car was just too far gone to save. We stripped the car to it's shell, and the majority of the parts went to local enthusiasts to restore and maintain their cars.

We found this car while driving around searching for cars. It had been sitting for a while and was ridden hard. Surprisingly rust-free, it had a built 400 and rebuilt TH350. Firethorn red with a Firethorn interior with Horsecollar seats, this was a very sweet ride. This is the car that I regret selling the most. We sold it to a guy down in Mount Olive, NC who had planned a full restoration.

This was an odd one. On a trip to a car show with my brother, we happened upon a guy who's son had this 84 Trans Am rotting in his yard. It didn't run and was pretty ragged, but couldn't beat the price - FREE! We hauled it home and got it running within a few hours. It wasn't in bad shape once we cleaned it up and did some work on it. It featured an odd notchback hatch from a Ferrari kit, which made it look very different. We sold this car to a soldier down in Georgia who planned to restore it.

This one is sort of a secondary rescue. We sold some parts to a guy who told us about a 78 Trans Am he was trying to sell. He had already stripped it bare, but it was a rolling body with a good rear axle in it. It was too far gone to save, but we chopped it up and sold the majority of the car to people who were replacing rust during their restorations. This one saved quite a few Firebirds.

One night while driving out 79 SE TA around, a guy stopped us and asked us if we wanted to buy two more old Trans Ams. Offered them to us for $300, so we jumped on it. This was the first one in the deal. Originally a 305/4-spd car, it was rust free with mirror t-tops and a carmine red interior. It was missing the drivetrain, front sheetmetal, and a few interior parts. We sold this one to a guy to use as a roof donor to a very nice 78 TA that had aftermarket t-tops hacked into it.

This was the second car that came in the deal with the 81 Trans Am. It was actually quite a nice car, but the previous owner had wrecked the passenger side driving drunk. The frame was bent and the body was tweaked, so this one was completely parted out and cut up and sent for scrap.

We found this one in a backyard while driving around looking for rescues. It was a 78 W72 hardtop, that was sitting in a yard rusting away. The owner was in the middle of a nasty divorce and needed the car gone. We got it for a song and hauled it home. When we got it home, the owner called and told us he forgot to mention that the car had a brand new 400 and TH350 in it. The car was in quite good shape, but unfortunately the rear frame rails were rotted completely out and the entire rear clip of the car was a cobbled together mess. We parted the car out, and it saved a lot of other Trans Ams.

This car was quite a shame. It was a very nice 91 Firebird that had been rearended hard. The rear frame was squished like a tin can. Too expensive to repair, the owner sold it to us for parts. We used a lot of parts on a friend's 89 IROC and sold the rest on thirdgen.org.

This one is another one I wish I would have kept. It was a 79 SE Trans Am with a 400 and a 4-spd. The car was ragged, but worked. The transmission had been replaced somewhere down the line and it was toast. The wiring was also destroyed and the body needed lots of work. We replaced the transmission with a Super T-10 and put the built 400 out of the 78 Trans Am into the car. We ended up selling the car before it was finished to pay off our 98 Trans Am. Should have kept it.

This one was given to us by the guy who bought our 76 Trans Am. We intended to make this into a auto-X car, but after looking at it, it was too far rusted to be of any use. We parted it out and squashed the remainder with a lifted K5 in a friend's yard.

Another sad story. This was my college car, and ended up being a rescue. It was a very nice car, almost mint. The battery had died, so we jumped it and left it to run in the garage to charge. In the process, the heater core exploded and overheated the car, smoking the motor. We took it to a "friend" of mine in Raleigh named Blair Cooper who proceeded to destroy the car. He hacked the wiring beyond recognition, destroyed the interior, cracked the front bumper, and basically fubared the car completely. Many years later and much frustration, we put the car back together as best we could and put it up for sale. The engine is a killer 350, so we luckily had a guy come out and buy it with plans to replace the wiring and get the car driving again. A true rescue story!