Travis Bodine worked for more than a year putting together this tribute car to the 1969 Trans Am.
Jim Krumel | For The Lima News
LIMA – Travis Bodine cannot remember a time when he wasn’t tinkering with cars.
His father, Earl, owned Phoenix Auto Salvage and Travis says, “I grew up there, putting cars together, taking them apart.”
The first car the 52-year-old Shawnee Township man owned was a ‘79 black and gold Trans Am. “It was kind of a beater when I fixed it up as a 16-year-old kid.” He calls it his “Smokey and the Bandit” car after the popular movie that featured actor Burt Reynolds playing the role of a bootlegger who flees police while driving a Trans Am.
“That movie got me stuck on them back in the day,” Bodine said.
He now has a garage filled with six Trans Ams — model years 1969, 1999, 1977, 1981 and two 1979s – plus a 1999 Firebird.
The 1969 model marked the beginning of the first generation of the Trans Am. The Pontiac Firebird had been out for two years prior and the ‘69 Trans Am was basically a Firebird on steroids. Only 697 Trans Ams were built 1n 1969. Bodine’s car isn’t one of the original factory-built ‘69 Trans Ams, rather it’s a replica – or a “tribute car,” as he likes to call it.
“Everything from the ground up is brand new,” Bodine said. “It took a year to get done. I had the paint and body work done by two family friends, but I did everything else. It’s all brand new interior and drive train. Everything about the car is brand new.”
The ‘69 model stands out for its unique design, Bodine said. It has the Cameo Ivory paint trimmed with Tyrol Blue dual stripes. Also included is the 60-inch-wide rear deck spoiler that was designed to add down force at higher speeds.
Two of his other five Trans Ams are limited editions.
The 1999 model is a 30th-anniversary car.
“I’ve had it since it was pretty much new. They only made 1,600 of them,” Bodine said. “It’s pretty much all stock.”
The 1981 Trans Am pace car is one of 2,000 that Pontiac made for the Daytona 500 edition. It features a turbo-charged engine that accelerates from zero to 60 mph in 8.1 seconds and a quarter of a mile in 16.2 seconds.
As for the two 1979s, one is blue – a rare color for the Trans Am. The other is the 10th-anniversary silver car. A special license plate on that car carries a message for its General Motors rival, the Camaro Z28. The plate reads: EAT Z28.
Bodine tries to keep his cars all stock, emphasizing the difference between vehicles over the years. In particular, he likes showing people the difference in engines between the 1977 Trans Am and the 1999 model.
”It’s amazing. You open the hood on the ‘99 and then you open the hood on the ‘77. You have a lot of room to change the spark plugs on the ‘77. It’s an enormous job to do on the ‘99 because a third of that motor is underneath the cap. It’s hard to see back there, let alone get in there to change something. It takes a while.”
Bodine has added to his collection and sold some of the cars over the years.
“My kids have picked the 10-year anniversary car and the 30-year anniversary models as their favorites. They don’t want me to ever sell those. My wife Jennifer enjoys driving the ‘69 Firebird with the top down. I like them all.”
Bodine can see himself adding to the collection. He goes every year to the Trans Am Nationals in Fairborn, Ohio, and the Pontiac Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.
“You never know what you’ll run across. For me, these cars are my investments, my 401k,” he said.
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• Mail: Real Wheels, Newsroom, The Lima News, 3515 Elida Road, Lima, OH 45807.
• Email: [email protected]
• Include: Photograph of your car; year of car, make and model; how many years you have owned the vehicle; car’s history; best memory of car; your name, address and telephone number (the phone number will not be published).
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