In Tallahassee, Florida, Trans Am Depot converted a 2016 Camaro into a Trans Am tribute, and it’s not half bad. There have been a few Camaro-to-Trans Am conversion kits before, but this is the first one to come with an official sign of approval from the “Bandit” himself, Burt Reynolds — that and 840 horsepower.
Pontiac was no doubt one of the major casualties of the automotive industry crisis in 2008. Understandably, some diehard fans thought the brand came to an end before its time. And with the fifth-generation Camaro reviving Chevy’s performance coupe, after eight years lying dormant, Pontiac faithfuls saw the perfect opportunity to keep the memory of Pontiac alive (Camaros and Firebirds use to share the same platform, anyway). In the past, a few custom fabrication shops created body kits to put on new Camaros, which sounds great on paper. However, in practice the superficially modified cars were nothing more than the sum of their parts: Camaros dressed up with body kits.
Trans Am Depot doesn’t just bolt on plastic moldings — they remove every body panel save for the doors, and essentially set to work on a rolling chassis. From there, Trans Am Depot offers four levels of performance packages, with the “840 Extreme Package” being the top-tier option. Upgraded brakes, transmission and suspension are baseline necessities, because the pièce de résistance is the supercharged LSX 454 V8 that puts out the Hellcat-dwarfing power.
The bad news is that all 77 of the Smokey and the Bandit edition builds, with Reynolds’s golden signature on the dash, have been spoken for. The good news is that you can customize your own with Trans Am Depot’s virtual car builder any way you like. We suggest sticking with the black-and-gold scheme, springing for the T-tops, then blasting “East Bound and Down.”