Here’s What It’s like to Drive a Classic Trans Am Mustang Race Car

By John Coyle - January 27, 2023

While NASCAR might be America’s most popular form of racing, it’s nowhere near as cool as Trans Am was back in the day.

Editor’s Note: As we went to publish this post about a Trans Am Mustang (and some other brands) featured on an episode of Jay Leno’s garage, the Vegas Review Journal reported that Mr. Leno broke his collar bone and two ribs last week while riding his 1940 Indian motorcycle. According to the statements he gave that outlet, Mr. Leno appears to be recovering and, of course, back in his garage. We wish him a speedy recovery.

While it might sound a little funny, the black-and-gold Pony in these photos is actually a Trans Am Mustang. But no, it’s not some weird Ford-GM mashup, like the custom machine I covered a couple of weeks back. Rather, it was built to race in the Trans Am series, which was one of America’s most popular forms of racing back in the 1960s and 70s. Unlike NASCAR, which mostly runs on giant ovals, Trans Am cars ran on road courses, so while they were production-based, they had to do more than just turn left.

In this episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, Jay talks to historic racer Ken Upsman and legendary announcer Mike Joy about the iconic series, and gets the scoop on this gorgeous, weapons-grade Mustang before taking it for a spin. As owner Epsman explains, the car has been a racer its whole life, and while he’s only owned it for around a decade, the car’s pedigree is exceptionally well documented. He even has all the original invoices for performance parts purchased from Carroll Shelby back in the day! How cool is that?

Since Trans Am racing was designed to appeal to the weekend warrior, there were strict rules about how a car could be modified. For example, this machine still sports the stock steering box, along with front disc and rear drum brakes, just like it did when it rolled off the assembly line. The wiggle room in the regulations came from the fact that if the OEM made performance parts, they were fair game to use. This explains why this car boasts GT40 heads, which help bump poke to around 400 horsepower. Because since they had a Ford part number on them, they were legal.

Curiously, there’s no mention of the fact that the car is sporting the same colorway as the famous GT350H — better known as the Hertz Rent-A-Racer.

Jay being Jay, he has no qualms about taking this racing machine for a drive on the street, and you can tell by how he and Joy are yelling that it must be loud as all hell. Like many cars of the era, when you hit the gas, all it wants to do is go straight, and the aggressive toe out means that it also wants to change direction every time it hits a bump in the road. Steering this baby is no picnic either, as Joy says getting it around tight corners means drivers are leaning way into the passenger seat to get enough leverage. Regardless, Jay says it’s an absolute blast. Check out the video to hear it in action!

Photo: YouTube