autoevolution
 

Virtual Pontiac Tojan Reinvention Tries to Modernize the Forgotten 1980s Supercar

The legendary counterpart of Chevy’s Camaro that was supposed to bring additional glory to GM in its quest to vanquish the Ford Mustang foe was many things, though not necessarily also a potential supercar. Alas, there was an exception.
Pontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customs 14 photos
Photo: adry53customs / Instagram
Pontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customsPontiac Tojan Firebird Trans Am reinvention rendering by adry53customs
Back in the middle of the 1980s, the iconic Pontiac Firebird Trans AM gave General Motors some additional ideas aside from milking the Smokey and the Bandit fame. And they set out to build what is today labeled as a forgotten supercar, the Pontiac Tojan. By the way, it was an attempt at a budget supercar that would give Ferrari and its luxury cabal the brain-freeze chills.

Knowing the Detroit automakers significantly lagged European rivals at the top of the sports car genre, GM allowed Pontiac to go crazy and daring with an 800-hp beast of a machine that had a glaring design and enough performance to make car enthusiasts drool when dreaming about it. But, since it’s a member of the forgotten supercar party, we all know what happened next.

Now, few automobile fans – even among diehard enthusiasts – would be hard-pressed to remember the significance of the Pontiac Tojan. Alas, that does not mean its memory has been lost, entirely. So, here is Timothy Adry Emmanuel, the virtual artist better known as adry53customs on social media, who is back with this forgotten icon for his latest episode in the CGI periplus alongside HotCars.

And it comes naturally, as the last time they worked together a CGI-modernized Pontiac Firebird Trans Am was hiding at least one major Chevrolet Corvette C8 secret. Now, eluding the Smokey theme this time around, they imagined a couple of instances that would remind people of the Tojan’s prior existence – a black/gold Pontiac and burgundy/gold Pontiac sitting side by side, with either the Targa Top up or down.

Of course, the V8 burble is also present and accounted for, and it looks decidedly ready to shoot some exhaust flames through that four-pipe dual assembly. Plus, those sweeping front lights and 3D rear LED lights look spot on for a 1980s-inspired reinvention!


If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Aurel Niculescu
Aurel Niculescu profile photo

Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories