1981 Pontiac Trans Am With Crate Motor Not For Sissies

Apr 20, 2023 2 min read
1981 Pontiac Trans Am With Crate Motor Not For Sissies

First one to say this isn’t a muscle car gets their man card taken away….


YouTuber Tedward drives a lot of cars, providing a POV experience while behind the wheel, along with some interesting commentary. The thing is the guy typically takes European and Japanese cars out for jaunts, skipping American muscle cars. Well, after plenty of complaints sent his way, the man decided to give American muscle a shot with a 1981 Pontiac Trans Am WS6 packing a Chevy 350ci V8 crate engine. The best part is he seems surprised by how much fun the Pontiac is to drive.

YouTuber's viewers rat him out to the cops - see what happens next here.

We’re not sure what Tedward was expecting exactly, but we do know some of the stereotypes people, including some Americans like to throw out there. Some people truly believe American muscle died by 1972 and never came back. Hey, it’s a free country so you can think that, but you’re wrong. Yeah, EPA standards really killed performance for American muscle cars, but in case you just don’t pay attention, it killed performance for GTs, sports cars, and everything else.

image credit: YouTube

This is why we’re fans of taking great-looking old muscle cars which came with anemic factory powertrains and doing a nice crate engine swap. You get the nice aesthetics and experience of a muscle car with the rumbling, lively power which makes it a true muscle car.

Tedward also seems surprised that the engine sits behind the front axle. While nobody’s going to expect all these old Trans Ams, Camaros, Chevelles, Chargers, Torinos, etc. to handle like they’re on rails, so many think all old muscle cars are just as sloppy as a sailor blowing all his money while on leave. Sure, some corner like a land whale, but others like this Trans Am with the WS6 package aren’t too bad. Plus, once you get that livelier engine under the hood, you can start tightening up the chassis for an all-around better time behind the wheel.

Check out the rest of Tedward’s observations in his video – it’s pretty entertaining.

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