Body-swapped Trans Am on a C5 Corvette Z06

When it comes to project cars, as anything in life… mindset is everything. 1) don’t be scared to dive-in on crazy, energizing ideas. And if they don’t work out, 2) Hell don’t be afraid to back up & punt. Get that balance right, and it likely leads to all sorts of happy accidents & awesome/exciting results – like this body-swapped Trans Am by Tredwear! Yep, if this Trans Am looks a little different… that’s because it sits on a C5 Corvette Z06 chassis. We’ll get to that in a minute. But the point is, this build didn’t break the bank. And it’s not an impossible feat. It’s just good ol’ fashion garage/hot-rodder mentality. Where courage, curiosity, stubbornness, and flexibility all intertwine. It’s a childhood fantasy car. A Hot Wheels dream come true. And I’ll finish the intro with this: It’s like they say, analysis is paralysis. Sometimes you just gotta keep moving the puzzle pieces around until a few of them start to fit in place. And/Or… you can always get the grinder, fire up the welder, and make your own damn puzzle pieces. Alright let’s get into this build…

The Tredwear boys have always been fascinated with Vette Karts…

After all, the C5 Corvette chassis is essentially a rolling skateboard of performance goodness. But the problem is: Vette Karts are just kinda ugly. I mean sure, there’s a Mad Max appeal. And I’m sure they’re a riot. But without shape, there’s just no style or substance to them. So Tredwear basically set out to build a Vette Kart with timeless performance and nostalgic style… by putting ‘a body’ on it.

Tredwear had the C5 Corvette Z06 first…

They had purchased the Corvette before they ever had a body (or final vision) for it. The Corvette is a C5 Z06, so it has the LS6 engine and 6-speed transmission. It had 2-strikes against it though, which made it perfect for this project. 1) The Corvette had been a flood car earlier in its life. It had been repaired, but then more recently… 2) It had been involved in a light/mild frontend collision. And that was enough to take it off the road. So Tredwear pounced on the running sub-70,000-mile C5 Z06 for $6,000, giving it a 2nd (errr 3rd) chance at glory. They began to dream about the perfect silhouette, mystique, & proportions for the body-swap.

For inspiration, Tredwear went to what they know best – vintage motorsports…

Particularly – 70s & 80s automotive trends in hot-rodding & racing. In this case, they honed-in on vintage Trans Am racing and IMSA/Camel GT. They were after a 1981 24 Hours of Daytona aura: The sensations of a super-speedway at dawn, flags blocking the low sun waving in the Daytona breeze, pop-tops wedged in the dew-covered dirt/grass. And when you’re thinking of an early-80s symbol of speed, what’s more iconic than a 2nd-gen Trans Am or Camaro? The 2nd-gens (and 3rd-gens as well) had particularly long & heavy doors though. Michael Hunt from Tredwear mentions,

“The 2nd-gen Firebird & Camaro is a beautifully flowing design. But if you really start critiquing it, the doors always seemed just a little too long. GM was probably forced into making the doors longer for overall livability & rear seat access… but what if they weren’t?”

Theoretically, if Tredwear were to cut 5-inches out the door of a 2nd-gen Firebird Trans Am…

It would fit onto the C5 Corvette chassis AND arguably look the way it always should have. Shorter – like a 2-seater sports car / race car. The mission is: Take what is there & good in the 2nd-gen Firebird … and enhance it. It would be a daunting task, especially with door glass and t-tops to consider. But race cars run polycarbonate anyway, so Tredwear figured they’d kick that can of details down the road and cross/cut all those bridges when they came to ‘em… later. Tredwear found a 1978 Firebird for $500, and broke out the cut-off wheels & safety glasses.

Good news is: The C5 Corvette chassis has…

Beautifully hydroformed steel rails to weld to. Not only is that good for a roll cage, but it’s also good if you’re trying to weld a Firebird to it lol. After the body-swap, the original Firebird body is basically non-structural and inconsequential. It’s there for ‘airflow & aesthetics’ (and to give you mounting points for the hood, fenders, and doors). The C5 Corvette is doing all the grunt-work.

With the Trans Am essentially in 2 separate halves on the C5 Corvette chassis…

A flat 5-inch section had been cut out of the t-top support-beam, and Tredwear sourced a set of used fiberglass doors. The fiberglass doors were cut in half & shortened to ‘re-connect’ the front & back halves of the Trans Am, making the body whole again. And the t-top support-beam was re-welded back together in its new shorter dimensions. If you look at the t-top trim-pieces in the 2nd photo below, it illustrates how much the Trans Am was shortened.

New windows & t-tops had to be made…

I’m not gonna pretend I understand all the witchcraft that went on here, especially with the new, shortened t-tops. But the new plexiglass windows mount to the fiberglass doors in a Jeep-style fashion… where they slide-in/drop-in from the top. Obviously, they can’t roll down, but Tredwear incorporated the sliding panel for accessibility and race car pedigree. The windows and t-tops are really only ‘as-necessary’ items anyhow, as this Trans Am is meant for an invigorating open-air driving experience.

The $500 Firebird was technically not a Trans AM…

And even dating back to childhood, the TredWear boys recall being bummed whenever they saw a Firebird that was not a Trans Am. It’s like – you bought the Firebird… but not the Trans Am?! You passed on the epically cool vented hood & fenders?! Why?! There was no way Tredwear was gonna suppress all that beautiful kid energy. Everything about this Trans Am project was gonna go all the way. Tredwear built giant aluminum extractors in the front fenders… exposing all that glorious Continental tire-muscle. And you can bet the hood was gonna have a hole in it! Not only that, but Tredwear stuck a Holley Hi-Ram in the hole. No kid leaves disappointed.

The Trans Am had to be widebody…

Low, wide, and obscene… that’s the mission. After all – it ain’t called Translammed for nothin’. The C5 Corvette chassis is sitting low on Adlan American coilovers… but that’s just the start of the wild proportions.

Widening the Trans Am rear quarter panels…

TredWear wanted to somewhat maintain the original lines of the Firebird – but wider. It’s all about working with what you got, and the rear quarter panel of the 2nd-gen firebird has a natural shelf and/or hips (for lack of a better word). Tredwear used that to their advantage. They went to Classic Industries & bought reproduction original-style quarter panels. Then – they cut the Firebird’s actual/existing quarter panels at the outside edge of the rear hips. In other words, they cut at the very outside edge of the horizontal shelf… right before the quarter panel would drop-down vertically to the tire. That way when you attach the new quarter panels, you have essentially doubled the width of the old/original quarters. To keep their form & structure, the bottom-edge of the new quarter panels were reenforced to some hidden u-shaped steel tubing. Which is located inside the quarter panel just above those rear air extractors that fill-in the gap between the new widebody & the rear diffusor wing (see 2 paragraphs below).

Widening the front fenders…

On a gut feeling, Tredwear bought a 1-piece fiberglass Trans Am frontend they found on Marketplace. After all – a big part of that vintage race car aura is that ‘1-piece nose’ that gives quick pit access to the engine & suspension. In reality though, the 1-piece frontend wasn’t cutting the mustard. It looked out of place. And that’s part of where that ‘back up & punt’ thing comes into play. While the 1-piece wasn’t the ticket, it DID give them a set of fiberglass fenders & a hood… if they cut it. So Tredwear was able to use the fiberglass fenders as over-fenders. And like the rear, they reenforced & spaced-out the bottom of the fenders to the car with some custom brackets, allowing them to create those giant air extractors.

Trans Am / C5 Corvette aerodynamics…

Tredwear opted to build an epic rear diffusor wing & here’s why: 1) The C5 Corvette chassis is designed for airflow. 2) The factory spoiler on the 2nd-gen Trans Am is just too perfect (aesthetically speaking) to ruin it with a big aluminum-type wing. So in concept, the diffusor-wing works like a typical wing… but lies sinisterly underneath the car instead of on top… keeping that sleek low profile. Tredwear then went to the front of the Trans Am & constructed a massive front splitter to channel airflow. They also built a set of side skirts to follow the widebody proportions.

Meshing the interior of the C5 Corvette to the 2nd-gen Trans Am…

To help keep as much old-school presence as possible, Tredwear put a Trans Am steering wheel on the C5 column. But here’s where things get interesting: Factory C5 seats aren’t a lot of peoples’ favorite, and TredWear found a set of old/worn Spectrum Recaros for $400. The Spectrum seats are the ones that say Recaro across them repeatedly. The Recaro logo in the seats they bought were gray and/or silver. But the only fabric they could find as a replacement… had purple in it. They didn’t like it, but it’s all they could find… so they just went with it. Turns out – purple was exactly the missing ingredient & they didn’t even know it. A happy accident! They even ended up playing purple into the Trans Am’s exterior graphics because of those seats.

Drivability, reliability, and cost…

The result is: A Trans Am that’s shortened, widened, and grafted onto a C5 Corvette Z06 chassis. It’s a car that stops you in your tracks. But when you break it down, what could often be mistaken for a trailer queen… is actually a dependable, high-performance, fairly low-mile C5 Corvette. And what you might assume would cost a fortune… actually only cost about $17,000 all-in. Of course – that 17k doesn’t count all the cubic hours of combined labor they’ve put into it. But that’s the difference between car culture and a credit card. The point is: Don’t be overly intimidated to try things you haven’t tried before. And don’t be afraid to back it up & regroup if need be. A project like this is a constantly moving target lol. And keeping momentum is more important than having the perfect plan.