[AKTransAM]

This was a 10 day roadtrip that myself and 3 other friends did last month. We had been planning it for around a year, after we did a roadtrip last year in a rental. We kept the trip planning very flexible. We had a couple of things we knew we wanted to do, namely visiting Yosemite National Park, and driving the amazingly beautiful Tioga Pass Road from California into Nevada, but besides that the rest of the trip was planned on the go. This time I wanted to take one of my Firebirds for the roadtrip, while my friend was content with renting a car. Since we were going to be going across multiple high mountain passes (the Tioga Pass being a notable one) across a few thousand miles, I decided to take my 1988 Firebird Trans-Am instead of my 1977 Trans-Am for a couple of reasons: a) The 1988 is fuel injected, while the 1977 is carbureted. I didn't want to deal with engine backfires or fueling issues that I knew would happen on some of the passes with altitude and thin air on a carbureted engine, and b) the 1988 Firebird has an overdrive 4 speed auto transmission, while the 1977 Firebird only has a 3 speed non overdrive auto transmission. I figured the OD would help with keeping RPM's and fuel consumption low over the nearly 3000 miles we estimated for the trip (the 1977 Firebird has a 20 gallon tank, but only gives me 10 mpg with sedate driving).

Prior to the roadtrip, we had to do some preventative maintenance on the 1988 Firebird. The car was running great, but I wanted to go over a few things regardless since it's a 36 year old car with 100,000+ miles on it. We took it into my friends garage since he has 3 lifts in there and it's much easier working on this car while on a lift. We gave it an inspection to see what needed to be addressed in addition to the basic things I'd already planned. The 1st time on the lift we changed out the oil, took off the wheels to inspect the brakes, changed the rear differential oil, and also the fuel filter which is right by the fuel tank in this car. We checked the transmission fluid dipstick, which I'm glad we did. It was nearly black and had a burnt smell, which told us that the car had probably never had the transmission fluid changed since new in 1988. At this point we were hoping that the clutch packs were still in one piece! The transmission had always shifted great, but you never know! Anyway I purchased a transmission gasket and filter kit, and we brought it back to the lift a 2nd time the next week. We dropped the transmission pan and it was still the original gasket from 36 years ago. We weren't going to drop the entire transmission and remove the torque converter, so we could only change roughly half the transmission fluid, with the other half still remaining in the torque converter section. But that would still be better than nothing. Unfortunately no shop in town does a transmission fluid flush here, which would have been the best way to go (at least not a shop I'd trust). Luckily the transmission pan didn't have any excess metal flakes in the bottom, which told us that the clutch packs were still intact luckily! We changed the transmission filter and fitted the pan back with the new gasket. To access the transmission pan fully we had to remove the transmission crossmember, which was easy enough since this car doesn't have any rust on it. However, the transmission crossmember mount broke in half while removing the crossmember (it was the original 36 year old metal/rubber mount from GM). It wasn't unexpected that the rubber section of the mount had broken in half. At this time I also noticed that after taking the rear differential cover off the last time to change the fluid, I had messed up the RTV seal. So for the 3rd time, I brought it back to my friends lift after ordering a new polyurethane transmission crossmember mount, and also decided to take off the rear differential cover, refill it and redo the cover seal. At this point we were finally done! I had also changed the front disc brakes which were worn out, and all maintenance was finally done. We still had a month to go before the trip, which was planned as I wanted to drive the car after all this work to make sure everything was still running good.

Finally 2 weeks before the trip I took my car to the barge to have it shipped from Alaska to Seattle, Washington, which was the starting point of the trip. There's no road access into or out of where I live in Alaska, with only air or sea access. Finally we got down to Seattle the day before the trip, and my friend picked up his rental which was a 2024 Dodge Challenger. The next day we went to the shipping company, picked up my car, and we were off. There were 2 people in each car. My main concern at this point was to keep an eye on the temperature gauge over the passes and if we got stuck in traffic. The 1982 to 1992 Pontiac Firebirds were designed by GM to run really hot (for emission reasons) before the electric fans kicked on (224 degrees F before the fans kick on), which is very disconcerting when you watch the engine temperature climb up rapidly. These cars were designed to have an air dam below the front end to funnel in air while moving since the design doesn't have a front grill. Which is great while moving, but not when you're standing still and the engine is running on a hot day! As it turned out the car never overheated even once, not in the few times we were stuck in slow traffic in +80 degrees F, or crawling up and down mountain passes in hot conditions and thin air. The electric fans came on as they were supposed to (I don't care for electric fans at all-I prefer the old school mechanical fans). The 1988 performed flawlessly across 2700 miles, giving me an average of 23 mpg thanks to long highway driving, which is fantastic for a 36 year old V8 Chevy 350 engine! Photos of the trip below across multiple pages

Friends garage. Yes, he has a great collection!


Brake pad replacement


Fuel filter replacement


Changing out the rear differential oil


Redoing the seal. I had to remove the cover, drain all the oil out, redo the seal and refill the diff. No more leaks after this!


Changing out the transmission fluid and filter after dropping the pan. The red circle is the broken mount between the transmission and the crossmember


Replacing the transmission mount


Day 1. The rental Challenger


My 1988 Firebird





My friends son took this pic from the Challenger as we drove by. One of the best pics of my car





Stop along the way to check out these falls in a National Park





Lunch Stop


Traces of a forest fire from not too long ago


We stopped in Reno, Nevada, for the night. We found out there was a small Cars and Coffee gathering the next morning, so we stopped there to check it out on our way out of town


Beautiful Oldsmobile 442





Pristine Plymouth Roadrunner

















Had to park mine there as well! She was quite dirty at this point after the drive from the day before





Stop for the night in the quaint town of Mariposa, California, before heading to Yosemite National Park the next day, which was one of the planned stops


The Dodge Challenger is really quite a large car and completely dwarfs the Firebird


This showed up in front of us on the highway-I'm sure some folks will get the reference

[AKTransAM]

Spending the day in Yosemite, and driving the Tioga Pass into Nevada













One of the most recognizable markers of the park























Start of the Tioga Pass road out of the Park











Nice looking Coyote looking for food























Beautiful alpine lake lunch stop along the Tioga Pass

[AKTransAM]

Entering Nevada from California through the Tioga Pass

Last year during our roadtrip, we had driven by an extinct volcano crater, and we didn't have the time to take the long dirt road down there off the highway to check it out. This year we did. This was the long, very rough dirt road towards the crater. We were crawling down this road in the very hot desert heat at around 2 mph so that we didn't shred the tire sidewalls on the sharp rocks. If the Firebird had to overheat, this would have been the place since there was absolutely no airflow and the air temperature was searing. And she still didn't overheat








If you squint, you can see that I popped the hood of the Firebird to let the engine heat dissipate while we hiked to the crater. Didn't need to but figured it couldn't hurt to pop the hood





We stopped at the Ghost town of Benton on the way. We had stopped here last year as well














This was another stop we absolutely had to make. The town of Goldfield, Nevada. If anyone has watched the 1971 cult classic car movie "Vanishing Point", you'll recognize this building. The movie features a 1970 Dodge Challenger driven by Kowalski, and this building houses the radio station of DJ Supersould, a big part of the movie. Last year we drove through this town and only realized belatedly that we had driven through the town! It hasn't changed at all from what it was in 1971 in the movie. If you haven't watched the movie, I highly recommend it-make sure to avoid the Godawful 1991 remake, and watch the 1971 original!


This hotel is supposed to be very haunted, and has featured in numerous ghost hunter documentaries


Trying to get the moon on the drive back to our hotel








Entering California. In case you're wondering, yes we did crisscross back and forth across states multiple times through different mountain passes


We stopped at the VERY fancy and rich town of St. Helena to visit a winery that my friend was a club member of. He had never actually been there so we decided to go check it out.





Front of the winery











Had to of course stop along the way and do this!














Stop along the "Avenue of the Giants" road

[AKTransAM]

At the end of the Avenue of the Giants, we found this neat antique store in the middle of nowhere. And I found one of the best finds I've ever purchased in it!


This was in the store. It's a very rare RC 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am that was given by Pepsico to dealers as a promotion. The store owner said this had been in her family since 1982 as her dad was a Pepsico salesman. Needless to say I purchased it







Stop along the coast the next day





Neat stop along the way in rural Northern California

















Eventually we were back in Washington State at the end of our roadtrip. We stopped at the LeMay Auto Museum. We had stopped here last year as well.


They always have a rotating display on the first level. This year was Japanese cars.














Love this old Toyota Pickup!











I really liked this display theme

[AKTransAM]

More of the museum:


































1976 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am



































One of the best designed cars of that era in my opinion. The 1937 Cord, with the beautiful "Coffin Nose" front end.


It even has pop up headlights hidden in the fenders, that are visible in this pic

[AKTransAM]

Anyone have the time?




















Beautiful classic Ducati














Her name's Christine....

[AKTransAM]

The incredibly rare, very sought after, and VERY expensive 1963 "Split Window" Corvette



































Back in storage until next year!


Total miles on the roadtrip


Current odometer reading

[AKTransAM]

Final pic to end this, from Goldfield, in front of the hotel.

[Jeroen]

Thanks for sharing. Great trip!

I have been on road trips all over the world. But you can’t beat the good old USA for the basics. Great cars, amazing scenery, safe, convenient and always surprises along the way.

There is something magical about cruising on some of these endless roads.

Way to go to do it in proper muscle cars!

Jeroen

[Asish_VK]

Nice travelogue and photos . Your Fireblade looks supercool ! Great to see you are enjoying the american muscles, which I am dreaming to see in flesh at least once in my lifetime. I hate (envy) you

[AKTransAM]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Thanks for sharing. Great trip!

I have been on road trips all over the world. But you can’t beat the good old USA for the basics. Great cars, amazing scenery, safe, convenient and always surprises along the way.

There is something magical about cruising on some of these endless roads.

Way to go to do it in proper muscle cars!

Jeroen

Thanks Jeroen! Very much agree about the magic of cruising on endless roads