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Pontiac’s legendary Pace Car returns with modern power and timeless style—and the chance to see it again for the first time.
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When Angie Johnson saw her first Trans Am as a kid, she was instantly captivated. The black-and-gold Firebird emblazoned across the hood became the stuff of her dreams, a rolling emblem of power and style. Decades later, Angie—now co-owner of Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop (JHRS) in Gadsden, Alabama—has realized that dream in spectacular fashion. Her latest project, a reimagined 1980 Pontiac Trans Am Pace Car, blends nostalgia with cutting-edge performance and design. The car will make its debut at the 2025 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, proudly displayed in the Roadster Shop booth in the Central Hall.
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“I have always been a Pontiac girl,” Angie told HOT ROD. “Something about the black-and-gold bird had my attention as a little girl.” Her father would drive her by the dealership after Sunday lunches so she could gaze at the cars she longed to own. Although her first car ended up being an ’86 Fiero GT—a sporty statement in its own right—that Trans Am dream never faded. “I did get that black Trans Am later,” she recalls, “the first car I ordered and bought myself brand new in 1995.” That enduring affection for Pontiacs, coupled with her deep ties to the custom car world through husband Alan Johnson, set the stage for something truly special.
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The idea for this particular car crystalized during a road trip conversation with the late George Poteet, one of the hot-rodding world’s most prolific patrons. “He said, ‘Angie, if you could build anything, what would you build?’ I told him … a Pontiac Trans Am,” Angie recalls. That moment of inspiration, and the subsequent encouragement from Poteet and his sister Betty, planted the seed that would eventually become a stunning Pro-Touring-style Pace Car, equal parts showpiece and road warrior.
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The 1980 Trans Am Pace Car holds a distinctive place in Pontiac history. Built to celebrate the brand pacing both the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500, it symbolized Pontiac’s enduring performance image in a time when real performance was fading. Like many “special editions” of the late 1970s and early ’80s, it leaned more on graphics and trim than horsepower—the “wheel and decal” performance package of the malaise era. Its 4.9-liter turbocharged V-8 made just 210 horsepower, a respectable figure for the emissions-strangled age but far from the glory days of the muscle era. Still, with only 5,700 produced, its Cameo White and Charcoal paint and dramatic Turbo Bird hood decal made it memorable. Angie Johnson’s vision was to elevate that legacy into true modern performance.
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Alan Johnson, Angie’s husband and the mastermind behind countless award-winning builds at JHRS, admits this project wasn’t supposed to be such a deep dive. “It kind of started out as I was going to buy a really nice original car, and we were just going to do a chassis and drivetrain swap,” he explains. They first bought a pristine ’79 Anniversary Trans Am with just 18,000 miles—too nice, as it turned out. After friends like David Pilgrim and Bobby Alloway urged Angie not to tear apart such an original survivor, the Johnsons began searching for a more suitable donor. “We weren’t really looking for a pace car,” Alan says, “but whenever this one came across from Street Machinery [in Euclid, Ohio], she really liked it, and I did, too.”
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A crucial part of the project’s DNA came from the Roadster Shop team: Josh Henning, Jeremy Gerber, and Phil Gerber, who built the company’s first SPEC chassis for the second-generation F-body. Alan had long admired their work from previous road tours with Poteet, noting how comfortable and capable their chassis made long-distance hot rods. “We wound up getting the first chassis out of the jig,” Alan says proudly. The collaboration blended Johnson’s craftsmanship with Roadster Shop engineering, ensuring the car would perform as well as it looked.
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Under the hood, the transformation is even more striking. Gone is the original 210-horsepower turbocharged V-8. In its place lies a fuel-injected LS1, stroked to 480 cubic inches and built by Keith and Jeff Dorton of Automotive Specialist Racing Engines in Concord, North Carolina. The engine is aided by a Procharger supercharger and intercooled manifold, delivering smooth, reliable power on the street. With modest boost, the combination is expected to produce around 750 to 850 horsepower at the crank, giving the Trans Am effortless performance for long-distance touring rather than track use. Angie wanted the car to “bring excitement back to Pontiac’s already iconic Pace Car,” and that magnificent Procharged 7.8-liter LS delivers on that promise: a refined but ferocious vision of what a modern Pontiac division might have built.
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Feeding the stroked LS1’s appetite for air is ProCharger’s new air-to-water intercooler intake manifold, a new system originally developed for the LT-series engines and now re-engineered to fit the LS platform. The unit integrates the intercooler core directly into the intake manifold, dramatically shortening airflow paths and reducing charge temperatures. It also looks absolutely bitchin’. By combining packaging efficiency with maximum cooling capacity, the setup provides the consistency and reliability needed for high-output street use without cluttering the engine bay with extra piping or remote coolers. It’s a compact, thermally efficient design that perfectly suits the Trans Am’s Procharged 480-cid LS, helping it deliver modern supercar performance with OEM-level refinement.
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Keeping the supercharged LS cool is a new Johnson’s Radiator Works copper/brass radiator, built by the same family behind Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop. This car will serve as a real-world testbed for the innovative design, which integrates a dedicated heat exchanger for the Procharger’s intercooler directly into the main radiator core. The combination not only simplifies the cooling system’s plumbing but also reduces weight and clutter under the hood. Unlike aluminum radiators, the copper/brass construction offers superior heat transfer and long-term serviceability, attributes the Johnsons are reviving with modern manufacturing and design. It’s a perfect fit for a car that blends classic Pontiac heritage with forward-thinking engineering.
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As for the car’s signature offset turbo hood—once a visual marker for the factory turbo system—inspired creative problem-solving. “I didn’t really want to run the turbo hood … because there was no reason to do that,” Alan explains. “So that’s kind of where the Procharger came along.” The supercharger’s air filter and intake were engineered to align visually with the original hood bulge, preserving the asymmetry in a way that feels intentional. “When you open the hood, it looks like there’s a reason for that offset power bulge. Basically, what we’ve done is just refine the car.”
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Visually, Angie’s reimagined Pace Car retains the original’s character while showcasing new sophistication. The paint scheme—a pearlescent white paired with satin gunmetal—subtly reinterprets the Cameo White and Charcoal of 1980. “We upgraded the paint to make the eagle soar off the hood,” Angie says. She enlisted Josh Shaw to hand-paint the pinstriping (slightly smaller and more refined than stock) preserving the pace car’s identity while enhancing its flow.
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Inside, Angie’s vision was clear: respect the original but elevate it. Drawing inspiration from both the ’79 10th Anniversary Trans Am and the 1980 Pace Car, she redesigned the cabin in white and silver full-grain leather. The seats, formerly a mix of vinyl and cloth, were upgraded to all leather with perforated inserts, heated cushions, and subtle accent lighting. The dash and door panels were wrapped in silver and white leather, and design input from Eric Black ensured the interior felt cohesive and authentically Pontiac. “He hit the nail on the head,” Angie says. “As I stand back and look … it all looks like it should have in 1980.”
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The Johnsons’ Trans Am manages to do what few custom builds can: honor its heritage while boldly redefining it. The car’s WS6-inspired stance, custom turbine-style billet wheels, and refined detailing bridge the gap between nostalgia and innovation. It’s a show car that’s meant to be driven hard, just as Angie envisioned when she told George Poteet what she wanted years ago. “I finally got to see this project come together, ready for a road tour,” she says. “I believe George would be smiling.”
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Johnny Hunkins, born 1963, grew up mainly in Greensboro, NC. Attended Southeast Guilford High School (Greensboro) and graduated in 1981. Received a BFA degree in Art with a concentration in Design from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC-G) in 1985. The son of a music teacher and a music composer, began playing guitar at age 6, meanwhile harbored companion interests in muscle cars, model car building, NASCAR racing, and drag racing. During and after attending UNC-G, worked as an auto service writer at Montgomery Ward Auto Express. Bought a Ford Mustang LX 5.0L in 1987 which he began modifying immediately, then started contributing freelance stories to Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords (MM&FF) in 1991. Moved to New Jersey from North Carolina and became fulltime MM&FF tech editor in the fall of 1992. Helped create, then became editor of GM High-Tech Performance (originally High-Tech Performance) magazine in 1995. While at MM&FF, invented the popular “True Street” drag racing class used by many sanctioning organizations. Moved to California in 2003 to become editor of Popular Hot Rodding magazine. In July of 2014, became editor of Mopar Muscle magazine for the rebranded TEN network. Previous and current magazine projects cars: 1987 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 (Project Excalibur), 1989 Ford Mustang LX 5.0, 1987 Buick Regal Turbo-T (2 of them), 1993 Pontiac Firebird Formula (Project Thunderchicken), 1989 Pontiac Firebird Formula 350 (Project Magnum TPI), 1994 Chevy Camaro Z 28 (The Grape Of Wrath), 1976 Chevy Camaro (Project g/28), 1968 Chevy Chevelle (Street Sweeper), 1975 Chevy Laguna S-3 NASCAR clone, 1968 Chevy Nova, and 1968 Plymouth Valiant. Other interests include fine cigars, writing and recording rock music (Hunkins is an artist on the indy label Grooveyard Records), and mid-century modern architecture and design. Hunkins lives in Desert Hot Springs, CA.
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