photos by: Mecum Auctions
If there’s a car that can be classified as a “unicorn” in your Editor’s humble opinion, it’s definitely this particular 1969 Pontiac Trans Am convertible. To break it down for those that don’t know, 1969 was the very first year of the Trans Am, following two models after the Firebird’s successful launch.
Painted in Cameo White with Blue stripes and rear valance panel, there were only 697 Trans Ams produced during the now iconic car’s inaugural year. Of those 697, only eight examples featured the droptop option; with interior color, roof color, transmission/engine combination breaking down as the only remaining option. Essentially, this made each car a one of a kind as there were.
However, only one Trans Am featured the “triple-white” color treatment, and that’s the car you’re looking at here. We’ve recently [re]discovered this car after a recent tipoff from our friends at Mecum Auctions, as it’s set to roll across the auction block in Kissimmee, Florida. Formally part of the Brett Torino Collection, Mecum has taken the liberty of braking down exactly what makes this particular example so special:
“Equipped with a code-217 Parchment Custom interior, Soft Ray-tinted windshield, Deluxe seatbelts with front and rear shoulder harnesses, console, Walnut shift knob, pushbutton AM radio, and Rally II wheels, in June 1969 it arrived at the Pontiac Division Central Office for company 
use. On December 22, 1969 it was invoiced to the Pontiac Zone office in Pittsburgh, and finally it was invoiced to Arnold Pontiac in Houston, Pennsylvania, on April 24, 1970.
The only triple-White 1969 Trans Am convertible and the first of the four 4-speeds built, it might have eventually disappeared into history as just another race car had it not been for the editors at Hot Rod Magazine. Instead it has become one of the most celebrated of the eight convertibles produced. Purchased new by a gentleman in Pennsylvania, it was acquired in the mid-1970s by Ted Gallas and George Marble of Ohio. After reading an article in the April 1978 issue of “Hot Rod” claiming Pontiac had built just two Trans Am convertibles, Gallas responded with a letter in which he stated that he had purchased one of them and planned to race it. A photo of the car and a follow-up letter from Gallas were published in the September 1979 issue. The Editor’s advice was succinct: restore it and keep it. Hot Rod later reported that the car’s appearance at the Car Craft Street Machine Nationals “stole the show.”
Pontiac collector Dick Bridges of Rockville, South Carolina, purchased the car from a North Carolina collection in December 1991. Bridges, who described the car in a Hot Rod article as “complete, drivable, and in presentable condition,” turned it over to noted Pontiac restoration specialist Scott Tiemann, who performed a concours-quality restoration that included a correct Ram Air III engine.
After its completion in January 1994 the car was displayed at the Trans Am 25th Anniversary celebration at Detroit’s Cobo Hall, where it once again caused a sensation. Bridges then loaned the Trans Am to Floyd Garrett’s Muscle Car Museum in Sevierville, Tennessee, where it remained on display until its purchase by a Connecticut enthusiast in early 2001. Pennsylvania collector Rick Mahoney bought it soon thereafter, and then sold it to Georgia muscle-car collector Milt Robson. In 2006, Las Vegas developer Brett Torino added the Trans Am to his famous collection, where it remained until early in 2015.
Ordered new by a Pontiac executive as a brass-hat company car, owned by noted collectors and driven just 321 miles since its professional restoration by a highly respected Pontiac expert, this one-of-one Triple-White 4-speed Trans Am convertible’s unique status and history are matters of documented record and its significance as a treasure from the muscle-car era is firmly established.”
-Mecum Auctions
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of AutoCentric Media, the parent company to Timeless Muscle Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the magazine’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next round modifications for his own cars.
