A Trans-Am sedan racer tribute.....Way cool!!

A lot of musclecars sprang from the SCCA Trans-Am series-the Z/28 and Boss 302 are the most notable, as well as the Firebird that carries the series name. A lot of people don't realize that it was initailly called the Trans-American Sedan Racing series-"Trans-Am" for short. Obviously, 64-66 Mustangs did well, which prompted GM to develop the Camaro / Firebird line. But before that, Chrysler had great success with the ugly, but light Valiant / Barracuda and the sister Dodge Dart. The high-winding 273 Mopars could give the 289 Mustangs all they could handle. A lot of privateers ran 260 or 289 Ford Falcons or 283 Chevy Novas. It was actually really cool-Regular guys racing cheap cars on big tracks with small ( for the '60's ) production economy car engines to keep costs down. The competition was fierce. Then, when Chevrolet introduced the fire-breathing Z/28 302-this was designed to be a racing engine specifically to dominate this series ( T/A racing had a 5-liter limit or 305 cubes, NASCAR was running 426 Hemis and 427 Chevys and Fords )  the war was on. Ford fired back with the Boss 302, and when they tweaked the rules to allow de-stroking, Pontiac built a 303 from it's RAIV 400, and Mopar destroked the mighty 340. Roger Penske and Mark Donohue left Chevy for AMC.  Chrysler was even thinking of developing a 305 inch Hemi, but it was cancelled.  Anyhow, seeing pictures of the old racers gave me a briliant idea for a way cool, low-cost musclecar project : A street machine styled like a Trans-Am racer with enough motor and handling to back up the image. And here's the 3 simple rules # 1.-NO Camaros, Firebirds, Mustangs,or 'Cuda / Challengers. That would have been too passe' and too easy. # 2. "Old-School" engines only- Normally-aspirated, carburated-traditional small-block Chevy, Ford , Mopar, Pontiac and Olds engines. No modern  Fuelie Chevy LS motors, no Ford Coyotes, no modern 5.7 / 6.1 / 6.4 Hemis. No blowers, no turbos, no nitrous. # 3. Stock chassis only. No Z06 'Vette frames with a Nova body grafted on, or custom aftermarket subframes and independent 3 or 4-link suspensions.  Here's my list of candidates. # 1. 1968-79 GM "X" body. This includes Chevy Novas, Pontiac Venturas, Olds Omegas, and Buick Apollos. I think these cars would look badass with radiused and flared fenders, monster tires,  and blacked -out or body-colored bumpers and trim. You could also adapt a "Cowl Induction" hood scoop or even a Trans-Am style "Shaker" hood.  Mechanically,these cars have two major plus factors going for them-One, just about any suspension or brake upgrade that fits a Camaro or Firebird will also fit these cars, so they can easily be built for razor-sharp handling. Two-a lot of them had Cheverolet engines from the factory to begin with. This means dropping in a powerful Small-Block Chevy is a no-brainer. No fabrication required. Like I said-major performance for minor bucks. If you wanted to be really unique-find a Ventura with a 350 Pontiac or an Omega with a 350 Olds engine. A 400 or 455 Pontiac would be a bolt-in, major infusion of power and torque. As for the Omegas-of the "Other" 350s-i.e.-non Chevy-the Olds is the best one. It has a big-bore / small stroke design, there was a factory high-performace version ( "W31" ring any bells? ) and there is a good amount of aftermarket speed equipment-cams, intakes, headers, etc. You can even put Edelbrock 455 heads on these engines ( with a ported Performer RPM intake and custom pistons ) and build a real fire breather. A 403 Olds will bolt right in place of a 350, and all the 350 hop-up parts will fit, except you'd have 53 more cubes!!  # 2. 1967-73 Mercury Cougar .  I thought the Cougars looked badass in the pictures from back in the day. You don't see that many hot-rodded Cougars. I'm thinking radiused fenderwells, sort of a Wood Brothers Nascar look. Two good things about these cars-any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a same-year Mustang will fit them, and there are a million ways to build power into a small-block Ford. Most have 289 / 302, 351W, or 351C power. # 3. 1970-76 Plymouth Duster / Dodge Dart. A lot have slant-sixes, but a lot have 318 V8s as well. The 318 versions would be the best buy, as a 340, 360, or 360-based 408 stroker would be a bolt-in swap. Hotchkiss, XV motorsports and other companies make upgraded Torsion bars, front and rear sway bars and subframe connectors for these cars so making them handle should be relatively simple. Maybe someone can even start a club circuit at places like Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Reno-Fernley Raceway, and other west coast venues for people to actually see what they can do on the track. And who cares if you put a Duster or Omega into the wall?  You can build another one cheap. Mastermind