Just Cool Car: Teen picks Pontiac Trans Am as first car
COSTA MESA, Calif. -- Everyone remembers their first car, but there aren't many as special as the one that Connor Schwarz picked out.
It's a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am. And even though Connor is 15, too young to get his driver's license, he was inspired to start saving to get one after seeing the movie that made the car famous -- the old Burt Reynolds comedy Smokey and the Bandit.
"I just like the look -- the 'screaming chicken' (on the hood), the lettering on the tires," he told us at a weekly car show that he attended with his proud dad, John Schwarz. "I have a passion for classic cars."
The high-school freshman says he saved $5,000 for his share to buy the car. The Trans Am was powerful for its time, packing a 6.6-liter V-8 under the hood. He says the car gets about 13 miles per gallon.
Connor comes from a car-loving family. John Schwarz says he owned a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, one of the top muscle cars of the era.