Such an easy question for today’s daily prompt and here is my answer. This is more than a car for me than it is a dream or an old memory. I own a couple of these in various sizes, just not one that is full size and drivable. It’s not just any Pontiac Trans Am although on a whole each generation of the car got better than the previous generation and I could say that it is in general my favorite car but this particular model of this particular year is the pinnacle of the line. What is pictured here is a representation of the 1989 Pontiac 20th anniversary turbo Trans Am.

I got to ride in one of these once when I was too young to drive. I have since been in many other over the years and for a while owned one of it’s sister cars the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 but this one sticks out because of the memory.

At the time thus far was chosen to be the pace car for the Indianapolis 500 and at the time I lived just outside of Indianapolis. The month of May is known for all the festivities that surround the race and these cars were seemingly everywhere back then. My dad worked in the travel industry and won some kind of contest or got a perk and was awarded the use of one of these cars for a weekend. I didn’t know anything about this until one Friday afternoon I was called to the principals office and told not to skateboard home as my dad would be picking me up.

When I went outside, I was looking for the Oldsmobile that he owned and it was no where to be found. Then I noticed this car and sitting in the drivers seat was my dad. He looked so cool in my entire life up until that point. I got in the car and then he took me for a ride I will never forget. Normally he was a very conservative driver and used to get ridiculed by some members of my family for driving like an old man but this car unleashed a different side to him that I had never seen before and hadn’t ever since.

The car itself is fast. At the time it was the fastest car that was sold, even faster than the Corvette which was always supposed to be the fastest car that General Motors built and it did this all not for the small block V8 that the Corvette used but with the turbo charged V6 that was previously used in the Buick Grand National. If memory serves, the zero to sixty time was right around 5 seconds and back in 1989, that was fast.

Even the way it’s styled is beautiful. The white color with the gold wheels and camel interior all go very well together. I still see these rare cars around where I live now near Chicago on occasion and when I do, it’s the highlight of my day. Perhaps someday I’ll be able to afford one, but as time goes on, the price seems to just go up and up. Even if I don’t ever get to own one, I’ll be fine as I can always admire and dream about it as I look at the miniature versions of this very special automobile.