‘Greatest’ lost and found story as man reunited with beloved Pontiac Firebird after 25 years
- Man reunited with his 1979 Pontiac Trans Am 25 years after selling it
- He spent years looking for his beloved car
- He eventually tracked it down with the help of a private investigator
Published on Jan 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Jan 27, 2025 at 5:32 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
A man who was forced to sell his beloved 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am back in the 1990s has been reunited with it 25 years on.
Jazz musician Joe Gransden, from New York, fell in love with the Pontiac Trans Am after seeing it on the big screen in the 1977 movie Smokey and the Bandit.
With his heart set on owning one, a teenage Gransden worked for the next two summers and saved up enough cash to realize his dream at age 17.
And not only did he get his dream car, but also turned out to be a special edition Y84 Trans Am – one of only a few thousand made.
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He was forced to give up his 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
Of course, Gransden was delighted to finally get his hands on one.
“This car was my dream car, I was in it every single day,” Gransden told the VINwiki YouTube channel.
But in 1993, following a move to Georgia, he realized the time had come to get a new car and – after agonizing over the decision for months – sold the 1979 Pontiac.
He regretted the decision almost immediately, and in 1996 even bought himself a new Trans Am but it wasn’t quite enough to fill the hole left by his original Pontiac.
So, Gransden decided to try and track down the car himself – a task made all the more difficult as he didn’t know its VIN.
The search went on for years, but with no VIN and without the help of social media, he had no luck.
But that wasn’t the end of the story.
He found the Trans Am more than two decades on
Gransden later decided to contact a couple of Pontiac experts who offered to help out in any way they could – but warned it wouldn’t be easy.
Just weeks later, one of the experts got back in touch to tell Gransden the guy who had bought the vehicle from him in 1993 had reached out – and he had the all-important VIN.
The VIN showed that the car hadn’t been registered for several years, leaving Grandsen with another dead end.
Refusing to give up, he enlisted the help of a private investigator who tracked the car down to a property in Alabama.
A delighted Gransden headed out to Alabama with a ‘bucketful of cash’ so he could make an offer and – after 25 years – he was finally reunited with his beloved 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.
The vehicle has since had a complete rebuild and is now well and truly restored to its former glory.
Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Claire covers a wide variety of topics, with a special focus on cars, technology, planes, cryptocurrency, and luxury.
