Pontiac Tojan: when Nebraska beat Modena

By Charlie Calderwood

| 8 Oct 2025

Classic & Sports Car – Pontiac Tojan: when Nebraska beat Modena

“I spoke to Russ Knudsen, the guy who built it, and I called bullsh*t on the 206mph claim,” says Paul Cowland, TV presenter and this Pontiac Tojan’s owner.

“At about 140mph it generates enormous amounts of lift. He told me: ‘You gotta drive through it man, don’t be a p*ssy, it sits back down at 151!’”

That sentence alone should make it clear that, far from the precision work that took Ferrari to the official 200mph production-car record in 1987 with the F40, this is the mother of all cases of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

This prototype Pontiac Tojan was reportedly capable of 200mph

Knudsen Automotive (which is pronounced ‘K-nude-sen’ according to founder Russell) started out in the late 1970s, building 1930s-aping neoclassic cars based on the General Motors G-body platform, branded as Baroque Motorcars.

Success came for a time with four different body shapes, but Knudsen was alive to the fading of the neoclassic trend in the 1980s, while a new fashion for exotic, low-volume supercars was rising.

Reinventing the company with the third-generation Pontiac Firebird-based Tojan was his answer.

This Pontiac Tojan had an appliqué wooden fascia when it was new, but it’s since been replaced

General Motors gave official support to the project, with select dealers selling the Tojan alongside regular Firebirds as a more exclusive, pricier option.

As GM’s sporty marque, Pontiac hoped this model would serve as a halo car, uplifting the reputation of regular Trans Ams, the Fiero and the company’s many badge-engineered front-wheel-drive models.

Most Tojans were sold privately, direct from Knudsen, however.

And the name? Knudsen’s high-school football team was the Atlantic Trojans. He dropped the ‘r’ to avoid any confusion with ancient Anatolia.

The Pontiac Tojan has tidy panel gaps on its glassfibre body

Knudsen developed the car largely himself, and it’s a lot more than the bodykitted Pontiac it may appear to be at first.

Knudsen took in the cars in stock Firebird Trans Am form and stripped them down to their centre sections – roughly the area from the A-pillar to B-pillar, as well as inner wings and the floorpan – and grafted on to that otherwise completely new bodywork.

The styling was by Harry Bentley Bradley, a GM designer in the 1960s who was better known for his work in the hot-rodding scene, including with the Alexander Brothers, and at Mattel where he designed the first Hot Wheels cars.

After the Tojan, Bradley’s most famous life-size creation would prove to be the 1995 edition of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, a hot-dog-shaped promotional vehicle.

The Pontiac Tojan’s twin Garrett turbos can tease 800bhp from the 5.7-litre V8, but remedial work is needed to get them back to their best

The car’s body was designed remotely, over a few months, with Knudsen based in Omaha, Nebraska, posting sketches – hand-drawn by his wife – to Los Angeles, before Bradley returned detailed designs to which Knudsen added.

The aim was to create something modern and exotic; that the grille strongly resembles the A70 Toyota Supra launched two years later proves it achieved the former, while a rear deck that is clearly inspired by the De Tomaso Pantera suggests the latter.

Glassfibre was used for the bodywork, but the Tojan is far from the flimsy composite plastic components you commonly associate with low-volume sports cars.

Lifting the bonnet reveals a thick panel heavier than one made using steel, while the panel gaps are more consistent than those of most steel-bodied GM cars of the period.

The Pontiac Firebird’s original pop-ups poke out from the Tojan’s modified bodywork

Although it was based on the Trans Am frame, Knudsen moved the front suspension pick-up points, changing the front hub alignment, and added greater wheel offset as the car’s track was widened.

This gives the Tojan unusual scrub geometry that produces a ‘crabbing’ appearance at full lock and a poor turning circle, but improves the handling.

Upgraded dampers and springs completed the recipe, but most examples – if not all – were also built using parts from the Trans Am ‘WS6’ package that included a quicker steering rack, thicker anti-roll bars, a limited-slip differential and four-wheel disc brakes.

‘The Pontiac Tojan was largely built to order. Some boasted Lamborghini Countach-like rear wings, and multiple engines were offered’

The Tojan was largely built to order and could be equipped with a whole host of optional extras; there was no standard model.

Some boasted Lamborghini Countach-like rear wings, and multiple engines were offered, although most of the 136 cars built used either the 5-litre ‘Crossfire’ fuel-injected V8 or the later, 5.7-litre L98.

This Tojan, however, is fitted with a much more special powertrain.

“It’s one of those amazing things,” says Paul. “I found it when I was filming an episode of Salvage Hunters: Classic Cars.”

Paul Cowland chanced upon the Pontiac Tojan during a TV shoot

While shooting a section of the show buying a BMW 635CSi in 2019, Paul spotted the back of the Pontiac peeking out of a nearby unit.

Checking it out as soon as there was a break, Paul confirmed what he thought: it was a Tojan.

Paul had been a Trans Am fan ever since being transfixed by Knight Rider in the 1980s (he also owns a KITT replica) and had read about the Tojan.

The Pontiac Tojan’s automatic gearbox was modified so it could deal with the V8’s massive torque

The fact that he recognised the car piqued the owner’s interest.

Except it wasn’t just any Tojan, but the prototype, the first example built, and one that was said to be capable of 206mph.

Knudsen had met Gale Banks, America’s leading turbocharging expert, on the car-show circuit.

Banks had set a ‘door-slammer’ (a car with working doors and thus a stock passenger-car shell) speed record in a C3 Chevrolet Corvette in 1981, achieving 240mph with a twin-turbocharged, 430cu in, big-block V8 that was designed for marine use and made in excess of 1000bhp.

There are traces of Toyota Supra and De Tomaso Pantera in the Harry Bentley Bradley-designed Pontiac Tojan

For the prototype Tojan, Banks supplied one of his intercooled, twin-turbo 5.7-litre marine small-blocks that produced 800bhp on ‘pump gas’ or 900bhp if fed high-octane fuel.

Knudsen admits he never saw the claimed top speed in the car, but Banks had achieved the figure in modified Trans Ams powered by the same engine.

It was feasible, and Banks’ expertise in the field was undeniable.

He broke his own record in a third-generation Trans Am in 1987, this time taking it up to 283mph with another twin-turbo big-block.

‘The Pontiac Tojan hustles along a British back-road pretty well, and the steering is good – far from the American muscle-car stereotype’

While only one full-fat, Banks-powered Tojan was built, it was listed among the options for the car you could order from a Pontiac dealer – except no one chose to because of its $62,000 price-tag, similar to a Ferrari 308GTB at the time.

To most US enthusiasts (and thus most Tojan fans), this car was lost for many years, having been exported to the UK in 1985.

It turned out Paul was talking to the son of the man who’d bought it back then, and his family had owned the Tojan ever since.

The Pontiac Tojan’s menacing badge

“He told me a lovely story,” says Paul. “His dad had bought it, looked after it and later passed away. He said he could never sell it and I understood.”

Paul gave the owner his business card nonetheless.

“Then he rang me on my way home and told me I was clearly the guy for it, and offered me a very sensible price. I didn’t even know the full story then.”

As the demonstrator of everything the Tojan could offer, Paul’s prototype has nearly every optional extra the car could be bought with – not just the powerboat engine.

The Pontiac Tojan’s boost gauge shows the turbos aren’t working to their full potential

Gotti wheels make clear the exotic ambitions, while inside there is Knudsen’s own digital dashboard that preceded the Delco LCD item that became optional in the Trans Am in ’87 (and was shared with the Opel Monza GSE).

As Paul found in this car, it also had an appliqué wooden fascia, another extra offered by Knudsen – but it has since been removed because, unlike the rest of the car, it was in poor shape.

The Tojan is now part of Paul’s collection of at least 50 cars, and he admits he has not driven it as much as he’d like.

“I’m only just starting to get to know it, really,” he says. “But that is the crazy world of collecting. Sometimes you buy cars because they’re available and think if you don’t buy it you won’t get another chance.”

The Pontiac Tojan’s LCD dashboard, by Knudsen Automotive

The Tojan sat among the various Subarus, Saabs, Volkswagens and others that make up the presenter’s Nottinghamshire garage for nearly four years before he had time to give it proper attention.

“Why I love American stuff so much is you can do that,” he continues. “You can put a car away and all you need to do [to get it going again] is change the brake fluid and a few other things. They just always work.”

With the help of a jump-pack, the Tojan quickly fires up, its engine rocking from side to side violently with each dab of the throttle pedal.

The Pontiac Tojan features stiffer suspension, wider tracks, revised front-end geometry and thicker anti-roll bars

It doesn’t sound particularly turbo-like, however – there’s no blow-off valve noise or wastegate flutter.

Once out on the road, Paul admits that the compressors aren’t running at anything like full pressure, either.

“When it was built, it had all sorts of sexy forged internals,” he says, “but I think someone has put in lesser parts during a rebuild, just to keep it going.”

A gauge mounted on the dashboard reveals just a few psi of boost under hard throttle, but most of the time it’s running on manifold pressure like a naturally aspirated car.

The Pontiac Tojan’s optional Gotti wheels

It’s still quick, but it’s not 800bhp fast – not even half that – and what boost there is shows just how long these large turbochargers take to spool up.

In its pomp, the boost of the Banks engine must have hit like a wrecking ball after a long wait climbing the rev range.

Powerboat engines tend to spend most of their time at high revs, so lag is not such a problem.

“I’d love to get it back to its former glory,” says Paul, “but God knows what that’s going to cost.”

The Pontiac Tojan’s striking looks befit its 200mph supercar status

For now, that might be for the best. Knudsen chose not to upgrade the brakes beyond the Trans Am’s optional four-wheel-disc set-up, and they would feel woefully inadequate at 200mph.

With its current power level, however, similar to how most Tojans were actually made, it hustles along a British back-road pretty well.

“It just drives like a very nicely sorted Trans Am,” considers Paul. “It’s probably the best suspension set-up I’ve ever driven on one.”

It’s not an uncomfortable car, despite the stiffer springs, and the steering is good, far from the stereotype of American muscle cars.

The Pontiac Firebird-based Tojan is surprisingly practical

The Tojan reveals further evidence of its high-speed capability every time you shift into drive or reverse: an automatic transmission uprated for high torque loads grabs the drivetrain quite suddenly and strains the car against the brakes like a young dog pulling at the leash.

It’s entirely believable that the car could have done 206mph in 1984.

Paul is convinced, and the size of the turbos bolted to the V8, along with Banks’ expertise, are enough for me, too.

But can you really call it a production car? Did it really beat the F40 to that crown by three years?

Neutered performance makes this Pontiac Tojan quite manageable on a B-road

A handful of Tojan buyers did opt for less extreme forced-induction options, including at least one single-turbo and one supercharged variant, but I struggle to label what is in effect a one-off as a true production car.

What is beyond argument, though, is that the prototype Tojan attracted enough attention that a further 135 were built from 1985-’91, along with 96 Camaro Carallos – a mechanically identical car also built by Knudsen (the Tojan is, to me, the better looking of the pair), this time from the Firebird’s Chevrolet sibling.

While these are hardly huge numbers, it was roughly to its maker’s expectations, and the firm has survived to this day.

The Pontiac Tojan prototype was imported to the UK in 1985 and has been kept in excellent condition

“I think it was one of the better designs back in that time, when other people were rebodying stuff,” reflects Russell today, 40 years on.

“We were selling a lot more, and it seemed to attract attention.”

After decades of European ‘hybrids’ putting muscle-car engines in low-volume GT bodies, America got a homegrown exotic; like a De Tomaso, but from Nebraska, not Modena.

Images: Max Edleston

Factfile

Pontiac Tojan
[twin-turbo version]

Sold/number built 1985-’91/136
Construction glassfibre upper bodywork over steel monocoque
Engine all-iron, ohv, 16v 5001cc V8, electronic fuel injection [5733cc, twin parallel Garrett turbochargers]
Max power 189bhp @ 4800rpm [800bhp]
Max torque 239lb ft @ 3200rpm
Transmission four-speed automatic or five-speed manual, RWD via LSD
Suspension: front independent, by MacPherson struts rear live axle, trailing arms, Panhard rod, coil springs, telescopic dampers; anti-roll bar f/r
Steering power-assisted rack and pinion
Brakes ventilated discs, with servo
Length n/a
Width n/a
Height 4ft 1¾in (1839mm)
Wheelbase 8ft 5in (1839mm)
Weight n/a (standard Firebird Trans Am 3330lb/1510kg)
0-60mph 7.3 secs
Top speed 132mph [206mph]
Mpg 25
Price new $22,000 (1984) [$62,000]
Price now £15,000+*