This Pontiac is Grand Slammed!
Byran “Terp” got into cars when he was about 15 years old, his buddy had a Honda Civic that he would always help him work on in his spare time. That’s how “Terp” got introduced into the whole modified car scene.
You May ask yourself, how did he go from working on Honda’s to a Pontiac Grand Am. Terp says it was between the grand am or a mustang. When he was test driving a mustang he drove it about 3 miles down the street to another car dealership to look at cars, and during that 3 mile drive he counted at least 8 mustangs that he passed on the road. So I bought the grand am to be a little bit different. He had never seen a modified grand am in person and wanted to be the first one in his area (California,MD) to build one.
You may ask Terp who influenced him to build a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am GT to this nature. Terp says “I’ve honestly always tried to be somewhat different when it came to the way I built my car. I don’t want to be like anyone else or have anyone tell me that they’ve seen another car just like mine…. so I guess my influence would be originality.”
Terp has owned many other cars and trucks like a 1995 Chevy k-1500 4×4, 2005 Yamaha yzf 600r and currently a 1997 ford expedition (Eddie Bauer) for his daily commute.
So why did he started to modify a Grand Am? Terp had always wanted some kind of body kit on his grand am. So I bought the AED kit that is currently installed. One day Terp’s buddy invited him to a local car show where he entered and placed 2nd in the whole show. That was when Terp caught the “car show bug” and started building his car as a show car.
You may laugh at Terp, but like he says ” All I really want is for people to look at my car and think to themselves that they have never seen another car quite like mine. I just want to be original.”
You would think there would be alot of problems with modifying a Grand Am. Back when Terp first started modifying his car there was a serious lack of aftermarket parts for the grand am. But it’s gotten a little bit better in the last 2 years or so. Back then you had to buy alot of homemade or custom one off parts.
We asked Terp how what area of the car he started with and he says “I did the exterior of the car first. Then modded the engine a little bit. Then I worked on the interior and the trunk setup, and I’m still no where near done with the inside of the car. ”
Terp advises anyone that is looking to build a car similar to do your research on aftermarket parts, there are a lot of cheap poorly made parts out there now a days, and I’ve found you definitely get what you pay for when it comes to car parts.
Modifications:
Exterior:
AED Body Kit
AED Hood
AED Wing
AED Fenders
Mcculloch hid 6000k
Shaved door handles & antenna. Painted custom metallic black with a heavy fine gold flake.
All Body work was done by Chris Forrest
Engine:
APC Cold Air Intake
Borla Catback Exhaust
S&S Headers
NGK spark plugs
MSD spark plug wires
Best 1/4 mile: 15.1 @ 90 mph
Suspension:
Altimate Motorsports installed all the components.
CCE Air Struts – 1-6″ Drop
4 way fully adjustable air-suspension
Wheels/Tires:
19″ Falken Torque 5’s
225/35/19 general exclaim uhp tires
Interior:
Sparco Turino 2 Seats
Home made rear seat upholstery
Momo Steering wheel
Thanks & Shout outs to:
I’d just like to thank all my friends, most of the work done to this car was either by me or people I had already known long before I bought this car. If it wasn’t for them my car probably wouldn’t be the way it is now. Tuner Maneuver Magazine




