Where Did All the Trans Ams Go? Inside a 50+ Car Pontiac Hoard

Ever wonder where all the old Trans Ams went?

I think I found them.

The camera comes around a bush on a quiet piece of property in Waverly, Iowa, and suddenly there's a driveway lined with Pontiac Trans Ams. Not two or three. They just keep going.

Cars are parked along the driveway, tucked between trees, sitting outside buildings and packed inside sheds.

And that's when you realize the cars outside aren't even the whole story.

More Than 50 Trans Ams in One Place

This was the Steely Collection, assembled over the years by Bob Steely.

According to VanDerBrink Auctions, Steely became hooked on the Pontiac Trans Am after seeing one in a commercial. From there, he started searching for them, working on them, buying and selling them—and, more than anything, accumulating them.

Eventually that turned into more than 50 Trans Ams and Firebirds, along with hundreds of Pontiac and Trans Am parts.

After Steely passed away, his widow made the decision to sell the collection. VanDerBrink Auctions handled the two-day estate auction in Waverly, Iowa, on August 4–5, 2023.

Video footage courtesy of VanDerBrink Auctions.

They Were Everywhere

The number of cars is what gets you first.

Walk around one corner and there are more.

Look between the trees and there are more.

Open another building and there are more.

Some were clearly projects. Others appeared surprisingly complete. There were cars exposed to the elements and others stored inside under layers of dust.

Rows of Trans Ams from the Steely Collection in Waverly, Iowa. Image: VanDerBrink Auctions.

For anyone who remembers when second-generation Trans Ams were simply used cars, seeing this many gathered in one place is almost surreal.

These are cars that disappeared from everyday roads a long time ago.

Here, they seemingly all ended up in the same place.

And They Weren't Just Outside

The buildings were just as interesting.

Open a garage door and there were still more cars waiting inside.

The collection continued inside multiple buildings on the property. Image: VanDerBrink Auctions.

Some were parked tightly together with barely enough room to walk between them.

More second-generation Firebirds and Trans Ams packed inside one of the buildings. Image: VanDerBrink Auctions.

But among the sheer number of cars were some genuinely interesting Pontiacs.

Some Were Rare

This wasn't simply a field full of ordinary Firebirds.

There were special editions and unusual cars mixed throughout the collection.

One of the standouts was a 1981 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am NASCAR Special Edition.

The NASCAR Edition combined the white exterior and distinctive graphics with mirrored T-tops, special red-and-black Recaro interior and Pontiac's turbocharged 4.9-liter V8.

VanDerBrink noted that approximately 2,000 NASCAR Editions were produced.

1981 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am NASCAR Special Edition from the Steely Collection. Image: VanDerBrink Auctions.

There were actually multiple NASCAR Edition cars in the collection.

Two white Turbo Trans Ams sitting inside one of the buildings. Image: VanDerBrink Auctions.

And the unusual cars didn't stop there.

The auction included everything from early second-generation Firebirds to later Trans Ams, including cars Bob Steely had owned since new.

One particularly interesting example was his 1998 Trans Am with only 4,779 miles. Steely had purchased the car new, and more than two decades later it had barely been driven.

That's what made this collection so fascinating.

You could walk past rows of weathered project cars and then suddenly find something genuinely unusual sitting among them.

A Collection Built Over a Lifetime

It's easy to look at photographs like these and immediately think about what should have been restored, what should have been stored differently or which cars deserved to be saved.

But there's another side to the story.

Bob Steely clearly loved Trans Ams.

He searched for them. He bought them. He worked on them. He collected their parts. And over the years he assembled something most Pontiac enthusiasts will never see again in one place.

After his death, the collection finally began to move on.

VanDerBrink sold the vehicles as part of the Steely estate auction in August 2023, giving other enthusiasts the opportunity to take these cars home and potentially put some of them back on the road.

Collection, Hoard or Automotive Time Capsule?

That's probably going to depend on who you ask.

There is something a little sad about seeing desirable old Pontiacs sitting under trees and covered in dust.

But there's also something incredible about seeing more than 50 Trans Ams and Firebirds gathered on one Iowa property.

For a moment, it almost answers a question a lot of us who grew up around these cars have asked:

Where did all the Trans Ams go?

Apparently, Bob Steely had them.

Now the real question: Which one would you have taken home?

Source and historical auction information: VanDerBrink Auctions, Steely Collection, Waverly, Iowa, August 2023.