The perfect driving experience, and the melding of melody and machine, is what Cars and Guitars is all about. So buckle up, drop it into reverse, and floor it back a thousand years to 1980 when disco music and emasculated muscle cars ruled the earth. This time let’s look at the 1980 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am and the song “Take Your Time (Do It Right)” by the S.O.S. Band. We’ll also zoom in on the events of the day, reconstructing the pop culture landscape that sprouted these two icons. So grab your things, and let’s set the dials of the transporter back 43 years to 1980.

If you lived in the suburbs of any American city back then, your record crate was stocked with some of the greatest classic rock ever produced. Zeppelin, the Stones, the Who, and the Beatles ruled the roost but Aerosmith, Elton, Creedence, Bad Company, and a litany of others commanded the airwaves as well.

A dirty little secret at the dawn of the 80s was if you perused the record collection at the local house party, the Bee Gees Saturday Night Fever was in everybody’s collection. Even hardcore disco deniers were onboard because girls loved to dance to the high-hat-tinged, 4/4 beat. Even better, if it was a slow number, it was a reason to get close and do a vertical expression of horizontal desire.

The same girls that loved disco were also the ones that coaxed their boyfriends to go into the city to find dance clubs and boogie the night away. For many suburban kids, it was their first taste of urban music and the scene that surrounded it.

We’d say that back in the day, many a Pontiac Trans Am, filled with young men and women in their finest duds, made the pilgrimage into the city to hit the dance floor. We’d also wager it was the first time many heard dance tunes from musical legends like Donna Summer, Sylvester, Rick James, Earth Wind, and Fire, not to mention Blondie, Teena Marie, and KC and the Sunshine Band. One of my favorite bands from this era was the S.O.S. Band and their blockbuster hit “Take Your Time (Do It Right)”. It’s as good as disco gets and a perfect pairing with the swan song, second-gen Trans Am.

If there were ever a car that epitomized the disco era, it was the 1970-1981 Pontiac Trans Am. Not so much the early models, but the emissions-strangled, rubber bumper models of the late 70s and early 80s. These were some of the best-looking Trans Ams ever built and were immortalized on celluloid in the Smokey and the Bandit film franchise featuring Burt Reynolds and Sally Fields. Sadly, horsepower and displacement dwindled during the F-body’s lifespan until the second-gen model went out with a whimper in 1981.

A few years earlier, the S.O.S. Band formed in Atlanta, Georgia. The original group members were Jason Bryant, John Simpson, Willie Kight, Billy Ellis, John Kames, and vocalist Mary Davis. The group was originally known as Santa Monica but later changed its name to the S.O.S. Band, which stands for Sounds of Success.

In addition to “Take Your Time (Do It Right)”, they hit gold with “Just Be Good to Me”, and “The Finest”. The S.O.S. Band had seven top 20 R&B hit singles, four of which went to number one. They also had a few crossover hits, such as “Just the Way You Like It” and “Groovin’ (That’s What We’re Doin’)”.

Producer Sigidi Abdullah co-wrote “Take Your Time (Do It Right)” with Harold Clayton, and the song cruised all the way to the number one spot on the R&B charts and parked there for five weeks. It also peaked at number three on Billboard’s Pop charts in the spring of 1980. The groove is infectious, the vocal from Mary Davis sublime, and every bar is ladened with musical hooks. “Take Your Time” was included on their debut album, S.O.S., and went gold, selling over 800,000 copies and holding the number two R&B album spot for three weeks.

The Trans Am was known for its plumage, fender spats, and hood scoops, and the S.O.S. Band could match it, tit for tat. Check out their fantastic nautical-themed stage clothes in the video clip from Don Cornelious’ Soul Train. To many, the look was a blatant nick from cereal mascot Cap’n Crunch, but it started a trend in R&B circles and hit its peak when Michael Jackson adopted the look in the “Thriller” era.

Meanwhile, 700 miles north of Atlanta in Detroit, GM was basking in the elongated success of its second-gen F-body. Ford downsized the Mustang and Chrysler killed the E-Body in 1974, leaving much of the pony car market to the Camaro and Firebird. GM sold hundreds of thousands of F-bodies and left both cross-town competitors in the dust.

Yet, 1980 was a lowlight in the history of the Trans Am. The big-block motor was banished to the scrap heap in the sky and replaced with a wispy turbocharged 301cid small-block Pontiac V8. The mill produced a whopping 210 horsepower and 345 pound-feet of torque. The standard engine was a naturally aspirated version of the 301, producing an SAE-neutered 135 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque.

For collectors, the big news in 1980 was the introduction of the limited edition Trans Am Indy Pace Car Special Edition model. It came fully loaded with air conditioning, automatic transmission, WS6 handling package, four-wheel disc brakes, T-tops, power windows, steering, and locks. A total number of 5,700 Indy Pace replica cars were produced in 1980. No manual transmission was offered with the turbo.

Almost 6,000 units of anything isn’t really rare, and Trans Am Pace Cars now bring up the bottom of second-gen Poncho pony car values. In retrospect, maybe the best thing that happened during the last years of the second-gen Trans Am was the availability of the very attractive 15×8” Turbo aluminum wheel, which debuted on the silver 10th Anniversary model a year earlier in 1979. Today, a twin-turbo LS3 transplant would fix all the Turbo Trans Am’s shortcomings and you could retain all the factory badges and decals.

1980 was a crazy year for planet earth as well. Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States and joined Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev as political VIPs. CNN was founded this year as well as the debut of Post-It notes and Rubik’s cube. John Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman in New York City, he was only 40 years old.

Mount St. Helens in Washington state erupted and the Summer Olympic Games were held in Moscow, USSR. The event was boycotted by over 60 countries, including the US. The Super Bowl kicked off in Pasadena and was won by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Musically, AC/DC, Kool and The Gang, Queen, and of course, The S.O.S. Band ruled the charts. The Oldsmobile Cutlass was the best-selling car in the United States.

Today, the Trans Am is still a household name, but the S.O.S. Band has faded into obscurity. By the mid-1980s, the group changed its lineup and sound, and its popularity waned. After releasing their last album in 1991, the S.O.S. Band called it quits. Since then, the members have reunited for tour dates and special events. During their career, the group released a total of 13 albums.

The Trans Am would live on through 2002 when the fourth-generation model was sent out to pasture. The Pontiac division itself would go the way of the dodo in 2009. The last Poncho to roll off a GM assembly line was a G6 sedan bound for rental car duty, a shameful finale to the once mighty Pontiac division.

From today’s perspective, the Trans Am and the S.O.S. Band are towering works of art. Modern music has its highlights, but most of it has descended into vocoder-processed obscenities squawked over computerized drum loops. Today’s cars are light years ahead of second-gen F-bodies technologically but are a bland amalgamation of crash rating aspirations, focus groups, legal departments, and global parts bins.

Time can play tricks on the mind. What was once considered the dark ages of music and machinery now seems evergreen and more relevant than ever. Thanks to modern technology, we can summon up the best of 20th-century, post-war America on our magical handheld devices and if only for a moment, we can relive the days of Turbo Trans Ams, sequin commodore suits, gold chains, and the sweet sounds of the S.O.S Band.