Larry Willet was a US Marine stationed at RAF Enzell, in Angus, when he met his future wife, Alison, in 1981.
A year later they were married and decided to return to Larry’s homeland and live in Kansas.
When he retired in 1994, the couple moved back to Montrose, where they have been ever since.
But despite settling well in Scotland, and working as an IT manager for GE Oil and Gas, there was something missing for Larry: a big American car in the driveway.
Larry, 56, said: “At first I just had a bunch of normal British cars like your Ford Mondeo, just standard cars. When the kids grew up and left home, I thought I could go out and have some fun.
“I was really missing the American cars. I think it was because they have got the big V8s, a lot of power.
“We go to a lot of car shows, or we had done for a few years but we never had a car to take with us.
“So I looked at some British cars that I could use but they just didn’t really interest me, probably because I’m from America.”
He then started looking at pickup trucks when his search brought him to a black 1995 Pontiac Trans Am with 5.7-litre V8 engine.
“After looking for it for a while, I just decided I’ll just have it,” he said.
“I was looking at it for about nine months. The pictures on Ebay, it looked really shiny and it just looked kind of mean. It’s probably not a normal car I would just go out and buy.”
Being familiar with the marque, Larry knew what to expect from the car, although he had never owned a Trans Am.
“One of my first cars that I ever owned was a 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix when I was 16,” he said.
“The motto for the Pontiac brand before it was killed off was ‘We Drive Excitement’ and I belong to the Pontiacs Owners Club in the UK and that’s their motto too.
“And it is, they are just fun to drive. The Pontiacs were always really well built, never had any problems with them, no recalls or things like that.”
Larry hasn’t had to do any major work to the car. He has tweaked it to suit his own tastes.
“I love cars, but I’m not a mechanic,” he said.
“So I had the engine rebuilt down here in Brechin over the summer. There’s a place called Crosshill, it’s a classic and American garage. They rebuilt my engine and they did superb work.
“I put new wheels on it because it just had the standard wheels on it and I got a custom-made exhaust back in March in London. I just wanted it to be closer to my tastes.
“Some classic car guys want it to be all original, but I’m not bothered about that.”
Larry has certainly made the car original, especially with its very own “hood bird”.
He said: “Bob Falcolner in Arbroath, he airbrushes the big lorries and we were just talking one day. Most Trans Ams have a phoenix on the hood but on my model of car, I didn’t think it looked very good.
“So I came up with the idea of this American eagle with the flag behind it bursting out of the hood. When you look at it real close it looks really good. We call them a hood bird but I just had to do a different hood bird.”
Initially Larry bought the car to use primarily in the summer but it has become pretty much his daily car. He even takes it to work to his office in Aberdeen, no doubt a rare sight in the Granite City.
“I drive it more than anything else now,” he said.
“A lot of people do comment on it. The main thing that everyone asks me is the gas mileage because they just assume that because its a big V8 5.8-litre engine that it probably gets about five miles to the gallon, but in reality it’s probably 20-25 miles to the gallon, it’s not bad. Not bad for a 20-year-old car.”
The classic car fan has also taken the Pontiac to shows across the country as well as the American Speedfest down south.
This year he and Alison are planning to take the car abroad and drive around the continent with the aim of “hitting nine countries”.
So how does he feel now having his big American car sitting in the driveway?
“I never stop smiling when I’m driving it,” he said.
“It’s nice having something from home. I’m not one of those big-headed Americans who goes about talking about America all the time, but I do feel pretty proud about it. I’ve got my American flags on my car.”
And it’s not just a personal interest; Larry’s son, Brian, has also taken to the car.
He said: “He loves it but I’m not going to let him drive it. He can get his own. I take him to car shows with me. He’s into cars too but he just can’t afford one yet.”
Larry is now looking for another US friend to add to his collection, this time an old classic pickup truck.
“It just seems like something I can’t live without but I haven’t come across one yet,” he added.
“I’ve seen some that I like but they weren’t for sale,” he joked.