mmarshall

IN A NUTSHELL: Survived well-into an age when most classic American muscle-cars didn’t.

In the 1960s, thanks to the forward-thinking of Pontiac-Chief John DeLorean (who defied top GM management and proved them wrong when the Top Brass opposed producing muscle-cars), a significant part of the American muscle-car scene was dominated by Pontiac, particularly with the wildly-popular GTO (which had songs written about it by some musicians), but also less-so with other models . These included the Grand Prix and Grand Prix SJ, some versions of the Tempest/Le Mans, the Firebird Formula, and others. While Chevrolet, with its Corvette and many different RS, Z28, and SS models, dominated GM muscle-car sales in sheer numbers, Pontiac, in contrast, offered products that were somewhat more sophisticated, stylish, and perhaps, appealed to those with not only a little more money to spend, but also to someone who preferred a little more of that sophistication in their pockets.

Of course, not all Pontiac products appealed to those seeing something slightly mature…..a few directly appealed to classic Boy-Racers, like the classic 1970 GTO Judge model with its bright orange paint, flame-stripes on the fenders, and hood-mounted tach…a trademark of several Pontiac muscle-cars. The GTO Judge provided more or less a GM-equivalent to the brightly-painted Ford Mustang / Torino, Mercury Cyclone / Cougar-Eliminator, and, particularly to the lollipop rainbow-colored Plymouth/Dodge muscle-cars of the time…and the classic cartoon Bird-Graphics and Beep-Beep horn of one of my own favorite muscle-cars, the Plymouth Road Runner.

While the Pontiac Firebird itself had been introduced in 1967 along with its less-expensive pony-car cousin Chevrolet Camaro, the classic Trans-Am version was not officially introduced until 1969…..a year or so after the Pontiac Division itself had entered the Trans-Am racing-series. The Trans-Am version featured a number of features that were different from other Firebirds, including special bodywork/flare-panels, specially-trimmed wheels, and, in most, but not all versions, the famous “Chicken on the Hood”…a giant bird-decal, with open-wings, that covered almost the entire hood. Like on the Chrysler-Hemi and 440+6 Barracudas/Challengers, a cutout in the middle of the hood allowed a “Shaker-Scoop”, that vibrated and shook, particularly at idle, to stick up and protrude. Like the GTO Judge, the Trans-Am, among other things, was a clear concession to the Boy-Racer Pontiac fans. However, in 1969 and 1970, Trans-Am sales are not that high compared to other Pontiac products like the GTO and Grand Prix, as the GTO was still considered one of the Kings of the muscle-cars, even if outperformed on the drag-strip by the quickest of the Chrysler products.

However, that began to change by the early-mid 1970s, as a number of negative features all came together to spell the end of the classic American Muscle-Car era. This included rapidly-increasing insurance premiums (these cars had proven risky and dangerous in the hands of immature or unskilled drivers), Emission/Fuel-Economy standards from the Federal Government, lower speed-limits on the roads, requirements for more standard equipment on the vehicles which added weight, and, of course, the fuel shortages and massive increases in fuel prices after the 1973-74 Arab /OPEC oil-embargo. Once-powerful American muscle cars were emasculated under the hoods by detuning and towering engine-displacement, weights increased, and so-called “Performance-Cars”, except for labeling/badging, became little-different from non-performance cars.

For a number of reasons, among them the car’s steadily-increasing-popular image and the fact that, even with John DeLorean (who had first gone to Chevy, and then left GM to found his own company), Pontiac remained committed to the Trans-Am nameplate, the big-block T/As were able to live well-on into the 1970s….in fact, until the end of the decade itself. A new 2nd-generation Camaro/Firebird was introduced in the middle of the 1970 model-year…..it was good-looking, but IMO had a cheaper interior than the original. Yes, the big-block 6.6L V8 engines were de-tuned, and catalytic-converters were added (and they weren’t running 300-500 HP any more like in the late 60s). But Pontiac engineers, working carefully and finding engineering-loopholes to the government standards, managed to keep at least a measure of the old 60s image for these cars after most other muscle-cars, including their own sister GTOs, had seriously downsized both the vehicles themselves and the engines that powered them. The Trans-Am, in particular, was helped along, not only by the public themselves, but by its image in Hollywood. This resulted in the famous movie “Smokey and the Bandit”, which featured a cagey moonshiner (Burt Reynolds) and his girl-friend (Sally Field) racing across the South, with a determined Texas Sheriff (Jackie Gleason) on their heels. This film exploded the car’s popularity (which was already high at the time) like gasoline poured on a fire. People went in hock to get new T/As. One of my own cousins, on my Mom’s side of the family, a few years younger than me, who lived in the suburbs of Cincinnati, OH, was engaged to a local girl there (they later married and raised a family). She was working in a supermarket at the time, but went into a then-unheard of 4-year loan for a new 1977 (or was it a ’78….can’t quite remember?) jet-black Firebird, with, yes, the black interior, gold trim, and Chicken-on-the Hood, just like in the movie. 4 years doesn’t sound like very long today, when vehicles are often financed for 6-7 years, but, in the late 70s, typical loans were 2-3 years. Anyhow, they came East to take a little vacation in the D.C. area and see the sights, and, of course, stopped at my Mom’s house in the area to spend some time with her. So I dropped by and took a look at her new car myself, although I don’t remember test-driving it. They spent a couple of days with my Mom, and I went out to lunch with them in her new ride, and then went back home to Ohio.

But the specific 1979 Trans-Am that I am going to focus this write-up on belongs to not only an ex-co-worker but a close personal friend of mine who lives in suburban Maryland……he and his wife also own the Ford Explorer Sport-Trac and Honda Element (both from the early 2000s) that I featured in previous write-ups. In addition, he owns a bright-red original first-generation BMW Z (M)-coupe….not one of my favorite designs in its body-styling, but still an interesting ride. He bought it a number of years ago (again, I don’t remember exactly which year) from a previous-owner. It is the vehicle shown here in images….jet-black like the Smokey-movie car, but with a tan interior instead of the black in the movie. It is a rather unusual version, with a Hurst 4-speed manual and the 6.6L (400 cubic-inch) Pontiac-produced V8 engine. This was generally the last year for the big-block 6.6L, as the much smaller 5.0L (301 c.i.) V8 became standard the next year, and was already a credit-option for 1979. This car was in excellent shape when he bought it, with no rust than I can remember, although, over the years, he has had some paint/trim work done, and a bad heater-core under the dash was replaced when it started to leak anti-freeze. It still has a four-barrel carburetor, as GM did not convert widely to fuel-injection until later in the 1980s. These were considered 10th-Anniversary cars, as the original T/As had been introduced a decade earlier, in 1969. He keeps it (not surprisingly) in a garage, with the M-coupe, under an additional cover, and does not drive it a whole lot, though he has taken it to a number of classic old-car shows (and old-GM-shows) in the area, winning several trophies. I’ve been with him at several number of the shows, and helped explain the car to onlookers, though I have not actually driven it myself. It was once featured on the cover of an insert in the Washington-Times newspaper, which covered the local old-car shows sponsored by Vern Parker.

I was generally not a fan of the next-generation T/A, which, along with its sister Firebirds and Chevy Camaros, was redesigned for 1982. Some low-line Camaros used a ridiculous Iron Duke 2.5L in-line four as the base engine (same base engines in the economy GM X-body compacts), and even the T/A itself had the seriously-downsized 5.0L V8. These new 3rd-Generation versions, IMO, lost much of their classic looks, although the addition of some no-dent/no-corrosion plastic front fenders was probably a good idea. But, IMO, the Firebird was never the same again, and, similar to other GM products of that period, quality took a strong downhill slide. Pontiac dropped the entire Firebird line-up in 2002 along with its F-Body twin, the Camaro. The Camaro came back the market several years later, but the Firebird died a death with the Pontiac division itself. There was a proposal several years ago to bring back a new state-of-the-art Trans-Am under the Buick nameplate, but, with Buick’s decision to drop all passenger cars and concentrate on crossovers, apparently not much became of that plan.

So, Good-Bye, and Pleasant-Memories, to an American classic, although, of course, some nice samples still live on today, like my friend’s car. Burt and Sally would be proud of it.

And, as Always, Happy Car-Memories.

MM

tex2670

Nice. I thought I read that the "classics" market price for these Trans Ams are really ballooning. I can't say which the most valuable years are, but there's supposedly a good demand for these.

TriC

If it is original, the pictured car has a 400 cubic inch Pontiac motor, not the 403 Oldsmobile engine. The former came with a manual transmission while the latter were only automatics. Cars with the Pontiac engine had "T/A 6.6" decals on the shaker while the Olds variety had "6.6 Liter" call-outs in the same place.

I was fortunate enough to have owned 3 second generation Trans Ams back in the day. The first was a '70 RA III 4 speed car that I restored in 1980. It was white with a rare black interior. Its sale in 1982 provided the funds for the down payment on our first house.

The second, acquired from a law school classmate, was a '74 with the base 400 and an automatic. It was white with a white interior with no bird decal on the hood. It served as our honeymoon car upon our 1981 marriage, providing a fun ride to Florida and back.

The last was a '79, similar to the one pictured. Although not an SE (distinguishable by the gold striping all over the body), it was black with a tan houndstooth interior, 400 motor, 4 speed, T-tops, and the WS6 performance package. Although the 400 Pontiac motivated cars were considered high-performance in 1979, they were rated at a mere 220 HP.

As tex2670 said, values of second gen TAs are now rising.

mmarshall

OK, if applicable, Thanks, good catch. I'll check with its owner, and, if necessary, correct the typo. But it is definitely a 4-speed, as you can see from the image. And, yes, that is the actual car, not Google-shots.

Do you agree that the 3rd-Generations, from 1982 on, were letdowns? IMO, the interior materials, in particular, simply became junk. And the big-block engines were gone.....although, to the T/A's credit, they had lasted longer through the 70s than on most other American muscle-cars.

A (late) Congratulations on your wedding. Yes, white, particularly with blue trim, was a common T/A color until the Smokey movie came along and had everybody buying black ones.

For muscle cars, torque is what matters, more-so than HP....and push-rod V8s typically produce more torque than HP.

Sounds like it was pretty much the same as my friend's, except for some gold-trim differences.

From what I can remember, they never were really low.

Mike728

I owned 2 T/A's back in the day. First one was a '75 I purchased in 1980 that had its engine replaced with a 350. I got rid of that car in '82 and it again was in need of a new engine, plus a few body parts.

In 1984 I came upon a mint 1979 Bandit edition T/A. It looked exactly like the one in the 1st post, except it had an automatic and black with gold weave interior. It had the Old's 403 with the blue block and was pretty much a dog, but it felt fast back then. I don't think you mentioned the obvious difference between the bandit and regular edition versions. When I first got mine, I thought they put the bird decal on backwards. It wasn't until many years later that I found out they reversed the direction of the birds head on the Bandit editions. I sold that car in '86 with about 40k mikes for $4,000. I was going to trade it in on my new IROC-Z, but was offered way less and a guy I worked with wanted it. He totaled it within a year.

mmarshall

^^^^^Yep, Tri-C.............400 it is. Thanks. I'll correct that typo.

Incidentally, what does your "Tri-C" moniker refer to?....although my strong guess is the Tri-Power (triple-two-barrel carburetors) found on some big-block V8s in the 60s. They were found on the Dodge/Plymouth 440+6, Pontiac 389 Tri-Power, Corvette 427s, and some other top-line engines of that period.

UDel

I loved those Trans Ams when I was a child, mainly because I was such a big fan of "Smokey and the Bandit", I remember as a child in Fayetteville North Caroline when they played the HBO theme before a movie and I would anxiously await(never read the tv guide) what movie would be playing and being so excited when it was Smokey and The Bandit(had the same reaction for the Star Wars movies, Dragon Slayer, Blues Brothers, MegaForce, Superfuzz, Star Trek II and a few other ones. Smokey was very popular in the early to mid 80's, I remember along with Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider they had all kinds of toys/merchandise for it, mostly of the cars from the shows/movies. I think Smokey, Knight Rider and Dukes played a large role in what made Hotwheels, remote race car tracks, big wheels, so popular in the 80's along with the sales of those Trans Ams when tastes were shifting to smaller cars with smaller engines/FWD. Every time I would see a Trans Am on the road of that era I would get so excited and would just drool over it, my favorites were the black ones but I really liked the white ones and the silver ones and it had to have the flying chicken. I have driven a few and despite not being that into muscle cars I liked it, I would still like one if I had the space. I think that era Trans Am is one of the best looking most iconic US car designs of the past 50 years.

mmarshall

The Dukes of Hazzard, though, with the orange General Lee and 01/Confederate flag trim flying through the air like an airplane, at least the way I saw it, was more along the lines of automotive slapstick than the somewhat more-sophisticated comedy we saw in Smokey and the Bandit....although the Sheriff (Buford T. Justice) got a little corny in his acing.

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

I loved 1967-1978 Firebirds & hated the 1979 front end. My 1st car was a 1971 Formula with a base 455ci. engine & turbo 400 trans. I loved the dual scoops the Formula's had better than the T/A's. 2nd car was a 1973 Formula 400 with 4-speed manual which is what I wanted. The best engine builder in town had a 1967 firebird that he had built a 1972 455 HO engine for.I bought the 67 bird to get that engine & install in my 73 Formula along with a Doug Nash 5-speed trans. I put the formula's engine in the '67 bird & sold it, 67-69 didn't corner like the '70-up.
I won a good bit of money street racing that '67 bird,(most people don't know how to identify Pontiac engines because all the blocks are the same size externally.
One day I was driving out in the middle of nowhere & stopped at a small quickmart that had a little bulletin board advertising a1974 SD455 T/A 4-speed for $500!(one of 212 made that year)
Due to the high RPM's this engine was designed for,A/C was not an option on 4-speed cars, & I liked this because it left a lot more room to work under the hood.
Later that year my wife wanted A/C so i bought a1969 base Firebird 350 with the 2-speed Super Turbine 300 & A/C that worked very well !! This was the 1st auto I ever bought from a dealer & yes it was previously owned by a little old lady. There was a umbrella & church buliten in the trunk, & it had hubcaps. I kept it less than a year because i couldn't stand the 2 speed trans.
I always loved the 1972's best because the honeycomb grilles looked best & it was the last year before smog equipment.

mmarshall

The '67-78s were not all the same car. A major 2Gen redesign came in the middle of the 1970 model year.

If you disliked the 2-speed auto on the 1969 Firebirds, there was a transmission on some of the late-60s Camaros that was even worse. It was called Torque-Drive, which was essentially a 2-speed Powerglide, without a clutch pedal, that you shifted manually, usually under 45 MPH, with the shift-lever. It was designed to be a cheaper alternative to the 2-speed Powerglide, which shifted fully-automatic. Not many Torque-Drives were sold, but I did get a chance to test-drive one.


Smog-gear and detuning of the engines actually started right after 1970, in 1971....but, yes, intensified after 1972. Still, the T/A fared better than a number of other muscle-cars at the time.

TriC

Good guess, but the moniker merely signifies my initials.

I do have strong affinity for tri-power cars though. My second car was a '64 GTO so equipped with a 4 speed. And I made the mistake of selling it on 2 separate occasions!

wasjr

Since the Trans Am’s sister Firebird was mentioned……….When our service went out Christmas I pulled out my Rockford Files dvd. Included was an interview with James Garner. Garner was trained to race in 1966 for the filming of the movie Grand Prix. He got hooked on racing and drove at Daytona, Sebring, Baja, etc., and did his own driving in the Rockford Files which featured many car chases. I said all that to say that in the interview on the dvd, he said he personally chose the Firebird because it could do anything he wanted.

He wanted an Esprit, the base model to fit his character’s financial situation. However, most sources say Firebird Formulas, disguised to look like Esprits, were used in the series. The Formula would have been better suited to stunt work, with its more powerful V8 and firmer suspension. Formulas used by the show would probably have had the 400-cubic-inch V8. To look the part of an Esprit, a Formula would have its rear spoiler removed and its scooped hood replaced with a plain Esprit hood. The show bought three Firebirds each season. James Garner didn’t like the styling of the 1979 Firebird, so ’78s were used until the show ended its run in 1980.

He was particularly adept at J turns….

mmarshall

In the 1970s, car-chases and cut-and-dried acting were more or less the Name of the Game in both Hollywood films and some TV series. Hollywood's idea of ratings was to take cars that were more or less street-legal and have them do all kinds of chases and stunts.

Jezza819

My dad was a car dealer back in those days and he had traded for one of these in silver. I was probably in the 6th or 7th grade back then and occasionally he would let me drive to school with him in the passenger seat. I vividly remember driving that T/A to school one morning and everyone running over to look at it when we drove up.

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

You need to reread my 1st sentence and much more!