GM Built a Trans Am That Ran 13s Stock From the Factory — Then Killed the Firebird Two Years Later

Regular Car Reviews is giving away the WS6 Trans Am featured in this video — but the real story in the comments is an owner whose own WS6 sat under a cover for six years and fired right up the moment they turned the key. Watch to see what it actually costs to bring one of these back from years of hibernation.

A free car is a hell of a hook for a review, and Regular Car Reviews is giving away the exact WS6 Trans Am featured in this video to one lucky entrant before the end of October. But the giveaway isn’t really what makes this one worth reading the comments on. One viewer’s own WS6 sat under a cover for six years, untouched, and then started right up the moment they turned the key — before quietly costing them another eleven thousand dollars to actually make it road-legal again. What does it really take to bring a modern-classic Trans Am back from years of hibernation?

The Giveaway Buried in the Description

Tucked into the video’s description is a real contest: Regular Car Reviews is giving away the WS6 Trans Am featured in the episode, with an entry deadline of October 26th at 11:59 PM Pacific. It’s an unusually direct incentive for a channel best known for its irreverent, comedy-driven review format, and it likely explains at least some of the extra attention this particular WS6 got compared to a typical Regular Car Reviews upload, though the comment section makes clear plenty of viewers showed up for the car itself, giveaway or not.

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Six Years Under a Cover, Then One Turn of the Key

One commenter shared a detailed personal history with an unrelated 2001 Trans Am: bought in 2004 with 18,000 miles, driven daily in all weather with the only modification being a Borla catback exhaust, then parked under a cover in 2015 at 98,000 miles when life got in the way. Six years later they finally pulled the cover off, turned the key, and the car started “as if she had only been parked overnight” — though getting it fully road-worthy again ran roughly $8,000 initially and another $3,000 over the following six months.

Why the LS1 Deserves the Credit

That same owner credited the car’s LS1 engine directly for surviving six years of inactivity without any serious mechanical drama, calling it “a beast.” The LS1’s reputation for durability under neglect is a big part of why the LS1-powered fourth-generation Trans Ams and Firebirds continue to hold appeal decades after production ended — these are cars genuinely capable of sitting for years and then returning to reliable daily-driver service with comparatively modest investment, rather than requiring a full mechanical teardown to get running again.

Why Comments Call These a ‘Crossroads’ Car

Several viewers made a similar argument in different words: these late-model WS6 Trans Ams sit at “a wonderful crossroads between modern fuel injection and original pony car,” combining the reliability and drivability of a fuel-injected LS engine with the classic pony car experience of a T-top, rear-wheel-drive V8 coupe. That positioning is exactly why owners describe daily-driving one for over a decade without major issue, something that’s much harder to say about a genuinely vintage muscle car from the 1960s or ’70s in comparable original condition.

The Halloween Night Someone Called It the Batmobile

One owner of an all-black 1998 WS6 with a six-speed manual described a specific moment that captures the car’s cultural footprint: rolling through a parking lot one Halloween night and hearing a stranger nearby say, “Holy shit, it’s the Batmobile!” That kind of unprompted public reaction, decades after the car’s design debuted, says something real about how distinctive the late Firebird’s styling remains, even set against a night full of costumes purpose-built to turn heads on a competitive night for attention.

Roman, Mr. Regular, and a Format Built on Contrast

Part of the appeal, according to the comments, is structural rather than mechanical: the video reportedly opens with Roman attempting a long-form historical essay on the car while Mr. Regular drives aggressively in the background, undercutting the serious narration with brake checks and hard maneuvers. One viewer specifically praised the contrast, joking they’d love to see the same format applied to other cars entirely. It’s a format built on the tension between careful explanation and chaotic driving, and it’s a big part of why Regular Car Reviews content gets rewatched rather than just watched once through.

Why This Generation of Trans Am Still Has a Cult Following

Between the giveaway, the six-year revival story, the LS1’s reputation for reliability, and a Halloween encounter that turned a parked car into a superhero reference, this particular WS6 checks nearly every box that keeps late-model Firebird and Trans Am owners loyal decades after the last one rolled off the line. It’s a car young enough to be genuinely usable as a daily driver, but distinctive enough that strangers still stop and stare at it on a random October night out running errands.

What a Winner Would Actually Be Getting

For whoever ends up winning the giveaway car featured in this video, the comments offer a fairly clear preview of what ownership looks like: a genuinely fun, LS-powered pony car capable of daily driving for years, occasional head-turning reactions in public, and, if history with these cars is any guide, the real possibility of parking it for a while someday and having it fire right back up when the time finally comes to bring it back to life.

That mix of practical reliability and unexpected cultural cachet is a big part of why these specific model years keep drawing new owners even now, decades removed from the showroom. A car that can sit neglected for the better part of a decade and still start on the first try, then turn heads at a stoplight the same week, is a rare combination in the used-car market at any price point, let alone one this accessible compared to a genuinely vintage muscle car from the 1960s or ’70s. Whoever wins the giveaway is inheriting exactly that combination, whether they realize it yet or not. Between the deadline in the description and the hibernation story in the comments, this is one giveaway worth paying attention to before entries close on the 26th. It’s not every day a review doubles as an entry form.

Watch the full video above. Share your thoughts in the comments below.