Muscle Car Fan

Posts Tagged: Pontiac Trans Am

1969 Pontiac Trans Am convertible showcased in a classic car video.

Breakdown/Review: 1969 Pontiac Trans Am Convertible

by Wes

Pontiac built only eight 1969 Trans Am convertibles, and V8TV’s Muscle Car of the Week caught up with the very first one ever produced — RAIII 400 power, a rare blue interior, and options like power windows that were unusual for a car built primarily as an SCCA homologation special. Restorer Gary Riley walks through the car’s history from the floor of the 2015 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. Even in the comments, collectors still disagree on the exact production numbers. Watch to see what makes this one of the rarest Trans Ams ever built.

Classic white Pontiac Firebird parked on a road with greenery.

Pontiac Trans Am 1972 455 H.O.

by Kiril

This 1972 Pontiac Trans Am wears Cameo White paint, a saddle interior, and a 455 H.O. under the hood — but the real story is how few cars like it Pontiac managed to build at all. A 174-day strike at the Norwood, Ohio plant gutted that year’s production, and only 458 of the 1,286 Trans Ams built came with this car’s four-speed manual. Read on to find out how a labor dispute turned an ordinary model year into one of the rarest in Trans Am history.

A silver classic Pontiac Trans Am displayed indoors under bright lights.

Pontiac Trans Am 1979 images

by Ross Mills

Pontiac built just 7,500 examples of the 1979 10th Anniversary Trans Am to mark a decade of the badge — and inside that already-limited run, only 1,817 buyers got the 400 cubic-inch V-8 paired with a 4-speed manual. That combination makes this silver-and-charcoal special one of the last true muscle-era Firebirds, built right before the fuel crisis changed everything.

Close-up of a car engine and a white sports car exterior.

Episode 4 (1989): Buick Turbo 3.8 liter V6

by Wes

Buick’s turbocharged 3.8 liter V6 should have ended when the Regal went front wheel drive in 1988, but this final episode of OldCarMemories.com’s series tracks its unexpected last stop: a 1989 Pontiac Trans Am. The engine used Pontiac heads instead of Buick’s own and reportedly paced the Indy 500 as a genuinely stock car, a first. Watch to see how a mid size sedan engine ended up the fastest thing on a GM showroom floor.

A classic black Pontiac Trans Am sports car parked on a rural road.

Pontiac Trans Am 1981 Turbo V8 Chicken

by Kiril

By 1980 emissions rules had taken most of the horsepower out of Detroit, and Pontiac needed its flagship to look fast whether or not it actually was. The answer was a turbocharger bolted onto a 301 small-block and the largest hood decal General Motors ever approved. Mike Musto put one to the test. Read on to find out whether the numbers backed up the theater.

Classic black convertible muscle car with hood open in a showroom.

Favorite Convertibles From The Brothers Collection

by Kiril

210 episodes into covering the Brothers Collection, Muscle Car of the Week finally ranks the convertibles — pulling from a 1967 Mustang K-code, a 1964 Plymouth Satellite 426 Wedge, a fuel-injected 1959 Corvette, and a 440 Six Barrel ‘Cuda in Tor-Red. Each car represents a different era and manufacturer’s approach to open-top American performance. The comments are already split over which one deserves the top spot. Watch to see the full lineup and decide which convertible you’d pick.

A classic muscle car driving on an empty road during sunset.

This Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Has Been Transformed

by Wes

Gregg Hamilton’s Pontiac Trans Am started as a childhood dream inspired by Smokey and the Bandit — and turned into something no one expected. Trained by top World Rally Championship teams, Hamilton skipped the traditional big-inch V8 in favor of a GM 5.3-liter truck engine, then applied rally-derived suspension knowledge to give this Firebird handling most muscle cars never get close to. It’s a build defined by engineering judgment over budget. Watch to see how rally-car thinking reshaped an American icon.

Blue classic sports car parked outdoors on a sunny day.

Awesome 1975 Pontiac Trans Am in Blue & White Paint & 400 Engine

by Kiril

Mike Lorusso has owned this blue-and-white 1975 Trans Am since 1989, and over three decades he’s pushed the 400 cubic inch V8 to roughly 500 horsepower. This walk-around covers the custom work, the often-overlooked 1975 model year, and one detail about the hood bird most owners still get wrong. Watch to find out what it actually is.

Classic black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with sleek design and hood scoop.

Burt Reynolds Will Drive His Own 1978 Pontiac Trans Am Onto Barrett-Jackson Auction Block

by Kiril

A black-and-gold 1978 Pontiac Trans Am built to Burt Reynolds’ own specification crossed the Barrett-Jackson block in Las Vegas in 2018, weeks after the actor’s death, and brought $192,500. Two other 1978 Trans Ams in the same sale, mechanically similar but with no connection to Reynolds, sold for a fraction of that. The gap is the whole story of how provenance works in the collector market, and why the Bandit car mattered in the first place.

A black Mustang GT performs a burnout with smoke billowing from the rear tires.

1978 Pontiac Trans Am FAST EZ EFI Fuel Injection Overdrive Engine Upgrades

by Wes

This 1978 Pontiac Trans Am rolled into V8 Speed & Resto Shop running like anything but a bird of fire — and rolled out with a FAST EZ-EFI fuel injection system, a 2004R overdrive transmission, and a COMP Cams roller valvetrain under its Pontiac 400. The upgrades are the kind Pontiac purists argue about for hours. See exactly what changed and why the team made each call.

Vintage 1979 Trans Am with custom fire wall showcased in a video.

Metal Working Tips: Custom Firewall with Bead Roller and Pullmax 1979 Trans Am

by Wes

A 1979 Pontiac Trans Am arrives at V8 Speed and Resto Shop with rust hiding behind a poorly repaired firewall, and a factory stamping flaw underneath that. Rather than patch over both problems, the crew cuts the section out entirely and fabricates a replacement using a bead roller and a Pullmax, tools most home mechanics never touch. Fabricators in the comments call it some of the most impressive metalwork on the channel. The process reveals exactly what separates a real restoration from a quick fix.

White Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with black phoenix decal parked outdoors.

Pontiac Trans Am 1980 Turbo Pace Car

by Kiril

In 1980 Pontiac answered the death of the big-block by bolting a turbocharger to a 4.9-liter V8, badging it as the Indianapolis 500 Pace Car, and daring buyers to take it seriously. Only 5,700 Special Edition Turbo Trans Ams were built, every one with T-tops, Cameo White paint and a boost gauge sitting on the hood. Read on to find out why a car once dismissed as a malaise-era compromise is quietly climbing in value.

Classic red Pontiac Firebird muscle car from the 1970s.

Pontiac Trans Am 1973 SD-455

by Kiril

Pontiac rated the 1973 Super Duty 455 at 290 net horsepower, a figure most experts believe was deliberately conservative by around 85 horsepower. The engine used a reinforced block, four-bolt mains, forged rods and pistons, and a nitrided crankshaft. Only 252 SD-455 Trans Ams were built that year out of 4,802 total, split 72 manual and 180 automatic. Read on to find out how one engineering team built a genuine muscle car in the year everyone else quit.

Classic black Pontiac Trans Am parked outdoors with a Turbo V8 engine badge.

Turbo V8 Chicken: Pontiac Trans Am

by Wes

In 1981, Pontiac answered a shrinking performance budget with a genuinely strange idea: the first mass-production turbocharged V8 in an American car, wrapped in the loudest graphics package the Trans Am ever wore. The 210-horsepower engine was groundbreaking and unreliable in roughly equal measure, and reviewers are still divided on whether the gamble paid off. Read on to find out why collectors now pay a premium for the rare survivors that got it right.

Classic brown 1970s muscle car parked outdoors on a sunny day.

Pontiac Trans Am 1979 images

by Ross Mills

This 1979 Pontiac Trans Am, photographed courtesy of Gateway Classic Cars, runs a 403-cubic-inch V8 backed by a Turbo 350 automatic. The catch is that Pontiac did not build the engine, Oldsmobile did, and no manual transmission was ever offered behind it. Yet 1979 turned into the single best sales year the Firebird nameplate ever had, with more than 211,000 built. Read on to find out how a car with a borrowed engine outsold every version that came before it.

Scroll To Top