Pontiac’s Firebird and its Trans Am variants ran from 1967 to 2002, and production numbers swung from tiny special orders to a movie-fueled sales boom. The 1989 Turbo Trans Am, an Indianapolis 500 pace car with 1,555 replicas built, anchors the list. Here are twelve Firebirds and Trans Ams, one for each stop along that 35-year run.
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1. 1967 Pontiac Firebird: Right on Cue
Pontiac’s first Firebird reached showrooms almost six months after the Chevrolet Camaro, according to Hagerty Firebird facts. Author Jim Wangers wrote that the new car was an immediate hit, a notable verdict given how late it arrived to the pony-car fight.
The 1967 model set the template for everything that followed in this lineup. Its arrival also marks the starting point of a run that would last 35 years and cover four distinct generations of the nameplate, which this gallery follows year by year.
2. 1969 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am: The Original Trans Am
The first Trans Am was an option package, priced at $724.60, and Hagerty list of facts reports that GM built just 697 of the 1969 cars. Only 55 of them carried the Ram Air IV engine.
Rarer still were the convertibles, with just eight built that year. Those tiny totals explain why the 1969 Trans Am is treated as a cornerstone of Firebird history rather than a mainstream model, since only a few hundred were ever made in total.
3. 1970 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Ram Air IV: Ram Air Rarity
Pontiac sold the Ram Air IV in the Trans Am for only two model years, and Hagerty most-valuable Firebirds counts just 88 cars built with it. The 1970 version therefore sits near the top of the collector pecking order.
That small figure makes the Ram Air IV Trans Am one of the scarcest cars in the whole 1967 to 2002 span. Compared with the several hundred Trans Ams of 1969, a production run of 88 cars across two years shows how exclusive the setup was.
4. 1973 Pontiac Trans Am Super Duty 455: Super Duty Special Order
According to Wikipedia second-generation entry, the 1973 Super Duty 455 was a special-order option costing $550 and rated at 290 hp. Pontiac fitted it to 252 cars, split between 180 automatics and 72 manuals.
The 252 figure reflects option cars as Wikipedia counts them. Other sources, including Hagerty, report different totals for how many SD-455 Trans Ams were actually built, so the number is best read as the count of cars ordered with the package rather than a definitive production tally.
5. 1977 Pontiac Trans Am (Smokey and the Bandit): Bandit Fame
The 1977 Trans Am special edition became famous after it appeared in Smokey and the Bandit, per Wikipedia second-generation article. Pontiac sold 68,744 Trans Ams in 1977, out of 155,735 Firebirds overall.
Those sales show how far the Trans Am had moved from the tiny runs of 1969 and 1970. Film exposure helped turn a niche performance package into the best-known version of the car, and by that year it accounted for a large share of Firebird sales.
6. 1980 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am: Turbo Power
The turbocharged 301 V8 was rated at 210 hp in 1980, as Wikipedia Firebird history notes. That engine powered the Turbo Trans Am seen in Smokey and the Bandit II.
The turbo gave the Trans Am another path to power at a time when big displacement was fading. It also kept the model’s movie connection alive, linking the sequel to a specific engine option instead of only to the car’s styling and its famous firebird hood decal.
7. 1982 Pontiac Trans Am (KITT): Meet KITT
The third generation arrived nearly 500 pounds lighter, with 165-hp Cross-Fire fuel injection, according to Wikipedia third-generation page. A modified black 1982 Trans Am was then built for the NBC series Knight Rider, where it played KITT.
That television role gave the redesigned car instant recognition beyond the enthusiast crowd. The 1982 model combined a clear break from the 1970s cars with a starring part on a prime-time show, which helped define the look of the new generation.
8. 1987 Pontiac Trans Am GTA: Grand Touring American
The Gran Turismo Americano debuted in 1987 with a 5.7L Tuned-Port V8 rated at 215 hp, says Wikipedia third-generation article. Production figures list 9,765 cars for the U.S. and 1,261 for Canada.
That works out to 11,026 GTAs across both markets, a modest total next to the sales of the standard Trans Am. The 1987 car added fuel-injected V8 power to the lineup and gave Pontiac a flagship version for the late 1980s.
9. 1989 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am: Indy Pace Car
The 1989 Turbo Trans Am served as the Indianapolis 500 pace car, and Wikipedia third-generation page lists 1,555 replicas built. It used a turbocharged Buick 3.8 V6 rated at 250 hp.
Car and Driver measured 0-60 mph in 4.6 seconds, a quick result for a V6 car. The 1,555 total, which includes five test cars, is the figure behind this gallery’s headline and makes the pace-car edition one of the rarest Firebirds of its era.
10. 1995 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am: The Corvette-Derived LT1 Era
The fourth-generation Trans Am leaned on Chevrolet’s small-block for its muscle. According to the fourth-generation Firebird history, the 5.7-liter LT1 V8 was the only engine offered in the Formula and the Trans Am from 1993 through 1997, and it was nearly identical to the LT1 in the C4 Corvette apart from its intake and exhaust plumbing.
That shared hardware put a Corvette-grade V8 under a far cheaper body, a large part of why these cars remain popular with enthusiasts. The swoopy styling also marked a sharp break from the boxy third generation that came before it.
11. 1998 Pontiac Trans Am (LS1): LS1 Arrives
Hagerty Firebird facts reports that the LS1 arrived in the Trans Am in 1998, rated at 305 hp. It was the first LS V8 offered in the car.
The engine marked a clear change for the fourth-generation Trans Am. A 305 hp rating stands well above the 210 hp turbo 301 of 1980 and the 215 hp GTA of 1987, showing how much output the car gained over the years covered here.
12. 2002 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am (final year): Final Year
Firebird production ended on August 30, 2002, according to Wikipedia Pontiac Firebird entry. Hagerty notes that the car stayed in production for 35 years and four generations.
The 2002 Trans Am therefore closes a story that began with the 1967 model. It brings the gallery full circle, from a car that arrived six months behind the Camaro to a final model year that capped more than three decades of Firebirds.
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