1975 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

The Malaise Era was well and truly underway by the 1975 model year. At least initially, the 455 V-8 disappeared from the Firebird option list, leaving the 400 cubic inch L78 V-8 as the sole motive source for the Trans Am.

Compression had been reduced to 7.6:1 which slashed output to a dismal 185 SAE net horsepower. Standard transmission was a wide-ratio four-speed manual, with optional close ratio four-speed or a Turbo 350 three-speed slushbox.

When Road Test magazine clocked a three-speed auto car with a nosebleed-tall 2.56 rear end, the two-ton 'Bird dawdled down the quarter mile in 17.99 seconds, oozing through the traps at 79mph.

While the 455 was brought back halfway through the model year, it may have been labeled "HO" in the ad copy, but it was just a low-compression station wagon motor that only managed an output of 200 ponies.

'74 and '75 models are easily identified by the black rubber bumper strips, with the 1975 model having a larger, wraparound rear window.

The Cameo White one in the photos was captured in August of 2026 using a Canon EOS RP and an RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens.

1988 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA

Here's a 1987-1990 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA in Flame Red Metallic.

1985 had seen a mild styling refresh for the 3rd Gen Firebirds, the most notable part of which was that the aero effects became better blended with the car rather than an add-on. Pontiac hadn't yet fully succumbed to the scoops-and-ribbed-cladding virus, so the cars were busier-looking than the sleek original '83-'84 T/A's, but nothing like the swollen grotesqueries that would follow in the Nineties.

The new-for-'87 Trans Am GTA (Gran Turismo Americano, according to Pontiac) came standard with the WS6 suspension package and the 215-horse L98 Tuned-Port Injection 350cid V-8, which was only available with an automatic transmission, since the Borg Warner T-5 manual used in the F-bodies wouldn't handle the torque from the 5.7L motor. (You could get a 205 horsepower TPI 305 and a five-speed as a three hundred dollar credit delete.) 1988 saw the L98's output bumped to 225 horsepower.

Unfortunately the GTA was also larded up with every luxo option in the GM catalog and it needed every one of those ponies...and still got sand kicked in its face by 5.0L Mustang LX's and kids in strippo Firebird Formulas with 5.0 TPI mills and manual transmissions.

Sorry for the potato-quality photo, but I drive by this car frequently and I'd been meaning to get a pic of it for yoinks and the day I finally got around to it in October of 2023 I had the Nikon 1 V2 & 1 Nikkor 18.5mm f/1.8, which has the equivalent to a 50mm field of view and I was snapping the pic out the rolled-down window of my Mustang, so the photo has the bejeezus cropped out of it.

1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

This would be the third '79 Pontiac Trans Am seen on these pages. The first was a Tenth Anniversary Trans Am, and the second was a Sundance Yellow coupe on the standard Rally II wheels, indicating that the original owner had been pretty stingy with the options list.

Then there's this 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am here...

It's a Starlight Black t-top coupe and pixel-peeping in on the hood, it looks like it has the gold outline around the opening for the shaker hood scoop, indicating it's a Black & Gold Special Edition car. The "TA 6.6" decal on the scoop is the tell that under the hood is the 220 horsepower W72 400 cubic inch Pontiac V-8, rather than the tamer L80 403 cubic inch Oldsmobile Rocket V-8, which made 185 horses and came with a "6.6 LITRE" decal on the scoop. 

The car has the iconic 8" wide gold snowflake alloy rims that came with the WS6 performance package, which came shod with 225/70R-15 tires, considered quite meaty at the time. The WS6 package also included rear disc brakes and beefier front and rear sway bars. A Black and Gold Special Edition with the W72 is one of the rarest configurations found on a '79 T/A, with only 1,107 configured thusly.

1979 was the last hurrah for the 400 cubic inch Trans Ams, and the 8,672 W72 motors installed that year in Trans Ams and Formulas were actually hoarded from earlier production. Tighter emissions regs for 1980 meant that the most potent motor in the final Second Generation Firebirds would be the 301 Turbo.

This one was photographed using a Nikon D3 and a 50mm f/1.4 lens in July of 2021.

1973 Pontiac Firebird Formula

1973 marked the fourth model year of the second generation Firebird. It was the first year of the federally mandated 5mph front bumper and, while the Endura snout is externally identical to that on the '72 models, the grille inserts have been moved slightly forward in their opening to clear the structural reinforcement beneath the outer skin. Also, the previous year's honeycomb grille pattern is replaced with a rectangular eggcrate.

The Firebird trim levels remained unchanged for '73, with the base model, the plusher Esprit, the performance-oriented Formula, and the top-of-the-line Trans Am. The Formula came with a standard Pontiac 350cid 2-barrel V-8 motor with dual exhausts, rated at 175 SAE net horsepower. The car in the photos had the optional 4-barrel 400, which put out 230 horses. There were also two versions of 455 on the menu, the 250hp L75 version and the snarling LS2 Super Duty 455, based on Pontiac's racing motors and rated at 310 ponies, the last gasp of the Muscle Car era.

Formulas made up a little less than a quarter of the 46,313 Firebirds sold for 1973, and 4,622 of them were Formula 400s, like the Navajo Orange example in the photos. On a stock Formula the hood scoops were cosmetic dummies, but this one's had them opened up. Off the showroom floor with a 4-speed transmission, you could expect 0-60 times of about seven seconds flat.

The top photo was snapped in May of 2025 using a Nikon D300 and 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom lens, while the lower one was taken with a Nikon D7100 and 16-80mm f/2.8-4E zoom lens in the same month. 

1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

We've had a 1979 Trans Am on here before, but it was the Tenth Anniversary model, which was actually a whole separate model from the regular Firebird, Esprit, Formula, and Trans Am.

In the photo here is a regular W87 Trans Am in Sundance Yellow. This car doesn't have the 8" wide alloy "snowflake" wheels, so the original owner probably didn't opt for the WS6 or WS7 special performance package. That explains the rear drum brakes as well.

The decal on the shaker hood scoop reads "6.6 Litre" rather than "T/A 6.6", so the car was ordered with the base L80 403 cubic inch four-barrel V-8, sourced from Oldsmobile and rated at 185 SAE net horsepower. The L80 only came with the three-speed Turbo Hydramatic TH350 transmission, and, unless you ordered the WS7 package, you got a fuel economy friendly 2.41:1 rear end to go with it.

Needless to say, a Trans Am optioned like the one in the picture was no bolt of lightning. 

They were wildly popular, though. Of the 211,453 Firebirds sold for the 1979 model year, a full 117,108... well more than half ...were Trans Ams. Subtract the seven thousand odd Tenth Anniversary cars, and that's 110k regular Trans Ams. Of those, 89,040 had the Olds V-8 and a slushbox.

This one was photographed with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and an M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens in October of 2024.

1968 Pontiac Firebird Convertible

Ford's Mustang stole a march on the rest of Detroit. The quickest response to leaked news of the upcoming close-coupled little 2+2 coupe from Dearborn was from Plymouth, who put slapped a glass fastback and bucket seats onto their Valiant coupe and dubbed it the "Barracuda" and actually squeaked it into showrooms ahead of Ford's Falcon-based sales juggernaut.

Actual purpose-built competition for the original pony car wouldn't come until the 1967 model year, when GM launched the Chevrolet Camaro and its F-body sibling from Pontiac, the Firebird.

The F-bodies made use of extensive mechanicals from the Chevy Nova compact, to include the entire front subframe, mated to attractive coke-bottle contoured unibodies. Following the established pony car pattern, they were affordable coupes with small-but-useable rear seats and available in a variety of trims from mild and thrifty to hairy and snarly.

This was still the era when every GM division still had their own engines, and the '68 Firebird convertible in the photo would have been available with several different powerplants.

The base Firebird, "the nifty, thrifty" one in the brochure's ad copy, would have come with the 250 cubic inch SOHC inline six with a one-barrel carb, making 175 SAE gross horsepower. Then there was the Firebird Sprint, advertised as being the European-flavored variant, which had a 4-barrel 215hp version of the inline six and came with a floor shifter, hood tach, and heavy duty suspension.

The standard V-8 was Pontiac's small journal 350, available in 2-barrel form with 265 horses or the H.O. version, which had a 4-barrel carb and a 10.5:1 compression ratio and made 320 ponies. Top of the line was the 400 cube small journal V-8, in three levels of tune: The standard 400 rated at 330, the H.O. at 335, and the Ram Air 400, mysteriously also only making 335 horsepower, which must have surely placated insurance companies.

Car and Driver's test of a 1967 Firebird ragtop with the base 400 and a 4-speed returned a 5.8 second zero-to-sixty run and a 14.4 quarter mile at 100mph. 

The one in the photo was snapped with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and a Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens in August of 2024.

1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

During the Malaise Era, increasing emphasis on fuel economy and reduced emissions both gaveth and tooketh away. As an example, it was the decision by corporate management at General Motors to cap compression ratios at 8.5:1 so all cars could run on regular unleaded that caused Pontiac to slip a 455 V-8 under the hood of the Firebird.

This allowed for some of the last really blisteringly quick cars of the Muscle Car era, culminating in the '73 Trans Am with the optional Super Duty 455.

However as time went on, mileage expectations increased while allowable emissions decreased. The various special versions of the 455 went away, and by the 1976 model year all that was left was the Plain Jane L75 version of the 455, reduced to a 7.6:1 compression ratio and a 200 SAE net horsepower output, a shadow of its former glory.

1977 saw the disappearance of the 455 altogether. As a consolation prize, Pontiac's engineers worked up a version of the 400 to fill the gap. The top performance option in the '77 Trans Am, the new W72 400 featured a Rochester Quadrajet carb, new heads, and an 8.0:1 compression ratio that let it match the 200 horsepower output of the previous year's bigger L75.

The rest of the Firebird's engine lineup got a shuffle, too. Gone was the straight-six base motor, replaced by a Buick-sourced 3.8L V-6. The base V-8 was the 145hp Pontiac 301, and optional V-8s included the Pontiac L76 350, rated at 170 hp, and the 180hp L78 400.

Firebirds and Trans Ams sold in California got different engines, with the optional V-8 in base cars, Esprits, and Formulas being the Oldsmobile 350 and the Trans Am's V-8 substituted with a 403 cube Olds motor. Towards the end of the model year, the 301 Pontiac V-8 got subbed with a 305 Chevy small block.

Buyers got mad about finding Olds, Chevy, and Buick engines under the hood of their racy Pontiacs, and there were lawsuits and refunds. This is ironic because starting with the very first 2nd Gen Firebirds the base straight-six was sourced from Chevrolet, as Pontiac's own OHC six was too tall to fit under the hood.

Externally, the '77 Firebirds got a new snout with a pointy beak and quad rectangular headlamps. 1977 cars can be discerned from 1978 ones by the grille mesh, which is a honeycomb pattern on the former and a rectangular mesh on the latter.

When Car and Driver put a 1977 Trans Am with a W72, backed with a 4-speed manual and a fairly tall 3.23:1 rear end, through its testing procedures, they noted a zero-to-sixty time of 9.3 seconds and a quarter mile time of 16.9 at 82 mph. The car topped out at 110 miles per hour and, still sporting front discs and rear drums, it took 213 feet to bring the 3,830-pound T/A to a halt from 70 mph. Price as tested was $8,161, or the equivalent of $42,400 current-year dollars.

The honeycomb grille of the Cameo White car in the photo makes it a '77 model, and the "T/A-6.6" decal on the shaker scoop tells us it has the W72, since the lowlier L78 motor would have a scoop that read "6.6 LITRE". It was photographed with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and an EF 24-105mm f/4L zoom lens in December of 2018. 

1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

This Cameo White Trans Am is a little bit of a puzzle. The rectangular grille indicates a 1973 model year, as does the hood scoop, which  says "455" rather than "455 H.O.".

For most Trans Ams, though, 1973 was the first year of the huge screaming chicken decal that covered the whole hood, while this one has the smaller bird on the nose cone plus the Admiralty Blue centerline stripe, like a '72 car. A '72 would also have an elongated honeycomb grille.

The 455 cubic inch engine in the Firebirds happened in response to a corporate edict from GM, that capped the compression ratio of all their divisions' cars at 8.5:1 so as to run on low-lead fuel. Pontiac decided that a 400 small journal V-8, thus neutered, wouldn't keep the Firebird competitive in the horsepower wars still raging, so they did the only thing they could do: Stuffed a 455 under the hood.

By 1973, the 455 Trans Am could be had in two flavors. The "455" on the hood scoop lets us know it that this one has the base engine for the Trans Am package, the 250bhp L75, rather than the optional 290-horse Super Duty LS2, which would have added another $550* to the MSRP and an "SD-" prefix to the decal on the shaker scoop. '73 was the first year that emissions regs began taking a really noticeable bite out of the Trans Am's output, with most previous reductions being a result of shifting from SAE Gross to SAE Net power measurement and some fiddling with numbers in the marketing department.

It's too bad it's not an SD-455, because the 1973 Super Duty Trans Am sent the Muscle Car Era out with a bang. Car and Driver tested one with a 3-speed automatic and the 3.42:1 Safe-T Track Limited Slip performance axle, and it cranked off a 5.6 second zero-to-sixty time and a 13.8 quarter at 104 miles per hour, with a top speed of 132 mph. It'd be the mid-1980s before TPI Corvettes and turbo Buick Grand Nationals would put up those kinds of numbers again. All this for $5,295... or about $37,500 in today's money.

The top two photos were taken with a Nikon D7100 and 16-80mm f/2.8-4E VR zoom lens in August of 2022, while the lower one was snapped in March of 2024 with a Canon EOS-1D Mark III and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS lens.

*$550 was a steep option in 1973, when $2500 would buy you a whole Pontiac Ventura coupe.

1998 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Convertible

Like its crosstown arch rival from Dearborn, the fourth generation of the GM F-body Camaro/Firebird twins was actually more of a very heavy refresh of the previous generation than a clean sheet of paper reboot. If you park a '92 and a '93 next to each other and look at the line of the C-pillar and the hatchback, it really becomes obvious.

The new refresh had some very important upgrades, though, and the most important was a transmission tunnel capacious enough for a more modern manual transmission, namely the 6-speed Borg Warner T-56, which had originally been developed to live behind the brawny 488 cubic inch V-10 in the Dodge Viper.

This was important because the previous 3rd Gen cars were saddled with the Borg Warner T5 5-speed and that meant that the rowdiest motors could only be had with slushboxes, since the T-5 wasn't up to the torque of the 5.7L 'Vette motor.

For the Fourth Gen cars, though, the 305 V-8 was gone. You could get a base Firebird secretarymobile with a 3.4L V-6, or you could get a Formula or Trans Am with a hairy-chested LT1 350 V-8 Corvette motor.

1998 saw a mid-cycle styling refresh for the Firebird. The Trans Am got a more aggro-looking snout, vents on the front fenders, and now the motor choices were the GM corporate 3800 V-6 200hp for base Firebirds and the 5.7L LS1 'Vette motor for the Formula and Trans Am.

Packaged for the F-body, the LS1 was rated at 305 horsepower, or 320 if you checked the box for the WS6 package, with its functional cold air "Ram Air" intake.

Car & Driver tested a 1999 30th Anniversary WS6 Trans Am convertible and ripped off a 5.3 second zero-to-sixty and a 13.9 second at 104 mph quarter mile run on its way to a 163mph top speed. These would have been impressive supercar numbers just a decade earlier and the Fourth Gen F-bodies remain some of the most performance bang for the minimum wage buck on the used car market to this day.

This one was photographed in September of 2024 with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens.

1987 Pontiac Firebird Formula

Here's a 1987-1990 Pontiac Firebird Formula. If that's the factory paint, I think that's an '87, because that's the only year that solid (non 2-tone) Bright Blue Metallic was available as an option on the Formulas.

The third generation of the F-body, before its mid-cycle refresh for the 1991 model year, is a sort of historical record of the American performance car renaissance.

When the third gen Firebirds debuted for the 1982 model year, the base Firebird came with a 151cid throttle-body injected 90bhp Iron Duke four cylinder and a 4-speed manual and the baddest Trans Am had an LU5 305 cubic inch V8 with "Crossfire fuel injection" rated at 165 SAE net horsepower.

For 1990, the last model year before they uglified the nose cone, the cheapest loss-leader Firebirds had a 140bhp 3.1L V6 with a 5-speed gearbox and the Trans Am could be had with a 245bhp L98 Tuned Port Injection 350 under the hood.

In 1987 the Formula package was freshly back after a six year hiatus, and the base motor in this car would have been the 170 horsepower LG4 305 V-8 with a Rochester 4-barrel carburetor, backed by either a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission. Optionally, the buyer could opt for the LB9 Tuned Port Injection 305, which gave 190hp with the automatic or 205 bhp with the manual. Finally, the Formula could also be had with the L98 350 TPI V-8, which made 225 horsepower in the Firebird, down slightly from the Corvette due to different, iron cylinder heads and a more restrictive intake. 

The 5.7L 'Vette-derived motor could only be had with an automatic transmission because the Borg Warner T5 World Class five-speed used in the third-generation F-bodies (like their arch rival Fox Body Mustangs) wasn't rated to handle the torque from the bigger motor.

The giant screaming chicken hood decal was gone as a factory item for '87, so the one in the photo is likely a dealer-installed option. Normally it would have a plain hood save for either "5.0 Liter" or "5.0 Liter F.I." decals on either side of the power bulge. The 5.7L cars had big "FORMULA 350" decals along the lower door panels. WS6 performance suspension and 16" wheels came standard on the Formula, too.

Car and Driver tested the '87 Formula with the Tuned Port 305 and a 5-speed and turned in a 6.8 zero-to-sixty time and a 15.1 second quarter; respectable for the era and still plenty quick enough to keep up with traffic.

The one in the photos was snapped with a Canon EOS-1D Mark III and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens in April of 2024.

1979 Pontiac Firebird Tenth Anniversary Trans Am

1979 marked the tenth anniversary of the Trans Am package on the Pontiac Firebird, a vehicle that had loomed large in American lore and popular entertainment through the decade of the Seventies.

Pontiac commemorated the occasion with the Tenth Anniversary Trans Am, which was actually listed as a separate model with its own unique VIN prefix. (Firebird: S87, Esprit: T87, Formula: U87, Trans Am: W87, TATA: X87)

Only 7500 were built and the only option buyers had was a manual or automatic transmission. Manuals came with the Pontiac W72 400 cubic inch V-8 with an 8.1:1 compression ratio and rated at 220 SAE net horsepower.

The "6.6 Litre" badge on this one's hood scoop tells us that it's one of 5,683 with the automatic transmission and 185 horsepower L80 403 cid Oldsmobile Rocket V-8.

The homogenization of GM's engine lines was well underway by now: Your base Firebird buyers got Buick V-6's, Formulas and Trans Ams came with Olds engines, and buyers in California got saddled with a 2-barrel Chevy 305.

Incidentally, while the Trans Am had spent the Seventies as an atavistic Muscle Car Era throwback with a range of 455 and 400 cubic inch V-8 motors, 1979 would be the last year for that. Thanks to tightening regulations, the biggest motor under the hood of a 1980 T/A would be the aforementioned Californian 305.

The TATA got special two-tone Platinum paint with Charcoal accents, an extra large screaming chicken decal on the hood that sprawled clean across the fender tops, and those nifty "turbo" wheels (which would reappear later on actual turbo Trans Ams). The interior featured a full load of options and it was the first Trans Am to top the $10,000 dollar mark, with an MSRP of $10,620, the equivalent of about $46,000 in today's money.

Car and Driver tested a '79 Trans Am with the W72 400 motor and the WS6 handling package, and deleted the A/C, to boot, shaving a hundred pounds off the nose of their test car. They managed a 0-60 time of 6.7 seconds and a 15.3 second quarter mile at 96.6 miles per hour. Quick enough for its era, but still a shadow of its former self. The TATA in the photos... a couple hundred pounds heavier, its L80 down 35 horses to the W72, and saddled with a slushbox ...would have put up even less impressive numbers.

These photos were snapped in July of 2019 at the Indianapolis Hamfest using a Canon EOS M and EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens.

I'm pretty sure my roommate's Lexus RX350, parked just out of frame, would demolish this Tenth Anniversary Trans Am in a drag race. I'm also pretty sure Trans Am Man could not possibly care less.

1980 Pontiac Firebird Esprit Yellowbird

Here's a nice, lightly restomodded late 2nd Generation F-body. Specifically, it looks to be a 1980 Pontiac Firebird Esprit, which featured trim and equipment a notch above the base model, and RPO W73: the Yellowbird appearance package. The Yellowbird package came with the two-tone pale yellow paint, pinstriping, and some interior appearance enhancements. It originally had color-matched Pontiac "snowflake" alloy wheels, too. Not a performance-oriented model like the Formula or Trans Am, the Esprit was more like the later Berlinetta package on Camaros.

The last few model years of the 2nd Generation marked an odd era for the F-bodies.

When the 2nd Gen was launched in 1970, the midsize cars from Chevy and Pontiac were the Chevelle and the LeMans, both of which were noticeably larger than the compact-derived Camaro and Firebird. A 1970 Pontiac LeMans rode on a 112" wheelbase and was 207" long overall, which is a four inch longer wheelbase and almost a foot more distance between the bumpers than a 1970 Firebird.

Since the Firebird in the photo is a 1980 model, it would have been sold on a lot next to mid-size LeMans sedans that had undergone a radical round of downsizing in the late Seventies and which now rode on a 108" wheelbase the same length as that of the sporty coupe. In fact, in 1982 that platform would be re-badged as the Bonneville and would be the new "full-size" Pontiac sedan, and the "mid-size" Pontiac banner would be handed off to an even smaller FWD car. When the 3rd Gen Firebirds launched in 1982, whey whacked a full seven inches off the wheelbase of their predecessor.

It wasn't that the '79-'81 Firebirds had gotten big and bloated, so much as it is that Detroit shrank around them. It didn't help that a bunch of heavy safety and emissions equipment had been added since 1970, while the motors in the engine compartment shrank in response to the '73 and '79 Oil Crises.

The Yellowbird was just an appearance package, so the base motor in this Esprit still would have been a Buick-sourced 231 cubic inch V-6 rated at 115 SAE net horsepower. Buyers could also pay extra for the LS5 265cid V-8 or L37 301cid V-8. Both were derived from the small-journal Pontiac block. The 265 had a 2-bbl carb and was rated at 120hp while the 301 had a 4bbl and put out 140 net horsepower.

Judging from the wheels and tires and general stance of the car, though, as well as the healthy exhaust burble it gave off, I doubt this thing's rolling with the stock 140 horses.

This one was snapped in August of 2021 using a Nikon D3 and 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens.

1975 Pontiac Firebird Formula

It's a second-generation Pontiac Firebird! While the snout on the '74-'76 Firebirds was generally the same, they can be distinguished by the placement of their turn signals. A 1974 has them below the bumper, outboard, directly beneath the headlights. A 1976 has them in the intake grilles under the bumper. A '75, like this one, has them in the grille openings above the bumper.

Also, starting with the 1975 model year the rear window was enlarged, wrapping around further, clear to the top of the fenders. Front discs were now standard on all Firebird models for '75, but so were catalytic converters.

This Alpine Green example is a '75 Firebird Formula 400, at least according to the badge. By the mid-Seventies, the L78 400cid 4-barrel had a compression ratio something like 7.6:1 or so and was putting out only 185 SAE net horsepower, even in the Formula's performance-oriented installation. At some 3800ish pounds, it took everything they had to crack the 10-second 0-to-60 barrier and lay down quarters in the high seventeens. This thing would be hard pressed keeping up with an airport rental Kia these days and struggled to top 100mph...

But it sure is a good-looking car, and it didn't take much work to uncork a lot more power out of that big motor.

These photos were taken with a Nikon 1 J4 and the 1 Nikkor 30-110mm f/3.5-5.6 VR zoom lens in November of 2020.

1991 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Convertible

By the early 1990s, the third generation F-bodies from GM were getting long in the tooth. Work was already underway on their 4th gen replacements, but it was decided to give the Firebird and Camaro a light styling refresh to keep interest going until the new versions debuted.

Pontiac replaced the nosecone on the 1991 Firebirds with a urethane "droop snoot" reminiscent of the aero one on the Banshee IV concept car. The ground effects were also changed to match the newer rakish look. Personally, I don't think either was an improvement. The "lidded eyes" of the closed headlights on the '82-'90 Firebirds, done by Jerry Palmer and Bill Porter, were iconic.

While Firebird convertibles were still done at American Sunroof Corporation by performing roofectomies on regular t-top cars, dealers could order them from the factory as convertibles now, rather than having to special order them and have them drop-shipped to ASC.

For a 1991 Trans Am convertible, like the Arctic White one photographed here, you could get any engine you wanted as long as it was the LB9 Tuned-Port Injected 305, rated at 205 horsepower. The vast majority were 4-speed automatic cars, but a 5-speed manual was available.

This one was photographed in July of 2024 with a Nikon D700 and 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G zoom lens.