- A body enhancement package
- A powerful 400-cid Poncho engine upgrade
- The TA featured several cosmetic differences
The Trans Am name came from the SCCA
The Trans Am option first debuted in April of 1969, with a very short run of 697 cars, of which 689 were hardtops with the remaining 8 being convertibles.
Originally the name for the Trans Am model came from the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) racing series and the basic idea for that original 1969 car was to offer racers that participated in the series a starting vehicle to build their own road racing machine. A racer named Herb Adams is mostly responsible for the birth of the original Trans Am car and over the years the Trans Am option had become quite popular with Firebird buyers. The year 1979 set the high-water mark with a new sales record of 117,108 Trans Am models, which included 7,500 10th Anniversary cars, produced that same model year.
Much of what made the Trans Am car different from a standard Firebird or a Firebird Formula model was the body enhancement package the designers came up with for it. The ’69 cars were white in color and a:
- 400-cid Ram Air engine
- dual scooped hood
- rear airfoil
- side engine air exhaust louvers on the front fenders
- and a pair of blue stripes running front to rear over the hood, roof, and rear deck.
When the all-new second-generation Firebirds were released in late February 1970, the Trans Am versions received special attention regarding:
- front and rear spoilers
- a unique hood scoop
- side fender vents
- wheel “spats” that were installed at the forward side of each wheel opening, the first-of-a-kind on a production car
A body package that would aid a high-speed race car
Were all these exterior body additions for function or to give the car a certain “café racer” appearance? A bit of both, actually. While the car was never put in the wind tunnel contrary to what advertisements suggested the appendages did have aerodynamic reasoning behind them, including tests on the road between a prototype Trans Am and a standard Firebird, done by the means of a series of transducers placed on the cars to measure suspension height front and rear, and then the various configurations were tested with the car at high speeds.
The general idea was to create a body package that would aid a high-speed racecar on the track, and by fitting these pieces on a streetcar that was sold off the dealer showroom floor, it would homologate them for use on the SCCA Trans Am circuit. The added body pieces around the wheel openings created less wind drag by restricting the amount of air turbulence around the spinning wheels/tires and the rear spoiler provided rear downforce, with the front spoiler minimizing high-speed lift.
Other additions the designers gave the Trans Am body starting in 1970 was a “Shaker” hood scoop that was attached directly to the engine, with a rear-racing opening to feed the engine fresh air. Herb Adams was the person responsible for the scoop design and it was done to take advantage of the “neutral” air pressure in the general area at the base of the windshield. Add in the front fender vents that were added on the sides which, according to factory test reports, reduced lift with the release of accumulated air from under the hood. The pieces added to the standard Firebird body to create the Trans Am not only showed aerodynamic advantages but the way they were styled also added a definite “flashy” appearance to the car.
These items designed for the 1970 ½ Firebird Trans Am remained on 2nd generation remained on production cars over the next eleven years, and while the engines on the cars shrunk from 400 and 455-cid V8 mills early on to a 301-cid V8 which debuted in 1979, there was a good demand for the cars and much of it was because of the appearance, plus added popularity came from the Trans Am appearances from the “Smokey and the Bandit” movies, the first of which that came out in 1977.
Big and bold in every way
The 1979 model year was a great year in terms of total sales for the Firebird Trans Am, it marked the tenth year of the model plus that year also was the last opportunity to get a large cubic inch engine under the hood. There were several engines available that year for the Trans Am, a standard 4-barrel equipped 301-cid V8 that was rated at 150 horsepower (yes, it was pitiful), a 403-cid four-barrel V8 of Oldsmobile origin that was rated at 185 horsepower, and a 400-cid Pontiac powerplant that featured a four-barrel carburetor with a listed 220 horsepower. The Olds engine, the 6.6L, was offered only with an automatic transmission, and the more powerful 400-cid Poncho T/A 6.6L, was the engine upgrade when ordering a 4-speed manual transmission.
1979 was the last year for a big cube Trans Am, and the featured car is an automatic, so it features the 403-cid engine, and these had “6.6 LITRE” markings on the shaker. Factory records indicate some 5683 TA cars had this powerplant when they rolled off the assembly line. The 400-cid engines that came on manual transmission cars saw a “TA - 6.6” identification in the same area of the hood scoop, and it is believed the remaining 1817 TAs had this mill.
4-speed cars received the 400-cid “L78” engine which was pure Pontiac, delivering 220 horsepower, while the automatics (as shown here) used the “L80” 403-cid engine, which was sourced from Oldsmobile, and had a 195-horsepower listing. The front-mounted oil filler, as viewed here between the heater and radiator hoses, is the easiest way to quickly tell the difference between the two powerplants.
For 1979 Pontiac gave the front end of the Firebird a freshened look via a whole new front fascia, fitted with quad rectangular headlights that were housed in separate recessed openings. The air intake /cooling grilles were lowered below the headlights, with additional airflow to the under-hood area also coming from below the front bumper area. The rear of the new for 1979 Firebird was updated with full-width taillight treatment, featuring a “black-out” look on the Trans Am, and the movement of the license plate to the lower bumper area.
The TA car featured several cosmetic differences over a regular Trans Am model, which were mostly inspired by a 1977 Firebird “Appliance Wheels” SCCA race car that was campaigned by Herb Adams, a car with a fiberglass body that was channeled and fitted with large wheel flares and an enlarged rear spoiler. The car was called “Silver Bird” and the graphics and paint design came from John Schinella, who headed up the design department responsible for the Firebird.
That slippery racecar had silver paint and the design featured an oversized “hood bird” plus a two-tone paint treatment, featuring a charcoal hue that extended from the shaker area and onto the car’s roof area.
What Pontiac stylists did was:
- adapt the racecar graphics to the new 1979 Trans Am
- special cast aluminum “Turbo Flow” wheels
- unique upholstery
- markings
and the 10th Anniversary Trans Am was born.
Red and black pinstriping helped add some additional color and the huge bird for the hood which originally was fitted to a one-piece fiberglass front end in the ’77 competition car was so sprawling that it was in three separate pieces, the main bird and feather extensions for the tops of each front fender. Big and bold in every way, but it looked good.
Pricing on the 1979 Anniversary Trans Ams was set at $10,619.55, which was a lot of money for a start-up Firebird! As an example, a 1979 Corvette had a base price of $10,220.00, but Pontiac sold every last one of them to enthusiastic F-Body lovers. These were the last of the “big bore” Trans Am cars and while they were not necessarily overflowing with horsepower, they at least still had a large cubic inch displacement.
The flawless feature car highlighted here
This unrestored vehicle looks and feels like a new car, and with it now residing in the warm climate of the Phoenix metro area, it can be taken out and driven any time of the year and in total comfort, thanks to the factory stock air conditioning that came as part of the TA package. 1979 was the best sales year for Pontiac Trans Am cars and shown here is a great surviving example of the once-proud Poncho F-Body.
T-Tops were standard on TA cars and when removed as shown here, there was a certain “open air” flavor to occupants, but of course not as dramatic as convertible models.generation GM F-body cars, Camaros and Firebirds from 1970 ½ to 1981, were never available in convertible form.
The oversized “Screaming Chicken” hood bird for this limited-edition car was originally conceived for the 1977 Herb Adams racer that competed in SCCA Trans-Am competition and saw duty the following year on these 1979 TA models.
This view shows the smoked T-Tops installed and a flash of chrome off one of the dual chromed tipped exhaust tips. TA body graphics were patterned off a racecar sponsored by Appliance Industries in 1977 which was an OEM wheel supplier to the Pontiac Division.
The “Turbo Flow” cast aluminum wheel with a polished finish, made its debut on these cars and they were manufactured by Appliance Wheels. P225 / 70 R15 were the standard tires offered, in this case, Goodyear Polysteel Radials. These are the location of the fender markings as applied at the factory.
Pontiac had to go to an outside vendor (Sheller Globe Corporation) for the Formula steering wheel at an extra expense, but product planners felt the unique wheel was worth all the effort. The original 1970 ½ Trans Am car was being designed while John Z. DeLorean was still at Pontiac, right before he was promoted to head up Chevrolet, and it is said he was the leading force for this sort-rimmed racing type wheel.
