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Bright Blue 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Being Auctioned

In response to the wildly successful Ford Mustang, Chevrolet debuted the Chevy Camaro in late September of 1966. Pontiac got an F-Body of its own five months later with the Pontiac Firebird. In 1969, the Firebird could be had with the new Trans Am Performance and Appearance package, lifting its name from the racing series featuring five-liter pony cars. Only 689 Pontiac Trans Am coupes and a scant eight convertibles left the factory for the ’69 model year.

Side view of the 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am up for auction online.

1970 was the final year for full power GM muscle and performance cars. With federal economy and emissions standards, coupled with insurance companies that were wary of insuring young drivers in increasingly powerful factory hot rods, the writing was on the wall. But the performance mavens at Pontiac still managed to keep the excitement alive by underrating the brawny V8s they were stuffing under the hood of the Pontiac Trans Am. The 1973 and 1974 Trans Am 455 Super Duty made more power than the Chevy Corvette. The 6.6-liter in the 1977 Trans Am helped make the car the star of Smokey and the Bandit, and would drive sales to eclipse the Chevy Camaro for the first time in 1979, with more than 117,000 T/As sold.

The 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am could be had with either the 400 cubic-inch L78 6.6-liter V8 that made 180 horsepower, the Oldsmobile-based L80 403 that made 185 horses, or the optional 400 cube Pontiac W72 underrated at 220 horsepower.

Our feature 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am was the subject of refurbishment under prior ownership, with work including a full strip and repaint in its original shade of Bright Blue, replacing the glass, retrimming the interior in black vinyl with custom front bucket seats, rebuilding the three-speed automatic transmission, air conditioning, replacing the body seals and weatherstrip, and fitting a GM Performance 350 cubic-inch crate engine. The Trans Am is equipped with the three-speed automatic, Safe-T-Track limited-slip rear differential, glass T-tops, fifteen-inch Snowflake alloy wheels, power windows, power steering, air conditioning, and an Alpine stereo head unit. Included in the sale are the owner’s manual, service manuals, and restoration invoices.

This 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am is currently being auctioned on Bring a Trailer with the sale concluding Monday, July 22nd.

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Comments

  1. What a shame to put a Chevy engine in a Pontiac. They could at least rebuild the original engine if needed in order to keep it original.

    Reply
  2. They took out a Olds engine. Maybe someone needs to tell pontiac to only put pontiac motors in Pontiacs. Proud original 1980 trans am 301 owner(still between the fenders)

    Reply

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