Welcome to these CarDomain pages celebrating my 1980 Pontiac Trans Am.

If you're just checking in for the latest updates, they're currently going at the bottom of page 3. Thanks for looking!

I've owned this car since Feb. 1998 when I bought it for $750. Since then, there's been a lot of work done to it with even more to come. I belong to the Trans Am Club of Houston TACH and enjoy participating in club events, cruises and local car shows.

There's also something I really like about early Mustangs, but the '65 Convertible isn't quite ready for prime time - yet. Here's what the hoodbird looks like and an evening shot of the rear.

Firebird and Trans Am History:

The Firebird nameplate has an interesting heritage. Following WWII and the development of the jet engine, many automakers began tinkering with turbines with an eye toward developing them as potential automotive powerplants. General Motors was one of them and in 1953 built a futuristic land vehicle to test the limits of this new application. Today, a representation of this "first Firebird" sits proudly atop the trophy presented each year to the winner of the Daytona 500. Two more experimental turbine-powered cars followed before the end of the decade. You can read a lot more about these experimental Firebirds, so named for their jet exhaust and aircraft styling, by visiting Conklin Systems at their website.

Here are some pictures showing Firebirds I, II and III, along with Firebird IV (a Motorama styling exercise) and the Banshee:

After Firebird IV, the name fell dormant until March of 1967, when Pontiac unveiled their version of the Chevy Camaro and officially entered the �Pony Car� war. The reason for this mid-year introduction was a production delay brought on by corporate bickering. You see, Pontiac (fueled by John DeLorean�s vision of a high-powered two-seater going head-to-head against the Corvette) had secretly developed it�s own prototype, codenamed 833 or Banshee, that was destined to become the Firebird. The brass at GM, however had other ideas. In an eleventh-hour showdown, during a battle of corporate will, DeLorean was ordered to produce his car from Chevrolet's Camaro. It is interesting to speculate on what might have happened, had not the decision eventually been made to share the F-body platform. Even so, Pontiac made this more than just a styling exercise. The Firebird featured suspension geometry that made the car sit one inch lower than the Camaro for better handling and a lower center of gravity. Also, staggered rear shocks and traction bars were employed to help eliminate axle hop under hard acceleration. Naturally, engine choices were limited to Pontiac powerplants, none of which were available with the Camaro.

The Trans Am model evolved from the Pontiac Firebird lineup in 1969. In yet another tale of corporate politics, the car never seriously competed in the SCCA racing series for which it was named. Although Pontiac planned to go racing in the 5-liter class and had developed its own engine program to do so, the corporate beancounters never gave Pontiac the necessary approval to build the production version required for class competition. Even so, PMD paid a $5.00 royalty to SCCA on every Trans Am ever sold from 1969 through 2002 for use of the name. As usual, exceptions can be found and there was the Canadian team of Jerry Titus that was outfitted with the ultra-rare 303 short-deck Ram Air V. How he beat the homologation requirement for 500 production engines (25 were actually built) is still a mystery. Other Trans Ams entered competition using Chevy 302 engines. Another irony is that the 301 c.i. engine introduced by Pontiac to satisfy smog and CAF� restrictions in 1979 would have been allowed under the rule structure, but it came along too late in the game and was never developed to any serious performance potential.

Since its introduction, there have been 4 major changes in body styling. My illustrations below show examples from 1969, 1979, 1989 and 1999.

Most recent update: 14-Mar-2006 - Page 3, added STARS Show link.

25-Apr-2006 - Page 3, added pictures from STARS 2006 Show.

01-May-2006 - If you are in or near Northwest Houston on a Saturday Nite, you've gotta check out the Niftee Fiftees Drive-In. It's located at the corner of Spring-Cypress and Champions Forest Drive in the Kroger shopping center parking lot. Over 300 cars have been showing regularly. One note, however: if your ride is more recent than 1979, you'll need to park outside the coned-off area. They only allow cars built before 1980 inside the cones. There's dining, dancing and music in addition to the fabulous rides on display.

06-Jul-2006 - added Forth of July Parade pics at bottom of page 3.

Page One � You are Here
Page Two � History of �Gray Ghost�
Page Three � Most Recent Photos and Details
Page Four � Links and Other Stuff
Page Five � Our "Other" Rides (What? There's more to life than Trans Am'ing?)
Page Six � Other Firebirds and Trans Ams
Page Seven � My Firebird/TA Diecast and Model Collection
Page Eight - About Me
Page Nine - Previous Cars I've Owned