Remember the days when the Pontiac Firebird was a thing? Millennial ads read, “To a bug, it’s a 320-horsepower blender” and “The other red meat.” While the Firebird wasn’t riding high like in 1979, the boisterous Trans Am was replete with power that rivaled the high points in its history. Even Ram Air was brought back!
The fourth-generation Firebird was the last of the line, with a 1998 facelift giving it a more boisterous look (or, to some, overwrought in typical Pontiac fashion). At some point, 325 horsepower was on tap with the WS6 package, with another 10 horses available thanks to SLP’s Firehawk. It really felt like the 1960s were back.
But then it began to feel like the 1980s, with General Motors making a boner of a move: no more F-bodies. Seriously? How could GM not offer a successor to the American public? Next think you know, they’ll kill Pontiac too . . . and they did. What will GM kill next? Oh, that’s right—after a Camaro revival, that has been killed too.
Today, the acceleration of the Trans Am and Firehawk pales in comparison to modern vehicles, but sprints are but one element to muscle cars—few insipid late-model vehicles can offer the number of grins that the final performance Firebirds can.
Join Muscle Car Campy as he gives us rides in two twilight Firebird convertibles: a 2001 Trans Am with the WS6 package owned by Kevin Guido, and a 2002 SLP Firehawk owned by Tony Palese. Pay attention to the distinctions between the two, as they show how the Firebird evolved once it was in SLP’s hands.
