Pontiac's Pony Car

It must be difficult to have a famous relative. Now imagine if that famous relative is essentially a twin. It wouldn't matter how good you were at something you would always be compared and overshadowed by the more famous kin. Such was the case for the Pontiac Firebird.

By 1967 both General Motors and Chrysler were hustling to jump aboard the pony car phenomenon, Of course the Plymouth Barracuda, with its pony car styling of a short trunk and longer front end did manage to beat Ford's Mustang to the market. Still, the Mustang was a phenomenon that eclipsed every other car in that class.

In order to bite a chunk out of the unbelievable Mustang sales numbers, GM released the Firebird simultaneously with the Chevrolet Camaro. Both cars were pretty much identical and were even made on the same assembly line (most notably the GM plant in Norwood, OH where my uncle worked for decades). While there were substantial differences in the styling, what was underneath and all of the features and extras were essentially the same. This was done as a cost savings venture.

While the Camaro was originally offered with numerous different performance packages such as the RS, SS and Z 28, it wouldn't be until 1969, the last year of the first generation, that the Firebird would get a special designation known as the Trans Am performance and appearance package. Since Chevy had been the most successful make in battling Ford for sales supremacy, it's little wonder that that the "bow tie" was given more marketing and advertising dollars. This was evident in overall sales.

The Firebird did get a huge boost in sales after it was a featured "co-star" to Burt Reynolds in the 1977 film, "Smokey and the Bandit."

In 1970 the second generation of the Firebird was released with upgrades in power plants and many new styling cues. The second generation would run through 1981 until the third generation took over for a full decade. The fourth generation was released in 1993 and ran until GM decided to shutter the Pontiac line for economic reasons.

The car featured here is a first generation model. This 1969 is a rare convertible since it was the last year this trim was available. The car has the optional 350 cubic inch V8 engine matched to the three speed automatic transmission. It even came with a factory installed 8-track player.