1980-1981 Pontiac Firebird Turbo Trans Am
Average asking price*: $14,900
Collector status: Buy and hold
turbo rans am

After emissions and safety standards brought about the demise of the American muscle car in 1970, few manufacturers bothered to keep the flame, focusing on the appearance of performance as opposed to true performance. One of the few exceptions was the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, that continued to cater to a specific buyer that subscribed to the no-replacement-for-displacement philosophy. Today, that effort is being recognized with values of the limited-production Super Duty 455 eclipsing the six-figure mark. The fuel crisis, first in 1974, then in 1979 dealt a final blow to the cubic-inch approach and manufacturers began producing smaller, more “european” inspired cars that complied with CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards and catered to a wider audience. Spurred by the popularity of the Smokey and the Bandit films, Pontiac wasn’t ready to let the Trans Am go the way of the Mustang II and instead looked at turbocharging as a means of getting more horsepower out of a smaller, more efficient motor. To this point, the turbo motor was used to the same effect with a four-cylinder motor like that in the Chevrolet Corvair, BMW 2002 and Saab 99, as well as six-cylinder motors, like those in the Porsche 911 and Pontiac’s own sister division Buick with its Regal V6. However, Pontiac was the first to take advantage of induced horsepower combined with the inherent torque found in a V8. While the result paled in comparison to the Ram Air, HO and SD 455 of the late-‘60s and early-‘70s, it was the most powerful engine to come out of Pontiac—or GM for that matter, Corvette included—since 1975. It was a concept that on paper seemed brilliant, but in practice it missed the mark. While the technology was new, the Trans Am’s F-body was now in its 10th year. Buyers simply didn’t know what to make of turbocharging in 1980. Muscle car guys still wanted cubic inches and the Turbo Trans Am was down nearly 100 cubes on the previous TA 6.6. Despite excellent handling for an American car at the time, the Turbo TA was no match for European competitors like the Porsche 928.

In short, the Turbo Trans Am felt completely out of place and as a result, only around 9,600 were sold. Among those, a good percentage met early deaths as owners new to turbocharging—especially non-intercooled—simply weren’t able to care for them properly. That bodes well, however, for collectors today. Few excellent examples remain and as the nostalgia trend shifts from the late-‘60s and early-‘70s to later model cars, the Pontiac Trans Am Turbo stands out as a rare example of American performance in a safety, emissions, and fuel-conscious world.