1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am — 403 V8, T-Tops, Platinum, Florida Car with Solid Undercarriage Why This Car Is Special The 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am sits at the peak of the second-generation Firebird's popularity. By 1979, Trans Am sales had exploded thanks in large part to the Smokey and the Bandit film franchise — Pontiac sold over 117,000 Trans Ams that model year, a record for the nameplate. That cultural moment is now four decades in the rearview mirror, and clean, honest examples like this one have become increasingly difficult to find.

What separates this car from the pack is not just its factory-correct Trans Am equipment, but where it spent its life. Florida cars avoid the salt, the rust, and the rot that end the stories of most late-1970s muscle cars. The undercarriage on this one bears that out in photographs, and you can confirm it in person.

The VIN decodes this car as a Norwood, Ohio-assembled 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, body style 87 — the standard coupe. The engine code in the VIN confirms the 403 cubic inch Oldsmobile V8, which was the automatic transmission engine option for the Trans Am in 1979. Buyers in states with stricter emissions requirements, including California, received this engine rather than the Pontiac 400.

The 403 was built by Oldsmobile and is a well-regarded unit with good torque characteristics and a strong parts supply today. This is a complete, honest, driver-quality 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with all the right factory features — T-tops, the Screaming Chicken hood decal, Snowflake wheels, the T/A 6.6 air cleaner, and a black interior. It wears Platinum exterior paint, a color that photographs as a cool silver-gray and suits the Trans Am's long hood and aggressive body lines particularly well.

If you were a teenager in 1979, this is exactly the car that was on your bedroom wall. Features List - 6.6L 403ci Oldsmobile V8 engine - 3-Speed Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic transmission - T/A 6.6 stamped aluminum air cleaner - Factory T-tops with removable roof panels - Pontiac Snowflake cast aluminum wheels - Firebird hood decal (Screaming Chicken) - Factory rear spoiler - Dual exhaust - Radial Tuned Suspension (RTS) - Factory gauge cluster with tachometer and water temperature gauge - Factory 4-spoke Trans Am steering wheel with Firebird emblem - Black cloth bucket seats - Center console with floor shifter - Air conditioning - Power steering - Power windows - Cruise control - Upgraded aftermarket stereo - White-letter Cooper Cobra Radial tires - Clean Florida undercarriage — solid floor pans, no rust Mechanical The 403 cubic inch Oldsmobile V8 under this car's hood is one of the more interesting footnotes in GM's late-1970s engine sourcing story. By 1979, Pontiac's own 400 cubic inch V8 was being phased out to meet tightening emissions standards.

For Trans Am buyers who ordered the Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic — as this car's original buyer did — the engine that came from the factory was Oldsmobile's 403, dressed up with a Trans Am-specific T/A 6.6 stamped aluminum air cleaner lid to keep the engine identity somewhat ambiguous at a glance. It was a marketing decision that upset some purists at the time, but the 403 is a torquey, durable engine that has proven itself over decades of use. The stamped T/A 6.6 air cleaner is correct and present on this car, which matters for anyone building toward a show-quality example.

The 3-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic is the correct transmission pairing for the 403 engine in this application. It shifts smoothly and is one of the more robust automatics GM produced in this era. Backing it up is the factory dual exhaust, visible and intact in the undercarriage photographs.

The exhaust system shows clean pipe work running the length of the car, which is consistent with the rust-free Florida history this car presents. The Radial Tuned Suspension — called out right on the dashboard cluster with its own RTS badge — was Pontiac's factory