Pontiac Trans Am suffered cut in cubes in 1980
(Spending more time in-house this week lended opportunity to look back to 1979/80, a period of changes for the Pontiac Trans Am.)
Dispirited was the effect upon many followers 40 years ago as Pontiac, one of the last of the bigengined muscle-car builders, was transitioning to smaller-block V-8s with its popular Trans Am. Being scrapped were 400- and 403-cubicinch V-8s, to be replaced by – a 301. The Trans Am version of the Pontiac Firebird was introduced in 1969 and quickly became a strong seller, spurred in ’71 by offering of a big 455 V-8, which a few years later gave way to the 400 and 403. Lots of dissenting views were cast upon Pontiac, which was synonymous with power, yet now was following the trend to lesser size beneath the hood.
I wrote in The Denver Post of
June 23, 1979, “The ’79 Trans Am is one of the few performance autos still on the market. The 3,600-pound car is among the best in handling, and either of the big engines offers excellent acceleration. The 400 comes with 4-speed manual transmission, the 403 with automatic transmission. They are equipped with four-barrel carburetors and dual exhausts, which give off a deep rumbling sound.”
Six months later, I was reviewing the 1980 Trans-Am with the new, small V-8, and wrote this of it in the Post of Dec. 22, 1979: “The 301 V-8 with the turbocharger runs as good as 400 and 403 did, particularly at lower speeds. The turbo removes suspicion that maybe the Trans-Am has been tamed. The turbo package added $350 to sticker price of the
’80 model, which was $8,971.”
The Trans Ams were provided for testing on a complimentary basis by Chuck Colvin, who operated Colvin Pontiac at 945 Broadway in Denver. Firebird and Trans Am went out of production in 2002 and Pontiac as a brand was discontinued in April 2009. A General Motors companion car through the same years was the Chevy Camaro.
Only 697 Trans Ams were built in the first year of the car’s production in 1969. More than 100,000 were sold during the 1979 model year
Here is all you’d ever want to know about the length of the 2021 Seltos, which was reviewed last week in The Post:
“The Kia Seltos is 172 inches in overall length on a wheelbase of 103.5 inches, with curb weight of 3,317 pounds. It is 3 inches longer than the key-rival Honda HR-V, 200 pounds heavier and owns a halfinch edge in ground clearance.” An eagle-eyed reader, Dick B., noticed last week’s edition listed the “key-rival” as the Honda CR-V, which is actually 10 inches longer than the Seltos. I regret the error.