The Pontiac Firebird WS6

I got pictures of a whole buncha’ goodies yesterday thanks to the fact that I didn’t have to go to work until much later than usual.  There are few things I love more than looking at cars (driving them would be one, though), but today’s entry is kind of bittersweet.  This car is one of the reasons that I mourn the loss of Pontiac.  I have never been a particularly big fan of the brand, though I did like the car that would become Pontiac’s automotive swansong, the G8 (reincarnated now as a Chevy Caprice cop car). 

Today’s car, is one that has for years been on my radar: The Pontiac Trans Am.   This, in spite of being the mechanical twin of the Chevy Camaro -as you may recall, I hold pretty firm in my stance that Camaros are for people who marry their cousins.  But, add a little badge engineering and some slightly different body panels, then sprinkle on a little David Hasselhoff and magically, the car transforms into something I adore.

My affinity for Trans Ams can be traced back to my early childhood.  Along with The Dukes of Hazzard, with their awesome orange 1969 Dodge Charger, and Wonder woman (who didn’t really have a car, or anyway, if she did, it would have been invisible), the other cool show I liked as a kid was Knight Rider.  In Knight Rider, David Hasselhoff got to drive a tricked out Trans Am named KITT.  In fact, for my 5th birthday, I remember the neighbor kid from across the street gave me a black Trans Am matchbox car.  It wasn’t THE official Knight Rider matchbox car, but that didn’t matter to me because I got my grubby little mitts of some red nail polish and painted a little red stripe in along the grille insert, making it my own KITT.

The other childhood link I have to Trans Ams stems from seeing Smokey and the Bandit with Burt Reynolds and Sally Field.  If you’ll recall that one, it featured a black Trans Am with gold trim and the screaming chicken decal on the hood.  The look of that vehicle may have been overwrought, but when you’re a little kid seeing a sleek machine all decked out like that, it looks freakin’ sweet.  I never managed to identify with Burt Reynolds, but I did form an association between women drivers and the Bandit Trans Am because another neighbor kid who I used to play with had one- screamin’ chicken hood decal and all- parked in his garage.  It belonged to his mother, and it was gorgeous. 

All nostalgia aside, Trans Ams are nice looking cars, and I wish Pontiac had been able to stick around -if for no other reason than because I wanted to see the revised Firebird/Trans Am twin of the new Camaro cruising the streets.  Alas, it was not to be, and that’s a shame.  Worse though is that when some television network tried to revive the Knight Rider show, they cast a Mustang as KITT.  You know I love me some Mustangs, but that’s just not right.

Time to learn a thing or two about these cars.  We’ll start with the hierarchy, and we‘re going to pull from what was available in the year 2000, because that‘s a nice round number, and it‘s era appropriate for today‘s car.  It goes like this:

Step 1:  The base model Pontiac Firebird:  These came with a 3.8L V6 and produced 200 HP and 225 lb ft of torque.

Step 2: The Formula Firebird:  Upgraded with a 5.7L V8 that was good for 305 HP and 335 lb ft of torque.

Step 3: The Trans Am: Pretty much like the Formula but with some different body styling that included a modified nose, side skirts, and a bigger wing. Under the hood sits the same 5.7L V8 with 305 HP and 335 lb ft of torque.

Step 4: ***this is today’s car***  The Trans Am WS6:  This car features a souped up version of the 5.7L V8 that boosts output to 320 HP and 345 lb ft of torque.

Step 5: The Firehawk: Featuring the same 5.7L V8 but with 335 HP and 350 lb ft of torque.

You may be wondering what the “WS6” designation means.  Well, it’s nothing terribly inspiring or impressive like being short for “Wow! Super! I give it 6 stars out of 5!”.  WS6 was the ordering code for the performance package.  In 2000, when you walked into the dealership and sat down to pick out your Trans Am built to order, if you decided you wanted 15 more horsepower, and Ram Air intake, you would check the box coded WS6 and plunk down an extra $3,150 on top of the nearly $29,000 that a regular Trans Am would have cost.   That little transaction got you not only those extra horseys, and the Ram Air intake (those are functional nostrils on the hood of the car, not just tacked on hood scoops for show), you also got 17” rims (big by 2000 standards) that sported Z rated tires, a stiffer suspension and a larger anti-sway bar to enhance the car’s handling.

In contrast, checking the box marked “WU6” would have put you on the hook for an extra $4,000 or so, but you’d have a Firehawk to show for it.  Check another box for the 10th Anniversary edition Firehawk and you’d splash out another $2,000 on top of that.  IN return, you’d get a black one with gold stripes and gold rims. 

Both Firehawks and the WS6 were built by a company Pontiac contracted with called Street Legal Performance.  Wonder how they’re doing now?  From the looks of their website, they’re still in business, and they’re selling performance parts for Camaros along with a range of other American Pony cars and vehicles.  I bet they miss the Firebird though.  I know I do.

These days, if you want a Trans Am WS6, you’re stuck with buying a used one, and it will cost you.  On the low end, you’re looking at $15,000 for one with around 70,000 miles on up into the low 20’s for a low mile example.  Considering that any one of the WS6’s you might buy will be at least 10 years old, that’s not too bad in terms of hanging on to resale value.  This one is a particularly nice example and would probably be one of the over $20,000 examples if it were for sale.  And just look at that: A T-top!  You get the handling and weight of the coupe (convertibles often have to resort to using an X frame to stiffen and stabilize the structure due to the lack of roof) but the feel of a convertible.  This is another thing that makes me nostalgic because some years ago, my brother had a T-topped early-eighties Monte Carlo that I used to like to take out after flinging the glass top panels into the trunk... Good times.