'79 Firebirds Lot#3

The 1979 Pontiac Firebird, Formula & Trans Am
Lot#3

This is an interesting picture. It was probably used in some kind of promotional advertisement or at least was meant for that purpose. I have always felt the orange decal combined with white paint was the least attractive of the available color combinations. I'm sure some of you might disagree...

Photo courtesy of Mark Allbaugh.

I don't normally post black & white pictures but this is just the kind of thing I like to display for Firebird fans to see. The cars (yes there are two different ones: note the hood decals) at the right are 1979 Trans Ams that were special customized by the famous George Barris. He's a famous customizer known for such vehicles as the original Batmobile. The first TA depicted was built for John Travolta (bet you couldn't tell). The other one was built for the famous 70s Fabian movie "Disco Fever". Both cars were built the same sans the decals. Each received a whale-tail spoiler, fiberglass fender pontoons with cooling scoops, Recaro seats, Western Wheels, and a 455c.i. engine. The paint was multi-toned Pearl White with Flat Black striping.
Hopefully I can acquire some color pics of these cars in the future. For those of you that may be interested a plastic model kit of the Travolta Firebird was manufactured by Revell. I recently acquired one of these models and am offering it for sale. You can see the model at Models Lot#5 .

Photos courtesy of Paul

If anyone knows the current whereabouts of any of these cars. Please send an e-mail to the Gallery. Thank you.

This pristine silver Trans Am used to belong to a good friend of mine who I know solely through the internet, Chris Batson. Chris recently sold the Trans Am. Below is the last entry Chris provided me about this TA:

"The car was bought in my neighboring town for the menial price of $8,352.46. My uncle, from whom I bought the car from, has owned this beauty since 1982. I am the proud 4th owner of this all original 1979 Trans Am. It has the Oldsmobile 403, automatic with posi-traction, although I am unsure of the gear ratio right now. The car is strong and tight. It has been stored every winter since its been in Minnesota. I am currently looking to do some minor restoration on it to get it to brand new as the doors are starting to crust at the corners. The car has A/C, Cruise control, Block heater, moldings, hood decal, am/fm radio cassette, tilt. The car is Platinum in color, just about the same color as the 10th Anniversary TA's. I sent in the VIN information to PHS for documentation and the car is all matching! I paid the sum of $4,000 dollars for this beauty. I recently had it appraised and its worth more than I paid, needless to say. I am lucky enough to have the original build sheet and am searching for the original window sticker, but will be able to purchase a reprint from PHS. I hopefully will add 3 more T/A's to my garage in the near future. Possibly a '70 - '73, '77 or '78 and an '85 T/A. Naturally I may end up getting another here and there if I find something I like. A 1976 50th would be sweet!"

Chris Batson

I'm with you Chris!! I've got three Firebirds in the driveway so far, but there are so many I like I may have a fleet someday.

This poncho looks like its on the warpath just sitting there!! It was sold recently. Hopefully the new owner will contact us. The last info I had on this car is as follows:

The body has 85,000 miles on it, the interior is all original and in near perfect condition. It has a new base coat clear coat black paint job with an all new rebuilt 400 Pontiac, generating over 400 horsepower. Then M21 4 speed transmission was rebuilt and 3:90 gears installed in the rear-end.

This awesome brown Trans Am is owned by Katie Taylor. Katie writes:

"My dad bought the car when he was 20 years old. He has kept it since then, and passed it down to me. Since I have had it I've been trying to improve its performance and the luxury of the car. On the inside I have a Clarion CD player and I just had the headliner redone. In about another week I'm going to buy all the little plastic pieces that fit on the consol and the sifter, because over the years they have started to crack. On the outside I have installed two Flowmaster mufflers and a High-flo catalytic converter. This has added about 20 hp to my car. Also I have put many hours of hard work washing and waxing my car, but on the other hand what Trans-Am owner doesn't enjoy waxing their car? Anyway, I hope that in another month I'll be able to have the paint redone on the car and have the engine steam cleaned.
I would also like to comment on one of the other Trans-Am owner's paragraphs on how he got his car. He said he rescued it from a 18yr old girl that was driving it to school. I'm 17 years old and I drive my car to school every day, I also drive it to the mall, the barn, and anywhere else I have to go. I have kept the car just as nice as my dad did, and I don't plan on having it "rescued" from me. I dont know if I'm not the stereotypical 17 year old girl or not, but I take good care of my car, just like any older person would. If anyone wants to talk to me about my car please E-mail me. I love to hear any comments or sugestions, or just talk about my car. Thanks."

Katie Taylor
Dallas Tx.

E-mail: Katie Taylor

David McCloud is the proud owner of this rare WS6 4-speed/ 400c.i. Formula. David writes:

"The Formula is a 1979, with the rare 400/4-speed combo. It's also a WS-6 car with the 4-wheel disc brakes. It belonged to a friend of mine who drove it through high-school. It had about 1,500 miles on it when he bought it. My wife and I tracked it down a couple of years ago and bought it from it's fourth owner. It's in pretty good shape, but it will be receiving a sub-frame-off restoration in the near future. It's options include air, power trunk, power antenna, the Formula appearance package, and deluxe interior (vinyl). It's color is "medium metallic camel" and the camel interior.".

This awesome looking bright red Trans Am belongs to Travis Musynzki. Travis writes:

"It came factory with a 403 olds, 350TH tranny, cruise, air, rear defrost, posi rear end, aluminum snowflake wheels and intermittent wipers. I have owned the car since I was 15 and it wasn't much then but since then almost every bolt on the car has been turned at least once and the car is stored in a very dry garage every winter and never touches the snow. I am now almost 20 and I would like to finish the interior off, and have the car painted one last time with all decal reinstalled."

Travis also hosts his own web page named: '79 Trans Am Page.

David Rose owns this pristine Formula. David writes:

"My name is David Rose. I have attached a few pic's of my bird. It's 1 of 326 produced with the 400-4spd option. It has 45,000 miles and I have owned it since 1980. Thanks for your web-sight, which provides bird lovers the opportunity to share there cars with other bird-lovers!"

This Formula is owned by Matt Carse. Its silver with a red leather interior. Motivation comes from a 301ci engine topped with a Rochester Quadrajet mated to a TH-350 tranny. It also features the sought after WS6 option and a non-original 160mph speedo. Matt writes:

"I am currently finding the parts I need to restore this bird. Would like to find a 400 or 455. My name is Matt Carse, I'm 18 and attend WVU. I live in Paden City, West Virginia. Took me forever to find this car!! After months of searching I found this 79 formula sitting in the driveway of a tupperware salesman who no longer drove the bird and wanted to sell it instead of letting it sit and rust. Currently has 160,000 miles and still running strong! I'll never let this car go!!"

This Formula is owned by Harvey Nelson. Harvey writes:

"This is my 1979 Formula Firebird. I bought it in 1990, it was the first car I had ever owned. It was originally from Las Vegas, Nevada and I purchased it for $750. It was in good shape but the roof was faded pretty bad so I put a paint job on it (also my first time painting a car) but over the years I went through a couple engines and trans until I finally ended up putting a chevy 350 engine in it and a GM multi-pattern 350 turbo trans in it. I put a lot of time and blood in it but this car was very special to me so I am doing a complete restoration this winter. Its starting to get a few rough spots but nothing major. I am sandblasting and painting the underneath of the whole car myself, also putting new polyurethane bushings, new brake and fuel lines, new gears(3.90), new weather-strip, new springs, new steering linkage, new ball joints, and new shocks, dressing it up for show and etc. Also I am doing a few things to set it apart from the local birds around here. I will send updates as I go this winter hopefully it will be done by spring. Its turning out to be a hell of a lot of work to totally disassemble, clean, paint, and reassemble it but it will all be worth it in the end."