The 1980 Pontiac Firebird, Formula & Trans Am
Lot#1
The
1980
Pontiac Firebird, Formula &
Trans Am
Lot#1
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Derek Taylor owns this All-American big iron Trans Am. Derek writes: "Dear firebird Gallery, I am writing about my 1980 Trans Am. The history starts back when my father was looking for a sports car for my mother back in 1980. While driving up Roscoe Blvd. In Los Angeles County he saw the 80 TA sitting up on the rack at the Pontiac dealership. He immediately drove my mom back to the dealership and it was perfect for her. It was white with a red interior with red decals. She drove it until 1989 and sold it to me. The car was in mint condition. I’ve owned it since then, 15 years. It has a V8 4.9 with a 3 speed auto tranny. Its been a great car for me. After about 3 years of driving it I purchased a pickup truck. Since then my Trans Am has been stored in a garage and has been driven about 3 times a month. Mostly Sundays. The red bird decal is the only item missing from the car since it faded and started to come off the paint. The hood needed to be repainted and will soon get the decal back on. The car is stock in all aspects besides the seat covers and stereo. Take care!" Sincerely, Derek Taylor |
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Paul Gallenstein owns this beautiful Trans Am. Paul writes: "Here are some pictures of my 1980 Trans Am. I previously owned a 1978 TA and purchased this car in 1983 from the original owner. The car was built at the Norwood, Ohio plant and has 301 motor, automatic, air conditioning, 4 wheel disc brakes, custom blue velour interior, tilt steering, cruise control, rear defrost, and T-Tops. Some recent upgrades are a 12 disc CD player, Flowmaster mufflers and the snowflakes wheels (thanks "Hitman") have been restored. I mostly drive it to cruise in's and car shows." Paul Gallenstein Maysville, Kentucky |
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This cool "Yellow Bird" Esprit is owned by Randy Anderson. Randy writes: "This is my 1980 Firebird Yellow bird. I bought it from the 1st owner and I have all the paperwork even the window manufacturer's suggested retail price list. Everything on this list is factory installed engine:
And A Lot More To Much To List. Price New Bought On 09-04-80 $ 10,138.05. I've
been searching and searching and have only found a few Yellow Birds all hard tops, I have
not found any other T-Top Yellow Birds. Thanks..." |
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This great looking Trans Am is owned by Tony Werneke. Tony writes: "OK, My name is Tony Werneke, and this is my 1980 Trans Am. I had wanted one of these cars ever since I was a kid. I had about given up on finding one I could afford, or that was in decent enough shape to purchase. The morning before I bought this car I was joking with my wife that I was going to buy a Trans Am today. She just laughed at me and said "Whatever dear" {you married guys know the tone}. Later that day I found an add in the paper for a "1980 Trans Am, clean car, P/S, P/B, Auto, P/W, Tilt, Velour interior, 8-track. Clean car $3800. Wife says this car or my Corvette has to go *sniff*". Needless to say, I thought to myself, this could be interesting. After I looked at the car, I was amazed at the great condition of the car. Even though the car was very dirty, and it was not the original paint, someone had taken great care of this car. To make a long story short, I was a very happy camper when the seller agreed on $2,800. My wife looked at me like I was crazy when I told her I needed a ride to pick up my Trans Am, but she decided to buy it for me for my Anniversary present {repayment for her Buick on our 5th anniversary I guess lol}. This car has never been wrecked hard. I know this because all of the panels and fenders, except for the left front fender, have the original Zeibart coating all over them {bad for restoration, but good for preserving the car}, and the body lines are exceptionally straight. The car only has 64,800 original miles on the carbureted 301 and the T-350 automatic transmission. My car has the crushed velour interior, chrome swirl dash, full gauge package with working quartz clock. The factory air blows cold air, which is nice on the hot days. Power windows, and tilt steering round out the interior trim package. I did change out the AC Delco 8-track radio to a Sony 4250 CD player, and I replaced all of the speakers with new Pioneer 3" speakers in the front, and Pioneer 6 x 9's in the rear {man do they sound good!!}. My future plans for this car are to leave it alone structurally except adding frame extenders. I have a 1970 Pontiac 455 with #64 heads off of a '70 GTO. My plans are to port the heads, port the Edelbrock Performer intake {not the Performer RPM because I want to keep a live shaker hood, and the RPM intake is too tall}, and port the exhaust manifolds all to match. I'm going to get Jet Hot to coat the heads, intake, and exhaust manifolds, as well as the front covers, pulleys, brackets, and oil pan. I'm going to set the 455 up to run a true 10:1 compression so I can still run 93 Octane pump gas. It'll breathe through an 850 CFM Rochester Quadrajet. I'm going to bore the block .030 over to true out the cylinders, and run a mild hydraulic cam. All of this will bolt to a T-400 competition built automatic transmission. I'm going to remove the 2x series rear differential and install a 3x series posi rear differential. The exhaust will probably be 2.5" exhaust w/ Delta flow mufflers. The A/C is staying, but I'll probably change out the radiator to an aluminum {B-cool probably}. When it comes time for repainting the car, I will completely dismantle the car and have every piece painted individually, then re-assembled, so the exterior will have to wait a while. This is my general plan for my baby. This car is truly a dream come true for me." As for the last picture, Tony writes: "The '66 Convertible Mustang I bought for my wife Alisa for Christmas 2000. Good hubby, lol, now I can play with my car how I like, and she does what she wants with her new toy. This is a 1966 Mustang with a 289, and a 3 speed. It's a C-code car with all numbers matching. This one was completely re-done in 1990, and is very clean as well. All that is left is to replace the typical lower door panels, and this one is about finished. It has 98,000 miles on her, and runs great." E-mail: Tony Werneke |
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Roy Bridges owns this immaculate Trans
Am. Roy writes: "Hi My name is Roy Bridges. My wife Irene and I live in Savannah, Ga. This is our 1980 Trans Am. We purchased this car new on January 29, 1980. This car is equipped with the 301, 4.9 Liter engine, Auto transmission, Power Steering, Air, AM-FM, Cassette, etc..... This car, is for the most part, still original. We did have it repainted about 10 years ago, I have replaced the Carpet, the headliner, radiator, and alternator. The original wheels are stored in the garage. There is about 150,000 miles on this car as of July 98 and it's still running great. The power train has not been into at all." Roy also owns a recently purchased 1998 Ram Air Trans Am (seen at 98' Firebirds Lot#2). |
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When was the last time you saw a 1980
Trans Am decked out in Carousel Red. This one is owned by Joe Figurelli Jr. Joe writes: "This is my 1980 Turbo Trans Am. It's an original car, with only 26,000 original miles on it. My parents bought in new in the fall of 1980. It was an anniversary gift from my dad to my mom that year (atta boy dad). It's Carousel Red, code #79, which was actually a 1960's Pontiac color. I have seen very few of them in this era (1979-81). The car is used sparingly of late, mostly due to my attending graduate school for my MBA. It's in nice original shape. Every year, I improve it and take care of small details that make the car look better and better (painting moldings, replacing small trim, etc.). It has PS, PB, PW, rear defog, snowflakes, A/C (required with the Turbo 301), am/fm stereo cassette (I have the original), and the Turbo LU8 301. I have most of the original paperwork (I had the window sticker reproduced), including most bills dating back to 1980, and the business card of the sales manager that sold us the car. (The dealer is still in business). The car is a blast to drive and is definitely a keeper. Everywhere I go, I get comments and thumbs up on this car. People can't believe it when they see it. I get, "so you are the guy with that Orange T/A I've seen around here...". Right now I'm seeking a 1979 Silver anniversary or Black S/E to add to my collection (must be a 400 with all options and #s matching)....so if you've got one in the NY, NJ, PA, or CT area let me know! Also if you want to chat 2nd gen F-body cars, drop me a line. Take care and thanks for reading my story!" E-mail: Joe Fig |
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Kelly Hucke owns this cherry Formula.
Kelly writes: "I bought the car used and in need of restoration in Feb. 1995. It had been repainted the original colors of Montreaux Maroon and Ontario Gray. I'm still restoring it, a never ending job, but I love doing it. I had the original engine completely rebuilt and it runs great. The transmission is the original automatic and it works great. The car now has 153,000 miles on it, it had about 114,000 on it when I bought it. The car is fairly rare, I found out that they only made 1,248 turbo formula's in 1980. The car is loaded with options: t-tops, deluxe camel tan velour interior, power windows, locks, antenna, trunk release, tilt, cruise, delay wipers, rear defogger, 4-wheel disc brakes, posi-tract, WS6 package, W50 appearance package, dome reading lamps, roof drip molding, body side molding, AM/FM 8 track stereo, dual front and rear speakers, and turbo hood lights, and yes they work great. I am sending you five pictures to post on the Gallery. Thanks a lot. Keep up the good work." Sincerely, Kelly S. Hucke E-mail: Kelly Hucke |
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Jeff Bishop owns this Black Turbo Trans Am. Jeff writes: "I live in Lebanon Ohio. This is picture of my 80 T/A. I replaced the 301 with a 400 (69 GTO motor) . 30 over with nitrous. The cam is COMP CAM .294 dur., .525 lift, no.16 heads, carb is a 750 holley. Have yet to complete the wiring so I still have not heard it run yet!" |
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This Trans Am is owned by Tony Mazzone.
Originally this TA was white with a tan interior and was equipped with the 301 that was
offered for this year model. Since Tony took charge of it it has been stripped and painted
black, changed the interior to charcoal, and installed a healthy 455, built with a Crane
"S" cam, 750 Holley carb 1.65 rockers, built heads, and an Edelbrock Aluminum
intake manifold. Cosmetically the original Turbo hood was removed in favor of a shaker
scoop setup and the original wheels were replaced by a set of American Racing Torque
Thrust Ds. To finish off his project Tony had a friend, Charlie Murray paint a mid 70s
style bird on the hood. Tony writes: "I have to thank friends Mike Knieriem and Shawn Miller for all the hours they have in this car." |
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LD5 3.8 liter
(231) 2bbl V-6