[old5.0]

Well, Pontiac was on top of things with the F-Body. People have this perception of the Third Gen as being generally slow which was fed by the thousands of 305 throttle body powered stones GM pumped out of Van Nuys and Norwood every year. But people forget that you could buy a genuinely fast Third Gen by the late 80’s-early 90’s.


The 89 Turbo T/A is still one of the top three or four fastest production Firebirds ever made, the 91-92 Firehawks (even though they weren’t assembly line) made something like 370 honest net horsepower, and that was before you ordered the aluminum block 383 stroker option. And you could still order a pretty brutal “regular” Firebird back then, if you knew how to play the option list. Order a Formula with no comfort or convenience options, the TPI 305, 5-speed, N10, G80, G92, and all that car needed to crack a 13 second quarter mile was a driver not afraid of his own shadow.


There’s no doubt the boys at Pontiac played the F-body hustle like Minnesota Fats back then. But that’s why it’s so confusing that there was never a hot rod G-Body Grand Prix.