Rare Firebird

[StealthBird]

Actually, Sky Bird was the only "chick" version of the Firebird in 1977. With the popularity of the Trans Am growing, and with the Sky Bird being successful with female buyers, Pontiac added the Red Bird package in 1978, then the Yellow Bird package in 1979. These are truly "chick" cars and were geared towards women wanting the Firebird image with a custom touch. I think the cigarette lighter was a lipstick holder.

The "black" version, referred to above, was definately not a "chick" car, because it was an option on the Trans Am, not the base Firebird. The black and gold Special Edition option became wildly popular after the "Smokey And The Bandit" movie came out. These rare cars quickly gained the "Bandit" nickname, and overnight the 1977 Special Edition Trans Am became one of the most famous cars in America, right alongside the Starsky & Hutch Torino.

Yes, these were all sticker packages, but the Special Edition Trans Am's proved the most eye-catching, and most aggressive looking, of the bunch. The black paint job, with gold pinstriping and gold wheels (aka "Bandit"), started life on a 1974 SD455 Trans Am show car. The paint scheme was influenced by the Mario Andretti "John Player Special" Formula 1 car's paint scheme, which was very popular at that time. The 74 SD455 show car had a LOT of metalflake in the paint, and was the talk of the auto show circuit. Pontiac decided to bring the paint scheme to production on the 1976 50th Anniversary Trans Am (very rare), then made it a regular production option on the 1977 Trans Am.

While stripes and stickers were what the late 70's were about, the 77-79 Trans Am's, with or without the Special Edition paint scheme, were still high performance cars in every sense of the word. With the 400 4-speed, and the WS6 handling package with 4-wheel disk brake setup, they could run rings around Z/28's and Corvettes of the day.

Ok, that was WAY too much info on the stripe and sticker Firebirds. Now back to our original programming.

[mahoy78spyder]

I remember these cars.... and you can still get the decals here: http://www.stencilsandstripes.com/pr_pont_birds.asp

Ken