It is totally different, It's got an Lt1 (or s1 depending on year) a body kit, different tail lights, and a different suspension...but under neath, the body, frame, and 99% of the compents are identical.

 

but formula also have an lt1 or ls1 in them and they're considered firebirds. so trans ams should be considered it too

 

It all goes back to RPO codes. A Trans Am is a Firebird, just like a Z28 is a Camaro. The only difference is that the Camaro was marketed using the actual RPO code as the nomenclature, whereas the Trans Am was marketed using the name of the RPO package. When you ordered a new Camaro either you or the salesman checked off a box that read "RPO Z28 Special Performance Package". When the car went down the line the build sheet would list RPO Z28, which told the line workers that this car recieved the specific list of special equipment provided by that RPO. It was the same with a Trans Am. The order sheet would say "RPO XXX Trans Am Package". The only difference is the way the package was marketed.

A GTO and a LeMans aren't the same thing. Both are GM A body cars, but so is a Chevelle and an Olds 442. When you went into the dealership to buy one or the other the car started as either a Pontiac LeMans or a Pontiac GTO and then was optioned with RPOs from there. The LeMans was marketed as a more sedate, sensible car for the older family man, whereas the GTO was marketed as the tire scorching street warrior for the single man. Inside both models were various options for engine, suspension, brakes, etc. You could order a hot LeMans with a 400 or 455, but you could also get one with a 326. A GTO gave you few options, like say the 389 with a 4-barrel or a 389 with 3 dueces. You couldn't order the GTO with a 326, because if you wanted that you'd just buy a LeMans. The GTO started as a more expensive performance model, which you could option up to near race-ready state if your wallet allowed. Have lots of cash and want a 1/4 mile warrior? Get the GTO with the 389 with 3 dueces, the M22 4-speed, the posi-traction rear with 4.11 gears, the Polyglass tires, no AC, no power steering, a bench seat, and whatever else you can get rid of to shave weight. The LeMans started as a cheaper car, but could also be optioned up with performance and convenience features, but the baddest LeMans would never be able to beat the baddest GTO. GM made it that way on purpose, sort of like how the Corvette always has the highest power rating, even when another model has the exact same engine. It's PR.

Eventually GM reduced the number of available RPOs, and even started using the RPOs as sub-models inside a model. This was the case with the Z28. By 2002 you couldn't buy a V8 Camaro that wasn't a Z28, I'm not sure if at the end of the run they were still selling non- Trans Am Firebirds with a V8, but that concept made it into the 4th generation. It still doesn't matter, because when you sat down to order the new car the sheet still said either Camaro or Firebird at the top. It was up to you if you wanted to add the RPOs that would replace the base model 3.8 V6 with an LT1 or an LS1, which would have been RPO Z28 and the Pontiac equivalent for the Trans Am.

Back in say 1969 the Z28 came with a 302, no other option was available, and it was backed by one of three stick shifts, no auto was available. You could however order a plane jane Camaro with a 327 or a 350. You could also order an SS with a 350 or one of three 396s. If you were super slick you could get a special order car through COPO with a 427. If you were bad@$$ you could get one of the 69 ZL1s with an all aluminum 427 pushing about 650 horses through open headers, and pushing the bounds of sanity that GM ever sold a car like that!

In summation I don't think you can get upset if someone calls your Trans Am a Firebird, it is a Firebird, just a nicer, better performing one. Technically my car is an IROC Z28 Camaro, but IROC, Z28, or Camaro all work. Call it whatever you want, just don't call it last in the stagging lanes!

 

TKOperformance really knows his stuff that's why I wanted him to put his opinion on the post. hope you all learned something

 

i still have people that think a 93 trans am isn't considered a firebird. if someone could find information on a 93 trans am that would prove that it's considered a firebird that would be great thanks
NATE

 

i still have people that think a 93 trans am isn't considered a firebird. if someone could find information on a 93 trans am that would prove that it's considered a firebird that would be great thanks
NATE

 

Well firebird is the model and the TA is an option of it.

Werent some years of the GTA their own model I believe?(pretty sure it was that way, not positive)

If it was, whats it make my TTA, since its an option but yet a GTA, not a TA from birth? hmmmmm

Also as a further note in the 80's all the Regals and GN were of the same vin, yet the Regal Limited were considered their own model with a seperate vin number series. Think the Cutlass Salons were this way too, although not sure.

later
Jeremy

 

I know it's a Firebird, but I still like it to be called Trans Am lol

 

Wow, you couldn't be more wrong Holy ****....

 

No, I'd call it a well optioned Tempest.

 

a Trans Am is a firebird a Z28 is a Camaro a GTO is a Tempest just optioned differently

and this is the most useless thread ever.

 

Exactly!

 

Just tell the person with the '93 T/A to open thier glovebox and look at the owners manual - what does it say on the front? "Firebird". Same goes for any other year T/A, Formy, etc.

 

I believe it's in the VIN, too....

The firebird logo is right on the front bumper and tailights also...Can't miss 'em.

 

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR GUY'S INPUT AND FACTS. I WILL LOOK INTO THE VIN # AND GLOVE BOX TO SEE IF I CAN FIND THE WORD FIREBIRD ANYWHERE ON THE CAR. IT'S SO HARD TO CONVINCE SOMEONE WHEN THEY GOT THEIR MIND SET ON THE WRONG SIDE AND DON'T WANT TO BE PROVEN WRONG. I WILL SHOW THEM THE FIREBIRD LOGO ON THE FRONT AGAIN , BUT I DON'T KNOW IF THEIR EVER GOING TO CHANGE THEIR MIND THEY DON'T BELIEVE ANYONE'S OPINIONS ON THE INTERNET. DAAAA

 

Well if you want some opposition and want to get technical, think of this: If a Trans Am and a Firebird are one and the same, then a camaro and firebird (or z28 and Trans Am, etc) are one in the same also.

What seperates a trans Am from a firebird? A ground f/x, different tailights, ...pretty much a body kit, right? Now what seperates a camaro from a firebird? Ahhh...same thing, huh?



Note: I fully believe a trans Am is a firebird, just trying to look at it from the other side

 

Well, a Camaro and a Firebird share the same GM platform, the F-body. This means that the suspension design (e.g. chassis pick up points and style for suspension components) is the same, the chassis is designed for a variety of GM engines and transmissions, the wheelbase is the same, and other broad similarities. However, most of the parts do not interchange. A Firebird has a totally different interior than a Camaro, and most of the body is different, even though the underlying structure is similar. The drivetrains are the same, but that's because GM decided somewhere in the 80s that each division (e.g. Pontiac, Chevrolet, Buick, etc.) didn't need to have proprietary engines. After a point all engines became GM engines, which is why the engine used in cars of the same platform (e.g. F-body) are identical, whereas in the 60s and 70s they would have been very different.

The major difference is that the VIN numbers will differentiate a Pontiac from a Chevrolet. They share a common platform, but the cars are technically built by seperate companies inside the GM conglomorate.

GM used common platforms like the A-body (Olds Cutlass, Olds 442, Chevy Malibu, Chevy Chevelle, Pontiac Tempest, Pontiac GTO, Pontiac LeMans, Buick Skylark, Buick GS, etc.), the F-body (Chevy Camaro, Pontiac Firebird), the X-body (Chevy Nova, Buick Apollo, Olds Omega, and Pontiac Ventura), the G-body (Chevy Monte Carlo, Buick Regal, Buick Grand National, etc.) to help spread developments costs for chassis design amongst divisions. Then GM allowed each division to personalize the chassis with specific interiors, bodywork, engines, etc. to suite a specific niche market. The whole thing was about marketingmore than anything.

 

eh? Where's the analogy police when you need them, lol. j/k

 

A Trans Am is a Firebird, I just use the term T/A more. I wouldn't admonish anyone for using the term. The only instance that did get under my collar is going across the country to the 1999 gathering. All the truckers lumped our group of "Trans Ams" together even though we had one GTA and the rest were varying years and models of Z28. Of course you don't usually want to correct someone in command of an 18 wheeler who has tattoos covering an arm the circumference of your torso and has about 5 hours of sleep for the past week.

The only car I WOULD give special circumstance would be in the instance of the Firehawk.

 

The Firehawk is still a Firebird too. It's a tuner car built by SLP. These have been around since the 60s too. Back then you had cars like the Yenko YSC Camaros, Baldwin Motion Camaros, and Shelby GT350 & GT500 Mustangs. These cars are not clean sheet designs, just highly tuned and modified versions of factory cars, which in some instances even came with factory warranties through the original manufacturer. Today you can still buy cars like Saleen Mustangs and AMG Mercedes directly through OEM dealerships. They come with OEM warranties, even though they have special equipment.

These cars today are just like the cars of yesteryear. They allow cars that only appeal to the smallest market segments to be built out of house, and then sold through OEM distribution as a means of reducing the cost of vehicle construction and maximizing the OEM manufacturer's proffits, while offering the consumer with factory service and reliability as well as reduced initial cost. OEMs are not geared to build 500 cars a year of a particular model, especially when the model can't easily be assimilated into the production line for the 250,000 or so cars they are going to build that year. The construction costs of the manufacturer would make the cost to the consumer so great that the cars would be too expensive. It might be justifiable to build an exotic car like the new Ford GT in house, but the sale price is so astronomical that it justifies building the entire production run nearly by hand with a very specialized work force. For more down to earth cars like the Mustang or Camaro it just makes better sense to farm out the modifications to outside vendors and then sell the modified cars through the manufacturer's distribution network.

In the 60s it also allowed outside vendors to skirt internal rules inside the OEMs. GM had a mandate that no engine bigger than 400 cubic inches would be factory installed into a car smaller than a full size. This meant that only the Impala, Biscayne, and the like could be had with the 427. Crafty guys at GM like John DeLorean (yup, same guy) managed to build potent engines like the tri-power 389 and sell it to the brass to birth a car like the GTO. Some people just wanted more, so some dealerships started buying crate 427 Corvette engines and transplanting them into factory 396 powered cars like the Camaro and Chevelle. This is where the Yenkos, Baldwins, & Bergers came from. Some extreemely crafty individuals found out about the Central Office Production Order means of procuring the cars with the 427 from the factory. COPO was intended to allow strange chassis and engine combinations for things like ambulances and firetrucks, but somehow it also allowed people to order a factory installed 427 in a Camaro. Eventually GM lifted the 400 cube limit in an effort to keep pace with other manufacturers that were not internally limited by such rules. By 1969 Ford has the Boss 429 Mustang, you could buy a 426 Hemi in just about any Chrysler model available, so GM gave the nod to release the LS6 454 powered Chevelle SS. 1969 and 1970 were probably the pinacle of the musclecar wars, but it all was fading fast. Increasing Federal regulations, higher insurance premiums, and a fuel shortage in the offing all conspired to bring the era to an untimely close.

Or so everyone thought, because in my opinion when Ford dropped the first 5.0 HO into the Fox body Mustang those days started to come back again. I think that now you can buy a car that performs better in all respects than all but the most spectacularly equipped musclecar from the 60s. The new GTO lays down 400 ponies, and you can buy a new Vette with a 500 horse 427! Chrysler has been building new RWD platforms that are available with hemi power, and Fords new 3-valve 4.6s are putting down an honest 300 RWHP. Sounds to me like the muslecar wars are alive and well.

Now, back to topic, if I owned a Shelby or a Firehawk I would definately correct people when they reffered to it as mearly a Mustang or a Firebird. These cars were limited production vehicles built with the purpose of maintaining a particular manufacturer's dominance on the street and at the track. They deserve some respect for that, as do the companies and individuals that had their hands in building them.