I have been trying to figure out where the Firebird S/E fits in the models in 84 they had the basic, TransAm, & S/E my wife bought the S/E new at Prestige pontiac that used to be in Van Nuys about 3 miles from the assembly plant. I have been replacing the few item that need to be replaced. I was looking at seat upholstery and what I can figure the upholstery is trans am (two tone) as well as many other parts, the car is stock and in real good condition I have read that the S/E was stock as a trans am but you could add or remove anything and it had more options then the trans am I believe it also is the most expensive I believe she paid 17,000 for it. and it did not have all the options available at the time.

 

I think that the S/E was the equivalent of the Firebird Esprit of the 70’s. More comfort orientated than performance orientated of the Trans Am in general. More upscale than the base Firebird. I think you could get the LG4 but not the L69 in the S/E and the WS6 package. Having a Prestige Pontiac is cool my latest 83 DT500 came from them originally. But what is even better is that all 83 DT500’s were made at the Norwood Ohio plant and not one in Van Nuys. The Recaro Trans Am’s and the 15th Anniversary Trans Am’s were pricey in 1984 but you could option out a very pricey S/E just the same. The seats were an option on the Trans Am. I am not sure what seats came standard on the S/E.

 

if you look at the pictures of it on my garage you will see that prestige did a little custom work to it a gold roof and gold around the hatch it is one of a kind they did only this one like this. I am having a little fun with the restore I have been visiting classic industries they seem to have just about everything for this car I need and I can drive there..... see the parts before I buy... the weatherstripping is next month... did the window swipes and visors this month.. oh and pick a part in Sun Valley has quite a few firebirds and the price is right

 

The S/E was marketed as the luxury Firebird, a sophisticated sport coupe for the 80’s. It came standard with a lot of options which is why it’s priced the way it is. As simo said the deluxe interior was standard in the S/E but optional in the T/A and base firebird. It also featured what Pontiac called a tone on tone color scheme where as the base car is single tone or in the case of the T/A, black accents.

 

trucker, your car sounds pretty cool. I'd love to see some shots of the custom gold accents. It sounds nice.

Simo and Wildjeff hit the nail on the head, the S/E was the "luxury" Firebird.

 

Here's a video from 1982 that explains the difference between the three versions. The S/E was described as being for the "sophisticated new Firebird owner". LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI06RFqt4m4

 

Like stated before they basically had three models

BASE - Available with the I4, V6 or LG4 (base V8)
S/E - "Special Edition" luxury Items such as better seats, Sound deadning etc were standard, Basically available with the same Engines as the BASE. S/E's were available with the optional WS6 & WS7 Suspension packages V6 or V8.
Trans Am - Performance model, Base engine was the LG4 and had the HO L69 as an optional engine.

1984 the L69 (305 4bbl HO) was the only engine NA in the S/E.

Interesting little factoid... 1984 was the ONLY 3rd Gen year to not offer a Fuel Injected V8 Engine, as the new C4 Corvette production ramped up all CFI engines went to the Vette.

John

 

The hierarchy I like to use to simplify things for the early thirdgen is this:

Firebird: Economy

Firebird S/E: Luxury

Firebird T/A: Performance

The S/E could be spec'ed with basically everything the Trans Am had, _except_ : 1) the top-of-the-line V8 like the CFI in 82-83, the L69 in 83-84, or the TPI (when it comes to 85-86, I'm just making an educated guess based on 82-84), 2) the bulge hood with or without Ram-Air, 3) the Trans Am decals, 4) and other minor stuff. Of course the S/E could optionally have the LG4 V8 as well as WS6, so you could still compete head-to-head with a same year Trans Am. You could spec an S/E to be more expensive than a similar Trans Am. Whereas the luxury interior was just an option on the Trans Am, it was standard equipment on S/E's. S/E could have interiors with material/color combos never possible on a Trans Am, such as maroon leather, Light Jadestone fabric, Navy, etc. S/E decals, many of the interior plastics, taillight eagles, sail panel logos, hubcaps (for N89 anyway) are usually unique pieces to S/E.

GT