gearhead141

I saw an ad for an '85 Firebird on Craigslist in L.A. and the pic showed early (82-84) tail lights. My question is did GM continue installing those on base models through '85? My other thought is that the seller just changed out the tail lights. I have seen this on a couple of other '85 Firebirds, so I want to get the straight skinny.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac...937129139.html

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Yes.

navy02ws6

WOW, thought for SURE that ALL 85s had the newer taillights with the orange in them, but I just went on eBay and found this fugly 85 that has the 85-90 base bumpers, and (what I thought were) 82-84 taillights. I guess I've seen it before, but I always just figured it was someone's idea of customization with poor taste (I personally can't stand the 82-84 bumpers or taillights). WEIRD!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1985-...item4cf17fffa3

Nonetheless, this brings up a good question...was it only certain optioned cars, was it only on early cars, etc.? Which cars got the 82-84 lights, and which got the 85-90 lights? Since they changed the taillights on the Trans Am that year too (I thought), did some 85 Trans Am's come with the 82-84 Trans Am taillights? I always looked at the taillights first to identify what year/model a third gen Firebird was, but I guess that doesn't work for '85s! Better start looking at the bumpers instead I guess...

gearhead141

I was curious about this myself. I have only seen the louvered early tail lights on base model firebirds from 1985. My thought was that GM had a bunch of these things they needed to get rid of. In '86 the non T/A cars got the same tail lights as the Formula, or that's what I've seen. I just thought there might be someone on the board knowledgeable on such trivia.

gearhead141

I posted the wrong ad. This is the 1985 Firebird I'm referring to. Sorry about that.

TAdan

Here is a quick explanation.

82-85 Base models shared the same louverd taillights.

82-84 T/A & S/E shared the same smoked lovered taillights. (15th T/A had white painted louvers)

85-90 T/A & GTA, 85-86 S/E shared the same smoked "grid" style lights. (S/E had a different center section)

86-92 Base Firebird and 87-92 Formula shared the same lights. (90+ had red "pontiac" and bird in the center section.

91-92 T/A & GTA shared the two piece unique taillights.


Here is a write up I started and never finished... it covers the 82-84 lights.

1982-1985 Base Firebird:

Three piece design. Similar to the 1979-81 taillight design. Two outer pieces which contain the lights, one center piece that goes around the trunk lock key hole. All piece are made of Black, Clear, and Red Plastic. The lenses contain four bulbs per side. The inner most bulb is the back up light. The back up light has a white/clear lense, while the rest of the lenses are red. The center two lights are brake and turn signal lights. The outer most light is only used when the parking or headlights are on.All three pieces (both lenses and center piece) have 7 large plastic louvers all the way across the assembly. There is also a red reflector all the way across the assembly along the bottom. The center section contains a hole in its center for the trunk key hole. Also a flat plastic two tone Firebird emblem is depressed into the center section around the key hole. There is also a "PONTIAC" script in the red reflector portion of the center piece. The "PONTIAC" script was usually painted silver.

1982-1984 TransAm, Firebird SE, Firebird w/ the W51 Black appearance Group (exl. 15th T/A):



Same basic design as the base Bird' lights listed above. Light location and functions are the same.The major difference is that the lenses are tinted and not clear. The whole lense and center assemblies are made of a dark (black) tinted plastic. The back pieces are still black. These taillights still have the 7 louvers w/ the reflector along the bottom. The center section still contains the bird and PONTIAC script. The script was usually painted silver or gold depending on the cars trim colors.

1984 15th T/A:



Identical to the T/A lights listed above, with the following changes. The tops of all three lense pieces are painted white. Also the sides, and 7 louvers are all painted white. The "PONTIAC" script in the center section was painted white. The center section also contained a Blue and White bird.

Part Numbers:

Center section lense, 82-84 T/A: GM 5973055 ND.2.
Center section rear, 82-84 T/A: GM 5973058 IL.
Center section reflector, 82-84 T/A: GM 5973056 LR 1 D.
Right side Taillight 82-84 T/A: GM 5922882 ND 1

gearhead141

Thanks TADan, I sure appreciate your input and pics. I'll add to it:

First up are early base model tail lights.
Second are the base tail lights from '86 to '92
Last are the '91 to '92 TA and GTA tail lights.

Timaaay!

I know this an old thread, but I have my brothers 1985 Trans Am, and it had the 84 tail lights. I've always wondered about this. I know, without any doubt, that this is the way he picked it up from the GM dealership. Sadly he passed away several months after buying the car. It sat in the garage for almost 20 years. I decided to evict the mice and restore the interior. The car has just over 10,000 original miles on her. I replaced practically every interior part, as the mice did a number on it!
I've had the car for 13 years and it resides in my garage with my 1987 Trans Am. I've only put about 600 miles on her since I've owned her. So, just under 11,000 original miles now.
I always wondered about the tail lights as I have NEVER seen another 1985 with the old style tail lights before. Perhaps a mishap by GM, perhaps they just wanted to get rid of stock and put them on early Trans Am's.