This will be the last post for a few days. It is highly unlikely I will post again before Saturday.

In addition, the rest of this month will not have the usual number of posts. Between my wonderful wife and I having a “busy” month and my “existential” examination of the blog, I just will not be able to write the usual six-plus posts per week.

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Even though the 1969 model year was well underway, on this day in 1969 the Trans Am option was introduced by Pontiac on 1969 model year Firebirds. As many aficionados know, only 697 Trans Ams–689 coupes and 8 convertibles–were produced for that year.

 

 

This is one of those 689 Trans Am coupes. In general, I am not a fan of white as an exterior color, but on this car the contrast with the blue stripes produces a great look, in my opinion. This was the only color combination available for the first year of the Trans Am.

The Trans Am remained a relatively low production offering until the mid-1970s. The muscle car market had been destroyed by government and insurance companies. However, Pontiac continued to produce big block V8s with some power, including the legendary HO and SD 455 engines that were available through 1974.

Although reduced in output, Pontiac continued to make large-displacement engines available through 1979 and these were most linked with the Trans Am as that was the only model for which the larger engines came as standard equipment. Here is a chart showing production for the first dozen years of the Trans Am, 1969-1980, inclusive. (As JS pointed out to me in a comment, Smokey And The Bandit was released in 1977, which undoubtedly helped sales. Non movie-goer that I am, that connection completely slipped by me. Still, sales increased dramatically before the release of the movie.)

 

Model Year		Trans Am Production
1969		697
1970		3,196
1971		2,116
1972		1,286
1973		4,802
1974		10,255
1975		27,274
1976		46,704
1977		68,744
1978		93,341
1979		117,108
1980		50,896

 

The Trans Am was offered through the 2002 model year although annual sales only averaged around 10,000 for the last fifteen years of production. As best as I can figure, about 880,000 Pontiac Trans Ams were sold in total.

My wonderful wife owned a 1979 Trans Am, the model’s most popular year. Of course, I didn’t know her then.

As I wrote here, I seriously doubt I will ever buy a car without modern safety systems. Of course, that view also greatly affected my decision to buy a C7 Z06 instead of buying/building a C2 restomod. I guess that means that even if I could find a good one, a 1969 Trans Am will probably never be parked in my garage. C’est la vie…

 

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