When Pontiac debuted the 1969 Trans Am, its only intention at the time was to offer a limited edition high-end version of its Firebird model. It never intended or expected this model to explode in popularity a few short years after its introduction. And it's safe to bet, they didn't intend on the Trans Am remaining in production for 33 continuous model years. No siree, that was not the original intention. After-all Pontiac released a special limited edition GTO for 1969 called the "Judge", and it sold it much higher numbers than the Trans Am for the 1969 model year - 10 times more to be exact (6,833 versus 697). Even so the GTO Judge only lasted 3 model years.