1972 Pontiac Trans Am - Stale Bread?
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It was the fourth model year for the Trans Am and the third year with the same body style however the 1972 Trans Am was an exact carryover from the 1971 model year. The two colors choices were back again - Cameo White and Lucerne Blue and each had the same top body stripes they possessed the previous two model years along with the same bird decals in front of these stripes. It was as if the head of Pontiac design with the Trans Am had pushed away from his desk dusted off his hands and exclaimed "that's it, we have built the perfect car" and went home. And henceforth no changes would be made to Pontiac's beloved Trans Am for 1972.
1971 Pontiac Trans Am - Hello 455
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Back in 1971, the Billboard #1 hit for the year was "Joy To The World" by Three Dog Night. For Trans Am fans this song certainly summed up their general mood when it came to the 1971 Trans Am - it was all joy. The Trans Am was back again for a third model year and its second year with the same body style. Pontiac kept the Trans Am colors the same as the previous year - blue and white exterior schemes. However the Polar White exterior color of the previous year was replaced with the return of the 1969 Trans Am's Cameo White which had a large blue stripe with a black border spanning the entire top part of the car (the same stripe used on the previous year's Polar White Trans Am).
1970 Pontiac Trans Am - the Encore
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The introduction of the low-volume 1969 Trans Am had an original purpose of getting the still-born Pontiac 303 CID V8 certified for the Trans-Am circuit racing. Pontiac substituted two versions of its 400 CID V8 at the last minute when the 303 V8 failed to make it into production. With volume of only 697 1969 Trans Ams being produced, who would have thought Pontiac would have returned with an all-new Trans Am for 1970. But that was exactly what Pontiac did. The first generation 1967-1969 body style was history, its boxy styling was attractive but it was not attuned with the sleek sporty image that Pontiac wanted to convey for the upcoming 1970s.
1969 Pontiac Trans Am - a Star Is Born
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The introduction of the Firebird for 1967 had been a huge success for Pontiac. Though the Firebird added to Pontiac's sporty image. It was like a great tasting cake that was missing icing. What it needed was an ultimate performance model. For 1969, that's exactly what it got. The Trans Am, which was named after the Sports Club of America's Trans-Am Series (a racing series that has been around since 1966), was merely intended to be a low volume speciality Firebird model. It was supposed to be used as a tool to get Pontiac's small displacement high-performance 303 CID V8 certified for the Trans-Am racing circuit. However some of the most well thought-out plans sometimes take on a life of their own. In the 1969 Trans Am's case, that's exactly what happened.