1969 Firebird

When it came to the 1969 Firebird, things were really looking up for Pontiac. This was the year that would prove to be one of the best years for Pontiac as they would soon have a flagship carried over by this model. This year’s model was originally titled the Trans Am Performance and Appearance Package, and this high tech option was launched in the spring of 1969 and went on the market for $725.

There wasn’t any advertising done for it and no fanfare either. It wasn’t used on many cars and thus only 687 convertibles and coupes benefited from it. The name of it would come from the racing series called Trans American, which in that era was very popular, but this model never really got to be involved in any Trans AM races. The base engine for it was the Firebird 400 HO and it featured 335 BHP, 400 CID V8 and had the standard Ram Air induction.

It was soon to be known by the name of Ram Air III. Or if you were interested in an alternative, the only one available would be the Ram Air IV. But the Ram Air IV was not that popular and it also came to be expensive. Only 55 Trans Am coupes had the Ram Air IV on them and this particular option had 345 HP and a longer duration camshaft. The Ram Air IV came with 4 speeds and 3.90:1 cogs while the base mill came with a 3 sped and 3.55:1 gears. The best thing was that both of them were available in an automatic.

Polyglas F70xl4s on seven-inch rims, a heavy duty suspension with 1 inch front stabilizer bar, and variable ratio power steering would come as standard.

The Trans am would feature the decals, the tail panel and the blue racing stripes. You could also find functional air inlets on the hood and they could be closed by the driver if need be. When it came to the interior, this was just the standard you could expect in a Firebird: The rally cluster added an 8000 RPM tachometer and one 160 miles per hour speedometer. If you were interested in a hood mounted rev counter, then you could have that for $85.