The 1971 Pontiac Firebird, Formula & Trans Am
Lot#1

This stunning red Formula 455 is owned by Joe Ridgeway. More info to come on this one....

A Castillian Bronze colored Formula 400. The nose looks a shade lighter than the rest of the car, otherwise its a beautiful car. New high back bucket seats were now the seat of choice in the Firebird interior replacing the previous years low back bucket seats. Engine options also changed for the Formula. The L30 350c.i. V8 was now the standard power plant. Optional motors included the L78 400c.i. 4bbl rated at 300hp, the L75 455c.i. 4bbl rated at 325hp, and the LS5 455 H.O. 4bbl rated at 335 hp.

As has been the case a few times since I started this site (much to my excitement) the owner of this car happened to be browsing the site and discovered his car was on it!! He wasted no time in sending me an e-mail to let me know it was his. The e-mail itself was funny because the subject line read: "My Trans Am with the unnaturally high shaker scoop!!". Since I had no specific information on this car when I first added it to the site I used the space to tell people about the use of aftermarket carbs with the shaker scoop and how it usually made the scoop sit "unnaturally high". Cash Mullen (the owner) was a good sport about it and told me just why the scoop was that way.      Apparently these photos had been taken around April of '96 at a local dragstrip. If you squint and look closely you might see the slicks that were stuffed in the back seat. As for the scoop Cash writes:     "Anyway, the "unnaturally high" shaker can be attributed to the Edelbrock Performer RPM intake manifold that helps the car inhale its way down the dragstrip to a best of 11.84 @ 114.5 mph (so far).  And that's at a hefty 3830 lb. race weight w/ me at the wheel."  Thanks for the info Cash!!

This paint scheme and the white with blue stripe seen above were the only two color options from 1970 to 1972. Also the 455 H.O. was the only engine available for the Trans Am during the 71 - 72 years. That's such a shame don't you think...

Another great example of America's greatest performance car. These Trans Ams cam with a distinctive "455 H.O." decal, when optioned with the powerful LS5 motor,  that was located on either side of the shaker scoop. There was nothing left to wonder for those terrified Ford, Chevy, and Mopar drivers in the other lane.

This Trans Am came equipped with "Honeycomb" wheels, named for the distinctive pattern of the rim. New for 71' the ever popular honeycomb wheel was available in 15" for Firebirds and 14" for other Pontiacs. The wheel's centers were painted with molded urethane mounted on a steel backing. Unlike the Camaro, whose fender vents and wheel spoilers were strictly cosmetic, the Trans Am fender air extractors and wheel well spoilers were functional. They were designed to reroute air away from the wheels thereby reducing friction during high speed driving. They were also designed to "suck" the car down to the road during high speed driving. The trunk spoiler was also added for this reason.

When it comes to Pontiacs and TAs I fall firmly in the originality camp but this TA just looks awesome. Trevor Davis is the owner and he writes:      "This is my baby I bought it 18 years ago and it was my first car. When I got it, it was nothing but a white shell, front sub frame, and title. When I first started doing the reconstruction this was going to be my everyday driver. The car was a 4 speed and I converted it to an automatic I know the 4-speed is worth more, but at the time it was going to be an every day and the auto was more practical. Of course as time progressed it became nicer and nicer. It took me 12 years to get it to the point that you see it now. I still have minor things to do yet, but any more time has become a big issue. I don’t drive it much because of the weather in K.C. Mo. I saw all these nice T.A.’s and thought I would post mine. It has a 1979 posi-trac disc rear end {that I put 3:23 gears}. The motor is a 400 Ram Air III with the head and intake ported and polished to match, the carburetor is an Edelbrock Quadrajet 895cfm with smaller rods and bigger jets. I put in an H.E.I. distributor and timed it to full advance. Everything looks stock. Well I could go on forever but I won’t."

This is not your average '71 Trans Am. The owner decided to do some mods to it to improve its appearance. Its been lowered and 17" aftermarket rims were installed. The frame and firewall have been painted white to match the body color. Besides these interesting mods some extra chrome was installed on the engine to jazz it up a bit.

This '71 455HO Formula belongs to Jim Vari. Jim has spent 9 years restoring this Firebird and wanted it to turn some heads. This particular car was built at the Norwood plant in Ohio on April 6, 1971. Everything on it is new or rebuilt, including the functional Ram Air hood that is so distinctive on these models. The only thing left is a new paint job which will be applied this year. The rear is a stout 3.42 gear ratio. Jim also selected 50" series tires all around on the 15" rims to provide an agressive look and a whole lot of traction. Jim has been more than rewarded for his efforts with a best 1/4 mile time of 12.90. I'm sure new pics of the car will be posted here after the new paint is sprayed on so keep an out for this one!!!

This cameo white Trans Am is owned by Phil Wood. This is a 455HO, 4-speed car with no A/C. More info to come...