The 1979 Pontiac Firebird, Formula & Trans Am
Lot#1

Adam Marcum resurrected this 1979 Formula. Adam writes:      "My name is Adam Marcum. This is my 1979 Firebird Formula. I bought this car 8 years ago for $400!!! I found it under a pine tree beside of a barn, so it was in pretty bad shape. But I got it looking good. It has a Chevy 383 Stroker motor, a Holley 750 double pumper, MSD ignition, ceramic coated headers, H pipe, 2 1/2 inch Flowmaster exhaust, 4.10 gears, Weld 5 star racing rims, back tires Mickey Thompson ET street, and front tires Mickey Thompson Sportman tires."

This Texas Trans Am is owned by Christian Dais. Christian writes:      "I purchased the T/A back in November of '01, at The Houston Car Auction for $3,100. Since then it has been the daily driver around town. After a thorough wash, and cleaning, an oil and lube change, it was ready to start some modifications. The early mod's were minor in performance, carb adjusting, new air cleaner (14x3) to replace the old 6x1, and a new transmission. The Richmond 5-speed that was in the car when I received it would grind when you let the clutch out. When I took in to get looked at, I was informed that the "main shaft" had come loose and was messing up everything inside, the bearings, and synchros were practically gone, and I had 15% of my clutch left. They wanted $5,000 to fix it. The whole place was a little shady. So obviously that didn't happen, I ordered a replacement from Jegs for around $1,500. After about 2-1/2 weeks I got the car back with the new clutch, and transmission installed, a rear end leak fixed, some more carb adjusting, and some other minor repairs for around $600. Since then I have replaced the water pump, and fuel pump/regulator. On Friday the 26 of March 02, I went to Houston Raceway Park and ran it for the first time. Started out a little rough with my first run being an 18 second one, due to my part. But by the end of the day I had it down to a 15.1 at 100.70 MPH. After some more trips to the track I had gotten used to launching the car, I lowered the shock/tire pressure and got a best of 14.001 @ 102.47 MPH. I was very annoyed at not breaking 13's by such a little margin. I then ordered Hooker Competition Headers, Spintech 3" X-pipe, Spintech Mufflers, and Torque Tech. Tailpipes. The whole system is 3" all the way back. I had the system installed, and it sounds great, the only problem is that they bent one of the pipes about 1/2 way in, and it is restricting flow. I made a dyno run but the clutch wasn't engaging all the way, which I learned after the dyno, and so the numbers gained were rather pathetic. Christmas 02 came around and interior is almost mint now, minor things to replace and it will be finished. New wires, shocks, and tires are installed and waiting to be taken to the track." Here's the best times from the track so far: 60' : 2.132 330' : 5.829 1/8 Mile : 8.836 @ 82.18 MPH 1000' : 11.431 1/4 Mile : 13.612 @ 103.44 MPH Thanks again Christian

John Bush owns this spectacular Trans Am: John writes:      "Here is a brief description of my 1979 Trans Am. I am the Second official owner of the car. The car was a one owner car till 2000 when the original owner from Missouri passed away and his wife sold it to a dealer in MI. I bought it from the dealer after a year in storage. It is an all original car with 15,000 miles. Paint, interior, and yes, even the Poly-steel tires on it are factory original!! The exterior is Nocturne Blue and although the paint has seen a little abuse, it is still in fine shape and I have no intention to destroy the originality of the car. The interior is an off white called Oyster, and is in excellent condition. Under the hood is the Pontiac 400 ci (220 HP) W72 engine, it has the Borg Warner T-10 4sp Transmission, and the car also boasts the WS6 suspension performance package. There a only a few other options which include: T-Tops, Air-conditioning, a factory CB (rare), and undercoating. I'm not sure why it was undercoated coming from Missouri, but it has prevented any deterioration what so ever. Someday, when I have a TON of time, I'll actually clean up the underside to get it into a more show able condition."   John Bush

Jerry and Karen Doris own this award-winning Trans Am. Jerry writes:      "The TA has the WS6 optional 4 wheel disc brakes, 4 spd and 15x8 rims. The rims are currently off the car. The engine is a 1970 Ram Air III with an Edelbrock Performer manifold with a Holley 650cfm carb. It has 3 tube Heddman headers, 2.5" exhaust running thru a pair of Sonic Turbos. The transmission is a Muncie M21 and the rear end houses 3.73 Richmond gears. The heads are using Comp. Cam 115lb. springs, and the following Comp Cam chrome-moly parts, guide plates, pushrods, Chevy studs, poly locks and Magnum roller rocker arms. The car is shown and driven on a regular basis. We live in Chesterfield, Mich. and belong to United Street Machine and Customs car club. Have a great day and keep up the great work."

This Firebird is owned by Aaron Edwards. Aaron writes:      "My aunt saved this car for me since the day I was born. Its my daily driver and still turns heads. It's original color was Heritage Brown but the paint on the hood and the fender whells was cracking really bad, and the plastic nosepiece had a big crack in it. So I replaced that and had it stripped down to bare metal and repainted from there. It cost me a pretty penny.....$1800 to be exact. I'm 19 and I've had my '79 Firebird since I turned 15. I've always dreamt of turning it into a true strip king, and now its finally coming true. Its a black 1979 firebird with a 301...but I've been building a 1970 455 for it. Its going to be a trailer queen as I'm building it specifically for the 1/4 mile."  Here are some engine stats: 1970 2-bolt main 455 .030 over (462) Stage 1 ported #15 heads (2.11/1.66) flows around 250@.500 intake and 210@.500 exhaust taken at 28"  RamAir IV Cam 308*/320* adv. dur.  230*/240* dur@.050 .469/.469 lift (.519/.519 w/1.65 rockers) Holley 800cfm carb w/Torker II manifold Hooker Competition Headers MSD Cap, Crane HI-6 ignition box TH350 trans with 3000 stall and hardened sprags and clutches 8.5" 10 bolt-rebuilt with new posi unit and 3.42 gears. MT ET Streets 26x10.5x15 "My friend ran the engine specs on a Desktop Dyno and came out with 470hp @ 5500rpm and 490ft-lbs @ 4500.  Dyno starts at 2000rpm with 400ft-lbs and 150hp and steadily climbs. When the torque starts dropping off around 5100rpm the HP picks up. I'll be shifting at 5500 right at the peak hp. I would go further (up to 6000), but I doubt the stock connecting rods can take much more than 5500rpm. I'm hoping for 11.80's @ 113-115 if I can get the 'Bird to lose a few pounds. In the next few emails I'll send a couple shots of the Firebird and 1 of the engine (unassembled because I haven't put it together yet). I'll send in more pics as I progressively build the motor." Aaron Edwards, MD Current options on the Firebird: Original 301 w/ Rochester 2bbl  A/C, P/S 128,925 miles and still running strong Flowmaster True Dual Exhaust I have the original Rally II wheels which I have replaced with some chrome Pacer's TH-350 Automatic Transmission 200w Sony Xplode Cd-player

This beautiful brown Trans Am is pulling display duty. Its doing a good job too with the optional T-Tops, outstanding paint job and the cool 15' X 8' aluminum snowflake rims. The rims were usually added as part of the optional Special Performance Package also known as the WS6 package. This is the original performance package that provided the namesake for the current WS6 package that has been installed on 96' and 97' TAs. It was decided to use the old  code to designate the reintroduction of the Ram Air option because it was well known in the late 70s.

Charles Meatyard owns this excellent looking brown Trans Am. It was bought from a couple from Florida for the sum of $3300. Charles has done some exterior work and has now begun working on improving the interior. With a major parts distributor (Camaro Specialties), that also caters to the Firebird crowd, right down the street its easy to see why his car is so nice. He recently graduated from East Aurora, NY and plans to put all his freed up money into the TA. That is until he can pick up a 76' Trans Am sometime in the near future. There are plans for some strip duty for the TA in the future so hopefully I'll get an update and some timeslips next summer. Charles says he wouldn't trade a T/A for almost anything. Yeah!!! That's my kind of TA fan!! I wouldn't trade my Trans Am for anything either, ok well maybe another Trans Am or a GTO.

Daniel Ramos Jr. owns this incredible looking Trans Am. Daniel writes:      "A few weeks ago, I purchased the car that I had been dreaming about owning for several years. I live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas, and found my dream car in Plano, TX. The gentlemen that owned the car is really into restoring Trans Ams, and I found his car and it wasn't even for sale when I bought it. He had maintained the car brilliantly, and I was happy to get it from him. The car has a 403, and has an automatic transmission. The interior is black, and has an AM/FM radio. I purchased an MP3 player and a transmitter for it so I can play all my 70's tunes over the radio. Listen, there is nothing like driving your TA with some classic tunes with the T-Tops off. The car is in exceptional shape. As you can see from the photos, this Trans Am can turn some heads. I did not have to do anything to the car except drive it. It stays mostly in my garage, but I do get it out and cruise the town on a weekly basis. I hope you enjoy the photos and what an awesome website!" Pastor Daniel Ramos, Jr.

Shane Owenby owns this L78 400 4bbl Mayan Red Trans Am. The 400 is mated to an M21 Muncie close ratio 4-speed manual tranny. The rear is geared at 3.23 with a limited slip posi-traction differential. This TA was a recipient of the optional WS6 Performance Package and comes equipped with 4 wheel disc brakes, T-Tops, all power options including Power Door Locks & Power Trunk (even a power antenna), A/C, rear defogger, and a tilt wheel. The interior is black and the car was assembled in Van Nuys, CA where it was then shipped to Fort Wayne, IN. The birds odometer currently only has 53,000 miles as of Oct 97'. E-mail: Shane Owenby

Gilbert Carreon is the original owner of this low-mileage blue Trans Am. Gilbert writes:      "My first new car, was purchased in Westminster CA at Bob Longpre Pontiac in September of 1978. I bought it the first week the new 1979 Trans Am cars came out. It was a dark blue 1979 Trans Am, with light blue trim. It was my pride and joy. I joined several clubs, and went to several car shows and events, including what they called a Trans A Rama back in those days. The plates on that car read "TA DEVIL". But real life issues happened, and I had to sell the car. But I never forgot about it. So last year I searched for six months, looking for the right Trans Am to replace the legend. I found a few that were close, but they were not in the best of shape. So I had to face the facts. I was going to pay what ever it took to find the right one. And, I found it in Seattle WA. It was in mint shape, with only 46,000 actual miles. It has all the options available, including the famed WS6 package. The only non stock item is the CD player, and speaker grills. They were painted to match the interior, and with radio up, T-Tops off, I am east bound and down." Gilbert also owns a '69 Firebird that can be seen at '69 Firebirds Lot#1. His son also owns a 2000 NHRA Edition Trans Am that can be seen at the 2000 NHRA Edition Lot#1 page.