1982 trans am car and driver road test

Truly one of the most historically significant automobiles in nhra history, don the snake prudhommes 1982 pontiac trans ambodied nitro funny car, the pepsi challenger, rewrote drag racing history on two separate occasions during the 1982 nhra season in an era when such nhra champions as kenny bernstein, raymond beadle, and frank hawley were constantly put to the test by prudhomme. The third generation pontiac firebird was introduced in late 1981 by pontiac alongside its corporate cousin, the. Oct 25, 2019 although the pontiac trans am changed over the four years the original show aired, blasius decided to mold his kitt replica after the original kitt used in the first season of the tv series. Fast cool cars z28 vs gt, car and driver comparison test. When you drive a z28, there is one engineering breakthrough that slaps you. Our original test of the pontiac firebird trans am sd455. The 198292 pontiac trans am is still the epitome of 80s cool. The firebird was the base model, equivalent to the camaro sport coupe. But this 1977 pontiac trans am makes a huge impression both visually and aurally. My pontiac makes me proud of chevrolets excitement division. The shear audacity of comparing the legendary ferrari gto to an american 4 passenger car sent shock waves through the industry, and subsequently put the pontiac gto on the map.

At least pontiac offered a hotter option, borrowed from corvette. Can am road test archives it seems that most of the pontiac can am road tests in 1977 were done with a prototype that had the base 400 engine and highway gearing. Mar 07, 2012 road test magazine june 1976 tested a 1976 corvette with the 3speed automatic transmissionl82 combo which did the 14 mile in 15. Little was changed in the 72 model year for the corvette, as chuck koch readily admitted early in his june 1972 motor trend road test. Per car and driver, blasius was able to find a hardtop 1982 ta with the mighty and shortlived 165 horsepower crossfireinjected 305. The test went quite well but the sponsor wanted an italian driver so willy t. Mustang gt, camaro z28, and firebird trans am slug it out with germanys finest, the porsche 928.

Current rules require ta class cars to use 112 octane, leaded gasoline. Classic pontiac firebird trans am turbo indy pace car edition. Camaro prep hot rod july 1982 1982 camaro z28 motor trend january. Family car ranked 1982 chevrolet camaro z28 coupe rwd better. Built in the van nuys, california, plant though unable to be sold in the golden state legally. Trans am series race cars carry enough fuel to run the entire race nonstop, making each race a 100 mile sprint that is a test of driver skill and competitiveness. The ford raptor is a huge sales hit well beyond what ford envisioned and its not because a raptor has the most conveniently located cupholders. It was driven by dan gurney and swede savage during preseason testing and used in all of aars and chryslers preseason promotional photographs. But after car and driver magazine tested the car, logging a 060 mph run in 4. Asc creative services designed the grand am sct for the sema show circuit, which was the concept design for the ram air hood and body package.

Mar 15, 2018 yikes, i remember the articles in car and driver. This issue, it compares the 78 vette, z28, and the ta. V8 for the topoftheline 1982 trans am, the performance future of the trans am seemed bright. With an unmodified car and a test weight of 4,010 lbs the testers clocked 14. For 1982, the new firebird and camaro had been completely restyled, with the. The infamous 19801981 pontiac trans am turbo ate up. The infamous 19801981 pontiac trans am turbo ate up with motor. This is a green 1973 pontiac trans am classic car in reading pa posted on oodle classifieds.

Trans am again served as performance king, even if its standard carbureted 305cid 5. The 1982 trans am was to be a much lighter car, weighing at least 500 lbs lighter than the husky second generation trans am. Nov 07, 2017 one of the coolest things is that 33 years ago this car took kevin to see his first indy car and trans am race at road america. The 8 cylinder, overhead valve naturally aspirated engine has 2 valves per cylinder and a displacement of 5 litres. Other options on the mustang test car included air conditioning, an am fm stereo radio with premium amplification, a tbar. Car and driver magazine named the trans am with the ws6 performance package the best handling car of 1979.

Keeping in mind our passion for performance here at car craft, our most reasonable choice would be a trans am. And road and track june 1977 obtained a 14 mile of 15. For the 400403 comparison just to show this was the hot ticket for 79. Say the words firebird trans am in 2016, and youre likely to think of the onions satirical vision of a shirtless joe biden washing his muscle car in. And a short while ago the car was back at road america. For 1982, the new firebird and camaro had been completely restyled, with the windshield slope set at a dramatic, more. The gmc got the nod for being able to haul more cases of beer. Early tests by car and driver and motor trend october and november 1979 respectively recorded 060 mph 097 kmh times of around 8 seconds, quartermile 402meter ets in the mid16s, and a top speed.

The camaro z28 was mt car of the year in 1982, and even then we felt it had two serious deficiencies. The 74 camaro z28 matched that with its lighter l82 350, but the. Over 52,000 trans am were sold making this a very popular decal and stripe kit. Like the camaro, the ram air equipped trans am collector edition is powered by gms potent 5. The basic combination of a big exterior and a small interior harks back to the inefficient days of yesteryear, while the instrument layout, the modern seats, and the excellent driving position seem fully uptodate. Once a thriving species during the golden performance car era, it was all but wiped out by that great. This is the special sports car issue, it looks like it was 4 times a year. This contest of red speed puts the deutsche treat a mile away in acceleration, top speed, and price. After the fuelfrenzied seventies subside, cd revs up the musclecar faceoff once again. Year, make and model 1980 81 pontia hemmings daily. The 1982 transam series was the seventeenth running of the sports car club of americas premier series. Emblems and decals see all nitrous injected emblem. The successful datsun brand saw its final trans am victory in 1982, although the nissan brand which replaced it did see notable success thereafter. With pontiac engineers having planned the carryover of the 200 horsepower 4.

In this application it produces power and torque figures of 150 bhp 152 ps112 kw at 4200 rpm and 324 nm 239 lbft33 kgm at 2200 rpm respectively. The 20th anniversary trans am is a muscle car from the traditional mold. They picked up an 83 z28 as a 25,000 mile longterm test car, and it was spectacularly unreliable, especially the automatic transmission a 2004r, i believe, which at one point had to be replaced after the case split open, puking out all its quarts of dexron. Up for auction is my 1982 pontiac firebird recaro trans am. To call the trans am an iconic car is only just scratching the surface. In testing the trans am and the z28 backtoback, we found that the pontiac required 8. The trans am turbo was a 49state car, unable to meet californias onerous smog regs, all were equipped with mandatory turbo 350 nonlockup automatic transmissions, 3. The 1989 turbo transam was the quickest american production car at the time and served as the indianapolis 500 pace car without requiring powertrain modifications. This graph shows the average value trend for all thirdgen body styles and engine configurations, except slps. Depending on which road test you read, the 1979 firebird trans am needed about 160 feet to stop from 60 mph. The words firebird trans am turbo would seem to connote furious performance, but the turbo ta was not as speedy as one might expect. Inside, the turbo ta displays a mixture of modern and old.

Handling was deemed softer than camaros, more european in nature. The fourwheel disc brakes were offered as a part of the special performance package introduced in 1979 to improve the stopping power. Forty years ago, pontiac bookended the muscle car market with one car that. Some of the tests included here indicate pretty lame performance as a result.

Banks made a name for himself with his speed shop that modified boat and car engines during the 1960s and 1970s. Additionally, the test car had a limitedslip differential, heavyduty engine cooling, the custom cloth interior with conteur drivers seat, an amfmstereo cassette system with. Originally known as the transamerican sedan championship, the name was changed to the transamerican championship for 1967 and henceforth. A road test by car and driver showed a 060 mph time of 7.

The collector edition pontiac trans am matches its cousin with a flashy yellow finish and contrasting black graphics. But it would be totally unfair to concentrate solely on the exterior appearance of the aztek. I wanted a road car, one that was fun to drive, like the porsche 924. Acceleration with its 5l engine, and its three speed tran auto, good. The car we tested was an extreme example of a topoftheline mustang, now called the gt mustang models will be juggled for 1982 to parallel the escort line. Aug 31, 2010 instead of a screaming chicken, the 1979 firebird trans am should have a pterodactyl on the hood. The third generation pontiac firebird was introduced in late 1981 by pontiac alongside its.

Car and driver magazine named the trans am with the ws6 performance package the best. Its not the most economical car weve ever road tested, nor is there a huge amount of rear seat room or boot space. The transam series was created in 1966 by sports car club of america scca president john bishop. This is truly a living dinosaur, the very last direct descendant of the the original big blockhipo pony car. Pontiac built more than 800,000 firebirds from 1982 to 1992. All 2,000 black trans am were nascar limited editions. They picked up an 83 z28 as a 25,000 mile longterm test car, and it was spectacularly unreliable, especially the automatic transmission a 2004r, i believe, which at one point had to be replaced after the. Good, legal trans am, asedan car has always been a midpack runner with me as a driver i dont push it harder than to have fun. Thirdgen magazine articles are getting hard to come by these days, so we are collecting what we can. Firebirds seemed to be finding their niche again, as 128,304 rolled off the line for 84the high point of the third generation. Trans ams continued to sell well, but were beaten by the base model. The catalina continued as pontiacs entrylevel fullsize automobile with a buickbuilt 231 cubicinch v6 now standard in sedans and coupes safari wagons came standard with v8 power and optional v8s of 301 cid, 350 cid and 400 cid displacements, each.

The series has in fact gone by a variety of different names through the years too many to list, some linked to sponsors, some not. Our test machine was the special edition, which meant that. The name trans am has been a familiar one ever since pontiac licensed the name from the sports car club of america in 1969. The 3rd generation of firebirds consisted of three models. Pontiac rated the engine at 250 horsepower, but with car and driver clocking a 4. Aug 02, 2017 up for sale in our houston showroom is this 1982 pontiac firebird trans am. Yet our need to go beyond reason led us to test not one, but two versions of this seasoned bird. The pontiac firebird was an american automobile built by pontiac from the 1967 to 2002 model. All a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z. Todays turbo revival is rooted in the 80s hagerty media.

The october 1982 issue of car and driver had an article which showcased gail banks prototype 1982 trans am which was street legal and ran on street tires. The trans am was the highest performance level for the firebird. Has the potential to be a front runner with a gutsy driver. Only this time, kevin was driving on track and competing with the optima ultimate street car series.

During period dyno testing, the national hot rod association rated the limitedavailability ta 6. Did you ever read the comparison test car and driver did between a gmc syclone and a ferrari 358. Dec 30, 2015 additionally, the test car had a limitedslip differential, heavyduty engine cooling, the custom cloth interior with conteur driver s seat, an am fmstereo cassette system with delcos extended. The sct later became an appearance package, beginning in 2003. Ford mustang gt, pontiac firebird trans am, porsche 928. The ta was the choice the 3 drivers liked, the z28 being the worst. Our low price includes everything need to bring your trans am back to its original factory condition. The cd staff called it the secondbesthandling american car, behind the pontiac trans am september, 1979.

But it would be totally unfair to concentrate solely on the exterior. Apr 08, 2008 the words firebird trans am turbo would seem to connote furious performance, but the turbo ta was not as speedy as one might expect. When all is said and done, the mustang is still a good car, but it deserves an ongoing. On the seventh of february, 1973, our test firebird trans am sd455 swept through the quartermile at orange county international raceway in irvine, california in an elapsed time of.