1982 Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am: A Lighter Third Generation

The third generation arrived for 1982 as a hatchback coupe in three models: Firebird, S/E and Trans Am. This record's own overview states that the Trans Am's top engine was the 305 with twin throttle-body Cross-Fire Injection (LU5), and that compiled production for the year totals 116,362 Firebirds, 52,960 of them Trans Ams, the key fact this record leads with. Those three models split 41,683 base Firebirds, 21,719 S/E cars and the 52,960 Trans Ams, a body style this record's own production notes describe uniformly as a three-door hatchback coupe across all three lines.¹

This record's own conflicts note documents a small dispute over the year's totals: MuscleCarClub's production table gives 116,362 total and 52,960 Trans Ams, while a separate ATGO Pontiac technical-data compilation gives 116,364 and 52,962, a two-car gap that the conflicts entry attributes entirely to the Trans Am row. Both figures are shown rather than one being discarded, since neither table names a primary factory record behind it and the gap itself is small enough that either could plausibly be a rounding or transcription artifact on the compiling site's part.^1,2

The ATGO table also carries a Recaro Trans Am count of 2,000 cars, included within the Trans Am total rather than broken out as its own row, which this record's own production note flags as an uncited club figure rather than a factory-documented one. The record's own production notes add that no engine, transmission, paint or package counts were found in any readable source for the year beyond the totals already given.²

This record carries no price section for 1982, and its production notes state that the Pontiac Trans Am Page repeats the same three model figures but labels the S/E column "Formula" instead, a labeling difference this record does not treat as an independent source. Four engines are documented: the 2.5-liter four-cylinder with throttle-body injection at 90 hp and 132 lb-ft, the 2.8-liter V-6 at 105 hp, the 5.0-liter (305) four-barrel at 145 hp standard on Trans Am, and the 5.0-liter Cross-Fire Injection V-8 at 165 hp and 240 lb-ft as a Trans Am option, all four rated to the same net standard as compiled by MuscleCarClub.¹

The options, paint, interiors and specifications sections were filled from one document: Pontiac's 1982 Firebird Book, a Certified Product Specialist study guide for dealer staff dated November 1981 and hosted as page scans on oldcarbrochures.com. It is a dealer-training document and therefore marketing material: it states what Pontiac advertised as standard or available, not what was built. This record carries 55 option rows, 14 paint rows, 10 interior rows and 31 specification rows from its printed pages 4 to 33. None has a price, because the book prints none, and RPO WS6 is the only option code the book prints, so every other option row leaves its code empty.

The book's paint list is a Firebird coupe list: twelve standard exterior colors, three in regular finish (White, Black and Bright Red) and nine metallic (Silver, Light Blue, Dark Blue, Light Jadestone, Dark Jadestone, Gold, Dark Gold, Maroon and Dark Charcoal), with the Trans Am and SE given specific two-tone schemes instead. For the Trans Am it says only that five bright upper-body colors are offered over black lower-body accents, gold when black is the upper color, and it does not name the five, so this record does not either. The interior rows likewise describe the coupe's seat trims, Derma vinyl in four colors and Pompey cloth in five, and the limited-edition Recaro Trans Am is documented with Charcoal cloth and the Black/Gold exterior scheme.

The book's dimension table is headed Firebird Cpe. and compares 1981 with 1982: a 101.0 inch wheelbase, 7.2 inches shorter, and a curb weight of 2,858 lb, which the table shows as 522 lb lighter. No separate Trans Am dimensions or weight are printed. For the Trans Am the book gives a .342 drag coefficient against .351 for the Firebird, a standard 145 hp 5.0-liter four-barrel V-8 with a heavy-duty 4-speed and 3.21:1 axle, and 165 hp at 4200 rpm from the Dual TBI V-8, which requires the automatic and the WS6 package. Its 0 to 60 mph claims of 10 and 9 seconds are Pontiac's own statements with no test conditions given.

What the record documents in full is the platform change itself: three hatchback models resolving to two closely matched totals differing by two cars, four engines topped by the new Cross-Fire Injection V-8, and a Trans Am line that, at 52,960 cars against a 116,362-car Firebird total, still accounted for close to half of everything Pontiac built under the Firebird name that year.¹