1987 Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am: The GTA and the 350 Arrive

For 1987 the Firebird range became Firebird, Formula, Trans Am and the new Trans Am GTA, with the 5.7-liter L98 tuned-port V-8 available for the first time. This record's own overview states that a transcription of GM's option-usage printouts counts 29,757 Trans Ams, GTA included and Canada excluded, with 20,607 WS6 packages and 16,311 hatch roofs among them. MuscleCarClub's separately scoped model rows split 88,587 total Firebirds into 42,552 base cars, 13,160 Formulas, 21,779 Trans Ams and 11,096 GTAs, and this record's own production notes are explicit that the two tables' scopes differ and must not be combined.^1,2

This record's own conflicts note documents the resulting GTA dispute directly: MuscleCarClub's model rows give 11,096 GTAs against 21,779 plain Trans Ams, while the GTA Source Page's option-usage printout counts 9,481 Y84 installations among the 29,757-car WS4 Trans Am total, Canada excluded. The treatment explains that Canada is excluded from the printout while MuscleCarClub's basis is unstated, so the two figures cannot simply be reconciled, and both are kept on record rather than one being chosen.^1,2

Within the printout's own scope, engines split 12,402 LB9 5.0 TPI against 7,816 with the B2L/L98 5.7 TPI automatic-only and 9,357 with the LG4 5.0 four-barrel, though this record's own note on the LG4 row flags that the printed percentage of 32.050% implies roughly 9,537 cars, a figure that would let the three engine rows close exactly to 29,757, and treats the LG4 count as disputed rather than settled. Transmissions split 27,007 automatic (MD8) against 2,750 five-speed manual (MM5) across the same Trans Am population.²

Paint on 1987 Trans Ams, Canada excluded, ran from a single Medium Gray Metallic car in code 84U, the key fact this record leads with, up to 8,494 in Flame Red Metallic, the most common shade that year, with Black, Bright Red, Silver Metallic, Bright Blue Metallic, Midnight Blue Metallic, Dark Brown Metallic and a second Medium Gray Metallic code rounding out the nine other colors this record's own paint table carries.²

This record documents two 1986-dated base prices for the 1987 model year: $10,773 for the base Firebird and $13,673 for the Trans Am, both manufacturer suggested retail including a $414 destination charge, with a note that Formula ($1,070) and GTA ($2,700) were priced in the same booklet as options added to a base price rather than as their own list-price lines. Five engine entries are documented, including separate LB9 ratings for manual (205 hp, 285 lb-ft) and automatic-equipped GTA cars (185 hp, 290 lb-ft), the L98 5.7 TPI at 210 hp and 320 lb-ft, the LG4 5.0 four-barrel at 165 hp, and the 2.8-liter V-6 at 135 hp.³

What the record documents in full is a transitional year carrying two genuinely new things: the GTA model and the 350-cubic-inch L98, resolved into a production picture built from two differently scoped tables that this record keeps visibly separate rather than merged, a nine-color paint table running from a single-car rarity to an 8,494-car majority shade, and a disputed LG4 engine count that this record flags rather than silently rounds.¹