1997 Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am: The Last LT1 Year

1997 was the last LT1 year, this record's own overview states. MuscleCarClub's table gives an all-model total of 32,692, the key fact this record leads with, while this record's own production notes state that the first research pass found only that total, with the model, body, WS6 and Firehawk detail that follows all drawn instead from the CompNine VIN compilation and, for Firehawks, the Firehawk Association. A CompNine VIN count puts the same year at 30,828, and this record's own conflicts note states simply that both are shown since neither is a GM report.^1,2

Within CompNine's own scope, 16,364 coupes and 1,274 convertibles carried the L36 V-6, and 2,716 Formula coupes and 326 Formula convertibles, plus 8,695 Trans Am coupes and 1,453 Trans Am convertibles, carried the LT1 V-8, for a V-8 total of 11,411 coupes and 1,779 convertibles. The WS6 Ram Air package reached 482 Formula coupes, 288 six-speed and 194 automatic, and 42 Formula convertibles, 15 six-speed and 27 automatic, against 2,889 Trans Am WS6 coupes, 1,432 six-speed and 1,457 automatic, and 482 Trans Am WS6 convertibles, 135 six-speed and 347 automatic.²

The GM-coded R6V Firehawk base cars numbered 101 Formula coupes, 56 six-speed and 45 automatic, and 13 convertibles, 5 six-speed and 8 automatic, while the Comp T/A reached 47 cars, 30 six-speed and 17 automatic, all carrying RPO WU6; this record's own production note adds that of 85 Trans Ams coded R6V that year, 47 were Comp T/As and 38 were exports. The Firehawk Association's own SLP conversion counts run separately: 100 Firehawk coupes, 58 six-speed and 42 automatic with 81 T-tops, 16 convertibles whose printed transmission cells this record's own note states do not sum to 16 and so are not used, and 47 Comp T/A cars, all Bright Silver (13U) with Gray leather, 30 six-speed and 17 automatic with 40 T-tops.^2,3

1997 also carried a genuine rarity: this record's own production note states that the CompNine compiler found 29 LT4 Firehawks plus one prototype, all six-speed Formula hardtops with SLP's 330-hp LT4 swapped in place of the LT1, identifiable only by VIN because the cars still carry the LT1 engine code on paper. This record documents four 1997 prices from a buyer's-guide database: $22,884 MSRP and $20,939 dealer invoice for the Trans Am coupe, and $28,444 MSRP and $26,026 dealer invoice for the Trans Am convertible.^2,4

This record's own unpublished leads section holds one figure explicitly not used: a Pontiac Trans Am Page listing of Formula and Trans Am WS6 rows plus an unexplained "Anniversary 30,754" row, held out because it is a single uncited source whose labels are visibly shifted in other years and whose rows do not reconcile with the all-model total. Two engines are documented: the L36 3.8-liter V-6 at 200 hp and 225 lb-ft, and the LT1 5.7-liter V-8 at 285 hp and 325 lb-ft, both rated to the same net standard as compiled by MuscleCarClub.¹

What the record documents in full is the LT1's last year told almost entirely through the CompNine VIN compilation: 32,692 cars by MuscleCarClub against 30,828 VINs, a WS6 Ram Air package spanning four body-and-transmission combinations, and 29 factory-invisible LT4 Firehawks plus one prototype that this record can name only because a compiler traced them by VIN through an engine code that does not itself reveal the swap.¹