1998 Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am: The LS1 Year, and No Production Firehawks

A restyled front nose and the new LS1 V-8 arrived together for 1998, this record's own overview states. MuscleCarClub's table gives an all-model total of 33,299, 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 and WS6 detail that follows drawn instead from the CompNine VIN compilation. A CompNine VIN count puts the year at 32,974, and this record's own conflicts note states simply that both figures are shown since neither is treated as a GM factory report.^1,2

Within CompNine's own scope, 16,102 coupes and 743 convertibles carried the L36 V-6, and 2,200 Formula coupes plus 2 Formula convertibles, alongside 12,408 Trans Am coupes and 1,519 Trans Am convertibles, carried the new LS1 V-8, for a V-8 total of 14,608 coupes and 1,521 convertibles. The WS6 Ram Air package reached 244 Formula coupes, 154 six-speed and 90 automatic with 15 carrying the 1LE package, both Formula WS6 convertibles split one six-speed and one automatic, and 2,449 Trans Am WS6 coupes, 1,137 six-speed and 1,312 automatic, against a competing 2,273 the Pontiac Trans Am Page prints from another source, plus 391 Trans Am WS6 convertibles, 162 six-speed and 229 automatic.²

This record's own production notes document something unusual for 1998: no production Firehawks. An SLP statement quoted from Firehawk.org and relayed on the Trans Am World 1998 page states that SLP added Firehawk content to six dealer-bought 1998 Formulas and Trans Ams in Troy, Michigan for marketing use only, that those six cars lack the RPO WU6 code, and that SLP itself does not count them as production Firehawks.²

This record documents four 1998 prices from a buyer's-guide database, none with a stated effective date beyond the model year itself: $25,975 MSRP and $23,767 dealer invoice for the Trans Am coupe, and $29,715 MSRP and $27,189 dealer invoice for the Trans Am convertible. Two engines are documented: the L36 3.8-liter V-6 at 200 hp and 225 lb-ft for the base Firebird, and the new LS1 5.7-liter V-8 at 305 hp and 335 lb-ft for Formula and Trans Am, both rated to the same net standard as compiled by MuscleCarClub, with no other engine listed for the model year.^3,1

This record's own unpublished leads section holds one figure explicitly not used: a Pontiac Trans Am Page listing of a 2,273-car Trans Am WS6 coupe count plus an unexplained "Anniversary 32,157" 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 this record's own production section carries.²

What the record documents in full is the LS1's debut year: 33,299 cars by MuscleCarClub against 32,974 VINs, a WS6 Ram Air package spanning four body-and-transmission combinations across two engine families, and a genuine gap year for the Firehawk, six SLP-touched marketing cars in Troy, Michigan that this record's own sources explicitly exclude from the production count rather than counting as production Firehawks at all.¹