Pontiac Trans Am Performance Times

transam-perf-s.jpgThe Pontiac Trans Am needs no introduction. What started out as a low production special edition performance Firebird in 1969 soon grew into a phenomenon in the 1970s. So great was its success it soon usurped the beloved GTO which first was introduced during the 1964 model year (the GTO started the muscle car movement). Soon thereafter Pontiac canceled the GTO (when the 1974 model year came to a close). When most other automakers abandoned the performance muscle car, Pontiac kept performance alive and well with the Trans Am. The Trans Am could be counted on even in the darkest days of the muscle car to provide some of the best performance and handling of that given model year. Sadly GM canceled the F-body (Camaro/Firebird) platform at the end of the 2002 model year which ended the Trans Am’s fine run. The Trans Am exited in 2002 the same way it arrived in 1969, providing a lot of performance for the buck, in one great looking sporty package.

GM did realize its mistake and brought back the F-body for 2010, however only the Camaro returned. Sadly not only did a new Trans Am not appear with the new 2010 Camaro but Pontiac was also put out to pasture by GM. After 34 fantastic consecutive model years the Trans Am has proven to be one of the greatest performance cars ever produced and nothing can change that. Here’s a list of Trans Am performance times from auto magazine tests back in the day: 
 

special note: all peformance times are listed in seconds.

 Year

  Model

  0-60 mph

  1/4 Mile

  Engine

  Trans.

  Source 

1969 Trans Am  n/a 14.1 @ 100.78 mph (L67) RA IV 400 n/a HR 1969
1970 Trans Am  5.7 14.1 @ 103.2 mph (L67) RA IV 400 n/a C&D 6/70
1970 Trans Am  n/a 13.9 @ 102 mph (L67) RA IV 400 man (4-spd) HR 1970
1970 Trans Am  n/a 14.68 @ 97.17 mph (L74) RA III 400 man (4-spd) MCR 12/95
1972 Trans Am  5.4 13.90 @ 104.6 mph (LS5) 455 HO n/a C&D 1972
1973 Trans Am  n/a 13.54 @ 104.3 mph (LS2) SD 455 n/a HR 6/73
1975 Trans Am  7.8 16.1 @ 89 mph (L75) Pontiac 455 man (4-spd) R&T 1975
1976 Trans Am  7.0 15.6 @ 90.3 mph (L75) Pontiac 455 man (4-spd) C&D 4/76
1977 Trans Am  n/a 16.2 @ 89.64 mph (W72) Pontiac 400 auto (3-spd) HR 
1978 Trans Am  n/a 15.54 @ 91.37 mph (W72) Pontiac 400 n/a CC 1978

1979

Trans Am 

 6.7

15.3 @ 96.6 mph

(W72) Pontiac 400

man (4-spd)

C&D 1/79

1979

Trans Am 

 6.7

14.6 @ 96.67 mph

(W72) Pontiac 400

man (4-spd)

HR 2/79

1980 Trans Am turbo  8.0 16.5 @ ? (LU8) 4.9 turbo auto (3-spd) MT 11/79
1980 Trans Am turbo  n/a 16.3 @ 86.78 (LU8) 4.9 turbo auto (3-spd) HR 3/80
1980 Trans Am turbo  9.05 17.02 @ 82.10 mph (LU8) 4.9 turbo auto (3-spd) MT 6/80

1982

Trans Am 

 8.89

16.75 @ 80.50 mph

(LU5) 5.0 liter CFI

auto (3-spd)

MT 1/82

1982 Trans Am  9.2 17.0 @ 80.5 mph (LU5) 5.0 liter CFI auto (3-spd) R&T 9/82

1983

Trans Am  

 8.4

16.4 @ 83.6 mph

(LU5) 5.0 liter CFI

auto (4-spd)

MT 7/83

1984 Trans Am  n/a 15.23 @ 90.77 mph (L69) 5.0 liter HO man (5-spd)  R&T 11/83

1984

Trans Am (15th Ann.)

 7.02

15.44 @ 91.5 mph 

(L69) 5.0 liter HO

man (5-spd)

MT 7/84

1985 Trans Am  7.7 16.07 @ 84.5 mph (LB9) 5.0 liter TPI auto (4-spd) MT10/84
1985 Trans Am  7.4 15.02 @ 91.09 mph (LB9) 5.0 liter TPI auto (4-spd) PHR 2/85
1985 Trans Am  7.6 15.6 @ 87 mph (L69) 5.0 liter HO man (5-spd) C&D 4/85

1987

Trans Am GTA

 6.89

15.35 @ 91.6 mph

(L98) 5.7 liter TPI

auto (4-spd)

MT 6/87

1989 Trans Am (20th Ann.)  5.4 14.18 @ 95.86 mph (LC2) 3.8 liter turbo auto (4-spd) MT 3/89
1989 Trans Am (20th Ann.)  4.6 13.4 @ 101 mph  (LC2) 3.8 liter turbo auto (4-spd) C&D 6/89
1989 Trans Am (20th Ann.)  5.1 14.18 @ 98.86 (LC2) 3.8 liter turbo auto (4-spd) MT 11/89
1989 Trans Am GTA  6.5 15.40 @ 90.28 mph (L98) 5.7 liter TPI auto (4-spd) MT 11/89

1991

Trans Am (conv.)

 7.8

16.2 @ 86.7 mph 

(LB9) 5.0 liter TPI

man (5-spd)

R&T 1991

1991 Trans Am GTA  6.36 14.86 @ 96.07 (L98) 5.7 liter TPI auto (4-spd) CC 9/91

1993 

Trans Am

 6.3

14.8 @ 97.6 mph

(LT1) 5.7 liter SFI

man (6-spd)

MT 1/93

1993 Trans Am  5.0 14.10 @ 98.45 mph (LT1) 5.7 liter SFI n/a CC 3/93
1994 Trans Am  n/a 13.93 @ 99.60 mph (LT1) 5.7 liter SFI auto (4-spd)  HPP 4/94
1994 Trans Am (25th -conv)  n/a 14.32 @ 95 mph (LT1) 5.7 liter SFI auto (4-spd) PHR 7/94
1996 Trans Am (WS6)  5.4 14.0 @ 100.5 mph (LT1) 5.7 Ram Air man (6-spd) MT 11/95

1998 

Trans Am 

 5.1 

13.4 @ 107.3 mph 

(LS1) 5.7 liter 

man (6-spd) 

MT 9/97 

2000 Trans Am (WS6)  5.0 13.5 @ 107.4 mph (LS1) 5.7 Ram Air man (6-spd) MT 2000

Written contents in this article – © 2011 Pete Dunton – All Rights Reserved