The last year for the second generation Trans Am was 1981. Pontiac kept the great lines of the car and and continued to improve handling and comfort but power from under the hood was a mere shadow of prior years. One of the best colors available in 1981 was Night Watch Blue or sometimes referred to as Dark Blue Metallic. This 1981 Pontiac Trans Am has traveled only 25,977 since new. The car is listed here on eBay with 2 days remaining in the auction. Currently, this Trans Am is bid to $20,100 and the reserve has not been met. The car is located in Apopka, Florida.
The interior looks factory original except for the floor mats and aftermarket power windows. The original floor mats are included with the sale and are pictured in the trunk of the car. From the factory, the power window switches are mounted on the console. This car has the switches mounted on the door panels. The Trans Am has the Deluxe interior option including blue Pimlico seats which were a one year only material. Additional options include air conditioning, tilt steering, T-Tops, rear defrost and AM-FM Cassette. One distinction of the 1981 Pontiac Trans Am is that they all received a Firebird emblem on the rear tail light door to access that gas filling tube. This was a popular addition and many people add this feature to their 1979-1980 Trans Ams which have similar tail lights.
Under the hood, the car is powered by the base engine option which was the 301 cubic inch V8 engine. With a 4 barrel carburetor, the Pontiac 4.9 liter engine was rated at 155 horsepower. The 301 cubic inch V8 engine was introduced in 1977 by Pontiac as a lightweight economy engine. Unfortunately, it did not generate enough horsepower to adequately move Pontiac’s heavy 1970 cars. Its parts are not interchangeable with other Pontiac engines so performance improvement is limited.
A nice feature of this car is that it may be equipped with Pontiac’s WS6 performance handling package. This option included larger sway bars, tuned shocks, better steering ratio and 8″ aluminum snowflake wheels. Car & Driver named the WS6 equipped Trans Am the best handling American car in 1979. The car is said to run like new and comes with documentation including the original window sticker. If you want a nice cruiser that is close to original condition, this is a car you should be bidding on.
Not a bad car, but bid pretty high for a 301 Firechicken with a JC Whiney power window conversion kit lol. Haven’t seen that in years!
Still a car you used to see everywhere, now very rare. I would be tempted at $15,000 (as if I had that money at this point lol). I would HAVE to grow back my mullet.
Nice write up Bruce! I agree with you that this is one of the prettiest colors that Pontiac/GM came out with. Even years later though, I still can’t get over the hideous nose job compared to the 77/78 models, otherwise this is definitely a keeper.
Thanks Bob. 1977-1978 TA model was a home run design. My wife agrees with you on the 1979-81 nose design!
This car will take 10.9 seconds to reach 60 and 18 seconds to complete the quarter mile per automobile catalog. FWIW, if this was sold new today, it would be the slowest new car sold in the US market, by a significant margin. And it’s bid to over $20,000.
There is a very good chance that the next owner will toss out the stock 301. I have seen these second generation F-bodies packing up to 1,000 horsepower with twin turbos, so it’s up to the next owner how fast it is.
that would be DUMB! this is not a muscle car- it is a performance car. Ihope it finds a home like MINE has – bone stock after 31 years! and will STAY BONE STOCK!!!
Mayhaps but why spend all this money if you’re just gonna be swapping out the motor? By the time the total cost is added up you’d have been better off just buying an original 400 car and doing a few light mods. I suspect a lot of people buying now are not really using their brain.
Owning a car and having a brain Bick have never really gone hand in hand.
So what? A stock Porsche 356 does 13.5 sec to 60, and 19+ in quarter mile. And they average $75K.
Well that’s a reasonable point but I think the key distinction is the Porsche 356 was not a muscle car or a low point. It was a lightweight nimble sports car that was revolutionary for its time. It wasn’t meant to be a drag racer, though it was pretty quick compared to the Beetle it was based on.
This car is big and heavy and represents a low water mark of a muscle car. You can’t help but compare it to its predecessors and successors, most of which were superior.
Seems like a lot of people here, and bidders, like this. And that’s fine. I just think for near $30,000, you could do a lot better, even in the Trans Am timeline
Of course this car is not bought to go fast, you buy it because you like it. Buy something else if you want 1/4 mile times..
Rob Cordrry has a hilarious take on this exact thing in a recent Top Gear America episode. Watch the segment when he has it on the track. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqnp5i0CFCw
Last year you could get a “true ” Poncho v8. After that, it was Chevy power.
Wish this had chevy or olds rocket 350 Bob.
The write-up jumps to the conclusion that the car has WS6 because of the 8″ wheels. But seller’s ebay listing makes no claim it has WS6. Quite likely the wheels were owner-added, especially since most 81s built with WS6 had the 7.5″ turbo-style wheels, not the snowflakes. Also, not sure where this “night watch blue” crap comes from. For 1981, all Pontiac colors were devoid of the usual glamorous marketing names and used boring but unambiguous names. In this case, it was simply called “dark metallic blue” (code 29). The car itself doesn’t seem too bad, although I don’t like the rust-proofing plugs all over the door jambs, and the add-on power windows are a buzz kill. By the way, the 81 fabric was called Pimlico, not “Plimco”.
In 1979, I went to my local Pontiac dealer, Prime Pontiac, and on the floor were 2 cars that caught my eye, 1 was a 79 2 tone Blue Grand Prix, and the other a black and gold Trans Am, now living in NY at the height of Disco night clubbing, the Grand Prix was the car to put Spokes and Vogues on, but I was a diehard Pontiac performance man since I was a little kid, I was 18 in 79, so I sat down with the dealer and was informed that both cars on the floor were 301s,and I wanted the automatic, the 400 was only available w a 4 speed in the TA, o didn’t want a 403 Oldsmobile motor, I bought the 301 Grand Prix, I’d rather look good going slow, than getting laughed at trying to go fast in a TA that didn’t go fast
Here is my 1981 Trans Am. I added fuel injection, more boost, 2.5″ downpipe and water/alcohol injection. I love to drive it and bring back memories of high school.
Imagine a “car” today with a roof that low & an all blue interior like that.