This dark gray 1981 Pontiac Trans Am is located in Red Oak, Texas which is just outside of Dallas. The car is reported to have 36,000 miles on the odometer. Besides being in pretty good condition, the car is equipped with a 4-speed manual transmission. The car is well-optioned and also appears to be equipped with the WS6 Performance Handling Package. Listed here on Facebook Marketplace, the seller is asking $22,000. The ad states that the car has been listed for 23 weeks so maybe the seller is willing to negotiate the price.
If a buyer wanted a 4-speed manual transmission in 1981, the Trans Am could only be ordered with the Chevrolet 305 cubic inch V8 engine. Equipped with a 4 barrel carburetor, the 5.0 liter engine only produced 155 horsepower. You can tell that it is a Chevy motor because the air conditioning compressor is on the driver side instead of on the passenger side for Pontiacs. The 305 cid power plant was the same engine that was available in the Camaro Z28. The top performance engine in 1981 was the turbocharged 301 cubic inch V8 engine in the Trans Am. It came with a 3-speed automatic transmission and was rated at 200 horsepower.
This car looks really clean and the interior has the deluxe interior finished in black vinyl. The seats, carpet, and door panel look to be in great shape. The dash is covered by an aftermarket carpeted cover which prevents a seller from seeing if the dash is cracked. The car was not ordered with T-Tops or power windows.
If the 15×8 Pontiac aluminum snowflake wheels on the car came with the car from the factory, it means the car has the WS6 Performance Handling Package which also included J65 4 wheel disc brakes. A glance under the hood should reveal the large master brake booster for the 4 wheel disc brakes but it is hard to see. The hood bird (phoenix) appears to be from an early year as the 1981 hood bird was monochrome and did not have color in the feathers.
I had an 81 Z28 with the same engine. It couldn’t get out of it’s own way.
Name anything in ’81 that could.. It was a sad time.
Luckily, only a few years later things began to turn around.
We had an 86 TA 305 auto that was a beast. Headers, cam, edelbrock intake and carb. Endless burnouts with positrack if you wanted,
Why does it have the base interior’s door panels with the deluxe (optional) interior’s seat upholstery?
Such a long run of the same body style (12 yrs) a great many of today’s restored cars are frankensteined with interchangeable parts and pieces from various years, sometimes purposely, but oft-times unknowingly by those who just don’t know the subtle differences from year to year.
Love the color – it’s different.
The engine is holding this one back, for sure.
Along with the bird hood color, I think the hood shaker scoop should be “T/A 5.0 LITRE” not just “T/A” correct?
Dean, the 301’s (non-turbo versions) had “T/A 4.9” on the hood scoop without the word “litre”. I don’t know whether the 305’s said “T/A 5.0” or “5.0 litre”. I can’t recall ever seeing one of those back in the day. My knowledge of scoop decals for various engine configurations is good through 1978. After that, I lost a lot of interest in these cars.
@Bruce the writer: I think the HP rating was 165 HP, at least that is what my ’81 Z/28 305 motor was rated at. All ’81 305 Trans Ams should have “5.0 LITRE” decals on the shaker hood scoop too.