Pontiac Firebird (3rd generation)

The Pontiac Firebird (3rd generation) is a 2-door convertible / 3-door liftback coupé from Pontiac, built from 1981 to 1992, in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. Under the bonnet: 151 CID GM Iron Duke engine. Jerry Palmer, Bill Porter drew it.

The story

The third generation Pontiac Firebird was introduced in late 1981 by Pontiac alongside its corporate cousin, the Chevrolet Camaro for the 1982 model year. These were also the first Firebirds with factory fuel injection, four-speed automatic transmissions, five-speed manual transmissions, four-cylinder engines, 16-inch wheels, and hatchback bodies.

What is underneath

Power comes from 151 CID GM Iron Duke engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It shifts through a 3-speed automatic THM 200C / 4-speed automatic THM 700R4 / 4-speed manual / 5-speed manual Borg Warner T5. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 101 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

Its place in the line

Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Pontiac Firebird (second generation); its successor was the Pontiac Firebird (fourth generation); assembly was at Van Nuys, California. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Mitsubishi Pajero, the DeLorean Motor Company DeLorean DMC-12, the Toyota Camry — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Pontiac catalogue sit the Pontiac 2+2 and the Pontiac 6.

What it costs now

MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Pontiac Firebird (3rd generation) has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.