Finished in obligatory Cameo White, this matching-numbers 1969 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am was built at GM’s Norwood, OH, assembly plant on June 23, 1969. It is one of only 697 Trans Am models built for ’69 and one of only 43 with a black interior. Other options include an AM radio, a center console and 4-speed manual transmission.
The Trans Am Package included a Ram Air hood with functional air inlets; front fender scoops; a rear spoiler; full-length stripes on the hood, roof and decklid; Trans Am decals; F70-14 tires; a sport steering wheel; a 400-ci H.O. Ram Air III engine; dual exhausts; a Safe-T-Track rear axle with 3.55 gears; variable-ratio power steering; a ride and handling package; a heavy-duty stabilizer bar; and power brakes.
This example was sold new at McNamara Buick-Pontiac in Port Jefferson, NY. From the information gathered, it spent its entire life in New York until 2024, and is the product of a complete rotisserie restoration begun in 2016 and finished in 2020. The body is extremely straight, with excellent panel fitment, and the doors open and close nicely. Everything on the exterior was restored or replaced, and the paint is show-quality.
Rebuilt to factory specifications, the V8 is coupled to the original matching-numbers Muncie 4-speed gearbox, which was also rebuilt to factory specifications. The undercarriage is also highly detailed throughout.
This first-year Trans Am was evaluated and verified by Pontiac expert Jim Mattison of PHS Automotive Services in March 2024. Tested, serviced and detailed, this is the first time it has been marketed for sale.
SCM Analysis
Detailing
| Vehicle: | 1969 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Coupe |
This car, Lot 768.1, sold for $210,100, including buyer’s premium, at Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach, FL, auction on April 20, 2024.
As Bruce Springsteen sang, “Burt Reynolds in that black Trans Am” may get all the attention today, but Pontiac’s original should not be forgotten. The WS4 Trans Am option was introduced in mid-1969, offered only in this final model year of the first-generation Firebird. The name hints at its mission, as during the formative years of the SCCA Trans Am series Pontiac was also locked in competition for street muscle supremacy with rival Pony cars from Chevy, Ford and Plymouth. The new Trans Am would lead the charge against the Mustang 428 Cobra Jet, Camaro SS 396 and Road Runner 440 Six Pack.
Which Ram Air?
All TAs were fitted with one of two high-output V8 engines and twin forward-facing hood scoops. The base 400-ci V8 offered a claimed 335 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque. This “Ram Air III,” as it has come to be known, made the Trans Am a quick car, capable of running the quarter-mile in the high 13s.
The Ram Air IV had the same displacement but added forged engine internals, an aluminum intake manifold, a long-overlap camshaft, improved round-port heads with high-lift rockers and heavy-duty valve springs, special exhaust manifolds, free-flow dual exhausts, and more. All that would produce an engine capable of revving to 6,000 rpm and producing a claimed 345 hp, though as was common in this era, suspicions were that the actual output was even higher.
There is also a Ram Air V, but none were ever installed in cars by the factory. Although this range-topping series of engines was planned and parts were built, Pontiac abandoned the project. A very few cars were, however, fitted with these crate engines sourced through the parts counter.
In our subject car power flows through a wide-ratio M20 box (a $195.36 option) to the Positraction rear end. (A 3-speed Turbo-Hydramatic automatic transmission was optional.) Handling upgrades over the standard Firebird included a ride and handling package comprising a heavy-duty stabilizer bar, front discs with single-piston calipers, power steering and white-letter tires.
All Trans Ams for 1969 were white with Tyrol Blue stripes, and this example sports a vinyl interior with a woodgrain-finished center console ($53.71) and the push-button radio ($61.09). The price, all-in, was $4,247.39 — the equivalent of $36,147 today, which seems like a screaming deal.
One and done
Despite a longer-than-usual production schedule for the 1969 Firebird as Pontiac readied the second-generation model for 1970, few Trans Ams were ordered. Pontiac built 87,708 Firebirds for 1969 and less than 1% of them had the Trans Am package—just 689 coupes and eight convertibles.
Basically, unless some guy with a seersucker suit and cigar lured someone into buying a showroom model he couldn’t otherwise unload, folks didn’t casually purchase a Trans Am. One reason was price. The WS4 package cost $1,098.48, some 39% above the Firebird coupe’s base price of $2,831 — with insurance premiums also likely jumping accordingly.
Yet the ’69 Trans Am was inarguably the zenith of the first-generation Firebird. Purposeful, reserved and yet audacious in white with blue stripes (a combination popularized by Briggs Cunningham in the 1950s), it was a brash new all-American sports model from GM’s performance division right as the horsepower wars were peaking.
By 1970, the second-generation Firebird was launched. The forward scoops of the original Ram Air hood were replaced by a rear-facing “shaker” intake, the car gained several hundred pounds, and the decisive front-end chrome and high-mount rear airfoil ceded to a urethane front bumper cover and a traditional ducktail spoiler. The 1970 Trans Am lost the original’s lithe, spare, taut look, but production rose to 3,196 units.
A stunning restoration
The high-water mark for 1969 Trans Am sales is an exceptionally rare Ram Air IV coupe (one of 55 built) that sold at Mecum Auctions’ Kissimmee, FL, sale in 2023 for $440,000. Barrett-Jackson sold a preproduction Trans Am prototype 1969 Firebird in 2015 for $313,500. Most of these 1969 Trans Ams we’ve seen sell at auction in the past few years have been in the $100k–$165k range, making the amount paid here the absolute top of the market. Considering its seemingly faultless and correct rotisserie restoration, however, it’s little surprise this example brought $210k, likely a record for a Ram Air III coupe.
Look anywhere and everywhere on this car, top to bottom, and it presents as new. Reportedly, the car has been driven just 100 miles since completion in 2020. During restoration it received GM NOS front fenders, a reproduction hood, GM NOS right rear and reproduction left rear quarter panels, and a GM NOS tail panel. Someone really wanted this one to be perfect, and judging by the result, they did it the right way.
The buyer paid up here for quality, and we imagine the seller more than covered his restoration expenses. This was a fair transaction for both parties. ♦
(Introductory description courtesy of Barrett-Jackson.)
