The Forgotten Trans Am

Most people who know about Firebirds and Trans Ams specifically know about the last Trans-Am that came with a Pontiac 400 V8 and that this engine came only with a four speed manual transmission. These two things make a 1979 Trans-Am equipped with this combo especially desirable. The next year – 1980 – the only Pontiac engine still available in a Trans-Am was the 301, which came only with an automatic transmission. Little known outside the small circle of serious Pontiac freaks is that the prior year – in ’79 – you could have bought a Trans-Am with the 301 – which was also a Pontiac V8 – and with the same manual transmission that was paired exclusively with the 400 V8. It was also the only year that Pontiac permitted buyers to choose the 301 and pair it with the Borg Warner Super T-10 manual four speed.

This combo is very rare.

A total of just 3,120 ’79 Trans-Ams were made with the 301/four-speed combo; 1,590 hardtop coupes and 1,530 with T-Tops. The ’79 TA with the 400/four speed combo is considered to be pretty rare by most people – and it is – relatively speaking. Pontiac sold a total of  117,108 Trans-Ams in ’79 – a record year. Of that total, 8,202 were ordered with the 400/four speed. But they are almost common – relative to the much smaller number of ’79 Trans-Ams that were sold with the 301/four speed combo. In fact, T-Top equipped ’79 TAs with the 301/four speed are more exclusive  – in terms of rarity – than 10th Anniversary ’79 Trans-Ams ordered with the 400/four speed. These latter cars are considered by most Pontiac people to be among the most desirable/collectible (and so, valuable) Trans-Ams made over the course of the second generation (1970-81) model run, right up there with the first (1969) Trans Am, the ’70 RA III Trans-Am, the ’71-’72 455 HO Trans Am and the ’73-’74 SD 455 Trans Am.

’79 10th Anniversary cars with thr 400/four speed in nice shape today are worth $50k on the low end; show quality examples go for much more.

So why has the ’79 301/four speed TA been all-but-forgotten? Why did so few sell, back in the day? After all a four speed TA (any four speed TA) is the duck’s guts. A TA with a manual is worth at least 20 percent more today than an otherwise identical TA with an automatic.

Well, here’s why.

In ’79, not only was the very desirable 400 Pontiac available, the Oldsmobile 403 was standard. The Olds 403 was not available with a manual transmission but it did come standard with “6.6 liter” callouts on the shaker scoop, reflecting its displacement. It was the same displacement as the “T/A 6.6 liter” 400. That came across as more stout than the “4.9 liter” callouts you got if you chose the little 301. It was also more stout in fact. The Olds 403 gets snickered at by some but it touted 185 horsepower which – while not as stout as the 400’s 220 horsepower – was still respectable for 1979. The 403’s rated output was only 5 horsepower down from the 190 horsepower Chevy claimed for the same-year Camaro Z28’s 5.7 liter (350 cubic inch) V8. More important, it was 35 horsepower stronger than the little 301, which carried a 150 hp rating. This latter made the ’79 TA with the 301 the weakest Trans-Am made during the second generation model run.

No doubt that’s why Pontiac offered the 301 as a credit option; you paid less to get a 301 TA than it cost to buy a TA with the 403 Olds. The dealer would lop $195 off the car’s price. Basically, the 301 – with the four speed – was a kind of consolation prize for the buyer who wanted a manual transmission-equipped TA but didn’t order in time to get it with the 400 – which was in limited supply in ’79 because Pontiac had actually stopped making them in 1978. There was a small stockpiled inventory of 400s left over from 1978 that were sold in ’79 (only with the four speed manual) and people knew about it; more exactly, they knew it was the last call. This created a bum’s rush of demand for the 400/four speed combo that quickly sold out the supply. Pontiac subbed in the 301 – with the four speed – so that buyers who wanted a four speed could still get that, at least.

They also got something more.

While the 301 was small – relative to the 400 – it was still a real Pontiac engine, which the Olds 403 wasn’t. It was also the last Pontiac V8 engine. After 1981, no Trans-Am ever again came with a Pontiac engine – though the all-new (third generation) ’82 Trans-Am was initially supposed to get the turbocharged version of the 301 that was available in the 1980 and 1981 Trans-Am. The ’82 TA carried over the ’80-’81 Turbo 301 TA’s off-center hood bulge but underneath the hood was the same 5.0 liter (305 cubic inch) Chevy-made V8 as in the same-year Camaro Z28.

It’s a sad story for another time but the gist of it is that GM management decided to kill off Pontiac’s V8 engine-building and “corporatize” the engines used in the various different GM brands. Meaning, make them all the same. Which is probably why there is no Pontiac – or Oldsmobile – today. Why buy the same thing wrapped in another label?

The 301 was an odd duck, too. Though a true Pontiac V8, it shared almost no parts with other Pontiac V8s – which made it harder to hop up, both back then and today. But it never got the chance to mature (as Buick’s 3.8 liter V6 got the chance to mature). Had it not been cancelled by GM corporate – had the engineers been allowed a few years to work it up – it might have been as or even more formidable than the last 400 by the mid-late 1980s. Sadly, it never got the chance. 

So the little 301 got lost in the luminescent glory of the last big Pontiac V8 and has since been largely forgotten because so few were made and that was almost 50 years ago. Probably only a small handful of the ones that were made still exist today – which ought to make them desirable, if only on account of being different from the TAs one usually finds at old car shows. Almost all – usually all – will have either a 400 or a 455 or a 403 Olds. Or the 301 Turbo – which came only with an automatic.

When was the last time you can recall seeing one with the 301 and a four speed? Have you ever seen one?

These may not be powerful Trans-Ams. But they are Pontiac Trans-Ams and that plus a manual transmission makes them special. Also affordable – relative to a TA with a 400 or 455 and a four speed. They’re not the quickest things on on the block, of course. But – by today’s standards – neither is a ’73 SD-455 four speed TA, which is only just barely quicker than the 2026 Honda Pilot – a family crossover with a V6 – I just finished reviewing.

But which would you rather have in the garage?

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