Here is a good one. With out using Google, what is this called? I just saw the only one left on the Rockford Files. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m9kHnXFPVM - Clip from the show -Mike
Kammback wagon? If they could have figured out how to get those huge side glasses to seal properly, they might have sold them....... Ponycar sales were in the doldrums back in the mid to late 70's, and this new bodystyle would sure have been a shot in the arm for Pontiac (and probably Chevy)
Actually Krash, Pontiac was selling every Firebird it could build in the late 70's, and Camaro's were selling well too. Movies like Smokey&theBandit, Hooper, Rockford Files and such fueled the boom, and the gas shortages were more in the mid 70's. There were more Corvette's sold in 1979 than any other year before or since. In '80 however the sales began dropped off. Pontiac replaced the real engines with the Turbo 301, and Corvette got neutered too. That and in '80 the interest rates were high and there was another gas crunch and a recession too. Now I'm not quite 40 yet so I was just a kid them, but love to read about my favorite cars, so I'm just passing on what I've read. -Mike
I guess our memories of what we thought are not necessarily what the reality was then. I guess I was thinking about the reduced performance of the engines in the mid to late 70's, and figured it affected sales.....
That's a pre-74 Camaro front grille (I think it's a 73, but not 100% certain), so this styling study is quite a bit older than the Trans Am Kammback.
I had an old Hot Rod magazine from 1984 my uncles car was featured in that in the back had the kit for this car and the vw bug wagon as well, some company sold kits to build them, god only knows where they are now.
I was a young adult bakc then and my sister bought a new 79 Trans Am. This was a prototype. It was the only one built that actually ran. It was sent around to car shows in '79. I saw it in person. If I remember right, becuase it was a Trans Am stiff suspension there was too much flex in the body to make it workable. It squeaked and the rear windows leaked air. There was no tailgate, only a lift up rear window. The Firebird/Camero was already redisigned for the 81-82 model year, so it would have been too expensive to tool up for this car. Firebirds were built in Van Nuys, and I think that's where this one was built. Rockford Files got to use it because he (and others) made the Firebird popular, plus it was common in TV and movies to slip in concept cars for the public. The conversion kits offered later were not Gm authorized and never got popular. I seem to recall they were very pricey. I looked into one for my sisters Trans Am. What I did do to hers was put in the 64-66 Thunderbird sequential taillight flashers. Now that was cool.
