The Story of the 1980s Quickest Muscle Cars

April 6, 2020

1989 20th Anniversary Pontiac Firebird Turbo Trans Am

What a cool car! It’s the 20th Anniversary 1989 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am.

Just like the 10th Anniversary edition Trans Am, the 1989 Turbo Trans Am was the official pace car of the Indy 500 race the same year. All 1,555 units were made as official replicas.

The 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am is believed to be the first Indy Pace Car in the 73-year history of the race, which was not mechanically modified.

A 1989 production Pontiac Firebird was able to step up to the 160mph average speed of actual Indy 500 Race Cars. When it came out, it was the quickest American production vehicle. It was quicker and cheaper than the Corvette.

GM had managed to produce a muscle car so good, it was hanging up there with Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, and other supercars at the time.

And, it’s existence was almost an accident.

This wasn’t some corporate-wide orchestrated effort. In fact, the US automotive industry was appalling in the wake of two global oil crises.

The 1989 Turbo Trans Am is a happy coincidence of two GM companies independently creating a cutting-edge body and engine AND collaborating to marry them in a single vehicle.

It might be hard for you to imagine, and it was for me too, but a V6 engine – not a V8 – was the best American performance engine of the 1980s.

This engine was never meant to be. However, during its short life, it powered the two quickest American cars during the 1980s – the legendary 1987 Buick GNX and the 1989 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am.

It’s an unlikely, but very interesting story, which is also indicative of the transformations of the American automobile industry during the 70s and 80s.

The links below will become active as we publish the chapters of this story. Stay tuned!

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