The car was originally a white 1989 Firebird Formula with a grey interior, Aero spoiler ect. It has only done a genuine 50,000 miles and has been in my ownership for about 4 years! I purchased the car to fullfill my dream, having a Knight Rider conversion, but the car also needed a fair bit of work to bring back to top condition! I decided to go the whole way and not just build a "ok" KITT replica, but totally retrofit the car to a 1982 specification, with genuine parts! The only parts on the car which havent been replaced are the doors, hood, and roof/rear quarters lol! I have fitted a completely new interior, with fully carpeted panels in doeskin tan, along with a full set of fully refurbished doeskin tan, electric PMD seats. The center console, fenders, spoiler, rear bumper, wheels, shifter, taillights, ect...ect...ect...were all sourced from the US and shipped over, along with rare extras like a leather cargo roll up cover and rear hatch hard floor cover!

By buying up each 1982 part individually I was able to select the best condition parts available to fit in the car, so I get the 1982 car, but with the 1988/9 5.0v8TBI engine, 700r4 gearbox, WS6 package, drivetrain ect!

Every part right down to the power mirror and window switches are exact to the 1982 style! In addition to the 1982 parts, I have fitted a full new exhaust, new suspension all round including A-Arms, springs, rear air shocks, front struts ect, new steering linkages, and assemblies, new brake disks, rubber hoses and callipers...you name it, its been replaced lol! On top of all of this, I have also bought and fitted all the Knight Rider parts to make this car a real KITT! You can not tell this car apart from a genuine 1982 Trans-Am (Unless you look at the accelerator pedal rubber which I havent changed yet)!

Its taken a huge ammount of money and time to get the car as it is. However I have saved alot of money and gained alot of experiance from doing EVERY job myself at home in my drive! I even did the full respray in black myself, which doesnt look too bad at all :-) I still need to spray the second coat of paint to make it perfect! Its my dream car, and Ill never sell it, if I can get insurance (Im only just 22 this July) then you will see it, and me at the shows!

Alastair Dunn whitetransam@hotmail.com

An excellent example of dedication and good luck with the insurance we certainly want to see this car at the shows!

The Firebird came in 4 varieties throughout the late seventies: The entry-level car was called simply 'Firebird.' It was a basic, plain car with small wheels and tires, hubcaps, 6-cylinder engine and the most basic interior.
  The next 'step-up' in the line was the 'Esprit'-edition, which was the so-called 'luxury' or 'plush' Firebird. It usually came with the fanciest interior trim, a higher level of standard equipment, and a slightly nicer wheel and tire package. However, it did not include any upgrades to the drivetrain as part of the package, although it was all optionally available.
  The first 'performance'-oriented package was called the 'Formula.' It included a competition-suspension (my description, not Pontiac's) package: Heavier springs and shocks, styled steel wheels, and slightly better performance tires, depending on the year model. In the early seventies, the 'Formula' package came with a somewhat higher-performance drivetrain as standard equipment, but towards the end of the seventies, the 'Formula' did not include any engine, transmission or rear-end upgrades as part of the package, although most of the Formulas produced usually have one of the V-8s in them.
  The 'Formula' package also had some unique exterior features, although they were mostly cosmetic. The lower-portion of the car was usually painted in a contrasting black or silver (argent) paint, depending on what colour the car was. Along the bottom of the doors was a huge decal reading 'FORMULA.' Most of the 'Formulas' also had a simulated 'ram-air' hood.( two moulded-in scoops towards the front of the hood ). Along with the paint scheme, this hood was only available on the 'Formula,' so that makes these cars rather unique. Remember, I'm only referring to the cars made from about 75 or 76 and up. The earlier cars had a much more extensive and inclusive list of standard performance equipment. Interestingly, the rear spoiler was not a part of the 'Formula' package, but most of the ones you see have them.
  The top-of-the-line 'hot-rod' was of course, the 'Trans-Am.' The T/A included just about all of the available performance equipment as standard, with a couple of notable exceptions:
  The competition suspension on the T/A came with 15"x7" steel rims, and either Uniroyal, Goodyear or Firestone raised-white letter tires. It included basically the same suspension set-up as the 'Formula.'
  Available optionally however was the famous 'WS-6' suspension package. It included 15"x8" aluminium wheels ('honeycomb' style from 74-76, and 'snowflake' style from 77 through 81.)
  WS-6 also came with even better high performance springs and shocks, better tires, and excellent four-wheel disc brakes. A WS-6 equipped car was just about the best handling car available for any price when it was new, and is still very good when stacked up against todays modern muscle.
The T/A came standard with either a Pontiac 400 4-bbl. engine, rated at 180 horsepower, or an Oldsmobile 403 4-bbl, rated at 165 horsepower. The hood-scoop decal for a T/A equipped with one of these engines read '6.6 liter'
  Optionally available was the high-performance Pontiac 400 4-bbl, rated at 220 horsepower. These engines had chrome valve covers, and the hood-scoop decal read 'T/A 6.6.'
  Whenever a T/A is restored, it seems that most people install the 'T/A 6.6' decal, even if the car does not have the optional engine. Oh well.
  It seems that GM got into some legal trouble over their indiscriminate use of the Pontiac and Oldsmobile engines in the Firebird. For some odd reason, when most of the people opened the hood of their new Pontiac's, they expected to find a Pontiac engine. When they discovered that their new high performance, top-of-the-line T/A came with an Oldsmobile station-wagon motor, they didn't seem to care much for that. Go figure.
Of course, the T/A had all those famous exterior styling cues: The spoilers, fender mounted heat-extractors, the 'screaming chicken' on their hood, and of course the unforgettable 'shaker' hood scoop. (which made its very first appearance on a 69 Mustang, by the way)!
  Naturally, any of the lower-level Firebirds could be loaded up with just about every option, but it was cheaper to just get the better model, where a lot of the content was standard.

Thanks to Cobravenom71@aol.com  for the above words