It was the second real facelift since 1970. The lamps were double rectangular. The black/gold paint was not new however impressively. Special alloy wheels decorated the Trans Am, where only the flanks of the ridges are golden. The Firebird logo on the front bonnet was cult. At the rare ordered six-cylinder Firebird engines the in-line engine from Chevrolet has been replaced by a V engine of Buick. For moderately strong motorisation there was the new 4.9-liter V8. At the upper end the new 400 T/A. The presentation of this model at the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas with the hitherto largest movie screen must have been such an event, that it ended with standing ovations. Furthermore, the movie "Smokey and the Bandit" contributed to the success. Read here the adventurous story of how a truck smuggled beer from Texas to Atlanta. Burt Reynolds made here so much advertising for the Trans Am that the sales increased by nearly 50 percent compared with the previous year and so on in the next year. Although it is said, the car was more popular in Europe than in the U.S., many Americans still remember today, at least the movie. You can see in the videos below the repair of a Firebird by Gas Monkey Garage in Texas. Gas Monkey manages, among other things, to obtain the same rim design two sizes bigger, to make the brakes much more stable, to build in an automatic transmission with four-speeds instead of three and to rebuild completely the suspension especially rear including axle location. 05/14