YearOne solves these problems by introducing their new cast-aluminum Rally II wheel in modern 17”x9” sizing. The wheels feature the original paint color, so all you have to do is install them and enjoy.  The polished outer lip completely negates the need for a trim ring saving you money and thus making these newer wheels a cost effective choice.  Each wheel has 4.7/8” backspacing to ensure a proper fit on 1970-81-vintage F-bodies. The wheels accept the original center caps, and use standard conical-seat lug nuts.

Order your set today by calling 1-800-YEARONE or visit http://www.yearone.com/.

You know the drill.  Visit a forum, ask a simple question and get a simple answer.  At least we all hope it gets a simple answer….not always.  In this online article of forum to frontpage we cover a recent post that started out with a harmless request and covered an age old topic from a different angle.  We all know that VIN swapping is illegal, but is that the only thing that can’t be swapped?

The cowl data plate holds vital information for your car should you want to know the correct paint color code, interior color and some trim items.  Information, such as the creation date and model type can be found there too, but is it really a big deal to have the correct one?   I personally thought it wasn’t against the law but it is wrong on a moral level.  My logic was simple.  If it shouldn’t be swapped why doesn’t the DMV require them to be pop riveted on the body like the VIN tag?  The forum community went back and forth with great input and opinions on the matter.  At one point a member that was a former member of law enforcement sited a state law and that made me wonder.  What about my state?  Sure enough a quick call to the North Carolina DMV and I had my answer.  There are laws put in place that prohibit the swapping or tampering of a cowl data plate due to the fact that it will portray a car on false pretenses.    The laws may vary from state to state, but it is against the law.

You may ask why someone would want to switch the cowl data plate.  There are many reasons I can think of but the big two are from opposite ends of the hobby.  From the owners point of view lets imagine that you have always wanted a 1973 Brewster Green Trans Am, but the only bird you could find in your area was a cameo white.  What do you do?  That’s right you paint it GM code 48 and you are set.  A person can stop there and be happy, but what if you come across a wrecked Brewster Green TA parts car on craigslist.  You take a look in person and it’s still wearing its cowl tag.  You stop and think…two screws and I can have a correct paint code plate for my dream car.  You think more…I’ll never sell it, so what harm would it cause?  You talk to the seller and purchase a few items including the data plate.  At that moment no harm has been done.  When you get home, clean your new correctly coded data plate up and install it on your bird we cannot say the same thing.  At that point you have modified the most basic information that GM has provided for the conservation or restoration of that vehicle.  You may be thinking nothing bad has come from it, so what is the big deal?  Let’s just say that a couple of years down the road you fall on hard times and make the decision to let go of your dream car to keep a roof over your head.  Let us also assume you do the right thing and inform the new owner of your paint conversion, but you forget to mention the cowl data plate swap.  It still doesn’t seem that the act of swapping the cowl data plate has caused any harm when in fact the harm will come at the next sell.  Most if not all firebird enthusiast know that code 48 Brewster Green was a one year color and brings a higher price than a comparable code 11 cameo white.  If the second seller asks a premium price because of the perceived color heritage the bird is being sold on false pretenses.  The second seller or even third seller did nothing wrong, but the car is doomed to repeat this scenario until its last day.

On the other end of the spectrum you have the seller.  Most people don’t practice the art of flipping cars, so we’ll concentrate on those that do in this example.  These are individuals that scour the planet for nice drivers at bargain prices.  With a cheap shiny paint job and a little item replaced here and there just about any car can be made to look fantastic on the surface.  We’ll go a little further and speculate that the flipper in this example locates a nice Trans Am in the middle of a restoration.  The bird is currently wearing primer, but once wore code 69 Chesterfield brown.  Flippers try to maximize their profit and with nice SE’s commanding good prices he chooses to clone a Bandit that could net him several thousand more over any other color used in 78’.  The SE option was just an appearance package, so replacing an item here and there and a nice decal kit from Phoenix Graphix would require a call to Pontiac Historical Services to prove it wasn’t the real thing.  Wait a minute…there is one thing.  A true SE would have to have started life as code 19 Starlite Black and that would be right there on the cowl data plate.  Oops, sorry this flipper happened to have a couple 78 Trans Am parts cars out behind the shop and one of them happened to be black.  You guessed it, he did the easy swap and now a call to PHS is paramount.  Not everyone is going to know about PHS, so someone may pay a premium price for a base model bird.

So you see whether you are the owner with good intentions towards your dream car or the seller with bad intentions towards any buyer; the act of swapping will lead someone to believe a car is something it really isn’t.  As said previously this is illegal in most if not all states.

So when you are looking for your next bird here are some basic things to look for when looking at a restored or proclaimed original when it comes to the cowl data plate.

1-The cowl data plate should be located on the…cowl of course.  It is usually on the driver side just in front of the VIN location.

2-The Body color on the car should match the code.  Unless you have a photo graphic memory print off a sheet of the common GM paint codes used for the model you are interested in.  GM would often reuse the same color, but would give it another name.   Here are the most common  colors and codes for the 2^nd generation firebird models.

Code-Color
11-Polar White
13-Sterling Silver
15-Platinum
16-Silver (Metallic)
19-Starlite Black
20-Bright Blue (Metallic)
21-Light Blue (Metallic)
24-Martinique Blue, Tahoe Blue, Atlantis Blue
26-Lucerne Blue
29-Admiralty Blue, Nocturne Blue, Stellar Blue, Dark Blue (Metallic)
35-Firethorn Red
48-Brewster Green
50-Solar Gold
51-Goldenrod Yellow, Sundance Yellow, Tahitian Yellow
69-Brentwood Brown, Chesterfield Brown
72-Francisco Red
75-Buccaneer Red, Mayan Red
76-Montruex Maroon
77-Dark Maroon (Metallic)
78-Carousel Red
80-Fiero Bronze
84-Ontario Gray, Dark Charcoal (Metallic)

3-The RPO code for the model is present on all but the base model firebird.  Here is a quick list of what you should find based on what firebird you are looking at.  *It’s also worth noting that the Van Nuys plant is notorious for not stamping the W or Y RPO codes.
Code-Model
WS4-Trans Am
W60-Skybird
W66-Formula
W67-Esprit
W68-RedBird
W73-YellowBird

4-There are two items on the data plate that can be checked with the VIN and they should match.  They are the model year and the production plant.  Here are examples showing  where to find this information on the cowl data plate and the VIN.

The VIN is usually a 13 character string, but in 81 it was increased to 17.  What is important is that the year model will be a single digit in the 6^th position.   For example a firebird built in 1974 you should find a 4 in the 6^th position.   The assembly plant will also be a single digit and it will be in the 7^th position.  There were only two plants that produced the firebird models for the second generation and they were the Norwood Ohio plant represented by the letter N and the Van Nuys California represented by the letter L.  The 1974 firebird used in the previous example was produced in Van Nuys, so you should find an L in the 7^th position.

The cowl data plate can contain 3-6 lines of information, but the model year  and production plant will be listed on the first line.  The year model will be two digits preceded by ST on that line. Our 1974 firebird should have a ST74 in the first group on the first line.  The production plant will be the third item on the first line and should have a L.

If you are looking at a firebird and those items don’t match that should be a red flag regardless of anything else.

5-The final thing I feel worth mentioning is an optional code stamp used for some SE models.  Starting in 1978 many SEs, but not all were stamped with the RPO code Y88 and Y84 code.  This seemed to be a common practice at the Norwood plant, but not the Van Nuys plant.   I’ve personally never seen or heard of an Y84 in 1979 and later not having the code stamped on the cowl data plate from that year forward, but I’m sure there were some.

So next time you are looking at a firebird, whether it is a potential buy or at a car show peek at the cowl data plate and see if the basics line up.   Regardless of the car, knowing what to look for can save you a lot of headache and cash.

Almost anyone I am around more than once a week will tell you that I am Trans Am crazy.  Add in the fact that I love talking about them and you’ll see why everyone tells me about every second generation Trans Am they see.  When a new friend or stranger asks me about my Trans Am, it is usually accompanied with “what do they look like again?”.  It is then apparent that the person listening to me doesn’t have a clue and I calmly ask; do you remember Smokey and the Bandit?  Immediately a smile comes across their face and is followed by comments about speeding, beer, the funny sheriff or just “I remember now”, which is the most common reply to my question.  It has become very clear to me that almost 99% of the non-Trans Am population stereo types our cars with law breaking and all out spirited fun.  Except for occasional blast to 100mph from time to time, they are usually only right about the spirited fun.

I’m sure it’s also safe to say that on the other side of the spectrum Smokey and the Bandit stereo typed law-enforcement as slow bumbling fools.  For the sake of not offending the men in blue for whom I respect and have great appreciation for; I’ll just say in 1978 one Sheriff took great pride in dismissing that perception.  The method in which He went about it put the Trans Am in a whole new light for me.  His name was Sheriff J.D. Stewart of Catoosa County Georgia and he just happened to be a true blue Pontiac’r.  When most law enforcement departments were ordering big Ford and Chevy patrol cars, Sheriff Stewart called up Pontiac and ordered Trans Ams outfitted with the W72 performance package and WS6 suspension.

In the time of Bandit wanna be’s running up and down the highways of the country, this Sheriff figured the best way to catch someone was to have the best car on the road.  But, a Trans Am as a patrol car?

One day TAC regular Ken Allenback of Canada submitted two photo’s taken from a magazine.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the above pictures.  At first I had no idea about the article or that Trans Ams were even used in law enforcement.  In a day of ‘DARE’ and ‘Beat the Heat’ programs its common place to see a Trans Am or sports car outfitted with decals, lights and sirens.  But, just imagine what it must have been like seeing one of these intimidating cars in your review mirror.

The actual article from the 1979 Car & Drivers
cnd_article1a, cnd_article2a, cnd_article3a, cnd_article4a

At the start of the article the author describes the moment when he first saw a Catoosa County Trans Am.  I’m pretty sure this is what he saw.

Thanks to Dennis Padgett for allowing TAC to use the two above images in this article.  He holds the copyright to both images and written consent must be obtained before use will be allowed.  Please click here to contact him for legal permission.

All of the Trans Ams used by the Catoosa County Sheriffs office were non-ac W72 400-4spds coupes without hood birds at a minimum.  They were all cameo white with carmine red standard interior.  I’ve read there were 6-8 ordered originally, which are the 78 year model obviously and followed up by 4 more in 79.  Pictured below were 8 plus 3 lemans.  From what I’ve been able to research the Sheriffs 78 was stolen at one point and totalled and another was wrecked.

Exactly when the first TA was purchased could be debated without sales invoices and you can’t get that without PHS and you can’t get that without the VIN.  So, I digress.  From the pictures accumulated on various internet sites the 78 TA’s were equipped with rally II’s and not the WS6 snowflakes.  In the picture below you can clearly see the rims and one oddity.

When the 79 models were ordered the only apparent change seems to be the addition of the WS6 wheels and I would assume 4wheel disc brakes.

At the point where I’m writing this article these Trans Ams must have seen some action that required repairs, as the 78 pictured above appears to be wearing front wheel flares from a 79 model.  The 79 appears to have a fuel door from a 81 model.  Perhaps these items were lost in high speed pursuit.  Whatever the case these officers had style and took law enforcement to the next level.

Once these pieces of Trans Am folk lore were brought up the community as a whole came to one consensus.  We wanted to find one.  Sad to say that has never happened.  It was rumored that the Son of the late JD had his fathers 79 in his posession, but that has never been verified.  Sometime in 2010 a TAC member posted a craigslist link to a Trans Am that was supposedly a old catoosa county TA.  The ad was removed within hours and all chances of its verification and subsequent restore were lost once again.

That brings up another question.  When will someone clone a Catoosa County Sheriffs Trans Am?  To do it right wouldn’t be difficult, but up until recently the interior was a mystery.  Here is a picture I discovered along with many more that shows exactly how the interior would appear.

So there you have it.  A piece of Trans Am history is out there waiting to be discovered.  There were other law enforcement agencies that utilized Trans Ams, but none with such character and personality.  The reading of this article begs to challenge, what was more intimidating….the cars themselves or the men driving them.  They both commanded and received respect.

To the late Sheriff JD Stewart we tip our hats to you.  You will forever be remembered for your service and style.

Special mention to www.kirbycarmichael.com where some of these irreplaceable pictures were found.

Here is a brief overview of what these aftermarket companies produced.

During the late 60′s Pontiac had the best of the best on its payroll. Each auto manufacturer was obsessed with having more and better cars then the next company. One of the engineers Pontiac had on staff was Herb Adams. He worked on many projects with Pontiac like the Super Duty 455 and Ram Air V programs, but is most well known for his work on the second generation Firebird suspension.

After some years Herb broke away from Pontiac and formed his own company VSE or Very Special Equipment. This new company was all about performance and handling. Pontiac, seeing that Herb was still indispensable contracted with VSE to evolve the Firebird suspension. In 1977 eight highly modified Trans Ams were built for Pontiac in a bid to start a new IROC racing series for the Firebird line. Pontiac was unsuccessful in their bid, but those eight Trans Ams would shape the Firebird suspension for the next 25 years. The suspension modifications found on the eight Trans Ams would soon become the WS6 performance package. Herb who was also a avid racer and race car builder saw even more potential in the Firebird and continued the evolution on both the performance and handling platform. From this came the . The modifications that resulted from Herb’s development would include items like a new aggressive graphics, 180 degree headers, dry sump lubrication system, rear wheel disc brakes, racing seats, Holley carburetors, larger sway bars and much, much more. VSE offered different stages of modifications allowing customers to create as race ready a Trans Am as they desired. In 1979 Herb wanted to prove the drivability and performance of the Fire-Am by entering the Daytona 24-hour race. To prove the Fire-Am’s drivability Herb drove the car he was going to race from Detroit to Florida. Unfortunately the Fire-Am only lasted 18 of the 24 hours, but was in 19th place out of 40+ cars with an average speed of 155mph before the harmonic balancer broke and ended the race for him.

If you have an image you would like to submit contact “mrbandit” in the TAC forum.

To get more information click the above banner to visit their website or click here to

*Movie comments are the sole opinion of the Trans Am Country webmaster.

	Movie Information Released 1977 Starring 1977 Y82 SE Trans Am Comment A movie that keep you laughing the whole time. If you haven’t seen it, go straight to the store and rent it right now! Rating
	Movie Information Released 1978 Starring 1978 Trans Am Comment A decent car movie if you don’t mind the script. Rating
	Movie Information Released 1980 Starring 1980 Y84 SE Trans Am Comment The Bandit is back. Not as good as the first movie, but who doesn’t like looking at a Trans Am for an hour. Rating
	Movie Information Released 1993 Starring 1974 SD455 Trans Am Comment A remake of the Cult Classic. Rating
	Movie Information Released 1997 Starring 1978 Trans Am Comment   Rating
	Movie Information Released 1986 Starring 1978 Trans Am Comment Not your usual car movie. If you’ve seen all the new stuff give this a try. Rating
Blue Thunder	Movie Information Released 1983 Starring 1981 Turbo Trans Am Comment Excellent action movie Rating
Sleep Walkers	Movie Information Released 1992 Starring 1978 Trans Am Comment Very freaky! The Trans Am is in the first half of the movie, so you can turn it off early. Rating
Rocky II	Movie Information Released 1979 Starring 1979 Y84 SE Trans Am Comment It’s Rocky (Yo Aidrean, I love you) Rating
Joe Dirt	Movie Information Released 2001 Starring Tenth Annv. Trans Am Comment Very funny, but not a family movie Rating
Billy Madison	Movie Information Released 1995 Starring 1979 Trans Am Comment   Rating
Break down	Movie Information Released 1997 Starring 1978 Trans Am Comment A mild action thriller that is excellent for a friday night movie. Rating
	Movie Information Released 1999 Starring 1970-73 Formula Comment   Rating
	Movie Information Released 1974 Starring 1972 white TA that had an orangeshaker. Comment Justin Gristlejaw writes “good haulin’ ass scenes and a good movie to boot.“ Rating
	Movie Information Released 1980 Starring 1979 Y84 Trans Am Comment   Rating