Firebird and Trans Am (Enthusiast Color) [Paperback]

Bill Holder (Author)

Book Description

Series: Enthusiast Color | Publication Date: May 11, 2002

This full-color history chronicles Pontiac's Firebird and Trans Am from 1967 to today. The Firebird hit the market as a response to the Ford Mustang and Mercury Cougar. Firebirds became an extremely popular car, but then the Trans Am came along offering more horsepower, more performance, a better package, and a "bad" look. For more than 30 years, both models headed Pontiac's performance list; they still attract a lot of attention. Enthusiast Color Series.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-This book is arranged chronologically, with one chapter devoted to each of the five "production eras" between 1967 and 2002. Changes made to these muscle cars over the years and highlights of specific models are described in detail. There are 85 color photographs, many of them full page or larger, of the different vehicles and engines. This title will have great appeal to students interested in cars. Its format will attract browsers, and there is enough information for reports.
Robert Burnham, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield,
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Bill Holder has written 55 books in the transportation field, from automotive to aviation, in addition to thousands of articles to his credit. His non-bookwriting work is impressive too, with an Aerospace Engineering degree from Purdue University working on Boeing and NASA projects, as well as the US Army. Now retired, he continues to be Director of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame, an organization he formed honoring dirt stock car drivers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks; First edition (May 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076031165X
• ISBN-13: 978-0760311653
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #978,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Buy it for the Pictures!, September 12, 2003

By 

Christian E Beckwith (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Firebird and Trans Am (Enthusiast Color) (Paperback)

Great photos (in color!) of the entire line of Firebirds and Trans Ams. However, the text and captions are far from accurate. Take what you read in it with a grain of salt. Several examples are: describing a 1981 4.9L Turbo engine while showing a picture of a 1989 20th Anniversary 3.8L Turbo engine; showing a 1992 TA but describing it as a 1993 TA; calling the 403 Olds the top engine for 1979 with 220 hp (the 400 Poncho engine was 220 hp, the Olds 185 hp); describing the 3100 engine as the V6 for the early Fourth Gen cars (3.4L actually); etc. I do recommend the book, though, for the great pictures. For a better text, buy Pontiac Firebird 1967-2000 Photo History by George Scala. This book is awesome - very accurate details of how the models changed from year to year, Firebirds, Esprits, Formulas as well as Trans Ams. The only bad thing is that the photos are in black & white.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good pictures, bad information, February 12, 2003

By 

"steelels1" (Tyler, Tx United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Firebird and Trans Am (Enthusiast Color) (Paperback)

This book served the purpose I was looking for - Pictures of different Firebird and Trans Am models through the model's 33 years of life. The pictures and layout are great. All pictures are full-color, and feature some beatiful cars.
However, the downside to this book is the faulty information this book contains for those that do more than just look at the pictures and captions. The author did very poor research on the changes through the years, especially in the 4th gen era, and in several cases, incorrectly identifies the year of a pictured model. Also, the book contains several glaring typographical and grammarical errors. It's a shame more attention was not given to the text, as everything else is well produced.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Pictures, December 28, 2005

By 

A. Fowler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Firebird and Trans Am (Enthusiast Color) (Paperback)

I bought this as a christmas present for my husband even after reading the other reviews. I looked at it myself, it does have good pictures but that's about it my book had 2 chapter sixes and I think some of chapter 5 printed in chapter 6 it is poorly put together not sure if the pictures are worth $15.00 but my husband seems to think so, I'm happy.