In a previous life, I was living in South Central Los Angeles, waxed poetically by countless rappers, and just a quarter-mile from the epicenter of the 1992 LA riots where Reginald Denny was pulled from his truck. Nearby is Inglewood, home of The Forum (now the Kia Forum), and the relatively new SoFi Stadium and Intuit Dome. My local Costco was in Inglewood, and cutting through the neighborhood—a car-hunter’s pastime—brought a certain Pontiac Firebird to my attention.
Immediately what came to mind when I first set eyes on this F-body was that it had a Formula hood but Trans Am air extractors on the front fenders. A hood is much easier to install than new fenders, so chances were good that this was a Trans Am. What if this was a 1970 Ram Air IV Trans Am with a repaint, and the owner doesn’t have a clue? These things happen!
I was hot and bothered by this, so I decided to stop and take a look the next time I needed to make a Costco run. The nose featured the distinctive grille from a 1972, which meant the original engine would have been a 455 HO—not as cool as a RAIV but ‘72 Trans Ams are quite rare. Moving to the rear, I noticed post-1973 taillights, though admittedly I missed the wrap-around backlite, which was the most obvious sign of this vehicle’s age. Nonetheless, this Firebird clearly was a hodgepodge of parts.
I discreetly checked the VIN that confirmed this vehicle being a 1976 Formula Firebird.
Or, as I like to call it, a Firebird Trans-Gendered.
