The automotive design community lost a legend earlier this year on April 25, 2025. Bill Porter had a 39-year career with the GM Design Center, and one of his creations was the second-generation Pontiac Firebird. The Pick of the Day is one such car, a 1980 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by a private seller in Ridgeville, Ohio.
“It has one older repaint, and the paint shows really nice,” the listing says. “It has the aftermarket T-tops from Cars and Concepts.”
The Firebird was produced from 1967 to 2002 alongside its F-body sibling, the Chevrolet Camaro. The units produced from 1970 through 1981 fell into the second generation, which was borne as one of Porter’s many creations. His career history with GM was storied: he started out with the organization as an intern on the design team in 1957 and was hired full-time about a year later. Over his near-four-decade career, Porter created many significant designs, among them, the 1961 Corvette Mako Shark concept car, 1968 Pontiac GTO, and others. One of his more recent designs was for the 1995 Buick Riviera, a car that to many has aged well, even 30 years later.
This Trans Am’s white exterior is accented with blue decals, and features include quad headlights, color-keyed urethane bumpers, vented fenders, sport side mirrors, rear spoiler, and a set of 15-inch “Snowflake” aluminum wheels wrapped in new BFGoodrich Radial T/A tires.
The listing provides some of this car’s additional specifics: it was manufactured at Norwood, Ohio, with features including power steering and power brakes (discs up front and drums in the rear). Inside, the car was equipped with vinyl bucket seats, a floor-mounted shifter, an engine-turned aluminum dash bezel, and full gauges. The listing adds, “It has the Formula steering wheel with the tilt option.”
While some second-gen Trans Ams came with turbocharged power for 1980, this car has the naturally aspirated version of the 4.9-liter (301ci V8), which was rated at 155 horsepower. A three-speed automatic transmission sends power to the rear wheels. The odometer reads about 8,900 miles, which the seller asserts comes out to 108,900 actual miles.
A walk-around video has been provided showing the exterior of the car and calling attention to some of its small cosmetic issues. It’s a handsome car throughout, and Bill Palmer’s creative spirit is alive and well with this clean Trans Am!
The asking price is $34,800.
Click here to view this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com