[guinnburger]

I only had it one month before it dissapeared into the night, never to be seen again. It was love at first sight that night in the Pontiac parking lot sitting under the warm glow of a street light. At first glance I thought it was the usual black and gold bandit, but as I got closer the full intensity of this car became clear. Instead of gold, all the pinstripping, bird and interior was silver.
The carpet and dash was grey, the dash lights glowed blue, and it was a 4 speed with T-Tops. It was stolen a month later from a Houston theatre. I have never since found this exact color combo. There was one in '79 with red in the bird but never a completely black and silver. The engine was a Pontiac 350, also rare to that year. I would love to know if anyone else has ever seen this 1981 TransAm. Joey

[Brian Baker]

Joey, Pontiac didn't install a P-350 in any 1981 Firebird. You sure it wasn't a 305 Chevy? Silver interior? Only in '79 on the 10th anniversary model.

http://www.iwaynet.net/~gl&lisk/1981ta.html

[guinnburger]

Brian, You're very observant. You are right, it was a 305 Chevy, my wife had a '78 Skybird at the same time with a P350 (definantly). The way I understand it, one dealership in each city was sent this special edition 4 speed black and silver TransAm. This is no dream I assure you, I've always hated gold, and when I saw this car it was beautiful. The interior was the same as the 10th anniversary (which is sitting in my driveway right now in a sorryful condition). The only difference is the black '81 did not have the embroidered bird on the inside door panels and back seat. In '81, I went to a theatre to see Chris Reeve in Superman. I parked it under a big sign that was advertising a Chevy company, the sign said "DAN BOONE LOOKS OUT FOR YOU," which he did not do. The license plates were found by a train conducter a week later. I've been trying to figure out how to send you the only picture I have of it, but I can't make it work. If you give me an email I'll send it, you can't see the silver details very clearly but it was beautiful, everyone said it looked like a space ship. Joey

[Brian Baker]

Could have been a dealer optioned car for a special promotion? Send it to mmechanicus@yahoo.com and I'll be glad to post it.

[Colin]

My '81 Fiebird (Not a TA, just a Firebird) had silver interior.........Im switching it to black because I always thought the silver looked cheap or cheesey.

[guinnburger]

Brian, I can't quite tell from your profile picture, but your T/A looks like a different version of the 2-tone Turbo T/A I bought in '81 to replace my black one. That's it on my profile, It had a fancy 2-tone gray and silver paint job done by Milburns in Houston Tx with a red bird and red vinyl interior. peace

[Brian Baker]

Still waiting on you to send those pics.

Dude, my profile picture is of my funny car body, with a paint scheme designed by David Ferrin. Neither the body, or the paint, are anywhere near what the factory did in 79-81.

[guinnburger]

So I see! I'll stay tuned in to see it's progress, it's gona be killer! yeah I'll send ya those pics soon as I find'em. Joe

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by Brian Baker

Joey, Pontiac didn't install a P-350 in any 1981 Firebird. You sure it wasn't a 305 Chevy? Silver interior? Only in '79 on the 10th anniversary model.

http://www.iwaynet.net/~gl&lisk/1981ta.html

There was an 81 Silver interior option & I don't know why it's NOT listed on the chart on Liske's site.(perhaps it was a mid-year or LATE offering?)

As I recall,it was offered in BOTH std. & custom trim.

I've probably sighted a 1/2 dozen of them over the years.

It was a very bright shiny almost SPACEY looking VINYL,not leather.

The silver pinstriping was likely a local dealers "HOUSTON Special Edition" (VERY COMMON pratice in those days)

It was not attached to any one specific exterior color,silver,black,dk.blue or red would have been possible combinations.

The same interior color was also offered in Cameros.

[Larry Navarro]

I also saw 2 or 3 of these special paint '79 t/a's myself when growing up in Houston. They were painted just like the '78 corvette anniversary black/silver indy 500 pace cars.
I wasn't heavily into t/a's at that time basically because I couldn't afford one but that didn't change the interest I had in them.
Back then the most noted custom paint shop in Houston was "Milburns" and was contracted by several dealers to apply custom/paint graphics to many vehicles.
I can recall the "Milburn" insignia on many cars of that era but don't remember seeing one on those t/a's.
Anyway, I don't believe those cars rolled of the line with corvette anniversary paint scheme's.

[Brian Baker]

I received the pics. I'll post them late tonight after I get home from work. They don't show much of the car, but you can at least see the interiror through the window glass, and it does look silver (looks to be the custom pattern too).

Nice haircut 'burger.

[Brian Baker]

Let's see if they'll post. Whomever took these shots suffers from the dreaded "must...place...subjects...face...in center...of frame" illness. (it's funnier if you say it in your head like Capt. Kirk would)

[guinnburger]

That's the "Spacey" one! I didn't appreciate it much at the time, but in retrospect, and knowing what I know now I wish I still had it. I hate thieves. I'm sure in a matter of hours everything that was special about that car was morphed into a piece of ****. It did send me on a mission though, The next
4-speed I found I done right, a '79 with a transplanted 455 H.O. And the annoying damn thing is that it was also "borrowed" in the middle of the night. Go figure.

[supercar]

I used to be into the 76 to 81 TAs and Z28s when they were new and used. I had friends who owned Z28s with the "SpaceMan" interior as we used to call them. One was a Black 80 or 81 and the other was Silver 80 with standard Camaro chrome headlight bezels, both very sharp by the days standards. I have seen just about every stripe package on just about every color car , never knew if they were factory applied or what, some not very tasteful and others mind blowing.

[Brian Baker]

Originally Posted by guinnburger

That's the "Spacey" one! I didn't appreciate it much at the time, but in retrospect, and knowing what I know now I wish I still had it. I hate thieves. I'm sure in a matter of hours everything that was special about that car was morphed into a piece of ****. It did send me on a mission though, The next
4-speed I found I done right, a '79 with a transplanted 455 H.O. And the annoying damn thing is that it was also "borrowed" in the middle of the night. Go figure.

Two T/A's stolen...that's rough.

Perhaps you should have chosen your friends more selectively?

[guinnburger]

these were no friends pal.