Happy Thursday Web Riders, Big_Blocker here and so is a brand new Muscle Car of the Week. This week we are going to take a look at a valiant effort by Pontiac to stave off the end of the muscle car era by offering some serious performance in 1971. Hit the jump for more information.

Any fans of Smokey and the Bandit (like yours truly) already love the Pontiac Trans Am, but few know how it came to be in the first place. The Trans Am started its life as an appearance and performance package for the already-in-production Firebird model in March of 1969. The available engine choices were all about performance, with the 400 cubic inch Ram Air III coming standard and the Ram Air IV being optional. As far as appearance was concerned the Trans Am offered a manual Ram Air hoodscoop, functional side fender scoops and a spoiler mounted on the deck lid with the words “Tran Am” in bold letters. Only 697 Trans Am options were ordered in 1969, all of them painted Polar White with blue stripes.

The Firebird got a restyle in 1970 that included the deletion of the front bumper (replaced with the Endura bumper found on the 68 GTO), longer hood and rounded out fenders to give the car a look somewhat similar to the Camaro. Engine options were relatively unchanged except for some over-the-counter modifications that made big horsepower. Other aesthetics additions included front and rear air dams that added down force and a backwards mounted shaker hoodscoop that shook when the gas was pressed. The only available colors were Polar White and Lucent Blue, each with blue or white stripes respectively.

The year 1971 had perhaps the biggest changes for the Trans Am as the venerable Ram Air III/IV engines were dropped in response to increasing emissions legislation. Pontiac didn’t let the government get in the way of their quest for performance as they replaced the 400 cube Ram Air series with a 455 High Output (HO) block that made more than enough power. Although horsepower fell from factory ratings as high as 370 down to 335, torque numbers actually went up. The 445 pound feet that launched the previous years’ Trans Am was upped to 480 stump-pulling pound feet! The keys to this increase came from previous Ram Air engines as the intake was borrowed from the 370 horse Ram Air IV as well as the cylinder heads from the 345 horse Ram Air II. All that torque meant the Trans Am was a very street friendly car that still provided sub-6 second zero to sixty times and high 13’s passes in the 1/4 mile.

Just over 2,100 Trans Ams were produced in the year 1971 and those numbers almost went to none after a disastrous strike in 1972 that almost killed the Firebird entirely. As most of you know performance continued to drop as the decade wore on but those that got a chance to drive a 1971 Trans Am with all that torque truly appreciate what Pontiac attempted when everyone else was backing down from performance. Hope you all enjoyed the latest Muscle Car of the Week. Big_Blocker out.