PONTIAC FIREBIRD TRANS AM ( THIRD GEN )

 Hello and welcome back... The Pontiac Firebird Trans Am ( 3rd generation ) was manufactured between 1982 - 1992.
Typical of the American muscle car it had sleek lines, pop up headlights and often a chunky V8 engine.
What made this car stand out was that the windscreen had a 62 degree slope on it, something that had not been done before.. looks kinda sexy, doesn't it?.

Top speed on this beast was 110 mph ( 177 kmh ) and had around 165 bhp.
The Trans Am also had rear wheel drive and an automatic gear box.

Here in Australia we didn't see many of these cars so it was a exciting moment when we did spot one.
Working in a service station in the 80s, I saw a few now and then, the most common was a black one similar to Knight Rider's car 'K.I.T.T'.
The owner stated he was gong to sell it because he was sick of kids pelting his car with rocks to "Make it Talk".

By the late 80s, the Firebird Trans Am was sporting a 5.7ltr V8 (a turbo model was also available).
Pop up headlights was a first for fire-bird cars and set it apart from earlier models.
The large back windscreen had no metal body to hold it into place, A new era in styling.

Then along came the most famous Firbird Trans Am of the 80s. 'K.I.T.T'.
 The show was called Knight Rider and it stared "The Hoff" ( David Hasselhoff ) and his sidekick car called K.I.T.T.
K.i.t.t. stood for Knight Industries Two Thousand and cost around $100,000 to build.

K.I.T.T. was no ordinary Trans Am, top speed of 200mph ( 322kmh ) and a teeth rattling starting point = 0-60mph in 2 seconds. Ki.t.t. also had a slather of options like turbo boost, computerized intelligence and an indestructible exterior.
He was a crime fighters best friend.

  The dash was like something you would find in an aircraft... so many buttons, so little time.
K.i.t.t. was everything you wanted in a car and more.
To me the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am was one of the best looking cars to come out of America.








#Pontiac
#TransAm
#Firebird

SUBARU VORTEX / XT6

Hello and welcome back.. The Subaru Vortex, also known as XT, XT6 and Alcyone was produced between 1985 to 1991.
The styling looks like they gave the designer at Subaru a block of cheese, a small butter knife and said " do your best".
This car had straight cuts and angular styling.
 The main thing that stood out was the wedge shape of the car with the addition of pop up lights..

 In Japan this car was known as Alcyone and translates to 'The Brightest Star' known as Pleiades star cluster which is also where the Subaru badge comes from.

 The inside of the vortex looked like something you would find on an aircraft mainly because it was inspired by Subaru's sister company 'Fuji Heavy Industries' .
They manufactured the aircraft 'Fuji FA200 Aero Subaru'.
Even the door handles resembled something you would find on a plane.
Another interesting feature was the dash which tilted with the steering wheel.

 The Vortex came out with Turbo charged engines and a choice of 2 ( front ) or 4 wheel drive which produced about 115hp (86kw ) and came with fuel injection.
The 4 wheel drive system was activated by a push button system.
The vortex also had Pneumatic suspension with height control.

An excellent example of the 80s, unusual styling that looked ahead of its time.




SUBARU 80S ADVERTISEMENT



MOTORWEEK REVIEW



SUBARU XT6 VIDEO



LINKS

http://subaruxt.com/old/differences.htm


#Subaru
#Vortex
#XT6