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A high-performance specialty vehicle built by Pontiac in celebration of 35 years of Firebird's production.

Pontiac was an American automobile brand owned, manufactured, and commercialized by General Motors. The brand produced the Firebird for nearly four decades beginning from 1967 to 2002. Sharing the Chevy Camaro’s platform, which the parent company introduced just five months prior, Firebird was designed as a pony car to square off with Ford’s Mustang. Nonetheless, the 1967 Firebird is not to be confused with the earlier '50s and early '60s GM concept cars of the same name.

In 2002, Pontiac celebrated Firebird’s 35th birthday by offering the Firebird Trans-Am Collector Edition high-performance specialty vehicle.

It was engineered from the ground up to reflect its motorsport legacy and featured such distinguishing elements such as a special paint scheme, detailed interior appointments, special edition emblems, and the Trans-Am WS6 performance and handling package. The company produced about 2,400 units of the celebratory Firebird Collector’s Edition, with approximately 500 convertibles, and about sixty percent of the entire range getting the glorious 6-speed manual transmission.

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The 2002 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am Collector’s Edition wasn’t the first of such anniversary Firebirds introduced by Pontiac. During its fourth generation, the marquee introduced the 25th-anniversary Firebird Trans-Am in 1994. It arrived in white with a single dark blue stripe running down the center in a clear homage to the 1970 Trans Am.

The white/dark blue livery was accented with white 5-spoke 16-inch alloy wheels, plus white leather seats and door trim. The car could be had as both coupe and convertible body types.

Five years later, Pontiac celebrated Firebird’s 30th anniversary with an equally special edition that could also be had as a white WS6-packaged convertible and T-top coupe. This time, a twin dark blue stripe ran from the hood to the tail, complete with a distinct blue anodized 5-spoke 17-inch alloy A-mold wheels, plus white leather seats and door trim.

These were besides two other Special Edition Firebirds that Pontiac introduced in that 4th-gen period. They include the special-edition extra-performance Firehawk and the 1994 Trans-Am GT. The Firehawk was available in Formula trim from 1993 to 1997, and in both Formula and Trans-Am trims from 1999 to 2002. They were built by SLP Engineering, Inc. and sold through Pontiac dealerships.

The 1994 Firebird Trans-Am GT was available for only that year and did not come with any special badging, graphics, or emblems to immediately announce its “special” status. Hence, it looked externally identical to the base Trans-Am cars, but varied wildly performance-wise.

For example, the GT package included 245/50ZR16 tires and a 155-mph speedometer, whereas non-GT Firebirds Trans-Am had 235/55R16 tires, a 115-mph speedometer, and a much lower top-speed limiter. Again, that was for 1994 only.

Pontiac celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2001 by offering a blowout 75th-anniversary package incorporating both power and all-round performance upgrades, including 3.42 gears with "posi-trac" Zexel Torsen T2 limited-slip differential, 4-speed automatic transmission, leather-wrapped steering wheel w/driver touch radio controls, premium sound system, full and advanced power door locks system, a security package including theft-deterrent system w/remote key-less entry, and many others.

Furthermore, the 4th-gen Firebird, which its production began in 1993 and ended in 2002, took the previous generations’ aerodynamic styling a double-notch further, even though the live rear axle and floorpan aft of the front seats were largely carried over. Even so, 90% of the 4th-gen Firebird parts were all-new.

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In the year 2000, Pontiac added the WS6 performance package (featuring higher rate springs, specific shocks w/final drive ratio, larger sway bars, plus 8-inch wide wheels and bigger tires) as an exclusive option to the Trans-Am coupe and convertible variants for the 2001 model year. For the 2002 model year, the Firebird received extra convenience items such as power mirrors and power antenna as standard features, while others like cassette stereos got phased out.

The 35th-anniversary Firebird Trans-Am Collector's Edition, released in 2002, was developed on the high-powered WS6 model, and offered with both a Trans-Am coupe (with a hatch top and black roof halo) as well as a blacktop convertible. The standard WS6 package is the Trans-Am Collector Edition’s best feature and largely contributed to the model’s instant celebrity status. Goodyear Eagle F1 performance tires are part of the WS6 package and therefore came standard.

The performance package raised the Firebird’s powerplant to a 5.7-liter LS1 V8 producing 325 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque. The engine was paired with either 4-speed automatic or 6-speed manual transmission. Combined with the limited-production volume, the model had ‘collector-spec’ written all over it from the moment it was released.

Other standard equipments on the 2002 Firebird Trans-Am Collector’s Edition include power antenna, power windows, power door locks, remote keyless entry, theft-deterrent alarm system, driver 6-way power seat, Monsoon Series AM/FM radio with CD player, and hatch roof (T-Tops) on the coupe model. Optional equipment includes traction control, trunk-mounted 12-CD changer, and Hurst Short-Throw shifter.

It arrived with an attention-grabbing paint job aptly dubbed the Pontiac Collector Yellow. This time, the iconic Firebird Trans-Am dark blue stripe typically running down the car's center is reinterpreted as a twin black racing stripe on the hood that progressively wrapped itself around the car's doors and rear quarter panels. The Firebird Trans-Am tradition continued via the black, 5-spoke wheels, complete with the archetypal screaming chicken decals and badges.

Unlike the 1994 special edition Trans-Am GT that shunned the commemorative badging, graphics, and emblems, the 2002 Trans-Am Collector’s Edition embraced the “Special” treatment via an all-black interior, ornamented with Collector Edition logos on the front headrests of the ebony leather-wrapped seats. It equally had the Collector Edition logo on the front floor mats as well as a trophy/shelf mat.

Along with the 12-disc CD changer (replacing the cassette stereo), the interior updates also include a period-correct Passport radar detector. The car’s rear also got the “Special” treatment via a two-tone Collector Yellow and black detailing.

A special issue Collector Edition owner’s portfolio concluded the finishing touch to the vehicle’s interior. In 2002, the Firebird was bade farewell in perfect style.

Philip Uwaoma, this bearded black male from Nigeria, is fast approaching two million words in articles published on various websites, including toylist.com, rehabaid.com, and autoquarterly.com. After not getting credit for his work on Auto Quarterly, Philip is now convinced that ghostwriting sucks. He has no dog, no wife- yet- and he loves Rolls Royce a little too much.