The introduction of the 1987 Trans Am GTA marked the first time that the Trans Am featured an actual cast emblem instead of an adhesive decal as its major form of model identification. For this model of Trans Am… the “Screaming Chicken” just would not do. Styled to take advantage of the monochrome paint treatment, each individual exterior color was cast in each emblem. The two-toned emblems, the gold diamond-spoke rims, and the monotone paint all certainly served to provide a striking image…. and still do to this day in the mind of most enthusiasts.
The actual name of the style of emblem used on the 1987-1992 GTAs (and 1989 20th Anniversary Trans Ams) is a cloisonne’ emblem. For production, the outline of the emblem was stamped out and the gold accent was added…. and then it was filled with the appropriate colored material inside the stamped depression. To finish up the construction process, actual molten glass was then poured into the emblem. This acted as a sort of clearcoat protection for the color layer underneath, and gave the emblem its fantastic shine. After the emblems were cured, the dual-sided mounting tape was cut, added to the reverse side, and the emblems were ready for shipment..
These emblems are still by far the most visually stunning style used on cars today, and the ’87 GTA marked the initial use of the cloisonne’ emblems on a Pontiac product. For 1988, Pontiac expanded their use to include the Bonneville SSE, the 6000 STE, and the late-1988 Turbo Grand Prix. In fact, these styles of emblems were used by Pontiac on several of their later performance models, including the Bonneville SSEi and the Grand Prix GTP models. They also saw use on the last generation of Firebird as well…. the 1996-2002 WS6 Ram Air ‘Birds used a cloisonne’ “WS6” emblem on the RH rear bumper.
As of 2025, there are no GM licensed reproduction emblems available from any aftermarket sources. As such, many people tend to favor searching for and/or finding NOS (New Old Stock) original GM emblems for their cars. I have been guilty of buying and collecting these rare and hard-to-find pieces as well for my own personal GTA memorabilia collection at times. While none of these emblems are currently available from GM…. I ran all these part numbers personally years ago and not a single one came back as an in-stock item anywhere in the US…. these NOS emblems seem to be appearing in ever-increasing numbers on the resale market.
Hence, this section deals with only original GM NOS GTA emblem descriptions, so that those who might be searching for these emblems for their own car are able to search by the actual GM part number for their particular year. All prices listed represent the retail price of each emblem at the last time it was available in GM’s Service Parts Operations (SPO) inventory; these prices are included to help potential buyers see what the emblems sold for originally, and gauge whether or not the asking price(s) of the emblems they are considering are reasonable… or excessive… for their requirements. Also, footnotes are posted as well to advise individuals of pertinent changes in emblem colors and usage for different model years.
TRANS AM GTA FRONT FASCIA PANEL EMBLEMS
GM PART #
COLOR
MODEL YEAR
PRICE
10052380
WHITE (40U)
1987-1990
$50.00
10052381
BLACK (41U)
1987-1990
$54.50
10118526
FLAME RED METALLIC (74U) (1)
1987-1990
$49.00
10052383
MIDNIGHT RUSSET METALLIC (68U) (2)
1987
$48.30
10052379
GUNMETAL METALLIC (87U)
1987-1990
$53.00
10052384
BRIGHT RED (81U)
1987-1990
$56.20
10136817
20TH ANNIVERSARY TRANS AM (Y82)
1989
$97.50
10189311
BRILLIANT RED METALLIC (1)
1990-1992
$36.00
10189313
MEDIUM GREEN METALLIC (45U)
1991-1992
$36.66
10189312
GUNMETAL METALLIC (87U)
1991
$31.25
10189309
ARCTIC WHITE (10U) (3)
1991-1992
$36.60
10189308
BLACK (41U)
1991-1992
$34.50
10189310
BRIGHT RED (81U)
1991-1992
$34.50
10205558
DARK GREEN GRAY (18U) (4)
1992
$33.21
10196578
JAMAICA YELLOW (52U) (4)
1992
$33.21
10196579
MEDIUM BLUE METALLIC (80U) (4)
1992
$33.21
FOOTNOTES
1 – This color was offered on the GTA for 1987 only.
2 – Both these colors show 1990 usage on GTA models, as Flame Red Metallic (74U) was phased out during the short 1990 model run in favor of the newer Brilliant Red Metallic (75U).
3 – For 1991, Pontiac changed the white color offered on GTA from the former White (40U) to a new, brighter hue titled Arctic White (10U). In addition, all front panel emblems were changed from cloisonne’ emblems to a colored urethane badge for 1991 and 1992.
4 – These colors were special, one-year hues introduced to celebrate the Pontiac Firebird’s 25th anniversary in the marketplace for 1992. All were exceptionally low production colors on the GTA model.
TRANS AM GTA FRONT FENDER EMBLEMS
10052372
GUNMETAL METALLIC (74U)
1987-1991
$42.90
10052373
WHITE (40U)
1987-1990
$43.50
10154555
ARCTIC WHITE (10U)
1991-1992
$56.70
10052374
BLACK (41U)
1987-1992
$43.50
10052376
MIDNIGHT RUSSET METALLIC (68U)
1987
$42.90
10052377
BRIGHT RED (81U) (5)
1987-1992
$46.20
10118527
FLAME RED METALLIC (74U)
1987-1990
$46.20
12396798
20TH ANNIVERSARY TRANS AM (Y82)
1989
$82.50
10154518
BRILLIANT RED METALLIC (75U)
1990-1992
$56.70
10205559
DARK GREEN GRAY (18U)
1992
$54.00
10196576
JAMAICA YELLOW (52U)
1992
$56.70
FOOTNOTES
5 – This emblem color is specified by GM as being used on both WW6 (Flame Red) and WW4 (Bright Red) aero kits from 1987-1990. This puts to rest the debate as to whether Bright Red emblems were ever factory-installed on Flame Red Metallic GTAs. So a particular GTA with this manner of emblem color combination would not be considered incorrect.
