*** Special thanks goes to The GTA Source Page special contributor Lou Wassel for his assistance with this page section. Thank you, sir. ***
Ever wonder why you saw so many more 3rdGen Camaro advertisements back in the day versus the number you saw for the 3rdGen Firebirds? Or, in case you missed them back in the day because you weren’t born yet… why you see so many more on eBay and other sites online these days?
As a smaller division of General Motors, Pontiac just did not have the advertising $$$ to spend in comparison to the funds available to Chevrolet. Chevy had a significant spending advantage over Pontiac for introductory national advertising right off the bat. When the amount of available dealer advertising spending was included in the “total” amount of available funds, there was literally no way that PMD could compete with the onslaught of funds that Chevrolet, together with its much larger group of dealers, could bring to bear on the market.
Still, for the GTA’s introductory year… good, old word-of-mouth advertising like that provided by the cadre of the various National Auto Shows held in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles helped to introduce the GTA to the car-buying public. This full-page layout at left below is from the January 11, 1987 issue of the Detroit Free Press newspaper advertising the show at Cobo Hall. The photo at right is from the 1987 LA Auto Show, and is courtesy of George Scala.
Pontiac introduced an Integrated Marketing strategy for 1988, which accounted for the number of tests you saw in print for 1988 and 1989 Pontiac F-cars, regardless of model. They were able to spread their marketing funds around and invest in some very strong and specific initiatives to reach their targeted buyers. Many of their ads are still remembered fondly, like the one I have that’s been framed since late 1987 back when it hung in my college dormitory room then; as you can see below, it still proudly hangs undisturbed in our home office today…
I know that I try to keep my personal comments and opinions out of the website as much as possible, but this ad brings too many memories flooding back to not wax nostalgic a little bit. For just an instant EVERY time I see it I’m once again a 20-something college kid who wants a “hot” car that he thinks he will never have, but still wants it so badly all the same.
The entire Pontiac ’88 lineup of dramatic studio shots in varying colors coordinating with the colors of the vehicles still stands out to this day as a savvy advertising approach that highlighted every single offering while tying the entire lineup together as a unit. Definitely not the way most car makers worked, picking and choosing their models to highlight. The introduction of the GTA for 1987 gave the car sufficient exposure for public awareness, and the 1988 “Coats Of Many Colors” ad campaign kept the GTA in the limelight with minimal effort and expenditure.
There was only this one advertisement for the 1988 model year, but there couldn’t have been a better one. Here it is…
… this is the ad that pretty much set the “coolness” bar for those of us who remember it so well during our formative years. No doubt some of us can tell you exactly where we were the first time we ever saw it. I know that I can… it really made that kind of impression. It also made it clearly evident that Black was the coolest color on a GTA ever. The Black paint and the Gold trim just POP in a way that no other color does.
Included in the 1988 Pontiac full-line press kit, this image was in virtually car magazine in existence back in the day. Trans Am GTA sales in 1988 showed that of the untold thousands who saw this piece in a vintage magazine, many hightailed it straight to their local Pontiac dealer to sign on the dotted line.
With the GTA being the base for the 1989 20th Anniversary Trans Am model, which was later chosen to be the Official Pace Car for for the 1989 Indianapolis 500, the opportunities for advertising were plentiful. Pontiac took full advantage with a pair of national ads directed both at the exclusive Anniversary edition of the Trans Am, but also a second ad that highlighted both the 20th Anniversary Trans Am and their entire 1989 lineup.
The advertisement specific to the Indianapolis 500 Pace Car Turbo Trans Am was all about trumpeting its enormous performance capabilities, as it was the first pace car ever to be able to pace the Indianapolis race field with no modifications from stock whatsoever. Its legendary performance numbers need not be presented here… they’re on other sections of The Source Page in numerous places. But the bragging rights were most certainly justified.
The second ad centered around the Indianapolis 500 festivities was this two-page look at all of the 1989 Pontiacs fronted by the 20th Anniversary Trans Am. Aptly titled “The Magnificent Seven” this wide angle piece featured the Bonneville, Sunbird, 6000, LeMans, Grand Am and the Turbo Grand Prix taken at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Recognizing the opportunity for fleet-wide exposure again showed that Pontiac had its finger on the pulses of all manner of performance drivers as the 1990s dawned.
As everyone knows, the 3rdGen Firebirds underwent their final “freshening” for the extended 1991 model year run. With the cars being released for sale in the early Spring of 1990, Pontiac released a new print ad for the masses to celebrate over and to help lure new owners into the showrooms. This time, the standard Trans Am was let in on some of the fun as well:
The use of light and reflection in this ad was a master class in the suggestion of power and motion in stationery objects. Both cars look like they’re going 100 mph while sitting completely still…
Still very popular today, this ad showed that Pontiac had an innate understanding of both what made their customers “tick”, and how to harness that knowledge and entice new car buyers into the showrooms for a little look-see…
Anyone who followed drag racing back in the day was no doubt very familiar seeing the 3rdGen Firebirds, especially the “Banshee” styled ’91 and ’92 varieties. Those models were used often as the basis for NHRA Funny Car dragsters that were sponsored by STP, Pennzoil, and other auto-related companies.
Naturally, Pontiac didn’t disappoint with this 1992 one-panel print advertisement for the drag racing fans…
This comprises all of the Pontiac factory advertisements of the Trans Am GTA era, 1987-1992. Some very memorable ads to say the least, and they still look fantastic. PMD did a lot with what they had to work with for sure.
But one other entity did a lot to keep the GTA “in the discussion” performance-wise during the early GTA years of 1987-1989.
God bless the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio…
While the revolutionary Goodyear Eagle VR50 performance tires (in size P255/50VR16 size) debuted in the US on the 1984 Chevrolet Corvette, the numbers of performance cars that used them expanded rapidly once the performance benefits of the tires became apparent. In fact, the first factory 3rdGen F-car to use the VR50 (in P245/50VR16 size) was the 1984 15th Anniversary Trans Am:
For 1985, the Trans Am’s optional WS6 special performance suspension was re-calibrated to take better advantage of the 16″ Eagle VR50 tires for the first time… making for a huge improvement over the previously used P215/65R15 Eagle GT tires.
Naturally, when the Trans Am GTA bowed for 1987 Pontiac specified that the WS6 suspension was to be standard equipment for the Y84 GTA package. As such, the Eagle VR50 tires received high marks from the auto press for road holding and adhesion on dry pavement; we won’t discuss the quality or the level of adhesion of the “Gatorbacks” on wet road surfaces. Oh no. We. Will. Not.
Goodyear took the opportunity of the GTA’s introduction to feature the car in its own one-panel print advertisement, pairing it with two of Pontiac’s sponsored racing machines, an IMSA Fiero and a NHRA Trans Am:
The GTAs always put in a good showing in any performance or speed tests they were a part of in the automotive press, and were always lurking above mid-pack on the final scorecards. The cars were always right there just a few clicks off the lead in every test.
And Goodyear just kept featuring the car in their advertisements…
This one also from 1987, as a result of Motor Trend’s “Flat-Out Fastest” speed test:
These next two from 1988:
This ad was earmarked to accompany Motor Trend’s “Top Speed 10” high-speed performance test from ’88. All these cars were participants.
And then we come to 1989 and the introduction of the 20th Anniversary Trans Am, and its selection as the Official Pace Car for the 1989 Indianapolis 500. For this occasion, Goodyear set the ’89 Turbo Trans Am in a powerful composition together with the Pennzoil PC-18 car of the 1988 Indy 500 race winner, Rick Mears. Naturally, the Turbo Trans Am’s P245/50ZR16 “Gatorback” radial tires were suitably highlighted…
But Goodyear wasn’t through for 1989. Also released was a similar advertisement with the ’89 Turbo Trans Am in the same pose accompanied by the 1989 ASC McLaren Turbo Grand Prix; the ad focused on the limited production of both models for 1989, and how both featured Goodyear “Gatorback” Z-rated performance radial tires. This time, the Eagle ZR50s on both cars were appropriately illuminated…
And that wraps up this section on 1987-1992 Trans Am GTA & Related Vintage Advertisem… oh, wait a minute. I do have a couple more to post:
OK, OK, maybe that’s a stretch but it does say “Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA” right there in black & white, right? And Mobil 1 oil is a good oil too, right? So, there you go right there.
And then there’s this one to finish up with, I guess:
C’mon, y’all… IT’S MILLER TIME! Wait, what… 25 TRANS AM GTAs???
Anybody EVER heard of this promotion? Help your favorite Olympians and win a GTA??? Wow. I hope none of the winners were disappointed that their prize GTA wasn’t blue; it’d be another three (3) years before that color would be available… and it wouldn’t be on 25 cars, either. A total of 23 Bright Blue GTAs were built in 1992. Still, an interesting proposition and it shows the lengths that Pontiac would go to to get exposure for the cars.
Back in the day a lot of special production promotions like this one had separate RPO/UPC codes, but after examining the 1989 RPO/UPC listings in detail there is no code nor total that stands out that might be representative of this particular promotion.
But in all seriousness, the 1987-92 Trans Am GTAs were pretty well represented in advertisements during their short production cycle. Pontiac has to be credited for doing all they could to promote the GTA in the automotive press of the day, especially with the way the model virtually became a niche product at the end of its life cycle. The GTA’s performance heritage was secured, in part, by these period vintage advertisements, and they continue to contribute to the car’s legend to this day.