Super-sleek, lighter on it’s feet and moments away from becoming a pop icon thanks to a television role, the new-for-1982 Pontiac Firebird lineup was needed. The second-gen car had done well for the brand, but with Pontiac’s performance geeks losing the civil war and the Pontiac V8 being lowered into the ground, something dramatic had to be done in order to make the third go’round as good as the black-and-gold Bandit years had been. So after carving out some length and about 400 pounds, the F-car for the Eighties showed up, with the tiniest of embers glowing underhood, threatening to quickly move into a blaze by the end of the model run (remember the 1992 SLP Firehawk?)

Growing up, one of these was in the family: my father’s mother had a Firebird S/E with the V8 option, the handling package, and those interesting aero wheels that never had the hubcaps on. In fact, outside of old press photos and videos, I’ve never seen them on a Firebird. Back in the day, if you were shopping the performance market, your options were Mustang, Camaro, Firebird, a slightly used Spirit AMX if you were a diehard Kenoshafile, or you listened to every magazine cretin at the time who couldn’t resist the urge to compare them to Porsches, while not-so-subtly recommending the German hot rod instead of anything American.

Even today, the third-gen Bird is a dream machine. Out with the Cross-Fire, in with any small-block that’s described as “rowdy”. Let those aerodynamics work for you.