Pontiac Firebird

Pontiac Firebird was a pony car made by General Motors' Pontiac division between 1967 and 2002, with its Chevrolet division sibling, Chevrolet Camaro. The cars were direct competitors of Ford's Mustang and its sister model, Mercury Cougar.

The first generation Firebird was produced 1967-1969.

In 1970, it was replaced by the second generation, which was produced until 1981.

In 1977, the second generation model Trans Am became famous as the car driven by Burt Reynolds in Smokey and The Bandit.

Jim's Pontiac Firebird

In The Rockford Files, Jim Rockford drove golden brown 1974-1978 model year Pontiac Firebirds.

In the pilot movie and Season 1, he drove a 1974 Firebird, then switched to the next model year every season except Season 6 which premiered in 1979. Rockford continued to drive the 1978 model. The reason for this is because James Garner disliked the new front end of the 1979 Firebird.

The Firebirds used in Rockford Files were on-screen badged as "Esprit" trim, the next level trim after the base model. However, in reality, the cars were Formulas, one trim below the top-of-the-line Trans Am, using the same engines but having a different exterior design, notably having a twin-scoop hood.

For use in the series, they were replaced with Esprit's scoopless hood. However, two giveaways were the dual exhausts and rear anti-roll bar that were used on Formula but not on Esprit.