The Pontiac Firebird was a pony car built by the Pontiac division of General Motors between 1967 and 2002.

The Firebird was introduced in the same year with its platform sharing cousin the Chevrolet Camaro. This coincided with the release of the Mercury Cougar, which shared its platform with another well-known pony car, the Ford Mustang.

The vehicles were, for the most part, powered by various V8 engines of different GM divisions. While primarily Pontiac-powered until 1977, Firebirds were built with several different engines from nearly every GM division until 1982 when all Pontiac motors were dropped in favor of corporate motors.

A muscle car is a high-performance automobile. The term principally refers to American, Australian and South African models and generally describes a 2-door rear wheel drive mid-size car with a large, powerful V8 engine and special trim, intended for maximum torque on the street or in drag racing competition. It is distinguished from sports cars, which were customarily and coincidentally considered smaller, two-seat cars, or GTs, two-seat or 2+2 cars intended for high-speed touring and possibly road racing. High-performance full-size or compact cars are arguably excluded from this category, as are the breed of compact sports coupes inspired by the Ford Mustang. Other factors used in defining classic muscle cars are their age and country of origin. A classic muscle car is usually but not necessarily made in the US or Australia between 1964 and 1975. Notably, the term "muscle car" did not enter common usage until after production of the cars had essentially ended. During their heyday, print media usually referred to this class of vehicle as "supercars".

[edit] Defining the class
The Mustang provided the template for the new class of automobiles. Although it was based on the platform of the Falcon, it had a unique body (offered as a hardtop coupé and a convertible) with distinctive, "long hood, short deck" proportions. In basic form it was mechanically mundane, with a 170 cu. in. (2.8L) six-cylinder engine and three-speed manual transmission. It carried an attractive base price of $2,368, and had an extensive option list offering a range of V8 engines, Cruise-O-Matic automatic transmission or four-speed manual, radios, air conditioning, power steering, and other accessories. A V8 Mustang with all available options would cost about 60% more than a basic Six, which made it an extremely profitable model for Ford.

The requirements were therefore set:

Attractive, sporty styling
Affordable base price
Extensive options, including six-cylinder and V8 engines
Aggressive, youth-oriented marketing and advertising.
While most of the pony cars offered more powerful engines and performance packages, enough to qualify some as muscle cars, a substantial number were sold with six-cylinder engines or mundane, "cooking" V8s, with the high-performance models largely limited to drag racing, road racing, or racing homologation purposes.


Pony car competitors
Despite the immediate success of the Mustang, many (including some within Ford) feared that the bubble would soon burst, and other manufacturers were relatively slow to respond. The first competitor was the Plymouth Barracuda, which actually went on sale on April 1, 1964, about two weeks before the Mustang. The Barracuda was not a direct response to the Mustang, which had not yet debuted (although Chrysler was certainly aware of the upcoming model), but a low-cost way to expand the sporty appeal of the Valiant. Chrysler's precarious financial situation meant that the Barracuda was compromised, with insufficient distinction from the Valiant and styling that drew mixed reactions; its sales were a fraction of the Mustang's. (Some mentioned that if the Barracuda was successful, the term for this class of automobile might have been "fish car," rather than "pony car.")[1] [2] [3] [4]

Initially, General Motors believed that the restyled 1965 Corvair would be an adequate challenger for the Mustang, but when it became clear that the Corvair itself was doomed, the more conventional Chevrolet Camaro was introduced, going on sale for the 1967 model year, at the time the Mustang was entering its second generation. They were presently joined by the Camaro-based Pontiac Firebird, the Mercury Cougar, and, in 1968, the AMC Javelin. Dodge joined the party belatedly with the 1970 Dodge Challenger, an enlarged version of the Barracuda.