In the automotive dark age of the late 70's, niche marketing had never been more important as automakers clamored to win the attention of potential customers. With the muscle car era being killed off by changing emissions laws and spikes in gas and insurance prices, Pontiac was struggling to find ways to keep its little F body popular. (Anyone remember how? Here's a hint: big mustache, hot chick). That's right, for Firebird it was all about appearance packages. The "bandit" Trans Ams sold like hot cakes (whatever those are), and it was one of the best moves Pontiac had made to rejuvenate sales in the crappy late 70's. But there were other distinctive option packages besides the bandits, and these included the so-called Ladybirds, starting in 1976.

Since the death of the 455's, including the legendary Super Duties, Pontiac was looking to change what made a car "cool". They were still the only brand that would include a true big-block in their ponycar, but the higher ups started noticing sales fall in 1975 (the year what was left of true torque and horsepower died off) and Pontiac decided that they really had to find revolutionary ways to appeal to buyers. And what was their favored underexploited market? Women. Yes guys, we may think we are the center of the automotive universe, but to tell you the truth, Firebirds have always been the nicer looking, more feminine, more refined version of the F bodies, and that was about to be taken to a whole new level. Not since the "La Femme" by Chrysler in the 50's had any company really marketed automobiles directly to women enthusiasts.

Pontiac decided in 1976 to debut a special option package called the "Bluebird." The package included special Lombard Blue paint with a darker tone of blue around the base of the car, a unique blue interior, and a newly feminized fire-chicken on the sail panels, bumper, and rear trunk or spoiler. The real gem of this package was the color-matched snowflake wheels. Pontiac had been thrilled with the response to this concept at the Chicago auto show and decided to put it into production. It was eventually rolled out as the "Skybird," however, following protest from the Bluebird school bus company. The Skybird arrived in showrooms in 1977, and sold through 1978. In that year Pontiac decided to change the color scheme and came up with the "Redbird." Again, the Redbird had the two-tone paint, and all-red interior and color-matched snowflake wheels. The Redbird was produced with 2 front ends, the 1978 cat-eye front end, and the 1979 large dual-quad headlight light front end.

In 1980, Pontiac created the final and most rare apperance package, the "Yellowbird." This was the only one of the cars to not have an exact color-matched interior (can you imagine a pale yellow interior holding up? Me neither). The upholstery was tan, while the body received the two-tone and snowflakes. The Yellowbird was one year only, and from my research it looks as though only 464 were ever produced. As for the Redbird and Skybird packages, Pontiac puts the numbers at about 4,400 of each. 

Why should you care? Well, we're car guys aren't we? Rare cars are supposed to be sought after, yet these seem to be forgotten. Countless numbers of these cars were repainted more manly colors and torn apart to create Trans Am clones, making the survivors exceedingly rare. It's true that they didn't have the big burly engines, (the biggest option for the Ladybirds was the Pontiac 350, most have 301s or 305s and some even have the 3.8L V6). But they are a heck of a sight to behold. Put a Yellowbird next to a spiffed up Trans Am at a car show and, and watch the crowd shift to the canary-colored car. Especially the ladies. And isn't half the point of our cars to get the girl? For more on these cars, visit my buddy's page at http://www.firebirdtransamparts.com/redsky/ladybirds.htm