Pontiac Firebird Trans Am: TRANS AM – A bundle of Herb Adams engineering, a little help from Penske, and SCCA’s trademark name (which to this day, still costs Pontiac $5 a car for every one they make!). The most famous of all Trans Ams is not the one they raced... it was the T/A with the behemoth 455 Super Duty engine, which was about 150 cubic inches over the displacement limit for Trans Am racing! "59-"63 Pontiac 421 Super Duty: SUPER DUTY -- From 1959 through 1963 these two words meant the most powerful engines of any American car. GM was actually contemplating closing Pontiac down, until Bunkie Knudsen"s passion to build horsepower and win races, and Smokey Yunick"s racecar-building wizardry turned things around. Pontiac"s all-out assault on the speedways of America in the early sixties transformed them from near death into the "WE BUILD EXCITEMENT" car company.