What Years Did Pontiac Use Snowflake Wheels And Which Models Had Them?
Honeycombs and snowflakes: They're similar, but one is not like the other. If you're wondering what we're talking about, it's wheels. Pontiac made honeycomb wheels from 1971 through '76, but they also made snowflake wheels that lasted from '76 through 1982.
Honeycombs were made by placing a plastic face on a heavy steel wheel (a process referred to as polycasting), making it look like cast aluminum. That's what Pontiac's chief designer, Bill Porter, originally wanted to make the wheels for the Trans Am out of, back in '71. GM nixed the idea then because aluminum cost more than steel.
By 1976, technology had evolved enough that GM could use a new, more streamlined single-casting process to make wheels of aluminum. The design used was a cross-fin pattern that looked so much like a snowflake that car enthusiasts started calling it the snowflake wheel, and it stuck. Pontiac never used the "snowflake" term, though, calling it a "cast aluminum wheel." These 15-by-7-inch wheels were made available on all Firebirds.
Initially, Pontiac intended to sell them in a variety of colors (white, grey, blue, gold, and red), but demand was so great it exceeded supplier capacity. Pontiac released a statement that vehicles other than a Trans Am ordered after Oct. 18, 1976 would instead get Rally II 5-spoke wheels.
[Featured image by Sicnag via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 2.0]
These snowflakes don't melt
Two smaller snowflakes dropped in 1978. The 14-by-7-inch could be slapped onto the Grand Prix, Grand Am and Le Mans, while a four-lug 13-inch version could be gotten on the more budget-friendly Pontiac Sunbird, whose several differences set it apart from the Firebird. The smaller wheels weren't available on the Firebird.
With the meteoric success of "Smokey and the Bandit," Trans Am sales went through the roof as lots of men wanted to drive a Starlight Black beauty with gold snowflake wheels. Despite urban legend, there is no Trans Am "Bandit" edition per se. Much in the same way Pontiac never used "snowflake" to describe its "cast aluminum" wheel, the "Bandit edition" was simply known as the Special Edition Trans Am and featured wheels with the bright gold accent seen in the film.
In 1978, Pontiac rolled out the WS6 Special Performance Package for the Trans Am (and Formula), which, for an extra $324, got you a thicker rear sway bar and larger 15-by-8-inch gold tone snowflake wheels. Over the next few years, Pontiac introduced an assortment of "Special Editions" that included the Skybird, Redbird, and Yellowbird, all with matching key-colored snowflake wheels.
A new Trans Am rolled out in 1979 with thinner (and lighter) channeled snowflakes. This new design lasted until 1981 (on Trans Ams and Formulas with the WS6 package). When the third-generation Firebird came out in 1982, only the base model came with a 14-by-6-inch snowflake option, the last version to appear.