Jay Leno’s Fully Loaded Firebird Is A Gorgeous Time Capsule

Once upon a time, GM offered a direct rival to its own Chevrolet Corvette in the form of the Pontiac Firebird, and although interest in the brand waned so badly that GM ultimately decided to shut it down altogether, Pontiac built one last Firebird to outdo all those that had preceded it. Some of us have imagined what a new Firebird could look like, but it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see it in showrooms ever again. Fortunately, there’s a car enthusiast that has classics like these and has no problem showing them to us and explaining what they’re like to live with. Check out the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage and see why the 2002 Firebird WS6 qualifies as one of his coolest cars.

The story of how Leno got the car is pretty cool. After being asked to drive the pace car at the 2022 Daytona 500, Leno was asked what he would like as payment. He responded that Pontiac should pay him in product, so they offered him one of the pace cars. Leno wasn’t a fan of the green and yellow livery, so he asked instead to get a regular Firebird Trans-Am but with all the options. Thus, his Firebird has a ram-air intake, the performance handling package, and custom wheels wrapped in Goodyear Eagle rubber. It’s a stunning package, and it’s been kept in pristine condition.

Leno says he drives the car fairly regularly, although his idea of “regular” is probably vastly different to ours considering he has so many interesting cars at his disposal. Even so, the undercarriage looks near-perfect, the cabin is in showroom condition, and that 5.7-liter V8 purrs beautifully. While most other classics lose power over time, we’re pretty sure that this one still sends its original 325 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels. With a six-speed manual gearbox, it’s a highly desirable car that we wish we could get to experience whenever we wanted.