The Fearsome SLP Firebird Formula Firehawk Was A Street Fighter Cleverly Disguised As A Track Car

There are several cars made by famous names in the world of tuners: people like Roush, Saleen, and even Shelby, who created some famous editions of well-loved Pony cars. Also, there were plenty of modified coupes like Mustangs and GM F-Bodies that combined race-level prowess with the ability to offer at least reasonable comfort and tractability on the street.

The 1992 Firebird Formula Firehawk was neither of these two things. Street Legal Performance was hardly a household name, and this hot Pontiac F-Body was barely usable on public roads. Its mission was simple and clear: go fast. If nothing else, on that mission, it delivered.

Was that really enough? Let’s find out.

A Firebird With Real Fire

I’ve heard it said that you can get almost anything you’d ever want in life if you’re willing to sacrifice essentially everything else. That’s certainly the case with the modified Firebird that Street Legal Performance- or SLP for short- decided to offer to the public in late 1991.

The goal of SLP’s Ed Hamburger was to create a car faster than most exotic cars of the day, including the Ferrari 348, Lotus Esprit, Acura NSX, and even GM’s own Corvette ZR1. To do this, Ed began with a product that would undercut the price of these high-dollar machines but still be able to handle the immense power needed to accomplish the task.

Ed settled on the Firebird Formula, the rather stripped-down all-business performance version of GM’s third-generation F-Body. Now in its tenth and final season as Pontiac’s fastest Pony Car, the Firebird was getting long in the tooth, but John Schinella’s masterpiece still looked stunning; it’s personally my favorite F-body of all. The Formula version kept things simple with none of the scoops, spoilers, ground effects, or even smoked-out “grid” taillights of the flashier Trans Am.

On these late third-gen examples, the ovoid-shaped grille openings that presaged the coming fourth-generation nose always looked at odds with the crisp, angular visual language of the rest of the car, but that’s a minor quip.

Despite the intent to make an inexpensive speed machine, SLP didn’t skimp on any of the details. Under the hood, the 1LE 350 was anything but a run-of-the-mill Firebird motor. Mods included a forged crank, forged rods, and lightweight pistons, as well as special cylinder heads. SLP also installed a special intake and exhaust, bringing the Firehawk to 350 hp and 390 lb-ft of torque. The bespoke “down draught, tuned length inlet system” supposedly created a flexible power band up the engine’s 6000RPM redline.

Stainless steel headers and dual catalytic converters replaced the stock Firebird exhaust; SLP was obviously committed to the cause without compromise.

The result was 350 horsepower, mated to the same six-speed as the Corvette:

That horsepower is an uninspiring figure today, but at the time, it was capable of propelling the rather lightweight Firebird to sixty in a shocking 4.6 seconds. That’s a time on par with the costlier Corvette ZR1 and faster than the even higher-priced exotics. Still, at $39,995, it was hardly cheap.

Some Turning And Stopping With Your Go

Straight line performance is one thing, but the Firehawk was no mere dragstrip machine. Seventeen-inch wheels on the Firehawk were inconceivably huge for the time, shod with Firestone 275/40ZR17 tires that shared the Firehawk name; tenacious grip was there as long as the road was smooth. Accents on the alloys matched the red finish of the Firehawk, the only color that SLP was to offer for their custom Firebird. Beyond that, though, inside and out, the Firehawk really didn’t have anything that screamed “killer performance car”, unless you opened the hood. Even then, it looked pretty damn OEM:

With such power and wide rubber, you’d be smart to consider taking things to the next level, particularly with the Firehawk’s ability to stop and even hold you in place. For those willing to pony up another ten grand, SLP offered the “competition option” package:

As the brochure excerpt above states, this included a bunch of goodies, but most notably what they claimed were the same four-piston Brembo front brakes as on a Ferrari F40. At 13 inches in diameter, some car mags pointed out that they were the same size as the actual wheels on a Civic, and they did the expected great job in arresting the Firehawk’s prodigious speed.

A lightweight hood and racing driver’s seat came with the package, and a few more bucks got you a matching passenger’s chair and five-point belts (but the rest of the cabin was very much bare-bones Firebird).

A rear seat delete to accommodate a roll bar was also part of the package.

Equipped with the “competition option” and the other racing-style extras, the Firehawk was very much a track car, despite it being ineligible for the “Firehawk” series that it shared a name with.

The best part about the Firehawk might have been that obtaining one didn’t require endless correspondence with some small tuner; all you had to do was select “Regular Production Option B4U” and take delivery of your new fast Firebird right at your Pontiac dealer. It sounded like a decent deal on paper for a hand-built hot rod, but remember what I said about sacrifices?

More Like Street Legal Punishment

Lots of things like garbage trucks, street sweepers, and mail Jeeps can be legally driven on the street. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you’d want to. That’s a bit of the case with the 1992 Firehawk. The ride was reportedly punishing; such jarring didn’t do wonders for the creaky old F-body structure. Firebirds were never designed to have tires that wide, so on the street, a Firehawk might “tramline” and hunt for grooves and imperfections you won’t find on a racetrack. A rumbling idle and ample cabin noise meant the Firehawk was one of those cars that was a laughter-inducing thrill to drive on public roads, but you’d be begging to get into something like a Camry after an hour or so.

The promotional VHS video from SLP embraces this and happily quotes the review that calls it “scary”.

Ultimately, being fastest for the least cash wasn’t as popular a proposal as SLP had imagined. At over $50,000 with the Competition Option, the Firehawk might have been less than a ZR1 or the European and Japanese exotics, but it was almost twice the price of a slower but better-equipped Firebird Trans Am or GTA. For that money, you could have bought some almost-as-fast rides with far more refinement, better build quality, and finer accoutrements as daily drivers.

Plans to make 250 Firehawks soon evaporated; only 25 were converted by SLP before the third-generation Firebird ceased production. Also, despite SLP’s Henry Ford-style single color plan for the Firehawk, they ended up making some examples in other shades, including one white, one blue, one in a very-1992 teal, and the best-of-the-lot in a striking dark green with tan seats that you can see by clicking here.

Yes, you ask, but what does John Davis think? I knew you’d ask:

With a production run that numbers not much more than the total sum of vehicles that our Mercedes Streeter currently owns (ouch!), you’ll struggle to find one for sale today, but they do occasionally appear. Despite the rarity, historical significance, and outright title as one of the fastest Pontiacs ever, don’t expect to see million-dollar sales figures. The few that have come up for sale typically go for less than their price new, at around $30,000 to $40,000.

SLP persisted in making highly modified Pontiacs in the ensuing years with later Firebirds and even the Australian-built Holden that was sold here as the G8 in the brand’s very last years.

Most of these products succeeded in providing more street tractability than their first 1992 attempt provided, but that’s not to say there isn’t an appeal to the visceral take-no-prisoners approach of their first Firehawk. If you’re willing to make the needed sacrifices, there’s a reward to be had.

Pontiac Points: 86/100

Verdict: You Want Comfort? Forget It. You Want The Ultimate Third Gen Firebird? Here’s Your Car

Top graphic image: SLP, Pontiac