1977 - 1978 Pontiac Type K Sports Wagon
Provided by Hemmings

It isn’t too hard to spot the lineage of this unusual station wagon. Referred to within Pontiac as the Type K, this attractively styled wagon, based on the F-body platform Firebird/Trans Am of 1970-81, nearly made it into production. What killed the idea, though, was not the public’s reaction. No, this unusual sporty wagon was well received by the press and public when displayed at various auto shows. Instead, it was inter-divisional design differences that kept this hot hauler from making it to the market. When first introduced in 1967, Chevrolet’s Camaro and Pontiac’s Firebird were based upon the same semi-unitized body structure and shared the same outer sheet metal, albeit with minor cosmetic differences. When the 1970 second-generation F-bodies debuted, the two divisions had gone separate ways in regards to the outer sheet metal styling, with the result that front ends and doors were not interchangeable between the makes. It was at about this time that Chevrolet had seriously considered creating a ponycar-based wagon.

The one requisite factor of producing a wagon version of both the Camaro and Firebird was that, for cost-control purposes, the doors would have to be the same on both makes. Pontiac’s stylists preferred lower, softer-edged body lines that gave a more hunkered-down, flowing look to the Firebird than that of the Camaro, and the division’s reluctance to adopt the Camaro’s lines effectively killed the sports-wagon concept.

However, prototypes of both a Camaro and a Firebird-based version were constructed in-house, while the Pinin Farina studios were contracted to build a pair of Type Ks for show purposes. The Firebird version, built around the 1977 and 1978 Firebird and Trans Am, proved so popular with the public that one independent company built a number of replicas by doing conversions on existing Firebirds. Other than the unique station wagon styling and Kammback rear (hence the Type K designation), features of the prototypes and replicas included split fold-down rear seats and hinged rear side windows that opened upwards in gull-wing fashion.