Given the two possible drivetrain combinations and the two possible places of manufacture, there are four possible types of 82 Recaro Trans Am's. In order of rarity, they are:

1. LG4 (4bbl carb) / four-speed, built in Norwood, Ohio (the most rare)
2. LU5 (Cross-Fire) / automatic, built in Norwood, Ohio
3. LG4 (4bbl carb) / four-speed, built in Van Nuys, California
4. LU5 (Cross-Fire) / automatic, built in Van Nuys, California (the most common)

Myths Dispelled:
1. Knight Rider was not derived from the Recaro Trans Am. They are totally separate and unrelated in every way.
2. The Recaro Trans Am was not derived from Knight Rider. They are totally separate and unrelated in every way.
3. Not all black/gold Trans Am's were Recaro editions. There were lots of regular black/gold Trans Am's of the same era. Oftentimes you'll see an idiot throwing around the terms "recaro edition" and "black/gold edition" like they are completely sure that they're the same thing. Well, they're not. "black/gold edition" doesn't even exist.
4. There is no such thing as "Reacaro", "Ricaro", "Recoro", "Ricarro" "Recardo", "Rercaro", "Ricardo", "Recarro", "Racero", Reccaro", "Race-Aero", "Recarcro", "Racarro", "Recara", or "Rick-Arrow". Yes, I have actually seen people use all those and more, including people who own the cars. Some can be passed off as typos, but some can't! Anyone with even a passive understanding of the English language can clearly read the correct logo off the door handles or the seats, so I don't see how illiteracy still prevails! What's next.. Ricky Recardo?
5. There's no such thing as a "Night Rider" edition, even though an otherwise respectable site like N.A.D.A. seems to think so.. pretty pathetic, if you ask me! For that matter, there's no such thing as "Knight Rider" edition either.
6. There's more to a Recaro T/A than just the bucket seats. For an option costing nearly $3k on a $9k car, there had better be! Many options that would otherwise be invidivually optional are bundled into the Recaro Edition package. For example, 4-wheel disc brakes, positraction, t-tops, WS6, and quicker steering ratio are all included in the Recaro package, whereas they would have cost more on a regular T/A. Those are just a few; there are more. And then there's the Recaro-specific parts like the door handle inserts, gold hubcap logos, gold-painted wheels, etc. In 1983 and 1984, even though the specific wheels were gone, the Recaro edition was even more all encompassing, including the top of the line radio as well, for example and thus being much more expensive, as well.
7. Just because this website is written in a tiny font which has been called "cutesy" doesn't mean that the above delusional, baseless myths are real or that you can conveniently ignore this page and continue thinking they are real. Those who have done their research will agree.

A Recaro Trans Am promotional clip from late 1981 or early 1982 (complete with errors):

Naming: Many people get confused about the differences between a Firebird and a Trans Am. Basically Firebird is more of a base model and Trans Am is an overall upgrade package on top of the Firebird. During these years there was also Firebird S/E, which was somewhat between Firebird and Trans Am in hierarchy. I've read somewhere that from 1982 to 1984, Firebird and Trans Am were totally separate models which just happened to share the same body style, but I'm thinking more and more that this is false. In all other generations the Trans Am has been an upgraded version of the Firebird, not separate from it. Technically the full model name of the '82 Recaro T/A is supposed to be Firebird Trans Am but that's a little too long so most people just call it a Trans Am. Trivial anyway.. who cares? I'm more interested in the car itself.

You may hear the '82 Recaro being referred to as a "Third Gen" or an "F-Body". Third Gen simply refers to the fact that 1982 saw the third major redesign of Firebirds and Trans Am's, hence "Third Generation". The First Generation was from 1967 - 1969, the Second Generation was from 1970 - 1981, the Third Generation was from 1982 - 1992, and the Fourth Generation was from 1993 - 2002. F-Body refers to the code used by GM to distinguish its different car lines, and all cars made on the same assembly line share a code. In this case, the cars are Pontiac Firebirds and Trans Am's, as well as Chevrolet Camaros, and the code GM used is F, hence "F-Body".