I know pontiac made V8 birds 67-68, but the TA package was not released until 69. So when the general released in 99 a 30th anniversary TA, it was hard to badge a 35th anniversary V8 car 3 years later. The real 35th anniversary firebird in 2002 was a V6 so why go to the effort to make a 35th anniversary edition that is now a poor selling lowly 6 banger. Not a whole lot of takers for a more expensive V6 firebird in 2002. It all boils down to arguing about semantics, sorry if you thought I was disrespecting the early birds especially the 69's which as you said were rare and extremely desirable to collectors.
Dude, the sound of Trevors 69 has me jonesing for a big lopey cam so bad...
BTW ThunderRacing's cams are on sale until June 30, I'm very tempted, if I didn't think it would kill the resale value.