(first posted 9/5/2013) Tired of seeing the same old better-than-new Camaros, Mustangs and other ponycars? Well you’re in for a treat then, as this ’71 Firebird is anything but! You don’t need to spend fifty grand on a restoration to enjoy a cool old car.
Here’s a CC you can drive, enjoy, and never have to worry about getting dinged in the parking lot. Not to mention a more easy, carefree driving experience, as other motorists will give you a wide berth. A win-win situation. And this is no Trans Am, Formula or even a Rockford Files Edition Esprit, but just a plain ol’ no-frills Firebird. And in ’70s green, no less–well, mostly…
Inside, there is a Formula steering wheel, bucket seats (from a later ’70s edition, judging from the velour and uh, contrasting color), and even a genuine wood console lid–the owner must be a handy sort. It is rare for me to see that woodgrained instrument panel outside of the Pontiac sales brochures, as it seems that all of the 1970-81 Firebirds at shows around here are Trans Ams, with their engine-turned inlay.
It has a V8, natch, and judging from the aquamarine-painted block, is an actual Pontiac engine and not a bellybutton SBC. How refreshing! I dig the vacuum gauge on the underside of the hood too.
Judging from the honeycomb grille, it is a ’72 model, like these fresher versions shown in the ’72 catalog. The 1970-73 Firebird is my favorite gen-2 F-body, with that twin-snorkel grille, smooth lines and Pontiac flair. Yeah, the Camaro was pretty too, but I like the Pontiacs a bit better, particularly the instrument panel.
I would especially love one in Navajo Orange or Verdant Green. This ’73 would do nicely, but with Rally IIs and a white interior, please!
But back to our featured ‘Bird. Though the paint job (or lack thereof) make the car look worse than it really is. Indeed, it is quite sound, with only minor rust. This is one of 12,001 base Firebirds built that year. This was during the time when the ponycars were tanking (thanks to a big, expensive GM strike that year, primarily), and that shows in the Firebird’s other model take rates: 11,415 Esprits, 5,250 Formulas and just 1,286 Trans Ams.
But at the eleventh hour the F-body was saved, to the joy of its many fans, then and now. And this one is still trucking along, anything but a trailer queen. I like it!
My father in law has a Camaro in a barn like this one, he’s gonna give it to me. I’ll take it only after all my debt is gone. <—That's a clue on it's condition.
My plan was to get it road worthy & not turn it into a Z/28 or SS. I like 'em plane with steel rallys.
Takes me back to 25 or so years ago when you could find a couple of “headrides” like these stalking the parking lot of my high school.
Same condition, too.
A few months ago I had a really close look at this 1970 Firebird Formula 400.
It’s said to have its original factory paint, “Carousel Red”
http://www.pedalttmetal.nl/PTTM-Shop/voorraad/item005Formula/item005.htm
Love the old-school Aerosmith decal on the back. Is that Wooderson’s car? Time to “fire up” Dazed and Confused.
Love it. I really dig survivors like this. I don’t know why, but I really do.
Our next door neighbor, Mr. Bordner bought a gold 71 Firebird with a 6 cylinder engine and dogdish hubcaps/trim rings. The rear view reminds me of my most memorable encounter with the car.
A friend and I were racing our bikes on the street. I was a hotshot with my green Schwinn Pea Picker with a 5 speed stick shift. I was well ahead, and turned my head back to see how far up I was on my buddy. That is when I realized that the Firebird was parked in the street, instead of in the driveway.
I rear ended the Firebird at full speed. The spring on the Pea Picker’s front fork broke through the fiberglass panel between the taillights (about where the Aerosmith sticker is on this car), and I went up over the handlebars onto the car’s back window, then rolled off at the C pillar, somehow breaking off two front teeth in the process. I totalled the Pea Picker. To this day, I have been thankful that Mr. Bordner did not have a station wagon instead.
As for this car, I am with some others. These earlier Firebirds are much more attractive than the later Trans Ams that were everywhere, both then and at car shows now.
Ouch, JP! Ahh, the old muscle bikes. I recall in my neighborhood one kid had a new Lemon Peeler, a buddy of mine had the Sears Screamer and I brought up the rear with the low budget muscle bike; the Plymouth RoadRunner of Muscle Bikes, the Iverson Drag Stripper. 3 speed shifter (with gear indicating dial), 16 inch drum brake wheel in the front, banana seat with built in back rest, a head rest on top of the sprung 3 foot high sissy bar. And the brightest Florescent Orange paint job you’ve ever seen.
Blowing up a balloon and tying it onto the rear chain stay allowed it to rub on the rear spokes for that Ram Air IV, 426 Hemi Soundtrack! Looking back it must have been hell on the neighbors with all of these kids rumbling up and down the street! Good, innocent fun!
Safe to say by reading your story that all of the Muscle Bikers back in the day were using their bikes as they were designed to be used for. Just like their 4 wheeled distant relatives. Without any surprise, today there is a cult following for these bikes….
The lightweight Royce-Union stingray clones were the best for popping wheelies – because they were so light.
It looks like some other kid did the same thing and put a hole in the back panel of this one.
You realize, of course, if you hadn’t wrecked that Pea Picker it would probably be worth more than the pictured Firebird. The money those bikes go for make the prices on a hemi Cuda look proportionately sane.
And, in a perfect imitation of the adult version of 1973, it was replaced with a 5 speed Schwinn Collegiate Sport (brown, of course). Sort of like an Impala Sports Coupe, but with a Powerglide instead of the THM analogous 10 speed. Probably completely worthless today compared with that Pea Picker. Doohhh.
I’d love to find a vintage 5-speed Schwinn Collegiate. My bike right now is a 1986 3-speed Collegiate, and I really wish I had those two extra gears.
Hmmmm. I am trying to remember if I still have it. Up until about 2 or 3 years ago, my garage was crammed full of bikes that nobody was riding. I think I got rid of several, and cannot remember if the brown Schwinn (with its ancient flat tires) went with them. I have to check at home.
Don’t bother. For commuting around a Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub beats a derailleur five speed anyday. If your bike is like most three speeds, replace the 15 tooth rear sprocket with a 19. That’ll drop each of those three gears to where the next lower one was originally. And first becomes something that can actually climb a mild hill.
Good point, Syke. Of course, last time I needed maintenance the bike shop had NO idea how to adjust my 3-speed hub and I had to take it back three times. At least everybody knows how to work on a derailleur!
I rebuilt a Sturmey Archer once on a Rudge I found at the curb with some garbage. It was not exactly easy. But it was satisfying when it worked afterwards! That bike sat in my garage for 20 years, and I finally sold it for a very decent price a couple of years ago.
I get $125.00 for a rebuilt one today, sold to the local college students for transportation. I believe they sold new for about $90.00.
I remember for my 13th Birthday, getting a “traded-in” used Schwinn Continental. It was $75.00 in 1972. Green with chrome forks and a bike odometer, and chrome bike rack. That was living large. Center pull brakes. To this day, I believe it was one of my sister’s drug-addled ‘friends’ who walked in our backyard (the dog didn’t bark), plucked it out of the yard and took off with it. I had the indestructible Schwinn Varsity for my paper route.
You’ve got that right, there’s a Pea-Picker on ebay right now for $495
Jim, I once hit a parked ’72 Plymouth Fury while going about 15 miles an hour on my 3-speed. Let me assure you, the Fury was undaunted and undamaged. I and my bike, on the other hand, were a right mess.
I once hit a 59 pink cadilliac on a blind turn at the bottom of a long hill on my red and white 80’s scorpian wrecked the fork and handle bar as I went up and over the hood. Only put a small crease in the caddys bumper but the rock that stopped me from hitting the gaurdrail put a decent crease in my backside that I can still feel on a damp day (such as today).
A good thing you didn’t run into that fin on the back! Owwwwwch.
If you were able to put even a “small crease” in the bumper of a ’59 Cadillac, that was no small incident. You were lucky not to have impaled yourself on one of the lethal weapon fins
I had to laugh at that recollection of a Close Encounter of the Worst Kind. It’s off topic; but it reminds me of a pile-up we had…
Every year our town would have a three-day fair in the city park in August; and it was pretty elaborate. It included a temporary bandstand, which would be dismantled and stored in the wooded end of the park, behind the city DPS garage. There were of course bike paths all through those woods…a little adventure when we got tired of baseball and tennis.
Anyway…part of the equipment for the bandstand involved a long wooden ramp. And the last time the bandstand was used, the parts were stored in the brush – the ramp was pushed up against one section of the bandstand, right behind the wooden picket fence that delineated the city garage lot. Come through bushes, riding like hell…hard left, up the ramp, no railings…and you’re at the top, on that 10×20 section of the bandstand!
Except…this was a week and a half before the fair was to set up.
We had a new kid with us…of course, he was proud of his five-speed banana bike (we all had three-speeds) and he could ride harder and charge with more daring. We explained the move, and he was gonna leave us in the dust!
He did. He followed the path, around the bend, through the brush, and up the ramp…and lo and behold! The city crews had yanked out that section of the bandstand! Nothing at the end of it but a five-foot fall to the gravel…he went over like Evel Knieval and landed about as hard. Broke a clavicle and the frame of his bike.
We, my crowd, never did patch that one up. He insisted he’d been set up; and we had a sit-down with our parents to convince them otherwise. He found other friends and they made their displeasure known a few times…
Ah! Schwinn Pea-Picker!! Man! When I was 10-11, I wanted one of those (or the Orange Crate or Lemon Peel) Sting Rays. I had a nice droop handle bar ’67 model Sting Ray, which was stolen from my school when I was in the Fifth Grade, lock and all. Our class went to a showing in the “city” (San Francisco) or “2001 A Space Odyssey.” We got back late (about 5:30 pm). My bike, two others including one classmate’s wicked Raleigh Sting Ray clone were gone; locks cut or busted.
Insofar as base Firebirds go, I like these – a lot. Most of the ones I remember in my youth and high school days in the base series usually were 350 2 pots, THM’s and without the gauges. One in particular I looked at seriously (Bank of Dad sort of approved, but himmed/hawed – this is September of 1976 . . . ) was a ’71 Firebird Esprit – 70’s GM light metallic green, matching green vinyl seats, wire (!) wheel covers and a Chevy 250 six under the hood. This was on the used car lot of the (then) “Auto Zentrum” BMW dealer on Fourth Street, San Rafael, across the street from the iHOP.
Yeah, our HS rides were 2nd gen Camaro/birds, 73-77 a bodies, or early g bodies. Most had 2 bbls, headers, glass packs, rear air shocks, & big rear tires. My 68 F-85 had that stuff though I scored a set of gatorbacks out of a junkyard.
Yeah! My first car was a ’78 Firebird with 305 2bbl. I saved up money and had duals & glasspack mufflers put on. I’d drive around through town and downshift the THM350 occasionally to hear the rmmm-pop-pop-rrmmm-pop-rmmm-pop-rmmm. I was bad to the bone (in my head anyway).
My first bike was a metallic red Schwinn Sting Ray — I so loved that thing & put a bunch of miles on it and it definitely showed. The 10-speed Schwinn whatever-it-was replacement was a disappointment with its kidney bean/razor blade seat. If they made a Sting Ray today that I could ride, I’d buy one.
I had one identical to this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Limited-edition-VANS-X-SCHWINN-STINGRAY-bicycle-MINT-PRISTINE-COND-/141050634390
I didn’t really like it, so after about 3 months, I went to the bike shop I bought it at and traded it for a candy apple red Schwinn 5 speed and I had it for a couple of years until I hit a sewer grid and snapped the fork off of it and cracked the frame where the top rail was welded to the tube or whatever they called where the fork and handlebars went through. I managed to walk away from the wreck with minor scratches and a bad scare. I replaced it with a ice pop blue and chrome 10 speed Schwinn that I had as my last bike.
I can respect this ride.
Pretty cool.
You can’t help but be impressed with a car like this surviving so long, even if it is rough. Given that this type of car was typically driven hard and put away wet, this one’s ~41 years are even more of a remarkable feat. I enjoy seeing them in this condition, and often wonder the trajectory. My guess is that this started as a nice “modest” sporty car, resplendent in its green paint, likely with the full wheel covers shown in the catalog shot. Maybe purchased by a middle-aged person (male or female), looking for a little “flair” after trading in a Nova. When it was traded on later in the 1970s (perhaps for something with “personal luxury” like a Grand Prix), this car started to work its way down the food chain. Probably a succession of drivers. Potentially some young kids nabbing a Firebird on the cheap for their first car. The wheel covers had to go… and naturally an aftermarket stereo appeared, with a cassette player! Of course, somewhere in there was a rock enthusiast, so I’m sure strains of Aerosmith blasted loud in that cabin. Then down, down, down some more, until “handmade” wooden console lids appeared, junkyards were scoured to replace well-worn original vinyl seats, etc. And even after all that, she’s still on the road!
This story is similar to my Esprit’s.
First purchased by a middle aged Woman as daily transportation. She and her husband never had kids. She kept the car until she went into a nursing home, at which point it ended up on a used car lot in Boston. I think if I haddn’t purchased it in 2006 it would haved ended up in the hands of someone abusive. I constantly get people telling me I should put a spoiler on the back, make it look like a Trans Am, change the color and basically hot rod it.
not over my dead body.
That makes me smile. At least a few of these cars found safe long-term homes! I like the spoiler but there’s no way I’d drill holes in one of these and install one.
The previous owner of my Skybird did just that unfortunately.. The three pieces do not line up correctly & it bugs me. If the car ever gets repainted, the spoiler will go away.
The only things I may change as I slowy restore it back to as delivered shape will be dual exhaust (factory, not some radical flowmaster rattle the windows system), a limited slip dif, a 4bbl carb and maybe someday way way in the future, a vintage air A/C system.
My Dad worked at a GM dealer when this generation of F body was still current. Spoilers on new ones didn’t line up either. But then neither did doors, hoods, trunk lids, interior trim…….
The PDI repair list on those cars was usually twice as long as anything else but a Corvette. And they just flew off the lot in the late ’70s anyway. It’s nice to see a survivor from the early ’70s.
I’m gonna say, Tiredoldmechanic, those ‘misaligned’ spoilers on the “F’s” were common of the Norwood built cars; Van Nuys ones, not so much. My best friend at the time, in the fall of ’78 took deliver of a ’79 Trans Am. Van Nuys car. Spoiler pieces lined up properly and overall build quality was pretty good (along with Camaros I detailed under the table for a local Chevy joint); it was the interiors and the underhood details that made the Van Nuys 70’s “F’s” sloppy; “goo” dripping down onto the carpet, the firewall, etc. . . .
Thank You, Philhawk for keeping it “the way it is.” What blows my mind are the people on (what you think is a ‘mature’ car website) Bring-A-Trailer, where something along the lines of your car and this garners responses of “put some 18″ on it and a crate LS1.” Barf !!
Amen — all the LSx swap annoys me. If old cars are so cool, why do these guys feel the need to change the drivetrain, colors, seats, radio, wheelz, install fast ratio steering boxes, etc.?
Just go buy a new Corvette, Raptor, SS, Challenger, Mustang, etc. & be done with it.
Thanks for saving one from the hot rodders Phil. Can we see a pic of your Esprit?
Here it is, in all of its New England life glory. Its a little crusty in places, but the doors don’t sag, it doesn’t rattle going down the road and it runs like a top. I will eventually do the body over, and yes, it will be repainted in its original color.
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love me some deluxe white interior
Very nice white interior. Those horsecollar seats are every bit as comfortable as they look. Wow, no A/C either.
Nice! I’ve never seen gold with the white interior, but it looks great.
This remind me of an old Road & Track parody of their “After the New Wears Off” called “After the Paint Wears off”.
This car just screams “impending crime in progress”.
Right up there (or down) with the period concurrent Nova. See this pull into the alley behind you house late at night, you best be calling the cops.
Nah, these days that is reserved for clapped out Civics and various Toyotas. One of these is way too distinctive and “american” for the modern thug to be seen in.
It looks like the car a low ranking goon from an 80s crime film would drive to break your legs behind the pool hall because you were late with your protection money.I like it a lot,a use it and don’t care if I bruise it classic Firebird.I hope it’s not going to get a crate monster motor,loud paint and silly wheels.
Nah, the guy that drives this Firebird might try and sell you some weed, but the guy who’s going to break your legs drives this…
The Buick’s “face” looks even angrier and more pissed off than the 59 Dodge on here recently.I wanted a red 59 Electra coupe after seeing one driven by a US airman in the early 60s.
In the 80’s or early 90’s maybe, not for an 2nd story work, but armed robbery, for sure, If I saw one of these lurking outside a 7/11 or a liquor store at night, my senses would be heightened to say the least.
Make sure you steal some limes too, so we can cut them up on the carving board/center console for the margaritas!
LOL
Serious, serious respect for this car.
Admittedly, if I were to own it I’d want to paint it. I love an unrestored original but this is just a little too much patina for me personally if I were to own it and drive it.
I simply love the tail end of the early 2-gen Firebirds. So tasteful, so elegant.
I love it. This is just the kind of car I’d love to put in line with all those perfectly restored Trans-Am’s and Z/28’s. The only thing that’d make it better was if it had a straight six under the hood.
They made 1,286 Trans-Ams that year? Gee, and there’s only 1,743 of them still on the road. Every one with complete and original documentation.
Of the 12,001 base Firebirds, there are 5 left – with 12 Trans-Am conversion shops hunting them down.
My 6th grade teacher had one of this generation. A ’73, I think. Back when it was “new and blue.” It was a stick, though, in a similar trim level.
Wish I’d have paid it more attention then, but I was more into Chevies at the time.
I like the styling of these Firebirds, especially with the dual grille openings. This one does look pretty solid aside from surface rust, but has too much “patina” for my tastes. If I was on a budget, I’d at least try prepping it and blowing a coat of paint on it myself.
The vacuum gauge on the underside of the hood seems pretty useless to me. It should be mounted on the firewall, so you can see it while leaning over the engine to tune the timing and carburetor.
When I saw the clue last night, I knew it had to be a GM product, possibly the Camaro, though I was close, but alas, not close enough.
I Like this, though I’d have fixed it up some, give it a respray from something better than the Shieb of Earl special in its original color, maybe add a mirror on the right, or scrounge around for the sport mirrors, the pair, and some stock wheels and call it a day, as long as the interior was in halfway decent shape.
I knew someone in HS who had an original blue 70.5 Camaro that was completely stock, and I don’t recall if of the super fancy variants, as he had it for years, though I think he’s since sold it.
His older brother had a green one that was the following year, I think.
hell yeah! Forget what the Corvette guys say, THATS A SURVIVOR! Still doing battle on the roads with all the Camcords at 42 years old.
And yes that is a real Pontiac engine, it might be the original 350 if the grille badge is correct. The interior doesnt appear in all that bad of shape either, except for the non-OE seats.
Look at all those polished Mustangs and Camaros in the background. Mere garage ornaments.
The Firebird wins.
The seats are out of a ’78 Esprit or T/A with custom interior. It makes me think a non-SE ’78 Trans Am WS6 may have been cannibalized since this thing is wearing these seats, the 8-inch snowflakes, black Formula steering wheel. Yuck.
I’d like this better with steelies & shredded black seats and without the wood, primer, underhood chrome & K-mart door mirror. This is a real low-option car: the only extras I see are the console and power steering. It probably had the single manual chrome mirror on the driver’s door, two-spoke steering wheel and dog dish hubcaps originally. That’s what would go back on it if it were mine. Well…maybe not the miserable base steering wheel.
Some credit needs to be given to the owner since it’s at least driveable but I don’t think it’s particularly cool at a car show: the primer, chrome, wood, & underhood plastic take away the patina and add the POS factor.
Tom it’s interesting you call out Verdant Green — my favorite color! I think I mentioned this before but there was a ’73 Esprit on Craigslist for $1,500, Verdant Green with white vinyl top and white interior, 350, Rally IIs: completely original including paint. I was about an hour away & when I called, the owner said some folks were on their way over so I had better hurry. I told the owner I would probably pay more than his asking price if he would just give me some time to get there..
I FLEW to Raleigh and as I pulled in the driveway, these rednecks had just walked in the house. I ran by the car, knowing I’d probably pay $2K for it and by the time I got to the door, BUBBA was handing over the cash.
They all walked outside and I asked BUBBA what his plans were with the car and his response was “I’m gonna make an Eleanor Car out of it”… That nasty image of his cigarette flopping around as he spoke those nauseating words still haunts me to this day.
It was such a beautiful car, especially in that rare color combo. Here’s a bad picture of a ’73 Formula in Verdant Green only no vinyl top. The color is brighter in person. Lovely.
An Eleanor car?
I believe it is a reference to the movie “Gone In 60 Seconds”, but I’m pretty sure the “star” of that movie is a Mustang.
Eleanor was a ’67 Mustang with a 351 Ford V-8 crate engine, rated at 400 horsepower and it just recently sold at auction for $1Million
Very sad!! Cool colors like this are so hard to find on these cars (how many are lost to resale red repaints?), but the real disgrace is someone planning to trash an original car like that.
Exactly.. this happened not long after the Nicholas Cage version of “Gone in 60 Seconds” came out. I just knew that car would be “primer gray” within 24 hours. I figure in a week, the original radio, and air cleaner would be in the trash and the perfect instrument panel pad & white door panels would be chopped up for the new “sterio sistem”.
I got out of there ASAP…I didn’t want to hear the new owners neutral-dropping the poor thing out of the neighborhood.
I hope someone talked Bubba out of it,vandalism if ever I heard it!
John Wayne in McQ . . . .
My first thought exactly – I was a young teenager in the early seventies and just got my license. I wasn’t a big John Wayne fan at the time (am now) – but the dark green 73 Trans Am in that movie was beyond cool – no chicken decals, all emblems removed….
If you look closely at the top of the nose, there is indeed a miniature bird decal(similar in placement to the 70-72 but without the body stripe). That was a delete option for the big hood decal in 73 & 74.
I share the same feelings. McQ was the first John Wayne movie I watched all the way through. Like most things in my life, it took the promise of a cool car to broaden my horizons 🙂
I have you to thank for finding out about that color 🙂
I love this survivor/rat rod concept. Yeah its bit ugly,but I’d wager that its good runner.
Don’t get me wrong, a restored 69 SS 3396,or a 57 Belair, still gets my heart racing. But its cars like this old F body that keeps the hobby alive,and within the reach of folks that have other priorities,eating at their income.
If it was mine. And this is just a matter of taste. I would go with a coat of flat black. The interior is fine. Hey! look close, this car is clean. The interior has been vacuumed,the engine compartment is fairly clean, and neat.
So the owner is either real short of cash,or has taken great pains to get that look just right.
I like it!
Ditto! It took a lot of hard work to get it to this state; why ruin it now? 😉
Way cool, it’s what a HS kid would drive in 1979-85-ish. Not perfect and added parts from newer f bodies.
Now, kids get driven around by parents til they are 21, since they can’t take eyes off of smart phones.
Anyway, I do get tired of ‘casual’ car fans who only like ’69 Camaros, just becuse they are “popular”. At car shows, if they hardly know anything about other cars, then they are a ‘poseur’.
It’s at a CAR SHOW. The owner knows what he has. Betcha it won’t look like a “survivor” for long. We can only hope that its restoration will be in-kind, and not to an ersatz Trans Am.
I never rode a bicycle into the back of a car but I did take a DT250 there with a big old chrysler. Not a scratch for him and I could still ride mine.
Owned a 68 firebird and was not impressed. 8-10 mpg no matter how carefully I drove. Unless you have a full out race car that is ridiculous. They got better later but the best of all would have been an early one with a 326 or ohc six. All that 68 did was empty my pockets. I think my 69 -318 Cornet 440 was better all the way around. That said, I would take this in a heartbeat. No fool like an old fool.
Great looking car, but too much wear and tear for me. I always wondered why people let cars get this bad in the first place, especially something as nice as a pre-75 Firebird. I never got the extreme rat-rod look where the car has rust and different colors, that seems to be big in the VW custom scene too. But I am also sick of the extremely over-restored cars people build.
But I would agree with some of the comments that the owner is probably going to fix it up more, and I too think this would look awesome with flat or semi-gloss black paint, original wheels, even keep the same stance it has now.
I think that’s Axel Foley’s cousin’s car…
Every time I see this generation of ‘Bird, I think of the following:
McQ ( starring John Wayne )
CHiPs ( Ponch’s ride before his shady girlfriend stole and wrecked it )
Cannonball ( 1973 David Carradine film )
Corvette Summer ( villain destroys his in an impromptu game of Chicken with Mark Hamill )
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Jeff Bridges has one in the beginning, they get into a small chase with it.
Yup, just saw that movie on cable recently. Drove me nuts that it had a red shaker though.
Sorry patina lovers, I’d be leaving the owner a harbor freight coupon for a portable sandblaster to get all of that crap off. I cringe at visible rust with unit body cars.
Hopefully it doesn’t get wet too often, as proper rust has gotten hold and even the surface rust on the roof will penetrate and it will be new roof panel at that stage.
Leaving cars “as-is” is definitely a trend, here is the “Outback” GT and I have seen a couple of other cars in similar condition. Note that in good condition this car would sell for $100-150k minimum.
http://oldred1970.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/blog-post.html
My resto. Not overdone but think it looks mean
I don’t mind a bit of faded paint on an old classic but I can’t abide ANY rust whatsoever.
I will claim this car. My son found it on this website while searching for pictures. Yes the seats and wheels came from a 79 WS6 Trans Am. The engine is a rebuit 400 out of a 74 Formula. The hood from a 76 Formula. There is a box of poly bushings in the garage for the front and rear suspension, the 79 T/A sway bars and springs will go on it also. The wife says it will be painted soon (she is saving the money to paint it). The 455 in the corner of the garage may find its way into the engine bay in the next few years too.The car was raced in the Pro Edelbrock Fastest Street Car races in 2003 and 2004 winning its class in True Street. I have attached a picture of it from a cruise in this spring with the big and littles on it and a little air in the rear shocks. Going for the way it would have looked when I was in High School if I had it then.
I’m glad you found our site Harry! You have a great car.
My car is a survivor too, it sat under a great Oak for 20 years, its all original and is a daily driver
Cool article on the firebird. Here is my 79 Trans Am
Look a lot like the 71 455 RamAir Formula my nephew is working on. It currently has the old 350 from his great grandmothers 72 Ventura in it but the 455 is waiting in the shed for the day he can get it rebuilt and back where it belongs. This is a picture of it in route to his place the other day so he can clean it up as it has been sitting for many a year at my fathers ranch house.
It also was a cloth roofed green car.
This looks like my first car. I bought it new in 1972. It was assembled in 1971 and completed in 1972 thus the honeycomb grills. I traded it in in 1977. I see it has Iowa plates. I would love to talk to the owner to see if this is in fact the same car. A lot of old memories came flooding back seeing it. Wouldn’t mind getting it back if I could.
I had forgotten that Tom Klockeau was such a profilic writer for CC a decade or so ago.
I see that he’s still around, posting on classic cars on Jack Baruth’s website Riverside Green. Jack had quite the knack for storytelling when he wrote for TTAC, but I could only take so much of him with his big ego and consequent braggadocio.
Agreed. Jack has a knack for writing but the subject matter and approach became too off-putting for me to continue reading.
7.31.22
Another interesting survivor .
I wonder if Harry ever finished Hot Rodding it .
I too like it but would prefer all one color and no surface rust .
I’m pleased to see some here know and like the i6 powered ones .
That BOP 350 was no slouch either .
I enjoyed the memory flash backs about bicycles, I got my first one in about 1962, I remember it weighed a ton and used fat 29″ tires that were hard to find at that time .
I’m more or less in Los Angeles and so still see the Mexican scrap metal trucks with vintage bicycles from curbside finds along with the rusty 1950’s patio furniture .
It’s amazing what folks throw out .
-Nate
There is a Chevy lover a few blocks from me who has one of those low lifts in his driveway. There are now two Camaro rolling shells in black primer currently. A 1st Gen and a 2nd Gen and saw the 2nd Gen on the lift this morning. Two days ago the shell of a 1961 Impala or Biscayne was on the lift but out of sight today. There is a restored red 68 Impala under covers and off to the side. It is rare to see that one actually outside. I also know he has a restored black 59 Impala hidden away. Couldn’t attest as to whether the two restored cars are over done but they sure look nice as I drive by.
I’d drive that Firebird just the way it is, it does seem well taken care off despite what remains of the paint. I have a ’92 Firebird myself. Still shiny, black with gold rims. It looks very decent for a 30 year old car but I keep mine on the road with parts from all sorts of different cars. Interior comes out of another ’90 – ’92, steering column out of a black ’87 Trans am, engine out of a red ’94 t top . One does what it has to do to keep an old car on the road, it’s only a matter of time before mine looks similar if it survives a little longer. Time will tell.
That BOP 350 was no slouch either.
Until the late 70s, each division had its own, unique 350 V8 (except Cadillac, who used the Olds one in the Seville, and GMC).
RALPH : my point *exactly* .
The Buick Olsmobile Pontiac 350 was _not_ the same as Chevy’s, it was much sturdier .
-Nate
He means there is a Buick, an Oldsmobile and a Pontiac 350. All are completely different engines.