Photos from the Cohort by Slant Six.
Here’s a faded memory of my childhood turned into real metal. A late ’60s pony car, via Pontiac, set up more or less with the “hot stance” popular in the ’60s-’70s. The kind of Street Machine I would have loved to have stamped on a shirt back then, in colorful illustration, with a Hot Wheels (a Firebird one, of course!) in my hands. So here’s a big cool toy, for the kid in all of us.
This particular one was found by CC contributor Slant Six –I would presume in Pennsylvania, as most of his finds tend to be. No plates on this one though… a recent restoration ready to terrorize pound the streets again?
Paul and a few others have had their take on the Firebirds of this era (links below), so I’ll abstain from adding much. I was, at the time these were around, more of a Camaro fanboy (or tried to be, as I explained some time ago).
Not that I minded Firebirds, as the model offered enough of its own spin on the F-body.
Here’s the very mod-60s interior, with some added instruments. But all in keeping with the period look; menacing, yet not too overdone.
That tranny looks to be original, but as most can safely assume, the car has been tweaked beyond the looks.
Large engines are never bashful. And large engine swaps much less… And the 428 seems to be a popular swap for this generation if I go by Paul’s previous post. No ’67-’70 Firebird left the factory with a 428cid, as the 400 was the largest available at the time. So a Catalina or Bonneville mill? As it seems to be the custom for customizing these?
The discs upfront seem to benefit from some enhancements… If so, the kind of updates to make the car more liveable today.
If for some reason all this Firebird and Street Machine talk is way too petrolhead for you, the same house has some nice vintage bikes on the lawn. Those from the age when bike riding was a leisurely thing, not a sport. As I remember it to be from my childhood. However, the bikes seem to be in need of restoration too.
As sports-oriented as bike riding has gotten, I don’t mind the idea of the leisurely type I used to do around residential streets when I was a kid. And I also enjoy these old hot cars from the ’60s, as impractical as they may be for daily life. So every once in a while is nice to see such childhood toys appear again, and better yet, all bunched up in the same driveway.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1967 Pontiac Firebird Convertible – Dig That Aqua Paint!
Curbside Classic Capsule: 1967 Firebird “428” Convertible – Truth In Badge Engineering
This is my favorite look on old muscle cars, and such a refreshing sight compared to the (over)restored cars on dog dishes and reproduction redlines and the modern pro touring look with zero ground clearance and rubber band tires that ride terrible, and not to mention the donk look with excessive ground clearance and rubber band tires that ride terrible. This is juuust right. Add some much needed radial tread to what originally had skinny bias plies to handle the cars weight and that big 428s torque, throw in some air shocks so they don’t rub the fenders and drive it like you stole it. Works for me. I basically reconfigured my Cougar for this 70s street machine look had it remained fashionable in the 90s
I also love this generation Firebird. It looks like a Camaro if the designers actually styled the front end
My tribute to this style
Very nice! Glad to see your car again, and looking so good. Just right.
I usually prefer the TBird roofline but the white with black trim, wheels and stance look good with the Cougar. Nice. I like the Cougar better than I would have liked the Firebird 40 years ago.