For those upstate NY guys on the forum here is a link to Colonie High School's auto club. They purchased this 69' in the fall and are working with a small but devoted group of students to restore it. It is an original 350 vinyl top, power windows, A/C car. They are currently seeking parts donations and any help they can get. We'll be having a car show on the 26th to fund raise and show off the progress so far. It would be great to have a good showing of Firebirds at the show to give the kids some inspiration for the daunting project ahead of them. If anyone is willing to help out please send me a pm or contact Dave Norkun at the high school.
I'll work on a "wish list" next week when I get back over to the car. I'm pretty sure we'll need driver quality bumpers, grills, etc. The hood is rusted beyond repair so that is something that will definitely need to be located. If people have emblems, trim rings, door handles, etc that came off their cars for newer stuff that would all be good stuff for this project. Their tech teacher, Dave, was also talking about converting it over to a stick so a bell housing, z-bar, and pedal setup will also have to be salvaged out of another car. I have a few parts of my own kicking around that I'll be bringing over once they get further along. Let me know if you guys have anything you want to get rid of.
Hope they didn't have to pay much. It looks like it needs one, two, or four of everything and then some.
A friend of mine has a former high school project car, it was featured in HPP the year it was built, it's a beauty now where it was a literal barn find with no floors and trashed drivetrain. It's not 100% purist, but in the right spirit and a regular trophy winner. And it runs well, too. His cost for the car, finished, was less than it would have cost to restore if he already owned the car.
Vikki 1969 Goldenrod Yellow / black 400 convertible numbers matching
$500 was the price of the car. Not a bad price considering it has a rebuildable 400 in it, pw, ac, and all the pieces (minus front bumper and grills). Mine was much nicer when I bought it 12 years ago but I've ended up replacing almost all the same things they'll have to replace. Plus for educational purposes the rougher the better!
too bad its so far from here, I know a guy in our group thats switching from a 350 hood to a 400...350 hood in good shape...shippng would kill that probably...
Yes, a $500 investment with free labor and discounted/free parts should make it a good experience for all. Problem is where to draw the line, because after all the body work, a nice paint job and interior are done used door handles might not look quite up to par.
Might just be the camera lens but that driver's side subframe horn looks tweaked.
I had a '67 convertible needing a lot more than that car, offered it up to the high school and they said no thanks, too much work. [censored] affluent suburban kids...
Vikki 1969 Goldenrod Yellow / black 400 convertible numbers matching
I think the front bumper is missing due to a front hit. Vikki you are correct the driver's side front frame is a little tweaked but overall the subframe is in great shape. A little heat and a bfh should fix that frame.
While it's off the car take the subframe over to the frame straightener...chains, anchors and hydraulics do better than a BFH. Otherwise the car will sit funny and the sheet metal alignment will be harder than the usual '69 effort. Measure the diagonals and heights (on jackstands) per the frame charts...
This is '67-'68 but on jackstands the ride height doesn't matter, just the mirror images.
Keep us clued in on what ya need. I'll see what I have available. It looks like a great project for kids to understand what it takes to restore a car. Let'em know us FGFers will help as much as possible.
At the high school in Stephenville Tx, they had a 65 Mustang in their shop class.
