Do you have a story about how you got into Firebirds? Was your family Pontiac fans? Was it a neighbor who had one? Was it seeing it at the dealership? What was it?

I came mostly from a Buick family with a few Pontiacs sprinkled in. My mom had a 73 Pontiac Catalina and it was the first car I drove. She had a boyfriend who owned a 69 Camaro. My friend had a 10th Anniversary Trans Am that I rode with quite a bit. Between the Catalina and Trans Am, I loved how the engines sounded and the power behind it. I almost bought a late 70's Trans Am for my first car. I decided not to because there was too much work needed on it. I instead bought a '77 Chevy Monza Spyder (305, Turbo 250)(cheap Chevy version of a Trans Am) from my cousin for cheap. That was a fun car to drive and it started great in the winter after sitting 3 days unplugged in below 0 temps. Anyways, I had other cars including a couple of Grand Ams. I wanted a 68-69 GTO for awhile. It's rare to see FGF around here but I'll see a few GTO's. I must have forgot about the FGF for awhile. The last few months I saw one again and now I'm in love with the '68. I know for sure now this is the muscle car I want.

Sheri, great question!

My family was strictly a Ford / Mercury group. My very first car was a 1970 LTD with a 390 in it. My father had bought it new, sold it to my older brother (who beat the crap out of it) and then sold it to me. I was 14 at the time, and did not yet have my drivers license. So I set to work re-building / restoring it. I had never done anything like it. I did get a lot of help from my father, but I did most of the work overall.

My fgf world started back in 1980 when my best friend bought a '68 RS Camaro. (he still has it today). I still had my LTD, but was tired of people asking me "did your dad let you borrow his car?". So I knew I needed something more "me". After looking at a number of '68 Camaros, I saw my first '68 Firebird, and was hooked. I looked at about a dozen of them, before purchasing a Vedoro Green / Springmist Green 350 coupe with AT for $400. I knew right away the greens had to go, so I changed to a black interior and a black / charcoal two-tone scheme. (I liked the Hurst/Olds cars at the time). I need to dig out my old photos and post some here for all to laugh at. I replaced so many things on this car I can't believe it. I think I knew what every junk yard's inventory was within 200 miles of my house. (I sent my original 'bird trim from this car to ho428 for his race car)
A couple of years later I bought my first '68 convertible. It also was a 350, but was a 3-speed. This was a real rust-bucket from Florida. But hey, the top went down and it was fun to drive. I called it the blue bomber. (blue/blue)
This is right about the time I got engaged, graduated from college, and started to work full time.
So long story short, I sold both cars, and regretted it for many years. I stumbled across a '67 convert about 4 years ago and just about had a heart attack seeing the asking price of 12k. It took me two more years to decide it was something I still really wanted and could finally afford. I looked for about another year for a nice '68 400 convert, and finally found my red one in the DC area. It was red/black, auto, and only had 79k original miles. The PO had it 26 years and put 11k miles on it in that time.
About a year ago I bought my '67 convert on impulse, and have been restoring - parts hunting ever since. It was mostly disassembled, but most everyting was there.
As I have said before, I will likely never sell either car, but turn them over to my daughters some day. (like when they are 30 or 40)
I have pics of both cars on my photobucket if anyone is interested. Both cars have original interiors. Not too bad for 40 years old.

Told it before but still enjoy telling it, I must be getting old.

When my Uncle came back from Nam he bought a green 68 Firebird, I think it was a Sprint since it had a 6 cyl and hood tach but I was pretty young and he's not sure anymore.
Anyway, I just loved the looks of that split grill and dual head lights. A few years later when I was in middle school a guy on the bus route had a dark blue 68 400 I'd see every day in his driveway. He'd added spoilers, some Trans-Am graphics, really sharp car for the time period. From then on I knew what my car would be.
In HS while cruising for a car with my buddy in his car we pulled into a used car lot I'd seen a green bird in. Got out and it was an Auto with Green interior. Yuk, for a 16 year old. When he went to pull out I told him instead to turn around in the lot next door. When he spun around the head lights hit a White 68 kinda hidden in the corner of the same car lot. I jumped out and ran to it. V-8, manual floor shift, black interior, $1200.
I was there test driving it the next day, bought it the following day once I'd arranged financing.
Still have it to this day, 32 years later. Undergoing a full restoration with a few upgrades.

I liked the '68 Camaro but I know I fell in love too with the split grill, dual headlights, and fender louvers. That and I love the sound and performance of the 400 engine.

My eldest brother bought a '68 LeMans, new. He was/is an auto mechanic so, it wasn't long before it had some "performance enhancements". I remenber him dropping into 1st to pass someone. My skinny 8 year old butt was planted into the back seat when he gave it the gas.

I'd been 16 for a few months and one week end, Pop says, he needs me to help him go move a car at the shop. We drive over and go to the back and he says he needs me to pull it in and throws me the keys. I look at the key tag, like we use on every job, and it says 'Greg's Firebird'. Well I'll have you know I just about messed myself.
It had been repo'ed and needed work. Pop's idea was he didn't want to be bothered late at night due to a breakdown, so before I got posession of it, we completely refurbished the motor, transmission, steering & suspension as well as the brakes. At that time the body and paint was completed and I must admit, it turned out very well. <we had it done>
That was my first experience with the Firebird in 1975.
I'll be driving it tommorrow as I have for the past 33 years.

I got my first bird in '79. My co-worker had a 67 Coronado gold 326 convertible for sale, rusty as hell coming from Ontario (this was in Calgary), you could put your arm thru the rear quarters, but it ran well and he only wanted $350 for it so I bought it on a whim as it WAS a ragtop.

Drove it for a year as is enjoying the wind and then decided to do a quick spruce up on it in '81. Unfortunately I knew little about them and I purchased a 68 coupe with the 400 package in it, mating the whole front to the 67, engine and all, and painting it 73 vette red, and dyed the interior black.

Drove it for a year then decided to move to the coast and had to sell it to buy a pickup to move my "stuff". Always regretted that hence finding my new one and doing a REAL resoration on it.

This is the result of the older resto LOL...

My story is quite different I'm afraid!

My dad was (not so much anymore somehow) a real car-guy. When I was young, he spent his weekend restoring a Lotus Elan from the sixties he bought in England. I remember it came in boxes of just old parts and a carbonfibre body. Similar to this one:



When it was finished, it must have taken 4-5 years, I remember driving with him, THere was no wind-shield in yet, no paint, but man, did it go. Around corners like on rails (it weighed 600 kg or so). The convertible feeling was fan-tastic.

later he bought an Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV Bertone from the seventies.



He still has that one today. With me brother restoring mini's, me buying an old BMW at the age of 16 (we don't get drivers licence untill 18), we pretty much had some old rust in the driveway at some point. A few years ago i felt like buying an old American car. Didn't have a lot of money, but saved up some. Always liked the look and sound. Browsing the internet I looked at some 68-69 Chargers for fun: way too expensive. Didn't even really think of buying one. Here in Europe it was all way too expensive. Also looked at an old German Mercedes benx 500 SL to import, but thought they were too small. Then, all of a sudden, I came across a 67 Firebird Convertible. WOW. That was the best one. I rembered seeing a Camaro once, but liked the front end of the Bird way better. I looked at a few on Epay, and started bidding on one the amount I could afford. The auction ended without meeting the reserve. Then the seller e-mailed me if I wanted to buy it or not, and made me an offer. I thought he was kidding, the price was pretty good. I had never seen the car in real life, so knew I was taking one HELL of a risk. After checking all Firebirds on the web here and in the States, I figured: what the ehck, take a walk on the wild side... If I get screwed over, I loose some money and learn a valuable lesson.. If I winm, and the car is good, I have a great investment. You live only once, so I just did it. Arrenged the shipping all from here, and 4 weeks later I could go and pick it up in the harbour. That was one exciting day. Would even be the car from the pictures?? When the garage-door opened, I spotted the Bird between all other classic cars just imported, waiting for pick up... The first time I saw a 67 Firebird in real life, and I had already bought it! Everybody said i was crazy. I said: you live only once...

Turnt out to be a numbers matching Californian car, 2 previous owners, 0 rust. i drove it the same day.


I don't think I will ever sell it.

My cousin Jock Buckley bought a new 1970 GTO in Mass and drove it down the coast to visit us in Maryland. With my Dad in the passenger seat and me (10 years old) in the back, he took us for a little demo spin in that maxxed-out car.

It was the first time I'd seen such power and speed, and it never left me from that day on. The car was just outrageous, and right off the assembly line.

I remind him about this nowadays, and he is very jealous of my power-punch '68 bird.

I remember seeing my first 69 in 1969 when I was in the 6th grade. I also remember a cousin who purchased a brand new 67 convertible and drove a few of us around a couple times.

Then, when I went to college, a classmate had a 1970 Formula 400. I decided I had to have a Pontiac but wanted something different from him so I stumbled across a 69 and that was my first car.

Since then I've had 7 different 69's!

John

I had had a few cars in Sweden...a 63 Mini cooper , a 65 Fiat 1500 convertible, was over here 6 mo in 68 , drove a Volvo P1800, plus a few used cars from my dads dealerships used car lot...a Caddy ,a Catalina, an Excalibur...
back to Sweden , bought a 56 Morris Minor 1000, later had a 55 MB 180, An Austin A30, and a 58 VW bug....

now to the States again in June 69...went to my dads dealership, I saw IT! and fell in love....a blue 68 Firebird 350 coupe, AC, automatic, bought it...had it about a year, but had to sell it due to my stupididty, didnt check out the health insurance over here, and had to have surgery, = sell the car...
took me 30 yearsto get another Firebird...
As I had always wanted a Studebaker Hawk, when I got some 'extra money' I bought one...restored it ,drove it 2 yrs, wife was afraid of it ,nobody rode with me, since it had no seat belts...so I bought a smaller "sports car" for myself , a fiberglass replica of 62 Austin Healey (a Sebring) w a Ford 302, fast ,neat little car, but still, ...a replica...after 2 yrs I tired of it ,and remember my 68 Bird, went looking...looked for a 68 (since that was what I had had), wanted a convertible (since the last car really got me back to verts)and a 400 , (since the last car was peppy, actually morre peppy than my 400, lol...with 1900 Lbs and 275 hp..)...and while looking I really fell in love with Verdoro green!..looked, ,looked everywhere, actually became part of this site at the tail end of my looking...
had two 'perfect' cars sold from under me....got tired of loking for the 'perfect' car , so i found this one and "settled" for a red 69....thats the end of that story...have now had it 8 plus years ,did a 'running resto' on it...it had a rebuilt engine w 9,000 miles on it...it now has those 9 plus 23k more I`ve put on it...

I owned a 69 bird briefly in high school that I couln't keep for insurance reasons. So I took out the Chevy 396 that was in it and stuck it in my 66 Impala. The Impala was probably more dangerous than the bird would have been.

Sheri,

Got my first car, a '68 Firebird in May, 1969. It IS the car I enjoy today.

See pictures in my signature below. The first is of my girlfriend, now wife of 38 years getting out of the car. The second is me getting ready to fish on vacation in Colorado. The third is of my kids. I guess I need to replace the forth with a shot of my two grandsons in the car.

When I was 8 I believe I wanted to go to the local drive-in and see "Herbie the love bug". Dad said no to that movie but took me up to see a movie called "Smokey and the Bandit" I was not thrilled to say the least untill the movie got going and saw the Trans Am do the burnout. I was hooked !

Jody

I got my first car in high school is was a pontiac T 37 with a straight six. I sold that car 2 years later and bought a 1970 trans am ram air III 4 sp for $2,500.00.

The trans am had a 3:31 rear end and I could burry the speedo If you know old TA's the speedo went to 160 mph. Why I am a live today only God knows!!!

I've always liked Pontiacs especially after stealing a '79 Trans Am at age 15.
Plus a few weeks ago my mom gave me a picture of me in Sept. '74 at age 5 at a car show in Pontiac in front of a 1909 Oakland.
They've been in my blood since I was a youth !!

my first experience was when I was hiching a ride in 1981 and a 69 350 ho 4spd stopped to pick me up. it was stock with standard interior. man, that thing ran nice and had such a sweet sound. we talked about it and he said that he didn't like it because it was too powerful. i offered a trade for a 63 econoline step side truck. he came out to look said yes. i was in heaven. the funny thing was that he came back the next day with a 65 mustand fastback factory 298 hipro 4spd and offer to trade it for the bird because his brother wanted it. I said no thanks i did not like fords. slight regrets; yes, but that bird was a nice fast car.

First experience with a Pont.
Had a cousin that lived in Alabama when I was about 14. He had a sweet 67GTO w/389 4speed(at least I remember it being sweet). I stayed with him for part of the summer. Coolest car I'd ever ridden in. Burgandy w/blk vynal top.
A couple of years out of HS I needed to buy a car of my own and return my dad's toyota pickup that I'd been driving for a couple of years. I was looking at Merc Crapis. Had the idea to drop it. Add ground effects. Tint out the windows. Put some on fattys. Thank god I found a bird first.
Found an orange 68 Bird for $1300 before I found the merc but the engine was in dire shape and I didn't have the cash to do anything about that. Two days later I saw an ad in the classifieds for a 69 Bird. Ended up buying it for $1350. That was in 79. So far we've been through an engine fire total, a front end collision total, four different color changes, four differnt motors, two kids, alot of good times and lots of other cars in 30 years. The wife still swears it hates her because she's the other woman. Don't think I'll sell her anytime soon(the Bird).

My first Matchbox car was a 68 firebird convertible... green. Loved that toy.

AT 46 yrs old... my son said dad, lets restore a muscle car... firth thing came to mind was that toy car. After two years talking about it we bought a 68 convert 9 months ago. It was a basket case. 10 garbage cans of parts, no engine or tranny and of course no instruction manual. My son and I have never worked on a car before, so this project is as green as you get (no pun intended). On fathersday this year we saw our first 68 vert in live at a show. Made our whole week! We've been putting in 25-30 hours a week on this project. In a few months we'll actually get to drive it for the first time... so, this will be our first experience! Lots to look forward to!

Sheri... our family is from Dickenson and Killdeer.... schmaltz, Schmidts and hartmans!

When i was 17 i went looking for my first car with my dad,we looked at a yellow 72 nova then a blue 72 ford ranchero.my dad had enough and wanted to go home but i said know where a car is sitting with a for sale sign in the window,i wasn't sure what it was though.we went to check it out and it was a 69 firebird coupe 350 auto for $1000 red with parchment interior .i bought it on the spot,i cherished that car for 6 yrs then sold it when i got married.i missed that car so 2 yrs ago i bought my current 69 ,i just couldn't get it out of my mind!

67'coupe with a blue metal flake paint. t/a radieal on keystone classics. it was a friend of my dad's car. i was 13, it was sitting in the grass next to the driveway. he and my dad talked about something,i wasn't listening, i was looking. it was on a little slope and the wheels were turned toward me and the sun was bouncing off the chrome and the huge metal flake paint. he then walked over to the car and cranked it up and reveved it. it was bad a$#. then he put in gear and punched it. he dugg two gouges through his yard for a hundred feet and spun it around. it truely scared me. he and my dad talked some more, and the next thing i knew my dad was throwing me the keys and asked me if i thuoght i could drive it home. i still remember it like it was yesterday.

My father drove an expresso brown 1969 Firebird 400 home from the dealership in 1969 when I was 5. He had second thoughts when he drove it home thinking it was not the right car for our young family. He went back to the dealer and made a deal on a triple black 1969 Grand Prix SJ. It made sense to him.

I remember thinking that Firebird was not as cool of a name as Thunderbird. I loved the car though and I've been kind of fixated on them ever since. Know what I mean?

My future uncle had a 69 Trans Am he had bought new. My first memory as a child was him showing up in it to pick up my aunt for a date. I wasn't even tall enough to read the trans am emblem one the spoiler. I have no memories of the house we lived in (we moved when I was around 4years old) or anything, I just remember standing behind that car. When my grandparents moved down to Florida he followed, so the next time I saw it was age 7. While we were on vacations there, I would hang out with him while he worked on the car. It was his daily driver for years. Unfortunately my aunt lost control one day and put it in a swamp. So it was a rust bucket after that, but I still loved it and hoped to own it one day. He sold it to a collector from PA long before I reached driving age. Hopefully it was restored to original condition.

I had a 1975 GMC Fleetside that had a 454, it smoked like crazy and I blew the engine on the way to college. My brother (whose had the same 66 Goat since he was 17) helped me rebuild the engine.

After we got done with the rebuild we decided that the engine was too nice for my beat-up old truck. While looking for something to put in into I found a 69 Bird. The tranny slipped but it was complete and straight and I bought it for $700.00.

After buying the Bird we decided that we didn't want to put a Chevy engine in a Pontiac, sold the 454, put a straight 6 in the truck and found a 455/TH400 combo for the Bird (from a station wagon).

I had that car for a couple of years until I was hit & run on a Christmas morning while traveling home.

My brother still has the Goat (and about 20 other cars) and I'm on Bird (69) number 5.

I'm not getting rid of this one.

My first Pontiac (before even my first Bird) was a 1970 LeMans Sport 350. I got arrested for getting clocked at 129 MPH. I was hooked on Pontiacs because of that LeMans (and also because of a brother who was a hardcore Pontiac dude).

First car...72 Olds Cutlass 350

First real car..

67 Firebird 400 in parking lot of vocational school.

Asking price? $1200

Wrote his number on the back of my drivers license (still have it)

Rest is history.

My Dad built & raced stock cars in No. Minn. He also worked for a Harley Davidson shop. So my interest in motor vehicles started early... pretty much from day one. I was working on bikes from the age of 3 (went into the Garage, got some tools and took my training wheels off) and Bought my first Harley at 8 years old (Still have it) All my family had some interest in cars, But when my brother was given my Grandfathers 57 Chevy, it all clicked. My older brother had a series of AMC Javelins. The 57 finally gave out and that brother then bough a 69 GTO in Mint shape. That sealed the deal, I was officially obsessed with cars.

I knew exactly what I wanted when it came time to buy my first car. While I had built a few cars and sold them (under age) I bought my first car the week-end I turned 16. I had been saving for some time and found a 67 Sprint-6 3-speed in Marin, just across the Golden Gate. Bought it for $850 and loved every minute I had with it. Then with in a year had bought a 68 400 bird with a 421 in it, then a 68 GTO 400 4-speed then a 73 Ventura... all before I was 18. kept the 67 & 68 birds for a few years but had to sell them for College funds.

While at a Christmas Party in the Bay Area, talking with one of my best friends from HS about looking for a bird again (he still had his 73 SD455 Grand Prix) Keith told me to find a bird to replace the ones long gone, as life is too short, and I should get one and enjoy it while I can. He was killed two weeks later in a Motorcycle accident. So I stepped up my year long search and ironically found one in the SF Bay Area. So 7 years ago I finally got a bird again, dedicated to Keith's memory and all the good times we had tearing up the Bay Area in our Pontiacs.

I still hope to some day find a GTO I can afford... that 69 of my Brothers has always stuck with me... Then after Riding in Quenton's 70 GTO... well, I'm sure most of you want em all too!

Brett - 67 Drop Top 455!

I'll never get my GTO back. They cost a mint now.

They've come WAAAAAY down. Great time to buy a GTO.

My Firebird/Pontiac experience started with an ad for a '69 GTO 400 WS engine that had dropped a valve. Asked my dad about it, he said to stay away from it because it was the American Pontiac engine and they weren't very common up here. I ignored his advice, went by and picked it up for $80, sleeved the cracked cylinder wall and did a cheap rebuild, tried to sell the engine, no takers at $750. Went looking for a car to put it in, bought a 1965 Pontiac Parisienne 2dr hardtop, put in a 327 to replace the tired 283 instead, decided to try that phone number again for a 1969 Firebird convertible that I called four months before (no answer then), yes, he still had the car, went out to the pig farm where it was residing beside the barn, top was ripped, seats also, shifter wasn't hooked up and the 2 bbl 350 had lots of lifter noise but it ran. Offered him $250 for it and drove it home that night. Well, at least partway home before the stuck thermostat became evident. Went back the next morning, removed the thermostat and drove it to my high school with the top down - it was February - where I managed to do a bit of a smoke show even with the two speed auto and a 2.56 gear.

The 400 went in, along with a switch-pitch TH400 and by the end of the next summer, front and rear sway bars and a few suspension tweaks helped me to a second place in the Alberta Autoslalom Championship for 1979. A 1970 GTO also joined the Firebird temporarily but ended up donating its engine and front disc brakes to the autoslalom effort and eventually got sold - should have kept that one.

I put a fair number of miles on my Firebird over the next ten years, usually building a new engine combo over the winter for testing and playing the next summer. My best time for swapping the heads to test my latest set of ported #48s, hot in to hot out, was 1 1/2 hours so I could get the best back to back results - no dyno testing for me way back then! Many a top end sprint (didn't quite get to the 160 mph mark, but 3 mph shy with #16 heads and a P cam wasn't bad) and many highway miles at 20+ mpg (2.56 gears still), plus a lot of corner carving and embarrassing other more "popular" musclecars in a straight line. The Pontiac driving experience!

The last of the 400s that I built for it went into my '77 Trans Am 4 spd car that ended up on the race track for a couple years. I still have the numbers matching 2 bbl 350 in my shed, right beside the original transmission.

Next drivetrain for the Firebird is a twin turbo OHC 250 six with EFI, built 200-4R and 4.11 gears with a Powertrax centre section. The body will get the rust repaired and subframe connectors along with some more suspension tweaks.

when I was 18 I bought a 71 Grand Prix 400 400 turbo it was a lot of fun but i was partying way too much back then and on a drunking night I crashed a tree that saved us from going in a deep gully. soory to have destroyed a nice pice of metal but i learned from that so something good came from it
Tim

My good friend Pat is responsible for my switch to Pontiac. Back in those High School days, several acquaintances including Pat had Pontiacs. Myself and the pack I ran with were all bow tie guys, with a token Ford owner. I lost touch with those folks I knew back then. In my mid twenties I met up with Pat. He still had his '68 GTO and '67 400 'bird. One day he threw me the keys to his 4spd drop top goat. Need I say more?

My first Pontiac was a '68 Nightshade Green GTO convertible. And the transition began from Chevys to Pontiacs. I've owned nothing but Pontiacs since then. However, I have one exception to that with owning Chevy trucks. A '62 1/2 ton step side, '72 3/4 ton, '73 K5 Blazer 2WD, '88 K1500 short bed and my now S10 2WD Blazer Extreme. Guess I'm still a bow tie guy, but I'm a confirmed arrow head.

My first expirience with Pontiacs was the family's '66 LeMans convertable. Dad almost bought a '68 GTO, but it used premium fuel, an expense my dad didn't want. Drove it through high school. I was really rough on her, wrecked it twice before selling it.
In 1983 I was looking to replace my 64 1/2 Mustang & get something fast. I condsidered several cars before coming across a 1968 400 Firebird built to the hilt. 455 with '72 455HO heads, pop up pistons, a comp cams 305 Magnum cam with .525 lift, 4 speed & a Chevy 12 bolt posi with 4.11 gears. He showed me time slips at KCIR in the 11.8 range. It was insane & I bought it! It has spent time on & off the road thoughout the years, it is now in the stage of complete teardown for restoration. PHS docs show it as being a 400 HO 4 speed car from factory, so that's the direction I'm going with it.

Steve

These are from around 1981. I traced the bird off a '81 T/A on the show floor and air brushed it on the hood. Then I did some pin-striping.

I had lots of ambition back then!

Nice job! (for the early 80's)

I like the rear window louvers.... where is the rear spoiler??

Couldn't afford the rear spoiler back then. I looked forever to find those rear window louvers. They were anodized aluminum too!

I loved that car, but couldn't see myself driving that today.

Thanks for posting the pics. I forgot to ask you about those but I'm glad you posted them. Really nice job on the car! It's nice to see what the window louvers look like on FGF too. Yeah that car looks 80's dated compared to today but I can see why you loved it.

My first experience was riding in my Dad's 64 Catalina and later his 69 LeMans. I asked him why he didn't get a GTO when he brought the LeMans home. When 17, I went on a friend's test drive of a 70 GTO that was for sale. He floored it on the highway and passed several cars. I had never experienced anything like that before. When I was 19 in 1979 and driving home from college, I saw a 69 Judge for sale. I talked my Dad into paying $3,000 for it!! That was a lot of money for a "gas guzzler" in the late 70's. I still have it and hope to take it to the POCI convention this summer. See picture below.

This is what my dad was driving in 1978, whe I was in the 8th grade. That's me in the green.

I'll take the pace-car.

When can you ship it?