Hi all;

I found this picture by accident on the Internet today and it really got me thinking as to the possibilities of a swap to put hide-a-way lights on a first generation Firebird.

Most likely, from what I can find, if this is in fact a real photo and not photoshopped, the owner used or fabbed a light kit from a similar era GTO.

Does anyone know of this swap being possible or if it is just not --- are the front bumpers (and then Im assuming the grill inserts) similar in size between an A-body and an F-body?

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks!

Gordon

I remember a Frankenbird on Epay a couple of years ago that they had done this. (Along with a ton of other mods).

Honesly, I would have liked to seen a factory hideaway headlight setup with a painted enduro bumper. Retro fitted parts look hacked up when up close and rarely done right.

Looks good in that pic.

I am quite confident that thinking a GTO grille setup will fit inside a Bird bumper is only a dream. If it worked easily, someone would have done it and you'd see it as a relatively common mod...I agree it's fairly attractive, even it it makes it look even MORE like a Camaro...

But I'm quite certain doing something like this would need to be a full blown custom fabrication project. Not necessarily difficult in the right hands...and probably a fun challenge. Custom car and hotrod builders do this sort of thing all the time. And hacks who don't have experience in part fabrication will most likely make it look AWFUL.

I do believe the mechanical portion would be downright simple. I'd probably start by seeking out a good used hinge/door frame mechanism that could be easily converted to full electric (I personally wouldn't want the vacuum setups that most of these were originally). Might be from an RS Camaro, GTO/GP, maybe even a Ford product...many Mercs and Lincolns had this feature, as did some Chryslers. Kinda depends on which direction you want your door to move, and how big the mechanisms are to fit the hole. Then get your headlights either relocated a little deeper than they are now, or accept that your new grille is going to sit out further than stock, closer to the front of the bumper surface. Once the raw mechanical/electrical guts were all working in place, I'd be about 5% done with the project.

The remaining 95% of my time and money would be spent designing and fabricating an attractive and properly fitting grille and headlight covers.

And this more art than it is mechanical skill.

The old school way is to start fabbing designs up out of plaster, wood, clay, paper mache, whatever to get a general shape to make a mold from, and then either hand lay the pieces out of fiberglass or carbon fiber, or have plastic grilles custom injection molded from the molds. Finish, paint and chrome as needed. Or, if I were a truly gifted metal fabricator I could probably make the whole grille and cover out of steel and paint/chrome as needed.

The new school/faster (and more expensive) way is to find a company that does auto part CAD design and waterjet cutting. I could hire that company to design the look of my grill and headlamp cover (based on photo above) on the computer, get dead-accurate 3D measurements from my bumper openings, and have that company blast the cosmetic covers out of pieces of billet aluminum, chunks of plastic, stainless, whatever material you want...and again paint/chrome/polish to satisfaction. This is becoming more common these days as more companies offer the service:
http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tech/1112phr_12_cool_custom_tricks/viewall.html

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/calypso-waterjet-cutter/190167/

I believe the only way to do this CORRECTLY so it looks really good, is to understand right up front that it will require building your own custom grill and headlight covers from scratch, or having them custom made by someone else.

It took me two reviews but I really like it for the resto mods category. Where is John D. to chime in on his original designs.

Kevin-

This was on E-Bay a couple years ago. I can't recall the details, but perhaps these pics will help.

It doesn't appear the grilles and doors sit quite flush, but darn it, I think it looks pretty good.

Well that answers that. Good pics. Those are definitely GTO parts.

In my opinion it looks sloppy, particularly if you look more closely at the headlamp area and how it fits the shape of the bumper opening. But I agree the concept looks great from 100 feet away if you squint a little. Otherwise the finished product would not satisfy my taste for fit/finish, but again that's always subjective as others might like it very much. And I'm always a big fan of letting people feel free to do ANYTHING they want to ANY car...always owner's choice.

But those pics very directly answer the original poster's question about how GTO parts would fit in a bird bumper...nice find...

Car appears to be a '68 with a '67 front end on it. I think that may have been the Frankenbird I mentioned in my earlier post.

Could it be a full-fledged 67, but with 68 doors installed? Or would 68 doors not fit 67's properly?

No. '67 and '68 doors (and hinges) are different.

Looks like a '68 with a '67 valence and lower fenders. (and God knows what the interior vinyl is supposed to be)

(can you tell I'm a purist)??

Thanks. I knew about the obvious vent windows, but not about the hinges...

Thanks for the replies & information everyone.

I don't think that I will try to build a hide-a-way system like this ... not worth that much effort at this point when I have A LOT of work to do on all of the rest of the car.

Here is an interesting bird with headlight covers:

http://classiccarliquidators.com/classic...e/223678U133362

looks well done , but in my opinion , they look better with the real lights ,as designed

This is my car that I posted quite a few years back, Im glad to see it is still around.

Wow! Very nice work. Love the paint what is the color?