I need to ask a strange question.

I am going to go meet a guy tomorrow to claims to have a '69 Firebird.... only it's not a Firebird.

I heard that he bought this car out in California, and that the Van Nuys plant was running low on Firbird body parts, so they replaced the Firebird sheet metal with Camaro sheet metal. They then offered for you to bring back your car to the dealer when the sheet metal for the Firebird became available and they would swap you back. But this guy left the car looking like a Camaro.

So, from what I've been told, the interior and powerplant are all '69 Firebird, but the exterior looks like a '69 Camaro.

Anyone ever heard of this happening?

Thomas

Sounds a lil fishy to me, Thomas...Ive never heard of such. Of course, I could be wrong (it happened once before).

Poor guy bought a bird cause he couldn't afford a camaro and decided to make one.Now he doesn't want her anymore. Never heard of that but wouldn't surprise me. I can't see GM putting camaro parts on, painting the car and then cutting/removing them out and repainting the car.Who knows though....

David

No way that happened, it's a corporate fiscal impossibility.

I have seen a Canadian 'bird that has Camaro quarters from the factory. Apparently, there was a steel shortage or strike, and they put on Camaro quarters. Seems like the Canadians always get the hybrid versions of cars.

Thomas,

It sounds more like someone put two cars together. A Firebird would have never left the factory with a Camaro front end.

Most likely, the front end was wrecked and a Camaro front end was handy, so the car was built.

Just my opinion.

Tom

Sounds like that Firebird was wrecked in Mexico! lol they do those repairs...whole front clips onto whatever...
I have seen two of these CamoBirds before on EBay ,but both cases the seller talked about trying to make a Camaro (better selling prices!lol)...
its very fishy,because it would be easier to install a Poncho engine and interior to a Camaro than put Camaro sheet metal on a Bird....

and as Charlie I could be wrong ( I was wrong once before too, that was the time I thought I was wrong!)

will be very intersting to see his build sheet!

Happy first of April by the way...maybe he`ll show up in a Chevy SS and say happy April first! ?

I don't know if it's true, but it wouldn not be a coporate impossiblity. The factory will do whatever it takes to get the car out of the plant, and if you saw some of the conditions of the cars before new-car make-ready, you'd understand this "gotta' get it off the line--RIGHT NOW!"

(The one of the many issues I have seen with pre new-car make-ready was an issue that I just could not understand the menatlity: Whether it was an issue of the windsheild urethane machiene or whatever the reason, someone at the factory used the headlinder as a rag to wipe urethane off their fingers. My best guess is that they intentionally dug into a glob of wet urethane to remove it; then, they wiped it on the headliner.)

At the factory, the car has to go because it's huge machiene, wherby one glitch creates a domino affect, and such ripples can cost millions of dollars. The car had worn out its allotted time, the worker didn't have a rag to wipe his/her hands, so the supverisor says, "Wipe it on the headliner and move on."

If they had a Firebird chassis and didn't have Firbird front end metal, they would hang Camaro metal on the car if they had Camaro metal. What are they supposed to do with this chassis without a front end? They have storage issues too!

This is interesting and it might shed light on what I thought was hogwash from long ago. I have had a strong interest in f/g/f cars since they rolled off the line. In the very-early-to-mid 70's, I remember seeing 9's wearing Camaro front ends. Some were wearing the RS and/or SS hide away headlights. These guys swore that these were specail cars.

You see, Firebirds haven't always been cool, so these guys were saying that they were specail Camaros because they were bow-tied all over. I don't remember if they deleted the side birds, but the @$$ pan didn't say PONTIAC on them. I never got to see inside of the car or look under the hood. Heck, I was a preteen/young teen, and they didn't want little kids near their cars. Can't blame them; I don't want little kids around my vehicles either.

As I grew older and started driving and started building signifigant wrenching skills, I figured that these Fiebirds were wearing sister front clips--heck! they bolt on with about a half dozen bolts--because Firebird clips were already scarace in the mid 70's.

Maybe there is something behind the story because I remember seeing quite a few "specail" 9 Camaros.

......so, what did ya find out Thomas??

Update.

Well I went over to the guys house Friday afternoon.

It turns out that it is NOT a '69, but a '68.

From what the guy told me, the front clip, front fenders, interior, and mechanical are Firebird, but the Unibody (rear quarters, roof, etc) are Camaro. He said he did research and found out that when Pontiac notified Fisher Body that they were running low at their Van Nuys plant, that Fisher told them to use the Camaro body, and keep the line moving till supply could come in.

I am not a '68 expert, but the first major difference I noticed standing there is that the rear quarters do not have the signature emblems right behind the door. It is flat like the Camaro. He forgot the key, so I couldn't get into the trunk to look at the rear quarter lights to see if they had been moved. I'm not sure what other differences there might be, or how I might be able to tell more info. If you know what I can do, let me know.

Finally, I wanted to bring to light the authenticity of this gentleman. He owns 7 Pontiacs. 66 GTO Convertible power top (cherry), 65 Tempest 4 Door Hardtop, 77 TA 1700 miles (nice), 72 Lemans 400 4 speed, 71 GTO, 68 Firebird, forgot the last one). This man is very nit pickey on his Pontiac details.

Well that is all I have to report. I can go and try to take a few pics of ya'll want me to. Hope this helped.

Trauschu, I don't think I would bite on the car. He is a Pontiac man, If the car was legit he would know the car would have to be worth some cash. Why sell it? The car would be more rare then a 69 T/A

Well, you said the roof and rear quarters were Camaro, so they shouldnt have had anything Firebird on em. What you should look at is the title and/or VIN number and see what its listed as. But it DID have a Firebird hood and frontend? Could be the ultra-rare Firemaro that Bjorn was tellin me about. (And I thought he was shootin me a line of BS).

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Why sell it? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">.........because he has 6 more Pontiacs sitting in his driveway, been there, done that, time to sell......momma says so!
Kelly

If it's a true car,I would not sell it until I had it authenticated,put it in a few Magazines
and get a great price for it.