Today he gets his 2000 Firebird, T-top v6, Pewter w/auto trans. Car is a FL car and has 60k orig miles. Picked it up for $2500. Wife and I are heading out now to pick it up and register it for him so we can pick him up from school when he gets out. He bought the car with the money he has been saving since he was born, literally! I'll post a pic later. I know it's not FGF but he was 2 when we bought our 68 Bird and we in the car when it was hit etc. He has a passion for all things Pontiac and wanted a 4th gen for his first car. He searched for it, called about it and made the deal when we went and looked at it. Proud of him. Now the fun begins!

Good to hear!

Post some arrival picts when you show up at school!

Couldn't get a pic at the school, kids and cars everywhere. He did drive it home and we washed it. Here he is and here is his car...

nice car, great and proud looking young man!

Looking at the two pictures, you can't help notice the similarities.

Thanks guys! He is so excited! We washed and cleaned the inside today. Ordered a new head unit and back up cam as well. Going to paint the intake grills in the side fenders red, the "Firebird" on the doors red and the calipers red this week. All new brakes all the war around, new plugs and an oil change are on tap. That is pretty much about it.

I am also quite proud as I offered the chance for him to buy a 2002 Ram Air car. Last year of production as we all know and a 6-speed manual. He thought about it over night and came to us the next day and said that as nice as would have been "at this point it is too much car for me, the hp and value of the car is more than I feel comfortable with at this time, I am only going to be 16 and have no experience to speak of. I want to be able to enjoy the car and not have to worry about hurting myself or more importantly, someone else". I must admit, this brought tears to my eyes as this young man has more common sense and maturity that I did at twice his age (when he was born), and I told him so. This kid is such a blessing in our lives as are our other two, however, having this one still at home and given my circumstances in life etc. I am thrilled we still have one left at home for now...

Yup, kind of cool how they surprise you that way. I'm amazed everyday when I see how much mine have going for them. Of course I gladly accept all the credit for it( even though it was mostly my wife's doing).

That's awesome on all accounts! Congratulations to you all!

That is one helluva picture with the two cars and your son, you should get that framed!
Please tell him congratulations on the Pontiac purchase, and even more so for the common sense he has. (I Definitely lacked that at his age)

You should be proud, and I kinda think you are

Well done......

Maybe some day you will find some...

Found a little too much of it I'm afraid, age has it's perks- but also it's challenges. When dealing with all the college kids around here, it seems you always have to keep your thoughts to yourself, and your manners in check. It would be sooooooo much easier to tell them their shortcomings when they piss you off. I deal with a lot of people during this time of the year, and it can be very frustrating some days- but you have to tell yourself that you were a kid once as well. There are, however the ones that come along that are in Med school, or whatever and you realize that they are more organized by age 20-whatever then you will ever be....

Hey I found this though
Falling in Love-
A man fell in love with the girl of his dreams. They were perfect for each other, except for one minor problem: She was an Iowa State Cyclone Fan and he was an Iowa Hawkeyes fan. He decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and become a Hawkeye fan. He went to the doctor and asked if there was an easy way to do this. The doctor replied, "Yes, it's a very simple procedure. What we do is go in and remove half your brain. When you wake up, you will be an Iowa State Cyclone Fan." The man agrees, and the next week goes into surgery. After he wakes up the doctor comes up to him concerned. "Sir, I apologize, but there was a mix-up with the scalpel. Instead of removing half your brain we removed 3/4 of it. How do you feel?"

The man sat up, looked around, and said "GO GOLDEN GOPHERS!"

You didn't transplant to Minnesota from Iowa did ya?

Now that there was funny!

Had me kinda bored until the punch line though... I don't know a thing about Iowa sports!

CongraTs and now you have another silver bird to play with!

Nice ride, he sure has grown since I saw him last. Congratulate him with his new car.

Thanks guys! All good stuff and you all are a great bunch as always. Funny too!

Throwback pic:

ya I'd throw ya back too!

just kidding Joe

LOLOLOL too funny!

Forgot how much work it is changing EVERYTHING on a car. I mean EVERYTHING! We went to Auto Zone and spent $300 on just stuff to change out. Plugs, wires, pcv, front & rear brakes, coolant flush, wiper blades, air fliter, fuel filter, red caliper paint, oil & filter. We are changing anything and everything that can be changed. trying to start off with everything clean, new and good to go. Tires are all good, every bulb and fuse good and everything on this car works, cruise, power windows, power antenna, seats, heat works and a/c is ice cold!

Saturday we are pulling the stock radio and installing a touch screen head unit with a 7" screen and a back up camera system. After installing an OEM camera in the OEM NAV system in the Challenger, I can not imagine a car without a backup camera system! Hell, I think I would find a way to hide one in a FGF if I had one right now! LOL

That's easy to fix!!

Joe - That is a sweet first car. I would have chewed off one of my arms to have that at 16.

It's amazing how much he has grown in the last 2 years. Holy Cow!!

Good thing he looks like his mother.......LOL

Watch it Larry! LOL

I know, it is a very nice car. We found, bought and already received a set of fender vents as one was missing. Primed them and painted them red, we will also paint the "Firebird" on the doors and the calipers red to all match just to give the car some flare. His ideas and he is loving it! All new brakes and rotors tonight. This car runs amazing, the under side of this car looks like it did when new. The cars from down here amaze me!

All new front & rear brakes, rotors and all. Painted the calipers and the caliper brackets red. Came out pretty nice must say myself. Installed new rubber exhaust insulators on each side as well and it now holds the exhaust up nice and tight, doesn't move at all. A cheap $6 repair that made a huge difference. Also replace three wheel studs that were stripped on the front hubs and bought the correct lug nuts that have the large threads around the outside for the plastic lug nut covers to thread on to. Painted all the plastic lug covers semi flat black and re-installed them. The car really cleaned up and looks nice. A great driver and first car for sure!

Joe , you said "tires are good"...well, how OLD are they.....I just bought my Alfa , the owner said :"brand new tires"...they were , but 10 yrs old I had him change those out before I bought...a shame , brand new but still too old....verify age on the tires ,you dont want him to have a blowout or two...if older than 8 yrs old , I`d change them....

Good call, I will check them and decode the age. Had not really thought about that to be honest! Thanks!

Great to hear this. Have your son join the site and keep posting pics! To my knowledge he doesn't have to own a first gen to be part of the party.
Cal

Thanks Cal. Jeffrey has joined a 4th gen forum and I am thrilled that he has finally gotten the bug. Being that this is a FGF forum I'll post a few pics here in this thread on his behalf for those who know me and for those who have also met Jeffrey.

We installed his new 7" LCD touch screen head unit and backup camera system yesterday ($200 Amazon, hard to believe what you can get for this money on Amazon). Came out great! All new speakers as well in their stock locations behind stock grill covers keeping everything nice and clean looking. Also changed the oil/filter, fuel filter, rear end gear oil. This morning finishing up the Radio install then changing the plugs.

We did decode the dates on the tires and did find that they are 8/9 years old so they must go. We called everywhere, looked on line, TireRack etc. Just about everyone was $550-675 for a set of 4. Walmart, good ole Wallyworld, set of 4, mounted, balanced, new stems, lifetime balance & rotation $455 out the door for Goodyear Viva tires! Read the reviews on them and all in all a decent tire at a very good price.

He wants to pay for everything on this car himself so he is trying to stay within his budget. He will be starting a part time job this summer after returning from spending time with family in NY in June. So after the 4th of July he starts working and that's when "life" begins". A job, car and we all know what comes next... LOL

Some new pics. The car is pretty much done except for the tires.

We have a 5 pieces black w/red embroidered bird floor mat set coming from Lloyd's. A brand new pair of power window motors and a new rear center panel (red) "Firebird" and bird, vinyl overlay. That will pretty much round out the overhaul. We also just replaced the oxygen sensors as I have a friend who got us all new Bosch for free so we figured why not. Once he recovers from the cost of the new tires and saves up some money he will have a brand new exhaust installed front to back as the ORIGINAL is still on the car and getting a bit weak in places. Other than that, this car is quite nice and should last the next two years of HS and hopefully maybe even through college. Report card came yesterday and Jeffrey now has a perfect 4.0 GPA!