Has anyone seen a 69 bird with Air Shocks installed at the factory or by a dealer at the time of delivery?
I ask because mine has air shocks. The installation is so perfect that I almost missed seeing the hoses.
Would love your opinions, I know the Air shocks were an option on other Pontiac products at the time.

I have seen air shocks on 2 firebirds and in each
case the car had a broken leaf spring.

The air shocks worked well at balancing out
the rear suspension. If you need to raise or
lower rear end for what ever reason these
shocks will do it.

However, you effect the handling of the car.
The ride will be stiffer and you will have less
travel on your shock absorbers. The farther you go
up with the air shock the less travel for
shock absorption.

Personally, I would only use air shocks
if my rear suspension has been weaked or
I have an increased load affecting my ride
height.

Do you know if the ones you seen were aftermarket add ons or were they installed originally?

I don't believe any Firebirds had air shocks factory installed. Pontiac and Tempest may have had super lift shocks and automatic level control.

I just took a set of air shocks off my car, I think they were installed to keep the sagging back end off the ground. Like Gus, I wouldn't use air shocks unless it was a stop gap until proper suspension repairs were made.

Thank you both for your input.

I don't know for sure about '69 but in '68 the option code was 634 and the read out on the window sticker price sheet is " Shock Absorbers-Adjustable F&R Control with a cost of $ 52.66. In my Bird that translates to a AC Delco compressor in the far drivers side front, a under dash control pad & AC Delco air shocks in the rear with hard to notice air lines.( not the white HiJackers ) you see in aftermarket installs. I have been told these are one of the rare options on a GM & most were aftermarket. If '69 was the same then it is possible ....

In all my years of Firebirds I've only seen one of those compressor setups on a 69. I told the guy don't ever take that off your car.

I'm confused? (Nothing new.) I thought the Koni Adjustable shocks were an option for Firebird past the standard and HD shocks. And I assumed that they were a manual adjustment made at the shock. Further, I thought the air shock in '68-'69 was a big Pontiac option that was not an option in Firebirds. Were some 1st Gens equipped with them? Factory or dealer added?

Of course after all this time who can say but the setup I saw was on a 69 bird and appeared to be factory installed. So I would say it was an option that for year.

Like you said, long time ago, but I know I had them on my '68 Bird back in the day when I got it from the dealer. If the compressor is on the car it should have the under dash controller. Most aftermarket products were controlled with a inflation valve in the trunk, or under the car. Last year I rebuilt the compressor on my '68 Sprint. There is no question that it has a AC Delco stamp on it. The old shocks on the Sprint were, best as I can remember, also AC Delco, But if the Koni shocks were black (back in the day) it's possible . The new ones are Gabriel. I run them at 30 Lbs & they respond well. Bump up to 60 & the rear end rises up for the "old school" look. Super stiff at that level. I know there is a stamp on the controller back, but I am currently installing a rebuilt engine & exhaust package. I'll get back on the stamp when I get back inside the car, after the outside work is done. As to what was in what when, it all came down to how good of a customer you were. My dad got a two tone Blue paint job ( light on top, dark on bottom ) on his new 1964 Tempest Custom. (Not in any of the books) Because his '55 Pontiac Chieftain had it. Had to wait for it, but to him it was worth it. Chevy had COPO. Pontiac had "If your willing to pay & wait you can change up lots of stuff."

Judging from the factory "1969 Pontiac Wide-tracking accessories" brochure, air shocks were not available from the factory on 69 Firebirds. See here:
http://www.gt-37.org/factory-literature/1969-pontiac-accessories/
Go to the page numbered 12 (the fourth page in row three). If I understand the text correctly, there were "Superlift Shock absorbers with automatic level control, available for Catalina, Executive, Bonneville and Grand Prix" and "Superlift shock absorbers, available for all models except Firebird".
On top of the page there are also the Koni adjustables, available for Firebirds only.

Maybe a dealer installed option?