Hi all,

https://classiccars.com/listings/vi...ebird-for-sale-in-lincoln-nebraska-68514

It seems that every few months over the last few years these two vehicles (Firebird #1 and #2) reappear for sale. classic cars sends me notifications of new listings, and I might be wrong, but these seem to disappear, then reappear. Wondering if the vehicles have actually been changing hands over this time?

The following article:

https://classiccars.com/listings/vi...ebird-for-sale-in-lincoln-nebraska-68514

claimed that they sold as a pair on eBay for about $30K in 2012! So maybe it's the price that's the problem? Is there any doubt about their authenticity? or are there any other problems known with the cars? The last thread I see here on FGF is from 2016, but didn't shed much light on them.

Disclaimer: I don't own or have any interest in buying these cars, just fascinated that they don't seem to be able to find a new and more permanent home...

Many of us here watched the "restoration" of these cars as documented on the American automotive show, "Fast and Loud". Those of us familiar with that particular show cringed through the filmed process knowing that their primary business plan is to "flip" cars as fast as possible for as much profit as possible against fake deadlines. We would have much preferred that these two cars be restored by another firm where minimizing time and expense were NOT their prime motivation.

We can probably guess that the people that pay out for these cars are finding out that the "restorations" were indeed shoddy and they are being passed from from collection to collection like bad pennies.

I believe the $30K price you have seen from 2012 was the price the original owner picked them up for before he sold them to Richard Rawlings from Gas Monkey Garage for the TV show.

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

The second article you posted claims they spent more than $200K on each car. That’s some serious money. I don’t think we ever got the tv show here, unless it was on YouTube or something. So that’s pretty sad if the resto’s weren’t what they claimed to be. Then it says, once restored, they sold for a whopping $650k! Well the add in ClaasicCars.com is asking only $295K. I assume that’s for the pair. Bizarre stuff.

I saw them both in person at Barrett Jackson a few years ago. All I will say is my 9 year old son would do a better job putting a car together then these 2 cars were put together.

Thanks for the visual verification of what I was expecting. And yes, I forgot to point out that that somebody is apparently hard pressed at the moment to get 1/2 of what they sold for after the restoration. Both of these observations are hard evidence that these cars did not get the restoration they deserved.

I suspect that they will drift from owner to owner until their value decreases to the point where somebody decides to send them off for a real, total, and proper renovation.

I found the two episodes for sale at Amazon here:

Monkey Business

They definitely deserve to have a proper restoration done. I'll see if I can find the pictures I took. They had to use all Chinese hoods and fenders on the cars. The gaps were so far off on everything, and not just by a tiny bit, I'm talking 3/4"

The worst part is they probably scrapped all the good OEM stuff when they took it off. You've seen those shows. They just rip pieces off and throw them in a big scrap pile like they're garbage. Like the noise it makes is more dramatic. Bunch of hacks.

Umm, this is the first I've heard of someone repopping the 326/350 hoods?

If you saw in person you would question that

Ok, so then the question of the amount spent during the process. I spent about $30K on my first ‘68 vert taking it from barely drivable to a great driver that could show well also, mainly using OER/classic Ind. I could have spent another $20+ k on paint. Let’s say $60k for a concourse car. (that was when our dollar was worth slightly more than yours....not any more 🥺🇦🇺 Go Aussie 🦘- talking it up). Others on this forum have spent more or less of course depending on what they started and finished with, but $200K per car?!?! Based on the feedback in this thread.....Ya got be kidding! What did they spend it on? I mean, I like beer too, but I can only drink so much...

Update from the June issue of Smoke Signals:

Firebirds #1 and #2 failed to sell on E-pay after bidding stalled at $190,300. Reserve was the $285,000 listed in the linked article above. Prior to that they tried but failed to unload them and Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas in 2016

I believe it's safe to say their value has fallen far from the bloated figures from the Butt Monkey show.