So after being on the list serve for over 7 years I decided that it was time to start posting on the actual forum!

Here is a little history of me and the bird for those of you who are not on the List.

My Car is a 68 April Gold Bird, with an Ivy Gold interior... interesting colors... I guess that's the 60's for you! It did however come with a 350 and a 2 speed, not the 400 but enough for me at the time! I got the car when I was 14 years old; my uncle gave it to me. It was my Aunt's car her Sr. year of high school car, that was in '84. So it has been in my family for about 23 years now. We got it from the original owner's family and it was in very good condition. Then after my Aunt's graduation she drove it for about another 3 years or so. Then it sat until around 1991 and my uncle drove it as a daily driver... This is when it got trashed! I got the car in the summer of 1999, happy birthday to me! I was a muscle car crazed little kid! I wanted one so bad! So I had my muscle car!!!! My dad and I slowly rebuilt the front end of the car and swapped out the drums for discs in the front. Rebuilt the rear end and did some other small things. THEN came the interesting part... on my way to taking the car to the body shop for some little bit of straightening and some paint I got rear ended and the car was totaled. We decided to get it fixed and bought the car back from the insurance company. A year later and the car was and still is BEAUTIFUL! And so I drove it like that all though high school or well half of JR. and all of Sr. year. Now I'm in college and the car no longer has to serve daily driving duties. I have not been able to get much work done on the car because it is about 600 miles away from me when I am at school in Memphis. This winter break I was finally able to go some things to the car. The major work was the auto to manual conversion. I just finished installing a Doug Nash 5 speed! The car is a lot more fun to drive now. It is lacking traction so a 3.08 posi is in the works using a 2nd gen T/A rear end. It should also be going to the interior shop so that i can finally get the interior done! It's been pretty stripped for a couple years. It will finally look like a real car inside.

Plans to come:
Re do the front suspension yet again... This time with handling in mind.
brakes! 13" up front... 12.5" in the rear.
new Wheels... the 17" TTII wheels do not fit right.
440ci Pontiac motor using a '68 400 block and a '63 421 Crank. 6.8" BBC rods are also in the works.

Paul ... I'm personally thrilled to see that you are making great progess on your dream car. Keep up the good work.

Q

HEY QUENTON!!!!!!!

Long time no chat! That crank is on it's way to Ken Keefer monday!

Keep it forever! I still have mine from high school - a bit longer ago!

The car that is. I didn't get my reply typed quickly enough!

Alright here are some pictures!



Firebird and the daily driver

Before the work started...


new toy!

Paul, nice to see another familiar face!

Hey Paul, good to see you chime in! Been following your progress and it sounds like your getting a lot done on your short time off school and work! Glad to hear it!

Later - Brett!

I got off the email list years ago. I much prefer the web board, less junk postings to have to sift through.

I thought the wheels look good. What are you going to replace them with?

BTW, car look great. Love the color. 68's rock!

Ken

This board is better because the answers don't get lost. Then you can search later.

I do both , best of both worlds! (I see some of you others do the same!) Brett, Bob....

Hi Paul. Welcome. I prefer this format. I've been on the "List" for several years now but I post and follow discussions a lot more here than there. This format better organizes questions and responses and allows pictures right in the discussion.