Classic Parking: 1968 Pontiac Firebird
The first generation Pontiac Firebird is the strange result of a mid sixties project run by John Z DeLorean known as the Banshee. The two-seat fiberglass roadsterconcept was built using bits of the ’64 Tempest and an inline-6, but the production version would have stolen sales from Chevy’s Corvette, so the GM brass gave Pontiac their own version of the Camaro pony car…and from the ashes of the canned Banshee, the Firebird was born. Find this 1968 Pontiac Firebird offered for $15,000 located in SF Bay Area, CA. Tip from FuelTruck.
This is normally where I start raving about the car or the price or whatever…but I’m going to add a word of caution on this one — this seems to be a very VERY reasonable price for a 1st gen Firebird with a decent paint job and a slew of aftermarket parts. Tread very carefully because this could be a scammer…or it could be a sweet deal from a seller who just wants out of his Poncho.
And what a Poncho it is!! Under the hood is a 455 cubic inch V8, which isn’t original, but should provide plenty of pomp for any circumstance. The underhood setup includes an aluminum radiator, some fancy-pants polished master cylinder, and way more money sunk into this bird than you’d expect for the asking price.
See another deal on a restomodded classic? tips@dailyturismo.com
The problem with something like this is you have to find JUST the right buyer, someone whose idea of a 'restomod' jibes with your own.
So those of us that see fenders stretched for 275/35-18 meat and 14in Brembos and an LSA and T56 under the hood…this one might be good for what it is, but we're not buying.
There's a '69 Camaro around here, somewhere. Original 307 car, been repainted but otherwise stock, preserved, not restored. Owner looks to be a white-haired septuagenarian female. I bet she gets notes and blank checks under her wiper twice a week.
with the derpy new recent comments widget (thanks for nothing Google… yes, you) i had to guess which car you were talking about before i clicked through – i guessed the whatsit car, but it definitely applies to this one too – that's not everyone's color, for sure
back in the day, i commuted for a while from SF to Pleasanton (which i nicknamed un-Pleasanton, although there was this Persian deli that made Salad Olivieh wraps that i can still remember the taste of decades later, and a drive-through ice cream place, and a classic car consignment shop, and, hmm, maybe it wasn't that bad) and i decided that you got a teal car so you could have a bright color but not as noticeable as red for purposes of being the car that's speeding on 680
I was the cashmere beige (a light BMW gold) car speeding on 680. Or sometimes the platana gray (a medium Saab gray) car.
Beautiful use of the English language. I had to google "septuagenarian".
"pontiac banshee" is also worth a google
[img] sportscardigest.com/wp-content/uploads/1964-Pontiac-Banshee-Coupe-Concept-620×412.jpg[/img]
Thing is, I'd bet she's owned that '69 since it was new.
I used to own a 68 Firebird that had an optional speed alarm. You would turn a silver needle on the speedometer to your chosen maximum cruising speed and a loud buzzer would go off if you ever exceeded that speed. I bought the car used and had no idea that it had this "feature". I was quite startled when the very loud buzzer suddenly went off the first time…
Why don't cars have this today? This would be really useful for back roads or urban driving, in speed trap areas where you can't use cruise control.
having just experienced this in a rental BMW, it was basically excruciating – there was one difference: i didn't get to set the nag speed, BMW did – at 130 kph – so driving at the limit i got an aggressive *PING PING PING* and a visual warning (in Dutch, super helpful) right in the middle of the speedo every time i slowed a little, then sped up a little – which was ALL THE DINGLY DANG TIME – i was ready to shove a stroopwaffle into the speaker
kaibeezy – you can set it through the onboard-computer controls. You just need to figure out how.
i would have tried to do it myself, but both the system and the instructions were in dutch, which may as well have been greek or klingon or boontling – they told me when i returned it that they would have been happy to change the language for me, just takes a couple of hours – hertz, donut? – i had a separate constellation of grump about this car, very dramatic, hear all about it on the radio show one of these days…
Assuming its not a scam, Id think a classic street/strip setup like this would be an easy sell. Yes selling a modified car requires finding a buyer with similar taste but this isnt that crazy a build and plenty of people lile a car thats fast in a straight line, or at least looks fast.
Assuming its not a scam, Id think a classic street/strip setup like this would be an easy sell. Yes selling a modified car requires finding a buyer with similar taste but this isnt that crazy a build and plenty of people lile a car thats fast in a straight line, or at least looks fast.
Modern, serviceable drivetrain in a classic body certainly appeals to me. Not to a collector, but that's OK!