By David Belau

dartslantsix

My wife and I went to Reno this weekend and on the way we saw this, uh, car. It was parked with a bunch of other vintage machines. Don’t ask me what town it was because I don’t think it’s even on a map–let’s just say it’s “somewhere in the northern central high desert portion of California.” It appears to be a late ’70′s Firebird complete with T-tops with ’57 Chevy fins and trunk. I couldn’t get a good shot of the front, but something odd is going on there too. I think it should be driven like it is. What do you think?

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I’d been consciously ignoring the attention-seeking “artist” who rigged up a machine to crush a series of perfectly decent muscle cars into each other last year, but I finally noticed a video of the destruction when it turned up on Streetfire. This member’s comment on the video much sums up my feelings on the issue: “I’d like to see a mushroom cloud in place of that museum.” What an idiotic waste.

SLOW DEATH OF AMERICAN MUSCLE

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Wow, what a waste of a perfectly good Firebird. Thanks to Evan for the tip.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

After featuring the Camaro-based Trans Am lookalike in the new sci-fi movie Jinn, Classic will reportedly be offering a limited run of clones for sale. The FireBreather will be priced at around $60K and will be running the supercharged 6.2L LS3. Fun?

More pics at Carscoop.

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

Y’know, there just aren’t many instances of a car company taking advantage of pop culture promotion of its cars like the Bandit Trans Am. Off the top of my head, all I can think of are the Graduate Alfa Romeo Spiders and the recent Bumblebee Camaros. Anyway, this 1978 Pontiac Trans Am  for sale on Hemmings.com looks from the photos to be an excellent example of the Y82 Special Edition. From the seller’s description:

ws6 performance package ,hurst t-tops, phs documentation, build sheet ,window sticker,matching numbers,complete ground up restoration in 2003,stored in heated garage,hardly driven,400 pontiac motor bored .060 ,speed pro pistons,moly rings,comp cam,edelbrock intake/750 cfm carb,#62 cyl heads off 67 gto motor,still have orig heads,headers,dual exaust,very fast ,turbo350 trans,b-m torque converter,shift kit sub-frame connectors,polygrafite bushings,all new a/c components under hood,too much more to list, this is not a clone or a tribute car or a replica but it is a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am, true y82 at a realistic price, vin#2w87zn138201. this car is awsome, fast and handles unbelievable. The interior is totally new, even the dash and the decals are perfect, this car is originally from texas.

See more at Hemmings.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Today’s very cool pic comes from Jake’s ride page for his ’95 Firebird. As Jake points out, “The whole Firebird-Mustang rivalry does not exist in my family, obviously.” Nice!

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

t’s OK, you can stop looking. We’ve found the coolest 1970 Pontiac Firebird in the world. This restored racer has some interesting history under its belt, like being the first production car to win an SCCA race on radial tires. It competed at Daytona, Sebring, and several Trans Am races during the 1972 season. Because the car and team were based in Canada, the team was allowed to run a Chevy engine, because Canadian Pontiacs shipped with Chevy mills.

Even neater than that, the car was constructed by Jerry Titus’ TG Racing team. It was the third of three car built with the intention of competing in the 1970 Trans Am season. BF Goodrich became the primary sponsor of the car and it became known as the “BFG Tire Bird”.

According to the seller’s ad, after the 1971 Daytona 24 hours, the car was converted into a Camaro and lived the rest of its racing days as a Chevrolet. Obviously the car has been restored to appear as it did prior to the change over.

The sales price is a stratospheric $550,000. As much as we love the car and think it runs the cool meter off the charts, half a million is steep money. Sure it was the first radial tire car to win an SCCA race, and being a footnote to history is something cool, but half-a-million cool?

Being able to fire it up and take it out at historic races would probably make all that buyer’s remorse float away like exhaust out of the side pipes.

Oh, we want it bad.

Source — AutoTraderClassics.com — 1970 Pontiac Firebird Historic Racer

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

Who needs door panels and interior when you ride on 28′s? Did Superman really ride on an old raggedy kitchen cushion? Yeah, this is an ugly failure, but all we can do is hope it’s an unfinished project. I can’t wait to read your comments, that’s the best part! Read more about the Firebird failure at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By Chris Bicknell

Bick66

We all know that GM never produced a factory convertible option for the second generation Camaro or Firebird, but every now and then you see one that’s been converted.  This 1981 Pontiac Firebird Formula was recently pulled from storage with only 22,000 miles on the odometer and in need of only minor attention.  Given its new rag-top, fresh tuneup and like-new exterior some lucky bidder is going to have a badass ride.  You can bet that no one else on your block will have one like it and the best part is there’s no reserve!  Check out more pictures after the jump and see the eBay auction here.

Continue reading "Convertible 2nd Gen Firebird on eBay" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

It’s not at all a staightforward question–the answer is always “depends on the generation.” The distinct design of each of GM’s sister ponycars varied so widely throughout the generations that it’s hard to imagine maintaining a single favorite through the entire 40-plus-years of their history. To complicate matters, drivetain and trim packages varied significantly as well, with sometimes the Camaro, sometimes the Firebird packing the more desirable goodies. While there are always some folks who are die-hard Camaro or Firebird fans, the whole issue gives the rest of us a case of terminal indecision. And when you consider that even the final dismantling of Pontiac may not spell the end of the Firebird (if the aftermarket has anything to say about it), the rivalry will likely continue for successive generations. So here’s the question: out of Camaro or Firebird, which do you prefer? Are you a true-blue supporter of one or the other, or do you waver back and forth depending on what years we’re talking about? Follow the jump to see my picks and to state your own.

Continue reading "Which Is More Awesome: Camaro or Firebird?" »