RE: Pontiac Firebird: Spotted

[Google [bot]]

I was at a petrol station a few months back chatting to a guy about his gold Firebird - turns out it was one of the original Rockford Files cars used on screen, even had the same registration plate (but NSW of course).

Also had a run and hard launch in this a couple of years back:

Pic too large will try and resize.

ETA:

Edited by Google [bot] on Monday 13th May 00:51

[CDP]

s m said:

MuscleSaloon said:

s m said:

One of these for me instead

The bull-nose cars are much nicer IMO and I have a soft spot for the shovel-nose cars up to '74 before they enlarged the rear window.

Regarding the power figures - sure they looked grim through the worst times after the muscle years - but look at your average UK car of the same era. I've seen 1.6 OHC Fords with the VV carb putting down about 50bhp on the rollers - and people thought they were brilliant !

Yep, for me a 73 SD455 was the best

Proper muscle car to end the era

60mph in 5.4

13.8 second quarter

Excellent acceleration but just look at the braking distance compared with the others. Did they measure it in the rain or something?

[s m]

CDP said:

Excellent acceleration but just look at the braking distance compared with the others. Did they measure it in the rain or something?

Brake servo issue whilst testing according to narrative

[aeropilot]

CS Garth said:

I achieve the same sensation by listening to Eastbound and Down by Jerry Lee at high volume

Jerry Reed

[FIREBIRDC9]

Ahhhh my kind of thread.
You don't want the wheezy late 70's cars ruined by emissions regs.
You want a 1973 Trans Am!

The inspiration of my Username , and my dream car since 2001.

One day i will own a 1973 Pontiac Trans AM SD455 in Brewster Green with Screaming Chicken and Honeycomb wheels.




When i was a kid in the early 2000's most kids wanted a Nissan Skyline....
I wanted a Trans Am!

[aeropilot]

FIREBIRDC9 said:

One day i will own a 1973 Pontiac Trans AM SD455 in Brewster Green with Screaming Chicken and Honeycomb wheels.

The most sought after spec by collectors for a SD455, so you'll need a very deep wallet..........as good ones in that spec are now $150-175k cars if they come up for sale.

[XMified]

Augustus Windsock said:

XMified said:

Shame this is from the dark ages of this generation Firebird. By this time, what lay under the bonnet's "puking chicken" had been strangled by emissions regulations. Probably still has loads of torque though!


I never quite get the whole Smokey And The Bandit Trans Am obsession. To me it looks overwrought and a bit vulgar, though I concede that may be the point of it!

I always preferred the cleaner lines of the more simple Esprit model. Elegant enough to sit alongside European contemporaries.





Unashamed Rockford Files fan, yes. Give me James Garner's driving skills over Burt Reynolds any day.

As above, the Rockford Files car was an Esprit model
Or not.
“The cars in the show were badged as lower-tier Esprit models, but in reality were Formulas with the twin-scoop hood replaced with a scoopless one. Another hint was the twin exhausts and rear anti-roll bars that were not used on Esprit”.

True- I did know all that, Formula 400 dressed down to look Esprit, but didn't want to go too Beard in the thread (that's Rockford beard, not Pontiac beard).

[XMified]

s m said:

MuscleSaloon said:

s m said:

One of these for me instead

The bull-nose cars are much nicer IMO and I have a soft spot for the shovel-nose cars up to '74 before they enlarged the rear window.

Regarding the power figures - sure they looked grim through the worst times after the muscle years - but look at your average UK car of the same era. I've seen 1.6 OHC Fords with the VV carb putting down about 50bhp on the rollers - and people thought they were brilliant !

Yep, for me a 73 SD455 was the best

Proper muscle car to end the era

60mph in 5.4

13.8 second quarter

Agree- this era are the ones to go for before the smog legislation ruined them...look great too.

[AMGSee55]

The saving grace of such a lowly rated engine is the scope for beefing it up. I imagine 3-4K spent on one of Edelbrock 'power packages', a decent exhaust system and some rolling road time could raise that to 250+hp without too much difficulty - that would feel like a very different car.

[FIREBIRDC9]

aeropilot said:

The most sought after spec by collectors for a SD455, so you'll need a very deep wallet..........as good ones in that spec are now $150-175k cars if they come up for sale.

Its a dream
Not necessarily a realistic one mind!

I have a theory that as the 50's 60's and 70's generation begins to die out. The cars of their youth are going to decrease in value as they become less desirable.

The Average 90's kids don't care for a car released 30 years before they were born.
I on the other hand will be there to snap them up

We shall see if that actually happens.

Edited by FIREBIRDC9 on Monday 13th May 10:32

[aeropilot]

AMGSee55 said:

The saving grace of such a lowly rated engine is the scope for beefing it up. I imagine 3-4K spent on one of Edelbrock 'power packages', a decent exhaust system and some rolling road time could raise that to 250+hp without too much difficulty

Edelbrock don't produce any Power Packages for this Pontiac engine, which was the last Pontiac V-8 when it ended production in spring 1981.

I don't think there are many companies that make much speed equipment for this engine, given the inability to fit in many US states due to emissions etc.

For 4k you'd be better off just yanking it out and ordering a crate SBC that has 350+hp, or a crate LS motor if you want a modern lump instead.

[emperorburger]

FIREBIRDC9 said:

Its a dream
Not necessarily a realistic one mind!

I have a theory that as the 50's 60's and 70's generation begins to die out. The cars of their youth are going to decrease in value as they become less desirable.

The Average 90's kids don't care for a car released 30 years before they were born.
I on the other hand will be there to snap them up

We shall see if that actually happens.

Edited by FIREBIRDC9 on Monday 13th May 10:32

Sadly not a bullnose, but '74 SD-455's can still be reasonably attainable

https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/pontia...

[irocfan]

s m said:

Yep, for me a 73 SD455 was the best

Proper muscle car to end the era

60mph in 5.4

13.8 second quarter

now you're talking!!!

[SeeFive]

XMified said:

Shame this is from the dark ages of this generation Firebird. By this time, what lay under the bonnet's "puking chicken" had been strangled by emissions regulations. Probably still has loads of torque though!


I never quite get the whole Smokey And The Bandit Trans Am obsession. To me it looks overwrought and a bit vulgar, though I concede that may be the point of it!

I always preferred the cleaner lines of the more simple Esprit model. Elegant enough to sit alongside European contemporaries.





Unashamed Rockford Files fan, yes. Give me James Garner's driving skills over Burt Reynolds any day.

I had exactly that colour and rear window shape firebird when I was 19... and a brother who was an insurance broker luckily.

It had a sticker round the ignition key which read “Radial Tuned Suspension”. Sounds good, but in practice still handled like a fridge freezer wallowing in every direction in every turn at speed. Mind you, not sure what the 350 was putting out but even as an auto, it would burn rubber till it was sitting on the wheel rims

Great fun in the snow too. Had it 9 months and blew the engine to smithereens due to its insistence on kicking down to first upon the slightest throttle pressure. Didn’t go down well one day when the lepton dial was looking a bit high and I gave the pedal a little prod... those lolloping old engines can rev to 11k, but only for a nanosecond.

[Andy83n]

Jimmy Recard said:

Is it amazing?

What would you expect from that era with US emissions controls?
In 1976 a US-spec XJ12 would’ve only had about 240 horsepower, and I’m guessing that would’ve been Jaguar’s claim for gross power, while Pontiac quoted net.

Other way round.

US cars tend to quote BHP at the crank, not at the wheels

[AMGSee55]

aeropilot said:

AMGSee55 said:

The saving grace of such a lowly rated engine is the scope for beefing it up. I imagine 3-4K spent on one of Edelbrock 'power packages', a decent exhaust system and some rolling road time could raise that to 250+hp without too much difficulty

Edelbrock don't produce any Power Packages for this Pontiac engine, which was the last Pontiac V-8 when it ended production in spring 1981.

I don't think there are many companies that make much speed equipment for this engine, given the inability to fit in many US states due to emissions etc.

For 4k you'd be better off just yanking it out and ordering a crate SBC that has 350+hp, or a crate LS motor if you want a modern lump instead.

Fair enough, I hadn't realised it was excluded from their range, although I've just noted a reference in the ad to it running a 305ci Chevy, so perhaps this could have been the first of the breed to use a non-Pontiac v8?? And hence more scope for tuning if the 'matching numbers' thing is important.

Either way, I think it looks pretty cool and a lot of fun to rumble about in

[aeropilot]

Andy83n said:

Jimmy Recard said:

Is it amazing?

What would you expect from that era with US emissions controls?
In 1976 a US-spec XJ12 would’ve only had about 240 horsepower, and I’m guessing that would’ve been Jaguar’s claim for gross power, while Pontiac quoted net.

Other way round.

US cars tend to quote BHP at the crank, not at the wheels

Net power isn't at the wheels anyway. No manufacturer has ever to my knowledge quoted a power at the wheels figure.

Gross power (the old US way prior to early 70's, was without ancillaries fitted such as dynamo/alt, power steering pumps, a/c compressor belts and all the other stuff.
Whereas the US Net figures were as installed with all that stuff fitted on the dyno as well.

[FourWheelDrift]

XMified said:

Shame this is from the dark ages of this generation Firebird. By this time, what lay under the bonnet's "puking chicken" had been strangled by emissions regulations. Probably still has loads of torque though!


I never quite get the whole Smokey And The Bandit Trans Am obsession. To me it looks overwrought and a bit vulgar, though I concede that may be the point of it!

I always preferred the cleaner lines of the more simple Esprit model. Elegant enough to sit alongside European contemporaries.





Unashamed Rockford Files fan, yes. Give me James Garner's driving skills over Burt Reynolds any day.

That's the later series (5+) 1977 car, I preferred the earlier 1975 one he used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X7XGmS6Pe4

[F4R]

I saw a Firebird cruising down my local high street recently. It looked fantastic and was a real head turner.

Sure, dynamically it's not a patch on most modern sports coupes but it's a whole lot more interesting.

Picture I took at the time:

[s m]

Three different flavours of ‘bird