1967 Pontiac Firebird

Here we have my very own body on restored 1967 Pontiac 400 coupe.

Facts about the car:

I bought the car from an airline pilot. It was a two owner car. he had it for over 25 years. It is an original 400 car. so that's awesome. This can be seen on the firewall plate as F4. Fairly low option car. that had a remote mirror and standard interior. Was white with Red. I damn sure would not have painted that combo- I think that's the best ever. But. it does look elegant with the current color scheme. LOTS of compliments. constantly. The motor is from a 1971 Bonneville I believe. Factory headers are awesome. please check the engine bay pics. I believe you will find that this is the best part of the car. I spent a TON of time detailing stuff here. If you want anything better. go spend 40k. that's what I kept telling myself too.

I did all the restoration work myself. therefore I can answer most any questions. I also have nearly 200 pictures that will go with the car in various stages. I don't have the time to post or sort them now. I did put a picture of a door and the dash in progress on the custom stand I made for that purpose. So the doors came off. the trunk and hood off. but the body stayed on the car. This is the paint that was on the car when I bought it. You can see that I have spent a TON of money on new gaskets. interior paint. interior parts. detail parts. etc. My entire goal was to get this car back to what a brand new 1967 Firebird would have looked and driven like. I hate custom junky looking cars. I love factory engineering. and everything I did was with that strategy in mind. I'm more of a historian than a hot rodder. Yeah. I know. but there are many like me. So I have heard it's very close to what driving a new. off the lot car was like.

The pictures of these cars always make them look incredible. These are no exception. Now don't get me wrong. this car is a fantastic driver quality car. You will get mobbed at the gas stations. but not so much at the car shows. However. the attempted factory detailing on this car was pretty obsessive. There will not be any disappointments. I'm sure of that. Having said that. if you want a $45. 00 matching number 400 Firebird. they are out there- for $45. 00.

This car drives absolutely perfectly. Not a rattle. nbsp;vibration. or shimmy. The TH400 transmission shifts perfectly. but not hard. Car has high 2. 0's gear ratio. therefore it's an amazing cruiser. She will hold approximately 60mph at very low RPM's. No overheating issues. unless you live in Arizona. As you know. ALL Pontiacs run hot. This one does great in temps below 90F. Didn't drive it during the summer because of lack of A/C. What I'm saying is that the engine circulates water. and the fan runs properly. Most guys who buy Pontiacs run the aluminum radiator and dual fan with custom shroud setups. And the still run hot. Well. this one will be OK for you unless you go crazy. And the car drives straight as an arrow. One of "those" cars that you can take your hands off the wheel and it just locks in the grooves . The unboosted manual brakes work excellent. and have new pads on both ends. but require more pressure than boosted brakes. Obviously. The rear axle was stripped. cleaned. and has two brand new drum and parts setups on it. Disc front. drum rears.

As you can tell by the engine bay pics. I took a lot of time to try to simulate many of the original mfg. markings that these F-body cars came with. Including the PTB (Paint trim body) stamps on the firewall. and the decal on the block. And some engine markings which are also period correct. and an attempt at re-creating the $250 fuel AC fuel filter. It's not accurate 100%. but far better than most. Also. there is an electric fan which runs constantly. to keep this baby cool. I have wrapped the starter. so there is none of the typical Pontiac "hot start" issues. Starts every time. New carburetor. tuned well for my altitude. and this baby purrs. New battery with disconnect. new alternator. and mechanically you can just jump in and go. VERY reliable. Absolutely ZERO issues with the powertrain.

The wiring on this car is amazing. I was a 12v installer for 15 years. and this car retains all of its original wiring. Even the fuse box is original. Everything works. including the trunk light I've added. and the foot well lighting. The console lights. gauge lights. brights. turn. stop- ALL of it works The car looks amazing at night. Heater blows red hot. no A/C though. Take a look at the engine bay detailing. You may be able to tell that I liked wiring the car and restoring it more than owning it. I love to work on detail stuff. and I think you can see this from the pics. There is a radio in the car. which works. But it sounds crappy. because it only has one speaker in the car- the dash speaker. I did this because I don't want to listen to a radio with a 400 engine sounding like this one does. The sound is mild. it has a very factory exhaust. The entire car is set up very close to what you would have rolled out of the factory with in 1967 in fact. Just what I wanted. I don't like cars with all that chrome O'reilleys crap on them- the worst are the guys who buy a 67 Camaro then get all the junky speed parts on the engine. I HATE that- I prefer factory factory factory!!!

The car now has the original steering wheel back on it that I have restored. It also has the correct horn cap for the wheel also. Looks amazing. Most all the chrome on the car is very good. I hand polished and wire wheeled every single inch with a dremel. The front bumper is new- and so is the rubber emblem on the front. Again. details. LOTS of correct. expensive. and accurate parts on this car. It even has the much desired steel bottom cowl pan on it. This stuff is high dollar!

The 15 inch rally wheels are absolutely 100% perfect. I did them all myself. See pic.

The paint is a 7/10. To me. a $12. 00 paint job is 10/10. This car can pull up anywhere and look awesome. This is not an original Pontiac color. This car was originally White/Red when built. I never bothered to cut and buff it. and it probably won't help anyway. There is plenty of shine left. and from 10 feet away. it looks amazing. This is a very respectable paint job. just not new. I put a new spoiler on the back. because I like the look. Check out the 400 emblem on there. I did that. I like it.

I spent a year working on this car. maybe a bit more. I enjoy restoring them and researching them. and making them as good as possible for a reasonable price. I have all the manuals. I love GM engineering from the 60's. I'm not a hard core performance guy. I just like factory. correct stuff. and then moving to the next project. I'm not a dealer or a hustler. I am a tinkerer with skillz. This car will make somebody a phenomenal driver or a first musclecar under 20k. No issues. no engine crap. etc. It runs perfectly. every time. Just kick the pedal 4-6 times to prime. and crank the engine. Brand new Holley carb. Boom. It has all the looks of a completely correct Firebird at first glance. but at half the price or better. Don't get me wrong. I wish I had a matching numbers 400 car. with all the original paperwork. etc- I would probably never leave the house. BUT- this car will fool a lot of people. and make you proud as hell to go out into the garage. It will hold it's own! Please look at the pictures carefully. there is a lot to see there. especially in the engine bay.

DOWNSIDES OF CAR: (always)

Small crack in drivers side windshield. It's small. stable. and not within the usable area of the glass. It's at the absolute bottom of the glass. driver side. You won't notice it much.

RUST- these cars ALL have rust. Every one of them. This car is solid. but does have a small bubble appearing in the front right quarter. down low. in front of the wheel. The trunk is decent. but could use a new pan in 5-10 years. Remember. this car is fully detailed underneath. It has not been in rain since I redid the entire car. When I got it. I spent one week under the car. scraping and wire wheeling 40 years of dirt off. Then painted it. So it looks very nice. I did notice the rear two floor pans were replaced. Not a completely stellar job. for sure. However. they do not leak. and honestly. the don't look bad. Again. this car just looks clean and tidy. everywhere. No crap hanging off. wires. etc. You will not say "what does this go to?" with this car. Everything makes sense. Again. fitting in with the whole theme of getting a simulated 45k car for half price. As you can tell from the pic of the underside. it's very respectable.

LEAKS- every damn Pontiac I have owned leaked. I put all new seals in this car myself. and the tranny. and it STILL leaks. I will say this though. The more you drive it. the less it leaks. In fact. when I was driving it every day for a week. it all but dried up. If you do not keep the cork gaskets saturated and wet. they will leak. That simple. So I'm pretty confident that if you drive the car twice a week they will dry up. They seemed to for me. Again. ALL Pontiacs leak. If it's not leaking. there is no oil in it.

I put the gas gauge in the trunk. Ok. here's the deal. I don't drive on long trips much. so I keep gas in the car. Brand new tank. BTW. This car actually does have a 1968 gauge cluster in it. No room for a gas gauge. That simple. I LOVE the gauges. why? Because there is a correct. working tic-toc tach in the car. It's a clock that has gears and dials in it. and it runs. You have to reset it each time you get in. but it WORKS. I took it apart completely. as I did with the gauges to make them as good as possible. I know. it's weird.

This car has been sorted. loved. and restored.  Come and get it!

Please feel free to contact me through Ebay for Questions.

Thanks!!!!

Mike

Also published at eBay.com

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