Old Firebird.

That car is a huge expensive mess. Not TT wheels, they look like American Racing 200s.

 

My first car was a '69 Firebird. And, as I've said before, I will have another '69... sooner rather than later.

Get the paperwork together, fix it up, and enjoy it!

Mike

 

they look like cheesy copies of the 200S as it appears they are rusted and the 200S wheels were alloy.

 

Them birds are stock. My neighbor's '68 400 purchased new by his parents has the same original windows.

 

Looks like a nice ride. Get the papers in order and do it.

As far as the wheels, you can get new American Racing wheels that are correct for late 1960's cars.

The wheels you've got do seem to be aftermarket, (despite the Pontiac symbol on the hub). I can't say for certain. It appears that the lug holes are the oval type made to fit a few different bolt circle diameters. That type was used by some of the aftermarket vendors beginning in the early 70's.

I've never seen them before. And I saw 1967-1969 Firebirds in 1967-1969. My guess is they are aftermarket decals -- not Pontiac factory correct.

Common for the time. They work.

 

Every 1968 has them, they're printed on, and can't be scraped off with a razor blade.
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The only aftermarket rims that look good on a 1st gen bird are minilites and maybe the torq D's, but they're so over done at this point I wouldn't do it. Otherwise you can't beat the rally II's and if you look you can find a set for a hundred or two. I also like dog dishes on the '67-'68's, the black cars especially look mean with them.

If you can find an A-body, you can use the spindles with the stock steering arms from the firebird for a cheap disc brake swap. They'll bolt up to the stock control arms and you'll just need to swap the master cylinder for a disc/drum unit. Once you have the spindles, the calipers and rotors are dirt cheap.

Check the numbers on the engine as it (likely) is no longer the original 350 and may be a 400, 428 or 455.

That looks like the etched bird glass:
http://firstgenfirebird.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=74932&page=all

I have a '67 firebird 400 RA with 4 wheel drums. It's an odd car as it was heavily optioned except for the drums and no rally gauge package. Has hood tach, deluxe interior, fold down rear seat, AC, vinyl top, special order paint etc.

 

This old bird is like a boat that is free. The reason is that it will take more work and $ to make it a running and safe car than it will ever be worth. There are tons of boats that are
"free", if you will buy the trailer for a few hundred dollars, for the same reason.

Even if you just counted the money you would spend for parts, never mind your time and effort, you will likely be upside down even if the car is free. There's a reason cars like this get parted out, and it's just economics, no way there is a pony in that pile.

 

Like the bird, '68 Camaro side glass reads "Astro Ventilation". It's baked-on ceramic powder.
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Well then, I stand corrected.

 

My '69 corvette had that too.

 

Not true. If you are able to do much of the work yourself(easy on these old domestics) and parts are readily available and relatively cheap, I see know reason why he would have to be upside down on this car. Early birds are desirable and getting rarer. This one looks pretty complete and nothing looks too bad-no brainer to get her going again, IMO.

 

350 HO sould be 320hp, worth saving for sure.

 

Cool car worth saving. I 've owned (1) 1967, (2) 1968's & a 69 Firebird. Easy to convert to disc brakes if you go that route.

 

Yeah trim tag is intersting. There is really no reason to fake a cowl tag like that. Yet if correct, someone went to a lot of trouble to change a lot of things on that car at some point.

 

There is some truth to this:

But I think more likely with this particular car:

Regarding:

Look under some rubber weather strips. Remove a bolt here and there from a door or trunk or hood hinge. Try "feathering" with a light sand paper inside the spare tire well and see if you can discern layers of the different colors. Let us know what you find.

Also, in the photo of the VIN tag, I like the vintage pine needles.

 

that tag is authentic, oddball color combos were fairly common back then. Verdugo was seen quite often with white tops. 350HO is a winner, black engine bay is correct, as another said, lightly sand and look for green. I'd also crawl deep into the trunk and look up for traces of green-unlikely someone would have gone to the trouble to remove all traces of green.

 

Yup, still has the power 4 wheel drums. I'm on the fence about replacing them. If properly kept in adjustment, they work fine and will not be overtaxed by pretty much any tire you can put under the car on the 14" wheels (outside of maybe the Avon DOT racing tires) unless you like to repeatedly slam the brakes on the highway. The key is they need to be maintained and adjusted (especially if the self adjusters aren't in tip top shape) where discs you can pretty much forget about.

My car has not been regularly driven since 1989 so needs an engine re-seal, new shocks and suspension bushings and (recently as I found when I was moving it to do some body work) a new master cylinder. It still has it's original 400 and I tuned the engine a couple of years ago when I first got it and it has tons of power, more than I expected for a bone stock car. With a rebuilt stock suspension, they are comfortable cruising cars but won't scare anybody in the turns.

I drove a '69 firebird 350 convertible 8 hours to Norwalk and back for the Pontiac nationals a few years ago. It had a fresh suspension and well tuned 350 4 barrel (not HO, had small valve heads but HO intake and cam) and was a comfortable ride both ways and ran high 14's at a little over 90mph at the track with just the trunk emptied out. I personally prefer the '67-'68 style, but under the skin they are the same. The worst thing about them is the overboosted reciprocating ball steering, but that was not unique to the firebirds, pretty much all musclecars were so equipped. It's fixable to a degree if you send the box to rebuilt - they can fit them with different valving and a tighter ratio to liven up the steering some. Not worth it on a stock car imo, worth it if you tighten the suspension up and swap to discs. They can make decent handling cars due to the good weight distribution and availability of aftermarket parts. I went down the road of making a good handling muscle car and it was surprisingly easy but I probably won't do it again. I have a Ferrari for that and it doesn't matter how good a muscle car you have, it will never equal the feel of a mid engined purpose built sports car.

Good luck with the car and let us know how it works out.