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Pontiac of the Month

FBIRD69's 1969 Firebird

2024 March
of the Month

EiGhTySeVeN

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Everything posted by EiGhTySeVeN

  1. Happy Birthday to my younger brother Mike (19) Current car, 240sx with sr20
  2. Martin has sent me pics of the van in the Netherlands. Passed the road inspection, and of course he had to take a pic of the van with a windmill: And since it's snowing out and I have nothing to do, I'll upload some pics I took in the fall: I used one of the variations of this pic for my calendar sub And the 76 Formula When it comes to second gen birds, even with the 74 I had, I'm an ass man Nova! And where the Nova will be hibernating this winter And closing thoughts Fall is pretty much the only good time in Syracuse. I love the colors. But I hate everything else about NY. Plans are to sell everything in the spring or summer and move to either SC or Georgia. I love driving the 76 bird and 79 Camaro. Never thought I'd enjoy driving stick, but now I don't think I could have a classic fun toy that isn't stick. Even driving the 99 gets kind of boring without shifting gears.
  3. It was $1075. That was shipping, then there's importation fees and taxes and stuff. You basically get a container and you put your vehicle in it. Honestly I don't think shipping is that bad
  4. Martin took a lot of pictures during the trip and I found his online album. Here are a few that I'll add to the story of the van: My last picture with the van He also took a few pics of the van in the warehouse. Shared some room with a Ferrari, Jag E-type, tri 5 chevy nomad, and a Lotus Europa
  5. So you guys like stories? Once upon a time... I bought my 1969 Ford van. When I bought it I was really into forums, so whenever I bought a car I'd join a forum for that car. I actually was about to buy a totaled Pontiac Grand Am just for the rims, so I joined a Pontiac Grand Am forum. Met chaosweaver on there, then got kicked off. But before I did chaos invited me to join this site, so that's how I got here. Never even bought the smashed Grand Am. So back to the original story. So I joined this Econoline forum, made like 2 posts and never went back on. But on my original post I posted one pic of my van, quick description, very similar to the first page of this thread, and didn't go back on. Now the message system on that forum was connected to my email. So last may I got an email saying a guy named Martin messaged me on the Econoline forum. Email pretty much said, "hi nice van. If you are ever interested in selling it let me know." I figured it was a generic message that got sent out to any member, so I ignored it. Then in August the same guy messaged me again, however he had made an account on Forever Pontiac and messaged me through here. From the one picture he had on the Econoline forum he found the same picture on here. Again, it said he was interested in my van. I noticed he was from Holland, so again I didn't take it too seriously. But after a couple days I figured I'd play along and messaged him back. Told him I'd take offers, no harm in that. So we went back and forth over a month or so, me slowly telling him more info on the van. But I made sure to still protect myself and the van, just in case it was a scam. I've been scammed out of a lot of money before so ever since that it's tough to trust someone you don't know, especially over the internet. I sent him something like, 200 pictures of the van. If he was really in Europe and wanted the van, I wanted him to know exactly what I had. So finally he sent me a link to the tickets he had bought from Amsterdam to New York City, then he was going to fly from NYC to Syracuse. He also sent me links of the transportation papers, port documents to transfer it to Europe and pictures of cars he had. He had actually bought a car out of Australia or New Zealand, and as long as I had to put no money up, I had no problem. A part of me still didn't believe this was true or he was serious, so I didn't think about it too much. But once he confirmed his flight I was like, "wow this is really going to happen. I might actually sell my van." I wanted to be clear that no price would be confirmed prior to him seeing the van, but I wanted the offer to be pretty good. So I gave him a baseline, and told him I wouldn't go below that amount, I may not even sell it for that amount, and that I believe that the van was not worth as much as I was asking. Really, I valued the van at maybe $8000, and I wouldn't take that. Martin had found some second gen vans on ebay and one was extremely clean, as clean if not more mint than my van. It went for like $8k. Schedule was he was arriving on Saturday night, and I'd pick him up from the hotel on Sunday morning. So once I got home from work on Saturday night I wanted to enjoy the van one last time. So I called up my best friend, he and his gf got in the van and I just drove around Syracuse for about 2 or 3 hours. The van drove great. It was almost surreal. It was potentially the last time I'd drive my van, and I was filled with mixed emotions. Part of me had a great sadness that my time with the van might be coming to an end, but another part of me really enjoyed the feeling of driving it. I truly had fun driving it. Even on it's potentially last ride, it still made a guy in another car smile, and to me that's what the van was all about. It made me and other people smile. Cheesy, I know. So when I finally got back to my garage my buddy and his gf left and I just stood there in my garage staring at my van. Not going to lie, I started crying. I really did have an emotional attachment to that van. Sidetrack: This wasn't the first time I had cried over a car. When I was about 2 or 3, maybe 4, we had this old Chrysler town and country. Like one of the first minivans made. My parents had gotten it right when I was born so it was the only vehicle I knew. Well one day we all jumped in the van and my parents went to the dealership. My dad traded in the van and we got a new van. But I didn't understand that it meant we would have to give the dealership our old van. So when it was time to leave in our new van I started to cry because I didn't want to leave the old van. It was pretty much a part of the family. Like if your parents got a dog right when your born and when your 3 they give it away. That's how I felt, like the van was just part of the family and we couldn't just leave it. So now looking back I think I can fairly say that I was into cars even back then. It's something you are born with or at least raised with in the first 5 years. So back to my van. After the last joy ride I knew that if Martin didn't buy the van, there would be no way I could sell it. I didn't want to feel all weird again. Sunday morning I got a call to wake me up. It was Martin. I was half an hour late on picking him up. First thing I said when I hung up and walked into the kitchen was I said to my dad, "wow, he's actually real." So we went and picked him up from the hotel which was right around the corner, went to breakfast, and then went to the garage and got the van. After a quick test drive and looking over all the paperwork and parts I had we went back to my house and sat down for negotiations. He presented a very fair offer, and I hesitated. I went out on the porch and talked to my parents, talked about how I'd probably never get this much for the van and went back in. I could feel tears forming behind my eyes, and shook hands. I had to get up and walk away for a moment so I wouldn't cry, but held it back. Then I brought Martin to UHaul, picked up a truck with a trailer and went back home. Loaded the van up with all of the spare parts and went to work. The next morning, early, my dad and I walked down the street to the garage and Martin was already prepping the trailer. We loaded it on the trailer, took a few last pictures and then I watched it go down the street on the trailer. I actually took a video. Martin drove down to NYC, and took pics of the van at a very scenic roundabout. He got the van, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty all in one pic. Then dropped it off at a warehouse, jumped on a plane and went home to Rotterdam. We are going to stay in contact, I'll be getting pictures of the van every now and then of it's new life in Europe. I've also gained a contact in Europe. So maybe if I find a car in Europe I want, I can have Martin help me get it from Europe to the states. And so that's it, story of how I lost the van. Forgot to add something. I sold the van October 12. The ship set sail from the harbor in NJ on October 28 and it'll arrive in Europe on November 10. So as of right now, my van is on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Just to scare me my buddy told me how he had a buddy in college that would fix up old semi's and then sell them to Europeans who would ship them across the Atlantic. He restored this really nice 1970 Mack, sold it, put it on a boat, and on the way to Europe the boat sank. So on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean lies a brand new restored 70 Mack.
  6. My 1999 Pontiac Firebird: My 1976 Pontiac Firebird Formula with the 400 with a 4spd. Hooker headers, 3" Pypes exhaust, center line convo wheels Very nice submissions this year. Hoping the new members make threads and stay active on here
  7. Very nice cars, tough choice. Eddie, I was looking for a 73 grand am awhile back, really cool car. Good luck to everyone
  8. Thanks Ringo. Actually today is his birthday. Just going to submit my pics for the calendar then I'll share a very sad story
  9. On September 18 I finally did something I've been wanting to do for awhile now. I kind of did a test shoot way back in July of 2013. I want a picture of all of my cars together in one nice picture. Here's the one from 2013: And now the 2014 version: And some ones of just the classics, dad's cars and mine:
  10. Let me talk you through my newest cars The 99, let me tell you first that I've always loved these cars. If there was a stock production car that Batman would drive, I would think it'd be a black 98-02 WS6. But just like the old saying goes, don't meet your hero. It's not as great as I would have dreamed. The V6 is slow, really slow. Surprisingly I'm pretty sure my 02 GT was faster. A Sunfire parked near me at work and it looked way too similar. And the interior is just awful. So. Much. Plastic. And it's exactly like my Grand Prix. I think my Grand was probably better due to it at least having leather. So even if this Firebird had leather, it'd still be just as good as a Grand Prix interior. Loving the T-tops though. Even in 35* weather I take them off and just turn on the heat. AC doesn't work, but I don't care. I haven't used AC since the Expedition. The 76 Formula. Looking for community help on this one. I'm not sure if the car is that rare due to it's drivetrain. I've seen a lot of 400's, but not that many 400 4spd's. And honestly I'm looking for what it may be worth. Body is in great shape, clear is gone off the roof, but it is original paint. And it runs great, shifts great. With my 74, the body was shot, the paint was terrible, and it was only a 350 with an automatic. I'm assuming this 76 has to be worth a lot more than my 74? The 79 Camaro. I was told it's an RS. When I decoded the VIN I found it came with a 305 if I remember right. It now has a built 355. Story is at the Syracuse Nationals in 2012 my coworker and his father went to the Jasper tent. At the time Jasper made circle track racing engines, but they were getting out of that part of racing. So their circle track engines were on liquidation and they bought one. I'm uploading the sheet for the engine. The tranny is a 4spd Saginaw. I was disappointed when I found out it was a Saginaw, just not a fan since my buddy had a Saginaw in his El Camino and it sucked. Rear end is a 69 Camaro rear end with brand new 4.11 gears. It's got off brand headers to manual cut-outs. If the cut-outs are closed then it goes to Thrush mufflers dumping after the axle. When I put this on my lift I was shocked. Everything underneath is new. Even the frame rails from the doors back. New gas tanks, fuel lines, brake lines, everything. Thing is, it's not perfect. Has anyone seen that movie Born 2 Race? There's this scene with the dads about to race. The main character's dad says something along the lines of, it's one thing to throw a bunch of parts on, it's another thing when you know how to make them work together, or something like that. This Camaro is like that. At first you hear, race car engine, 4 speed, 4.11 gears. Great right? No. Being it's a circle track engine it's made to perform at high RPMs. But when you put that through the crappy Saginaw, and then through 4.11 gears, the power isn't available. I haven't even dared to bring it out on the highway because it would just scream. I'm in 4th gear by the time I make it to the stop sign at the end of my street, and 2nd is literally useless unless you are racing. Don't get me wrong, this thing is nasty. I accidently light up the tires in 1st and 2nd, and just forget about driving in the rain unless you want to drift every turn. Went to a parking lot just to see what it'd do, put it in second with the wheel cranked and did about 25% throttle. Did a full 360. And since the gearing is so weird I actually get decent mileage. The 76 I went through half a tank in a day. With the Camaro I've gone though half a tank in like 4 days. Not bad. Oh and the guy spray painted the whole car black. Doesn't bother me though.
  11. Yea sorry about that, I get kinda excited talking about my cars Speaking of...
  12. So 9/11, a day that has some meaning to Americans. To me however, it was a pretty good day this year. It was the 1 year anniversary of my eye surgery. On 9/11/13 I had Lasik Eye Surgery in Rochester. Side note: I highly recommend this procedure to anyone. Totally worth it. One year later I can look back with no regrets and can say with 100% certainity that I'd do it again in a heartbeat. So now 9/11 this year: I was pretty busy. So as you know by know I traded my 74 Firebird. Well this kid at work was a fellow mid 70's Firebird owner. So when I had the 74 I saw his 76 Firebird Formula at the Syracuse Nationals, and talked to him at work about the 2 cars. After I traded my Firebird I told him about it. A few days later he came up to me knowing that I no longer had my Firebird and asked if I'd be interested in picking up his 76. So this kid has had a few nice cars. He had a early/mid 90's 4th gen Camaro that he had a lot of money in. He then traded that for the 1976 Firebird. He's had a 1979 Camaro RS that he had been working on with his dad for years, and he has a 2012 or 2013 Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee. The Bee was black with headers and an exhaust system and it sounded so f'n awesome. Now with these cars, he doesn't exactly have an ideal vehicle for NY winters. He tried using the Bee last winter and he said it sucked so bad. So he needed a car for winter. So he decided to trade in the Bee for a brand new Dodge Charger R/T AWD. Now side track to the Firebird. It sat in Delaware for like 20 years or something. A mechanic got ahold of it and got it running again. It's a Polaris blue, 1976 Formula with the original 400 and original 4 speed tranny. My coworker traded the guy his Camaro for the Firebird, then had Hooker Super Comp headers and a 3" Pypes exhaust system put on. Everything else mechanically is original. He had installed the dual scoops hood and Centerline Convo Pro's on brand new tires. He had all this done around May of this year in preparation of the Syracuse Nationals which is held in July. Now in doing this, he spent a good amount of money, more money than he actually had. Some bills got skipped, and his credit suffered. So when he went to apply to get his new Charger, he had to put a substantial amount down, including his Bee. This is where I come in. He asked if I'd be interested in buying his Firebird. Price sounded decent, and he told me about what he's done to the car. So since I suck at driving stick, I brought my buddy Nick, owner of that orange 68 Firebird so that he could drive it. But once we got there, we found out the car's insurance had run out, so we let my coworker take the risk and drive it, and man did he drive it. The thing sounded awesome and ran like a bat outta hell. I wanted it. But knowing that I might have a few extra cars than the normal person, I knew this car might be the straw that breaks the camel's back with my parents. So before I talked numbers and tried to make a deal, I left so that I could relax, and really think it over. In all reality, I left to get my parents' blessings. I wanted to make sure they didn't flip upon seeing I bought another car. So I went home, and of course my mom thought I was an idiot, but surprisingly my dad was supportive. To help ease my mind, Nick and I went for a cruise. I wasn't in a rush, so when I got home I just checked out craigslist, just for fun. My dad had mentioned a potential winter rat he had found. I think it was 84 Firebird. Freshly painted orange with T-tops. It was only a V6, but was stick. So I went and got Nick and we went out to the other side of the city. I was impressed with the exterior, but mechanically I'm not sure if there was a problem, or if those V6's are that doggy. Plus the brakes sucked. Even though you really couldn't beat the price, I decided to pass. About half an hour later the lady texted me and said the brake fluid was low, but that didn't change my mind. So then I went home and picked up my dad because he wanted to see the Firebird. So I called up my coworker and got the ok to bring my dad over and check out the car. As we are talking over the car, my dad can't take his eyes off the car that's parked next to the Firebird, the 79 Camaro. I hadn't really paid attention to it up to that point. My coworker said it wasn't for sale, but still went over the whole car with my dad and I. My dad convinced me that I should buy the Camaro over the Firebird. Thing was, the Camaro wasn't my coworkers, it was his dads. So by buying the Camaro, my coworker wasn't getting his downpayment for his new Charger. So, recognizing the opportunity, I told him to bundle the cars, I'd buy them both, why not? So while discussing numbers, the mosquitos were killing my dad and I. So we left so that my coworker could sweat it out. I knew he was under a time crunch. There was a specific Charger he wanted, and all that was needed was the cash, hopefully in time before someone else purchased the Charger. So once my dad and I got home I jumped on Craigslist again. I typed in Firebird, and found one of my favorite cars of all time, a 98-02 Firebird. This particular one was a black 99 with T-tops, and one of my favorite engines, the 3.8L 3800 series II V6. I have already owned 3 3.8's and love them. The price was great, and even though it was late at night, already dark out, I called the guy and asked if I could come out and see it. The guy agreed and my dad and I set off to look at the 4th F-body of the day. I knew that as long as everything was ok on the car, I'd own it. Car was pretty good, but the owner was not. He was kind of...redneck. The car wasn't insured, registered or even inspected. No plates, so neither I nor my dad wanted to test drive it, so the owner said he'd do it. Thing is he was on oxy. Said why not, so I sat in the passenger seat and set off. As we drove by houses the guy kept saying, "my sister lives here, and my aunt lives here, and my cousin lives over here..." I tried testing everything, and so when it came to the cruise control I knew how to use it because it was the same as both of Grand Prixs. The guy couldn't see the stalk so he came to a stop. I thought he was going to turn on a light and look at the stalk, but instead this f'n redneck starts doing a burnout! I was in shock. Then the last turn to go on his street he tried whipping the backend out a little bit, but it didn't. The burnout was just a screech, but I was still furious. This guy was just an absolute idiot. He thought this was some hot car with tons of power, but it's just a V6. He was bred to think Pontiac Firebird, best muscle car. Just ignorance. I still wanted the car, and just prayed this moron hasn't ruined this car, and it would have been ruined in just a year or 2's time. So basically we made a deal I owned the car. I gave the guy a downpayment and told him I'd be back in the morning with a trailer and my truck. Pics after all this blabber: But I'm not done! On the way home my coworker texted me. Basically he had taken $500 off for bundling them. I had then gotten another $500 off the night prior. So when he texted me, he said the bank needed an answer that day. So as we are going down the road and I was going to make a deal, when my dad said hit him lower. We knew he was in a corner, so I gave him an offer where I'd basically be buying the Camaro, and getting the Firebird for free. I told him I'd either buy both for that price, or just buy the Camaro. I knew he needed the Firebird to sell, so he accepted. So when I got home I unloaded the 99, and went and paid for the 76 and 79. The next day I picked up the Camaro and the following day I picked up the Firebird.
  13. Flbandit98, if I could make a suggestion, I'd choose the second picture. Just my .02
  14. Yea I probably overpayed. People I bought it from were asking $4000, so I thought I lowballed them. I had only gone around the block in it so I wasn't aware of the fumes. Door did open on the test drive though. And even though I tried looking under it when I went to buy it, I couldn't see the hole in the frame until I had put it on my lift. I actually won't make that much money on the bird. Bought it for $3200, gas in the truck, registration and tax, I probably have around $3500 in it. Plan with the Harley is sell it. I don't like Harleys. The time to buy a motorcycle is right around this time. People usually can't store bikes, so they sell them at lower prices just to get rid of them. I have plenty of storage, heated at that, so I'll sell it in the spring. Spring is the time to sell because people are tired of snow and want to get out and have fun with a new toy. Spring is also when people get their tax returns. I don't want to put the bike up for sale just yet though. I personally get red flags whenever I see ads for vehicles that were just posted just a few months prior, or ads of vehicles that haven't sold after just couple weeks. If I don't sell it now, people may get scared off seeing it for sale again in the spring. Same goes for my RV, and two other toys I picked up. Who likes F-bodies?
  15. I promise that bird looked better in the pics than in person. It was honestly shot. There was actually a hole in the frame. The body was gone. Doors sagged so much that I had to open the doors on the lift and use the lift to lift the doors and bend the hinges so the doors would at least close. Doors actually opened when I would turn. Talk about panel gap. I overpayed at $3200, with everyone telling me it was less than $3000, probably around $2000. The exhaust fumes got in the cab, and you would be high and light headed after just 15 minutes. I made it a little better by insulating the wall between the trunk and cab. I told the new owner and warned him about the dangerous fumes. The bike is worth about $4000-$4500. I would never be able to get $3500 out of the bird, but with the Harley it'd be easy. I honestly don't even like the Harley, my Yamaha is way more comfortable and better made. Harley is just a name. But people pay good money for just the name, so I'll capitalize on that. Not to worry though, you'll see a lot better in the following
  16. I had a guy come and look at the Firebird. He wanted to trade it for his Harley. So I put it back on the dolly and headed out. Pic below is on the way to the guy's house. Even on it's way to it's new home, the Firebird was still getting looks I love this pic. You have the bike on the truck, empty trailer, owner of the Harley waving goodbye to his bike (pretty sure he is actually saying "bye bike" as I took the pic) and the Firebird behind him in his driveway And now it's home. This Harley is a lot more comfortable than my black one.
  17. Umm, well it was really cool to finally see a car I've been following online since you first bought it. We will say that you have a really nice camera and take great pictures of the car
  18. No. He tried showing me something on his phone but it froze
  19. I told the guy at work the car, and he said he'd buy you a beer as well. 2 beers, totally worth that plane ticket or gas money up here
  20. In a fast car or competing with a buddy - Long straights with no one around, especially cops. No stop signs or lights On my bike - a nice variety of curves and straights with few stops Cruiser - scenery and slow Also a big fan of tunnels
  21. Thanks Young gun. But I don't even have that 74 Firebird anymore. Here's the story. So I bought the car about a week before Syracuse Nationals. I got the car legally on the road just in time. So while it was at the show I put a for sale sign on it just to see if it got any attention, and it got a lot of it. So when I brought it home I put it on craigslist, just to see if I could make a quick buck on it. Someone offered me a trade for another car, so I figured I'd not only look for cash, but maybe a trade. That was the best move I ever made with that car. I got so many offers, really good ones for the car. The vehicles I was being offered were worth far more than what I paid for the car or what I thought the car was worth. I had 3 separate guys come to look at the car with a line of guys behind them and the first 3 loved it. I was offered a K5 Blazer, a shovelhead Harley and the eventual trade, a super clean Harley Sportster. So that's what became of that car. I traded it for a 1997 Harley Davidson Sportster 883 a little over a month after I bought it. Plan is to sell the Harley in the spring. Pics: Day I picked it up. It was up this awesome mountain road. Notice how the front bumper is intact. Ok now that it's home, notice how the front bumper is cracked and missing pieces. The plan was to use my tow dolly and put the car on forwards with the rear tires on the ground. Once it was on the dolly, just crawl under and take the driveshaft out. Well my brother and I weren't paying too much attention to how low the front of the car was. If I actually cared about the car I wouldn't have tried putting it on forwards, but this was just a winter rat so I didn't care if I broke the bumper. So it broke putting it on the dolly, then we realized it was too difficult to get to the driveshaft, so we backed it off, breaking the bumper some more, and backed it on and left. The body was already shot. Pics of it just getting home off the dolly: My buddy in the background is deciding which car he liked better. Having 3 cars for the show plus my dad's cars, we had to have extra drivers. My buddy hated the firebird and decided to drive my Nova. My other friend drove the Firebird and I drove my van. The original color: fire coral bronze At the show
  22. Wow. Stratman you are awesome. If you are ever in the Syracuse area I'll buy you a beer
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