# Some quick photos of my 1968 Pontiac Firebird 400



## Timothy Patrick (Feb 9, 2006)

_Hi guys, I snapped some pics of my 1968 Firebird after washing and waxing it up good for the short summer season. Thought I'd share them with you guys should there be some car guys people there.

I had my old Firebird restored 10 years ago. It was a complete ground up restoration in which I had purchased and had shipped from the Arizona desert a complete original rust free body. It was immaculate. The car was restored by Early Birds in North York Toronto, Ontario Canada. They are the Pontiac muscle care restoration specialists. They stock a ton of parts on all vintage chevy and Olds and Pontiac cars.

Our summers are very short here and it's arrival is greeted with giddy fanfare. We tend to make the best of them, I like to spend my summer evenings blasting down the lonely ribbons of pavement which slice sparingly through the thick bushlands of Northern Ontario. I found the perfect watch for my evening cruises, my Sinn U2. A thick and very testostoronial chunk of steel to meld in with the old original steel ram air hood.

There's nothing like the sound of a perfectly tuned ole Detroit Big Block!! A thunder that speaks so much louder than words,...of promises unbroken.

p.s. please excuse the dirty engine as I have not yet addressed it's seasonal cleaning and detailing._

















































































_
A friend of mine took some pick this weekend while we were out cruising._


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## GJ (Feb 8, 2006)

Awesome car Timothy, great design and a fantastic color... :gold :gold :gold 
I am sure you enjoy riding this baby.. ;-)


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## Timothy Patrick (Feb 9, 2006)

Thanks Gerard. I had to pay for the red colour code as it was a personal code made up by some wierd painter in Toronto. I only got it because I live 8 hours north and he will never see it at a stop light.

I just love the looks and grins on my friends kids' faces as I take them out for a pop and chip at the chip stands on the highways. Priceless and well worth the price I paid for the resto. BTW, the resto cost me, complete with original engine xrays and rebuild and TH 400 xray and rebuild, $25,000 Can. 10 years ago. It would cost me close to $40,000 now!

Take care,
Tim


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## Searambler (Feb 10, 2006)

Sweeeeeeet! That's my favorite 'Bird! Looks like those resto guys do awesome work! 

(But I'm not sure 'testostoronial' is really a word....... :-D )

Enjoy, looks like a great, fun summer ride! :-! 

Paul


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## XTrooper (Feb 8, 2006)

DAYEM! That is one nice ride! Enjoy it, my friend! :-!


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## Timothy Patrick (Feb 9, 2006)

_Thanks Steve, love to take you for a ride some time and get one in return in your awesome Yellow Corvette rocket!! :-!

Thanks Paul. Testostoronial is my word and anybody who uses it owes me a beer!! :-D :-D _


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## Searambler (Feb 10, 2006)

Timothy Patrick said:


> _
> Thanks Paul. Testostoronial is my word and anybody who uses it owes me a beer!! :-D :-D _


Dang, looks like I owe you a beer - how about a Sleemans? :-!

Paul


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## Ernie Romers (Apr 27, 2005)

Great car, great pictures, thanks for sharing :-!


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## Timothy Patrick (Feb 9, 2006)

_Thanks Ernie. Paul, Sleemans will be fine. _


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## thechief (Feb 12, 2006)

Very nice old "Pony car".
Would you consider selling? Since you live in Canada would $12.68 USD be a good price? :-D:-D


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## Timothy Patrick (Feb 9, 2006)

_Thanks Chief!

Well that would be equal to the value in Canadian dollars a year ago but the Canadian dollar is now higher against the US dollar so equal value now is about $21.35 US. :-D :-D

Ahhhh, but it's not for sale._


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## georges zaslavsky (Feb 11, 2006)

very nice car, I reallly like it, I remarked the hood tach and the original rally wheels,does it have original the vinyl seats?
40000$ are the price very good condition examples can reach.


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## The Dude (Apr 26, 2006)

*Damn! Great pics of a great car! Hope you get to make it to TO*

this summer - specially for the Toronto Beer Festival (But no driving allowed at the Beer Fest..!)


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## Timothy Patrick (Feb 9, 2006)

georges zaslavsky said:


> very nice car, I reallly like it, I remarked the hood tach and the original rally wheels,does it have original the vinyl seats?
> 40000$ are the price very good condition examples can reach.


_
Thanks Georges!!

The ram air hood and 14" rally II rims are infact original and in the case of the rims, sandblasted down and painted to the original colours with orginal PMD (pontiac motor division) center caps out of the original bag. The hood tach is not original as the original was prone to developing condensation and had only one light. This one is fiberglass and completely sealed with two lights. It glows at night. Once, I had a guy and his girlfriend pull up beside me at the lights. He says "nice colour too bad it's a stupid pontiac!!.. What's the glowing thing on the hood?" I replied " It's an intelligence I.Q. tester and yours in registering 8 and the glow is a dimwit warning light!!" His girlfriend bursts out in laughter and calls him a bonehead. He pulled out in the middle of a red. :-D :-D :-D

The seats were replaced with OER vinyl, new seat springs and foam. The vinyl was made by a company who uses the original vinyl. The dash pad, interior doors and panels and headliner and such were made by the company who owns the original textile equipment and using the same material so it is considered OER. The carpet is made from the original 80/20 nylon material from the same textile equipment so it's also OER. The trim is all original as this item is hard to find and as of a few years ago has not been reproduced. I had a GTO steering wheel but went with a nice aftermarket wooden wheel which I believe matches the burlewood deluxe interior perfectly. This summer, I will address the original buttons some. Original radio and rally clock also.
_

















apologies, I haven't addressed the interior detailing yet as of the taking of this pic.

cheers,
Tim


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## Timothy Patrick (Feb 9, 2006)

_Hey Dude, love to make it down for the big beer fest but I'm not too sure if that's possible this summer. Thanks for the kind words.  _


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## Fazmaster (Jun 11, 2006)

*Awesome !!!*

We don't many of them babys around here in Montreal....Classic !!!! All that is missing in your post is the sound of that engine on full acceleration...Congrats on a fine car..Great job on the resto too !!!

Cheers,

Federico


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## Timothy Patrick (Feb 9, 2006)

_Hi Fazmaster. Thanks for the kind words. Actually, many, many nice old vintage and muscle cars up here. Actually tons of them. Most of them very, very nice.

The sound is awesome. The 400 big block has 404Hp on the crank. Is bored 60 over and has flat head pistons, heavy duty crank shaft, superstock rods, a very nice competition cam shaft, roller tipped roller rocker arms, Titanium valves, 10 degree locks and retainters and a nice valve job done. Original rochester quadrajet carb, rebuilt. Original Turbo hydramatic 400. Beefed up with a nice shift kit. Heavy duty drive shaft and a .373 rear end gear ratio. Heavy duty axles and spools. Very beefy.

Both the engine and tranny were x-rayed before the rebuild the the rebuilt was done by Engine Tech in Toronto, Ontario.

The car is set up for cruising and not for drag racing. It runs nice, smooth and strong. Purs like a kitten at a stop light but sounds like a fire breathing dragon at high throttle. I can leave 60 feet of rubber on the pavement if I want but I very rarely do. Most times, I drive it like I drive my Suburban, but every once in a while, at a lonely set of lights, on a hot nights with the sound of Led Zeppelin pounding in my head.........;-);-)_


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## georges zaslavsky (Feb 11, 2006)

Nice spec of your car timothy:-! There were also 233 transams made in 1969 including one vert but I have never seen those who were generally painted white with a blue stripe. Some of the most powerful cars from pontiac I have seen were the 1969 grand prix sj with its 428ci 370hp engine and the 73-74 formula and transam with the 455 super duty engine.


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## Timothy Patrick (Feb 9, 2006)

_Hi Georges, my uncle bought a car in 1969 in the states. It was a '68 Pontiac Catalina, burgundy with the vinyl roof and a huge wopping 428 which put out a ton of horsepower. Loved that car. You could put a world cup soccer team in the trunk of it. He put over 1/2 million miles on that engine and never replaced anything that wouldn't normally be replaced.

A real rare bird indeed would be the 1969.5 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am convertible. I think I heard that 11 were made and about 5 survive to this day. I used to pick up the Dupont Registry and one sold in the nineties for a quarter of a million dollars US.

Thanks Georges!!:-!

Tim_


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## louis (Feb 11, 2006)

Beautiful car, and Cragars are my all time favorits. I wich I could fix it here:


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