Firebird Projects
Lot#3

                This section is a place for individuals to showcase their projects. Be it converting a regular 
car to full race trim, a restoration, or a restification you'll find them all here.

     If you have a project in process you'd like to have featured here goto the GALLERY FAQ  
for details on how to do it.

Gerrit Dijkstra owns this '68 project bird. Gerrit writes:      "This car is located in Amsterdam. I bought it in August 2001. The previous owner put in a Pontiac 455 with an Edelbrock Performer, electronic ignition and a 4-speed manual. The rear axle is also not original. As far as I can tell, it's from a 2nd gen Firebird (but bearings are worn and it's a non-posi so I'll figure out what to do with it later). Recently the car was moved to a garage where I can really work on it. At the time of this writing the bird is on stands. The front end, wheels and interior are removed. I'm driving all over the Netherlands to scrape various parts together. I've bought a 400 hood, posi-trac axle, hood tach, ralley gauges, center console, etc... All parts are in questionable state but I'll manage to fix them up somehow. I want to add in all kinds of hi-tech features but retain original appearance on the car. In the pictures I've already put on a 2-component zinc primer and black ground primer. I'm not sure about the eventual color but it will have to fit a Parchment interior (I am sure about that already) and it will look EVIL! I'm keeping track of the restoration progress on my site which can be found at http://www.rgp.nl/bird." Thanks, Gerrit

This bird was recently purchased by an old friend of mine. Kenny Gregrich is the owner and he plans to try and bring it back to life. Kenny writes:      "I have added a new Firebird to the collection.  Last summer we bought a '73 Formula 400 for my wife (got married last June).  It's a pretty nice all around car but seriously needs a paint job.  The car was from Tucson, AZ and the paint is quite faded.  But it is quite nice otherwise. The body is 99% rust free.  There is just a small bit of rust on the passenger side front fender at the very bottom.  The car is Florentine Red with black interior.  It has PS/PB/PW/a/c it also has the Y99 handling package and has a 3.55 posi rear, 4 speed.  Other than needing paint, that's about all it needs. The interior is in excellent shape. The car has a set of UGLY wheels on it right now, but I am changing them to Rally II's soon.  I bought a pair of 8" wheels for the rear and will use 7" on the front.  I will be using 4 235-60-15s.  The car also has a 1970 Z-28 rear spoiler that I will be pulling off real soon. So where are you located at these days and how is that '70 T/A coming. I still check out your web page all the time.  I see you've done a lot of improvements to it over time.  It looks GREAT!!!!" Kenny Kenny owns two other Firebirds: A 1967 Firebird that can be seen at '67 Firebirds Lot#1 and a 1969 Trans Am that can be seen at '69 TAs Lot#1.

This Firebird has lots of potential and a long history with its owner. Ronda owns this Firebird and she saw it for the first time when she was only 11 years old. Ronda writes:      "This is my 1978 Firebird. I saw this car come home from the factory with 8 miles on it when I was 11 yrs old. My neighbor, who worked with my father at Body By Fisher, bought this car. I rode to school in it with my neighbors daughter who was a year older than me during high school. I bought this car in 1990 and it has been my daily driver since then. Next month, April, it will be parked to do a complete frame off restoration (I dread driving the '94 Caravan in the mean time...ugh!). I love this car, and want to keep it always! My favorite part is the nose, the 'bat nose' that only was produced on the '77 and '78 models! The grill was different though with the two years with the '77 having the honeycomb grill and the '78 having the crisscross grill. This car has a Chevy 305, automatic trans, power brakes, AC, and power steering. Manual windows and locks. Engine is original and will be rebuilt next month. I refuse to replace the engine (leaking oil in the 2nd cylinder, valve bad) because the numbers won't match! Considering, the car runs great! My mechanic, after I had him replace all the plugs and wires, said he was amazed at the condition of this car." You have a wonderful site here, I enjoy visiting as often as I can! Ronda

Don Averill owns this Firebird. Its started life as an Esprit and is now an ongoing project. Don writes:      "Hi my name is Don Averill and I would like to share some pictures and the story of my 1979 Firebird Espirit VIN# 2T87A9N177595. This is a third owner car; it was initially purchased in Clear water Florida at Charlie Harris Pontiac on 06/06/79. After its life in Florida the car made its way to New York where a friend of mine bought it from a dealer who specialized in southern cars. At that time the vehicle was still all OE including a 231ci V6 w/ac and automatic transmission. My friend drove this car all through high school until the tired old V6 finally had enough. After that the car was put in a barn and forgotten about for 6 years. That's where I enter the picture. My friend and I started working together and about 4 years ago he mentioned he had this old firebird in his barn, he couldn't remember the year he just knew that it was a gen 2 bird. Well my interest was peak because I love that gen 2 body style and I told him I would buy it he said ok and it kinda got forgotten about again. Occasionally the car would come up in conversation and it was well known that 1 day we would get together and I would buy the car.  That day finally came 4/16/01 on my birthday my friend hauled the car to work where I got to see it for the first time and I was a little taken aback, the car was the ugliest color faded yellow w/brown stripes and brown birds w/the OE rally wheels also the same nasty yellow. I swallowed my pride and purchased the car for $1500.00. When I got it home and started looking it over I noticed with a little cleaning and work the interior is mint and upon removal of the chrome (rust catchers) that ran under the doors that the body was also very solid except for the lower front fenders, which can be repaired. The first thing I did was to sand the whole car down and primer it because it was so ugly (sorry I don't have any pics before it was primed) then started building a motor I started out with a 1970 350cu in 4 bolt main out of a chevy k-1500. I had it punched .30 over installed 11:1 Erdle forged flat top pistons and had the engine balanced and blue printed a set of .202 camel back heads and had those decked and milled used SPS rod bolts TRW stainless steel valves, TRW hardened pushrods, Crane Rocker arms,Wolverine blue racer cam w/a .535 lift and a Weiand team G single plane intake with a Holley 750 double pump carb. The car breathes through a K&N air filter and Black Jack headers with Flowmaster mufflers. The transmission I could not do myself so I purchased a TH350 from Swimms transmission with a manual valve body and shift kit. The rear end I went with was a 12 bolt posi GM with 4:10 gears. I topped it all off with a Harwood fiberglass L-88 hood. Needless to say the car runs 11.695 w/street tires. Next on the agenda is to finish the body work and paint it (that's this summer's project)."

Douglas Volkert is about to embark on a full restoration on this tired 1979 Trans Am. As always I salute Doug for his efforts to keep another bird on the road. Doug writes:      "I just bought this '79 Trans Am a little over a week ago and am planning a full ground up resto on it once it starts getting warm. It has me quite confused as everything I`ve researched shows this car shouldn`t be. As I said it`s a '79, but the VIN and all the remains of the decals shows it came from the factory with the 301 Turbo package, which wasn`t available to the '80 model year. It has all the power options, Fisher T-Tops, 4 wheel disc brakes, posi rear end and the gold turbo rims. I don`t know if I`m lucky that the last owner had stripped the car down to a rolling chassis or not as I`m going to have to get all the books I can to put it back together the way the factory did. If anyone has info on rather or not this is a factory goof up or specailly build car for being a test bed, please contact me at eagleflight38@earthlink.net"

Believe it or not folks this car started out life as a Special Edition Trans Am. The same car Burt drove to fame in Smokey & The Bandit. It never ceases to amaze how far people will push these cars. Mega kudos to Maurice Woehrle for endeavoring to bring this one back. Maurice writes:      "Here are a few pics of my '77 SE TA. As you can see from the pics, I have my work cut out for me. The floorboards are non-existent. The paint and decals are incorrect. The interior is shot. The engine doesn't run, but I did find out that the original 400 has been replaced with a 455. And most importantly, it is an authentic Y-82 with the Hurst Hatch T-tops. Plans for the car include more HP, better handling, and all the creature comforts (AC, pw, pl, cruise, auto). I also own a 2000 WS6 TA, and have the goal of making my Bandit TA every bit a great driver as my WS6. So until then, I will just have to keep playing "East bound and down" over and over in my head. Hopefully before too long I will be playing it on the factory 8 track." Maurice Woehrle

Richard Knapp recently sent me some updated pics and info on the progress of his 1968 Firebird restoration. Richard writes: "I saved my '68 from a field. She is a '68 350 Sport Coupe with a two speed auto. # 51,951's car and 18,592 firebird built at the Lordstown, Ohio plant on the 4th week of March. Custom trim and Deluxe interior. There is now a '76 400 in her with a Turbo 350 backing it up. A gone list: rear frame rails, trunk, rockers, rear 1/4's, ignition, radio I am putting a full frame under her. Restore the interior. Rebuild the engine and place a TH400 behind it with a posi. rear end. The rest will be will be restored to factory with a little glammer. I will sent pic's when I'm done." "This is my '68 project. Its modified a bit but still a Bird. The engine is a Chev 355. Tunnel ram 10:1, gear driving timing. The tranny is an M22 with a Centerforce double friction clutch. The Weld wheels and BF 60 tires turn on a 4:11 posi. She has a dual 3" exhaust to breath. The resto is old so that is my next step." Richard recently sent me some new pics of his Firebird in its ongoing restoration. The newest ones are number 2 and 3.