While the owner doesn’t specifically make mention of it, when you look at the overall condition of this 1978 Pontiac Firebird Esprit, the claim that the car has covered a genuine 73,000 miles seems to be quite conceivable. I really have to thank Barn Finder Ikey H for spotting this Firebird for us, because it does seem to be a beauty. It is located in Littleton, Colorado, with an asking price of $9,000. If it has sparked your interest to the point of wanting to investigate it further, you will find it listed for sale here on craigslist.

This is a nice looking car, and it is also one that is hard to find too many faults with. There’s some slight damage to the front bumper on the passenger side, but the rest of the car looks to be quite good. The trim and glass also look to be in good condition, and the wheels don’t appear to have the discoloration that can be experienced from brake dust. The owner also holds a significant amount of documentation for the car, including two build sheets, the window sticker, original Bill of Sale, the dealer invoice, and the owner’s manual. He says that the documents run to about 27 pages.

As with the exterior, the interior presentation is extremely good, with only a couple of minor flaws to note. The really obvious one is some wear on the steering column below the ignition switch. It looks like the ignition key has been on a fairly bulky key ring, and this has rubbed through the finish on the steering column as the car has been driven. That aside, the white upholstery appears to have held up well over the years, and both the headliner and carpet seem to be in good condition. I think that it’s a real shame that some of our current manufacturers aren’t more adventurous with interior trim colors. It’s pretty rare to see a new car with white upholstery today, and that’s quite sad.

Under the hood are a 350ci V8 and automatic transmission. While the photo isn’t that great, the owner says that the car runs and drives like a dream. I can see that the car has power brakes, but I’m not completely sure about power steering. One interesting point about the 1978 Firebird is that while 187,000 cars rolled off the production line that year, only around 37,000 of them were the Esprit. This is a far lower number than I expected. It’s hardly surprising that the Trans Am accounted for just on half the sales for that year.

For someone who is a fan of the Firebird but is looking for something different than a Trans Am, then this might be a car that is worth a serious look. Values on these aren’t that close to the Trans Am, but they are still respectable. You can find a good one today for around $12,000, but an immaculate example will set you back closer to $20,000. This would be classed somewhere between those two, so that makes the asking price very competitive.