I spend a fair amount of time in Florida, as it’s one of my favorite places to visit and easily accessible from my too-cold-too-often home of Rhode Island. One aspect of the Sunshine State that’s different from home is the lack of old barns hiding classic cars – more often, the structures themselves are less traditional, so I’m happy to see here a Florida take on the classic barn find with a Firebird hiding out in vintage building wearing the proper shade of red paint. This Firebird was parked after the owner fell ill, so check out this unfinished project here on craigslist for $1,200.
This era of Firebird always looked a bit nose-heavy to me, with the front panel appearing to droop more than it should. Regardless, the smooth edges were an improvement (in my opinion) and they look pretty killer on gold mesh wheels like this one is wearing. The seller notes the Pontiac retains the basic recipe of features for a Firebird of any vintage: a 305, automatic transmission with 2.73 rear end, and T-tops.
The seller offers few details on the Pontiac’s history, other than it’s been sitting for four years and is not currently running. The interior looks to remain in stock condition, but it’s not easy to tell just how clean that tan cloth and carpeting has remained. The steering wheel appears to show some indications of advanced wear or deterioration of some kind, but it’s hard to tell for sure.
Provided it hasn’t experienced catastrophic levels of neglect, getting a 305 V8 to fire again shouldn’t prove too difficult. The seller notes that the Firebird retains a clean history and title, which presumably means it hasn’t been in any major accidents. Matching paint under the hood would seem to suggest the color remains original, but for $1,200, I’m not sure I’d sweat the details about original cosmetics too much. Could this be a fun and cheap summertime revival?
It looks like the car Dwight Schrute drove on The Office
Dwight’s was an earlier trans am GTA, 87-89 I believe. He actually had an identical “parts car” he used as a decoy in one episode lol.
I agree about the nose. I have a pair now after the 86 was rear endend. Wish they were a different color. I have to say the 1990 V6 I picked up has a bit more power. Both of. them 1 owner cars when I got them.
Nice birds Tom. I’ve always been partial to the Trans Am with the ground effects looks over the simpler formula, but I wouldn’t kick a formula out of my garage!
I like this era of Firebird. I also agree on the nose. This could be a cheap entry into the hobby. The windows appear tinted and that probably helped preserve the interior.
these really are great cars, I love mine
Jeff, we have a lot of good classic cars
hiding out in the Winter Haven Florida
area. In fact, my neighborhood is a hot
spot fot classic car activity! On any given
day, I can almost gaurantee that you’d see
at least one or two classics cruising down our street! From my front porch, I
see everything from low nileage Buick
Roadmaster wagons to fire breathing
hot rods like this ’67 Nova SS that
rumbles by my house chock full of
big block Chevy power. Walk two doors
down, and you’ll see that my neighbor
has two very nice late ’90’s Cadillacs that
he’ll sell you for a fair price. In fact, I
watched a buyer remove a ’54 Studillac
custom from the garage of the house
next to mine in 2017! And yes, the man
who built that car still lives in this area.
You folks should stop by sometime,
have a drink, and watch the classic cars
drive by.