Limelight Green with a gold interior and a dark green convertible top. That’s how this 1969 Pontiac Firebird in Blossomwood, Alabama left the factory, according to its body tag, and that’s what you see today. On top of that, it retains the original overhead cam inline six cylinder engine as well. The highly original drop-top seeks a new owner here on Craigslist where $15,500 seals the deal. Thanks to reader Tony P. for spotting this SOHC survivor.
A Pontiac exclusive, this innovative Single OverHead Cam mill began life on the drawing board with Chevrolet’s 230 cid (3.8L) inline six cylinder engine and ended with nearly every component altered, according to OHC6. Stroked to 250 cid (4.2L) for model year 1968 and ’69, this base version made 175 HP and 240 lb-ft of torque. An optional high-performance “Sprint” version made 215 and 255, respectively. The first production engine to utilize a supercharger-style composite belt instead of metal gears and chain, the OHC six lived happily at RPM numbers that would grenade most stock V8s of the day. Thanks to the cache of Pontiac brochures at lov2xlr8 for some details.
Nearly every panel shows some damage, but minimal rust bodes well for a restoration. A new owner could easily embrace the “survivor” vibe and enjoy this interesting ride after sorting any safety and reliability concerns. Among first-generation (1967-69) Firebirds, the ’69 features unique styling that makes the one-year-only look extremely popular decade after decade.
The “Gold” vinyl interior has seen better days, and many of these crunchy-looking plastics beg for replacement. Gold not only compliments the Limelight Green paint, it should prove less searing to the unsuspecting flesh of your victims passengers after baking in the sun.
The seller includes this shot of the then-unusual OHC arrangement. Thanks to an emphasis on reliability, the well-engineered OHC sixes rarely suffer belt failure, according to OHC6. This powerplant only graced the engine bays of Pontiac’s Firebird and mid-sized LeMans and Tempest, narrowing the number remaining in operation. They’re also rarer because, at least through the 1980s, most buyers of these OHC Pontiac classics took about fifteen minutes inspecting and commenting on the novelty of the ahead-of-its-time OHC six before yoking it out so they could install a V8. I’d consider a later five-speed in place of the column-shifted three-speed manual and otherwise simply restore it to factory fresh and hit the road. Would you preserve this Firebird’s OHC six or swap in something different?
It’s gonna go fast. I’d love to give that six all the options, and be tempted to put a manual on the floor.
I learned to drive a stick shift on a 69 Firebird convertible. A local teacher had a side job working on old British sports cars out of a couple garages he rented a few blocks from my house. As a 15-16 year old kid I’d go by from time to time and he’d give me a couple bucks to clean parts and do other odd jobs. He also taught me a lot about cars. His wife had a Verdoro Green 69 4 speed OHC6 Sprint convertible, and one afternoon he took me to a nearby parking lot and taught me how to drive a manual trans in it.
I like this car, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen a 3 speed column shift Firebird or Camaro. Every 3 speed F body I’ve ever seen was a floor shift. If it was mine I think I’d have to turn it into a 4 speed, 4bbl Sprint clone, or better yet try to find a real Sprint.
I think you are right about the 4spd conversion. A column shift manual doesn’t seem like a natural fit on this sort of car, plus the 4spd will make the car much more fun to drive.
Steve R.
Many of us learned to drive stick that way, seems perfectly fine to me, and to all of us mature types.
Curt, the last portion of your comment belies your maturity.
Steve R
Leno has a Sprint convertible.
What’s that odd rattle sound when he’s shifting ? Some vibration from the trans ?
https://youtu.be/S5gWSWH053Y?si=VBjGxvk8XDA2bKHr
Maturity refers to age in this context, though I might add that with age does come wisdom. Perhaps the wisdom of knowing how to shift up near the wheel and not to find that intimidating.
This was certainly the first American production engine to use a toothed timing belt, but the Germans beat us to it with the 1962 Glas 1004.
So did Willys in 1963 with their Don Healey designed Tornado OHC Hemi 6, that used a single cam lobe per cylinder.
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Hmmm…if it’s originally a column shift, why is there a shifter boot on the floor?
Good observation Rik, my guess is someone converted to a floor shift at some time and then someone decided to convert it back to the column. Definitely needs to be investigated along with the rest of the car if one is seeking originality!
Definitely leave the OHC 6. Maybe a Sprint clone as was suggested above, but please don’t swap a 400 in this. These are rare Birds today.
A four speed floor shifted would also be a nice addition.
Not a boot.
Just something laying on the floor that looks like a boot.
Wrong, 2 pictures clearly show it with the chrome trim around it.
It is a shifter boot, and appears to still be screwed to the floor pan.
Steve R
I can recall 2 vehicles with 6 cylinder manual transmissions. My aunt had a 1969 Firebird hardtop with a 3 on the floor. Very torquey car. And a neighbor decades ago had a 1967 Camaro convertible 6 cylinder 3 spd manual on the column.
Well, this is interesting. A column shifted 3 speed manual? I did not know that animal existed. Two other things that kind of took me by surprise, the RPMs that a SOHC could live with and the horsepower of the performance options. As far as this particular car goes, it wouldn’t be for me, but I don’t think it is a bad buy for a person that is in to Firebirds.
Wife’s ’69 Camaro, 6, had a 3 speed manual on the floor. Shift boots were rubber and lasted about three years, then ripped. Bought from dealer, as time passed, they were NOS and rotted out in a year. Finally got a piece of leather and made one, lacing and all, and it lasted 6 or so years until the whole underside of the car rotted away at age 14.
Senior year high school auto mech class 1971. Friend of mine had a 69 Lemans with the same engine. I think. Could of been the Sprint version. Don’t remember exactly. Anyway he asked me if I could tune it for him since I was 1 of about 3 guys in the Senior class of 123 students that had pretty good mechanical knowledge, thanks to farm life.
His car had the 3 speed on the floor and was bone stock.
I’m here to tell you that little car was flipping quick! The only downside it had was a pretty soft suspension.
This car is a very nice starting place.
Personally I would replace the white top a interior color top.
I believe 3 on the floor was the standard transmission in the Sprint models, with a 4 speed and automatic as options.
I have seen a column shifted 3 speed in at least first gen Camaro sixes, so it would not surprise me if the base OHC6 Firebird could be similarly equipped.
An OHC6 69 Firebird, man o man, and drop top too, life just don’t get much better. If this car was to come my way I might be tempted to install an aftermarket turbocharger. I learned to drive with three on the column, it’s not hard once you learn the proper co-ordination. Yet like many others I do like floor shifted versions better. My dad (RIP) would argue that it took engineers years to figure out how to put the gear shifter up off the floor. I don’t know maybe he was right, of course he lived in a time when automobiles were a new invention, his first vehicle was a Model T truck. I really miss my 69 Firebird 400/400 in bright yellow with black vinyl roof, black seats and American racing wheels, but that was at least 5 decades ago.
God Bless America
Just an FYI on the difference between a standard OHC6 and the Sprint. The standard engine had 1bbl, 9.0 compression, and a milder cam. The Sprint was Q-jet equipped, 10.5:1 compression, had a hotter cam and dual exhaust header like manifolds. For 1968-69 the HP for the Sprint engines were 215 with an automatic and 230 with manual 3 or 4 speed.
Having to use premium gas in these OHCs vs regular gas in more powerful v8s explains the poor sales. Not even sure if the 9 to 1 base ohc motor could run on regular. 8.4 to 1 or less motors can for sure.
IMO, this dash should have also been used in the ’69 camaro.
Firebirds, my soft spot
Built a pretty custom with fuel injected 400 , 67 , triple blue , air suspension and more , sold it for a commercial building project that left me with quite a few extra dollars …
I don’t go for stock but i swear that i would leave a sprint convertible with a 4 speed stick , bone stock , could never put my hands on one in our canadian region
This one is a beauty also but the exchange rate is not good at all
YOLO
I wonder…. did someone START converting to floor shift then halt the project? That seems more likely than the suggestion that it was being returned to stock 3 on the tree.
There is a very good chance of that. I worked in auto parts and we sold a lot of Hurst 3spd shifter to people who’s manual column shifter wore out. Even 25 years ago it was hard to find replacement parts even for pickup truck, which were the vehicle most likely so equipped. What are the odds of finding parts to repair a 67-69 F-body manual shift column? Even if you could, how likely is it that those parts, which are now a minimum of 55 years old are going to work properly or for an extended period of time.
Steve R
Steve R. A friend went back to column shift on a Fairlane using a mix of original and home-made parts including a door hinge from a hardware store. Don’t try this at home, kids!
As an Airman First Class In 1968, while stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, I bought a clean, totally rust free, 57 Chevrolet Bel Air hardtop from a Master Sergeant for $450.00. Dirt, cheap today, but then again, back then I was only making $208.00 A MONTH. Anyway, I modified that 57 Chevy by installing a 2 X 4 setup that came off a 1956 Corvette and I installed a Borg Warner T-10 4 speed that originally had been in my 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible, A 348 Tri Power drag car back home in New Jersey. Anyway several friends and I used to drag race at this dirt water track just across the state line in Oklahoma called Red River Speedway. Well one of the guys who would drag race with the rest of us was a Staff Sergeant who had served a tour in Vietnam, (but in the Marine Corp) and then reenlisted for another four years, (but in the Air Force). He also married his HOT LITTLE wife, a former showgirl in Las Vegas. Then with his REENLISTMENT BONUS, he made a down payment on a double wide house trailer and bought his wife a brand new, 1968 Tempest sedan with the 230 OHC Six hooked to a 4 speed. Previously she had been driving her husband’s rust free 1954 Chrysler Imperial 4 door sedan that I wound up buying for I think, $50.00. Well one day we were at Red River Speedway and the sergeant’s wife raced me using her new 68 Pontiac Tempest OHC six, against my dual quad, 4 speed 57 Chevy Bel Air, and guess what? She blew my doors off, which I was never able to live down. By the way, of the 35 cars I’ve owned in my life beside that 57 Chevy Bel Air (which I made 3 and 1/2 round trips in, between Texas & New Jersey) plus both a 58 Chevy Impala convertible & hardtop, as well as 63 Chevy Impala convertible, a 1981 Camaro 305 4 speed car that I bought brand new, a 2002 Toyota Camry that my wife & I bought brand new (that today only has 41,000 miles), and two different 1969 AMC Hurst SC/Ramblers (one of which I still have) the car I kick myself in the ass for not holding onto was that 54 Chrysler Imperial 4 door sedan, a rust free Texas car with the 331 Hemi. Everything in that car worked, Power Steering, Power Brakes, Power seat, Power Windows and if I remember correctly it even had A/C.
This engine – transmission combination makes this bird a bit of a unicorn. I would say leave it as it was built. This is the first 3 on the tree firebird I have ever come across.