The third generation of the Pontiac Firebird finally arrived in 1982. Like the second gen, it stuck around for 11 years but didn’t share in the earlier car’s sales glory brought about by the success of the Trans Am in the Smokey and the Bandit movies. The seller bought this car to race and dropped in a 454 GM truck engine for the drag strip. It was set up to run off of nitrous, but the buyer won’t benefit from that. Located in Holbrook, Arizona, wearing a large box atop the hood (scoop?), it’s available here on Facebook Marketplace for $2,500. Hail to Jack M. for the interesting tip!
This appears to be a “regular” Firebird, which would have had a V6 engine as standard back in the day. But that’s long gone to make room for a largely stock 454 cubic inch V8 that’s paired with a 2-speed Powerglide automatic transmission for the “duct tape” races (does anyone know what these are?). The goal was to produce a cheap drag car, and that appears to be the case with the somewhat ridiculous hood for what was probably limited street use.
The 454 has been “opened up” to accept nitrous (this guy was serious). The car will have to be towed as the transmission was killed during its last run, whenever that was. A new shifter in the box comes with the car to help get it back in action. The car turned 12.5 seconds as a rule in the quarter mile, with the potential of shaving off another second with some work. Some of the photos show it at the strip, not on the street.
The car looks mostly okay except for the hood. And no photos are provided of the interior, so we don’t know what it may need. The seller has other plans for the nitrous setup, but will leave the bottle mount if that’s the direction the buyer wants to go in. Would you continue with racing as the goal for this Poncho, or would you try to take it back to stock with the big block currently in place?
Maybe the box on the hood is a coop for the screaming chicken that never lived there…love the old plates covering the heater core holes, so I guess A/C not charged.
I wouldn’t normally like a car like this, but I do like this one. I like the license plates on the firewall, and that barn there on the hood. I’ve got a crazy idea of making it a daily driver.
Search Duct Tape Drags in YouTube Russ. You will learn all about it. Competitors have to prove that they only have $5,000 invested in their cars. Great variety of racers.
Pontiac should’ve integrated that hood into the factory design. It’s a good thing the intake wasn’t offset to the left LOL.