The second generation of the Pontiac Firebird (1970-81) was highly successful, as General Motors sold nearly 1.2 million copies. Its popularity certainly got help from the entertainment industry, where the Firebird was prominently featured in Smokey & The Bandit and The Rockford Files. This Firebird, a 1976 Esprit, is more like the one James Garner drove in the TV series. Except that 44 years later, it has time capsule qualities in that it’s almost perfect. The one owner beauty is located in Spokane, Washington and is available here on eBay where the bidding has reached $12,000 across 11 bids and no reserve.

The original Firebird was introduced in 1967 to do battle with the Mercury Cougar, just as the Chevrolet Camaro was poised to take on the Ford Mustang. With that, the pony car war was in full swing and lasted well into the next decade. The Firebird and Camaro both got complete facelifts for 1970 and hit upon a style that would serve for 11 years. The gas crisis of 1973, along with tighter emissions controls and higher insurance rates, curtailed the fire-breathing versions of these cars a bit. Turbochargers came along and did the job that higher displacement used to do. 1976 was one of the Firebird’s better sales years, with more than 110,000 Firebirds going out the factory door. Of those, some 20% of 22,000 were Esprits, like the one offered for sale.

Esprit was a more upscale trim package on the Firebird but carried its own badging. The big difference over the base Firebird was the use of a “custom” interior that used bucket seats like the Grand Prix which were higher in back. When you checked the box on engine choices, you could get a 350-cid/160-hp V-8 like the seller’s car, with radial-tuned suspension, power steering and sport mirrors. Since the seller’s car has the V-8, it is one of nearly 13,000 sold that way.

With less than 70,000 miles on the odometer, the seller’s Firebird is said to be a one-owner car (but the listing reads as though the seller bought the car from that owner and never re-titled it, so perhaps a flipper). The auction has a wide plethora of photos which show a car that looks about as nice as any could be for never being restored. It seems to be original except for consumables like tires and batteries. We’re told the car has no rust and none is apparent in the photos; it is said to have always been garage-kept and not driven in inclement weather. The Sterling Silver paint looks gorgeous, especially next to the honeycomb wheels, and the half vinyl top looks to have no issues.

Next stop on the time capsule tour is the red interior which looks as inviting as it probably did in 1976, the year that Pontiac celebrated its 50^th year in the car business. Other than a small cut on the bottom of the driver’s seat which should be repairable, everything looks in order from the dash to the headliner, back seat and carpeting. The car has a factory 8-track tape player (shazam!) and comes with the Eagles cartridge that the original owner bought when he treated himself to the car. While nicely appointed, one of the things the car didn’t appear to come with when new was factory air conditioning, which was fairly commonplace by then.

When you pop open the long hood, the original 350 V-8 and two-barrel carb resides there, and the seller chose to pair it to a Turbo-Hydramatic 350. The seller says it runs and drives like new and needs no repairs. Go around to the back and pop the trunk, where it’s extremely clean and the factory full-size spare and jack are there, having never been used (taking up a lot room since this was before the donut spares became popular).

To me, the appeal of this car is that it’s NOT a Trans Am or a Formula, just a regular Firebird that has apparently been well-appreciated and looking for a new home. Hagerty suggests these top out at $20,000 and – given the condition of this car – the bidding might go higher. The only negative to me is the lack of factory air, but I’m in Florida and that makes me a wuss. But I can still hear the answering machine greeting playing in my head: “This is Jim Rockford. At the tone, leave your name and message, I’ll get back to you.”