Sorry for more of this, after one on my other Birds and
another on Burt Reynolds, but I realized the ’67-69 models were
underrepresented in my blogging.
Now the GM F-body is limited to current Camaros,
themselves based on the original 1969 Camaro.
Both models started with the 1967 model year to compete with the Ford
Mustang. The Camaro consistently outsold
the Firebird by a wide margin, though. I
can’t resist a blog entry devoted to the earliest Firebirds.
Oldsmobile
F-Body. When the Camaro
and Firebird were in development phase, Oldsmobile asked to be included in the
mix. But GM brass decided that three
versions would stretch the market too thin. Instead Oldsmobile was given leave to make
what became the 1968 Hurst Olds, a black & silver special edition Cutlass
with ram air and a hot Olds 455. Fun to
imagine what an Olds F-body would have looked like…
Model
Years. Only three: 1967,
1968, and 1969. The 1967s were late
coming out, in February 1967, whereas the 1967 Camaro came out in September
1966. The 1967 and 1968 models had a
full chrome bumper (upper center), the 1969 (see 1969 Trans Am lower left) had
the chrome in the middle with body color on the sides, a look few people
liked. The ‘67s and ‘68s can be
distinguished as the former have vent windows – the little triangular windows
in front of the main windows, designed to let air in without having to roll
down the main windows, a relic of an age when A/C was far less common than it
is now - and the latter don’t.
Logo. By now we’re used to the FIREBIRD with
upraised wings of fire, prominently featured on 1973 and later Trans Ams and
known as the “Screaming Chicken”. But
back then the wings were lowered and it looked more like a native American
Indian thing, which is how it was inspired.
Convertibles. Although convertibles made a comeback in
1991-92 for the end of the third generation, and briefly in the mid-90s with
the fourth generation, they were available across the board for ’67-69. No roll cages, though, and the body
stiffening made them heavier than hardtops.
Overhead
Cam Six. (Upper left
picture). At this time, six cylinder
engines, almost all inline, were the entry level engines with no special
features or attention. DeLorean, the
Pontiac manager, decided to spruce it up by giving it an overhead cam and a
brand new rubber timing belt. Innovative
and unique, but an idea which fell by the wayside in an era when V8s were king. Later on Buick turbocharged its 3.8L V6 and
made the Grand National and GNX superior cars – the engine even found its way
into the 1989 Twentienth Anniversary Trans Am, the only Trans Am with a six
cylinder engine. But before the Buick
V6, there was the Pontiac OHC 6. Oh,
some people even put them in Jaguars….
Models. Whereas later the models each had a variety
of available engines, for the first generation the models were determined by
the engines themselves. The 400 was the
top end, and with Ram Air were the absolute best. Note: the 400 was shared with the GTO, but
the lighter Firebird would have been a faster car.
Base. OHC 6 with a one barrel carburetor. Hardly anything special. The OHC displaced 230 cubic inches in 1967
and 250 in 1968 and 1969.
Sprint. Add a Rochester QuadraJet to the OHC Six –
amazing. No one was putting four barrel
carburetors on six cylinders, as even V8s came stock with 2 barrel carburetors. With its lighter weight came better
handling. Moreover, models with the four speed manual transmission got a slightly hotter camshaft. DeLorean was proud of the
Sprint model but no one else cared.
326/350. Next model up had either a 326 (1967) or 350
(1968-69) cubic inch V8 with a two barrel carburetor and a single exhaust. Note the 350 is NOT the same as the
Chevrolet V8 which debuted in 1967 in the Camaro SS.
HO. Slap a QuadraJet and dual exhaust on the 326
or 350 and you have a better model.
400. (Upper middle picture, a ’67 hardtop). The top model, includes the GTO’s 400 cubic
inch V8 with fake hood scoops, QuadraJet and dual exhausts. This was my dream model but as yet I haven’t
been able to buy one.
The stock 400 cubic inch V8 (6.6L) put out 325 HP (gross)
and was itself a good engine. In fact,
the engine continued to be available in Firebirds up to the 1979 model year in
Trans Ams and Formulas, though by then reduced to 220 (net) HP and only
available with a 4 speed manual. The
late 60s were its glory days, and a buyer who wanted the hood scoops on his/her
Firebird 400 to be truly operational could pay more for the Ram Air
option. As noted below, this changed the
engine itself to some extent.
Ram Air I (1967 and early 1968).
This option opened the hood scoops for
true cold air induction. However, the
rest of the engine was pretty much the same as the standard 400.
Ram Air II (late 1968). (Upper right picture). WOW.
Pontiac finally made round port cylinder heads which well outflowed the
stock D-port heads which were normally standard. This made the car much faster than the
standard 400, making the RAII models favorites at dragstrips – so much so that
by now the original 110 run are down to a handful. Properly tuned RAII models ran consistent
mid-12 second quarter mile times at the dragstrip and were highly competitive,
which explains their popularity.
Ram Air III (1969). Using Ram Air, but only D-port heads. The entry level Ram Air engine in 1969.
Ram Air IV (1969). Improved round port heads, the RAIV engine
became the most popular 400 cubic inch Pontiac V8. So much so that when Edelbrock finally came
out with aluminum cylinder heads for Pontiacs, they used the Ram Air IV heads
as the basis, even though the RAIV heads are actually cast iron.
1969
Trans Am. (Bottom left
picture). Nowadays the Trans Am is
famous because of the 1977 Special Edition – the so-called “Bandit” Trans Am
from Burt Reynolds and “Smokey and the Bandit”, but the model got its start at
the end of the first generation. By now
the model has far eclipsed the race series in popularity, but back then the
Trans Am races were still going strong.
They mandated the use of a car sold to the public with an engine no
larger than 305 cubic inches, which prompted the Camaro Z/28 with its 302 cubic inch V8 (the Z28 option, mandating a
hardtop – the only convertible owned by Chevrolet GM Pete Estes – and a four
speed manual transmission), while the Camaro SS had a 350 or 396. However, Pontiac’s experiment with smaller
V8s didn’t pan out. That didn’t stop
them from paying SCCA for the right to use the name, and slapping it on a Firebird
400 with either a Ram Air III or Ram Air IV 400 cubic inch V8 – thus the model
didn’t even qualify for the race it was named after. The ’69 Trans Am came in one color, white,
with a pair of blue stripes, a different hood, and a spoiler. Essentially it was just an appearance package
on a Firebird 400. For 1970 and the
second generation (1970-81) the Trans Am became a model of its own. Of the 697 Trans Ams made in 1969, 8 (4
automatic, 4 manual) were convertibles, making them highly valuable.
Idiosyncrasies. Air conditioning was available but rare –
the compressors were heavy and inefficient.
Skinny bias ply tires were standard back then, and even the best wheels,
Rally II, were steel and not aluminum.
Power steering and power brakes were also options, not standard. For that matter, front disc brakes weren’t
even standard, so four wheel manual drum brakes were common – try stopping
quickly with those. The steering wheel
was skinny, and the linkage further back, with no sway bars, so aside from the
Trans Am, these early models didn’t handle very well. Oh, and bench seats and column shifters were
also available, though fortunately rare – though I did see a Firebird 400 –
upgraded to a 428 – with those. Even so,
the bucket seats were little more than a slab.
In fact, by the time I began actively searching for a ’67
or ’68 Firebird 400, I had my ’92 Firebird Formula 350, which had excellent
seats, stellar handling, overdrive (TH700R4), power steering, and four wheel
disc brakes – oh, and air conditioning. Its
Tune Port Injected (small block Chevy) 350 put out 300+ HP, net (not
gross). By every standard the ’92 was a
much better car. I may have been
disappointed that my search failed, but getting back into the Formula was not
nearly as disappointing as getting back into a Cavalier or Tercel would have
been.
My own? I may have
mentioned my trip to Detroit in October 1995 to buy a 1968 Firebird 400 hardtop,
which failed. The car was advertised in
Hemmings, and the owner swore it was roadworthy and promised to meet us with it
at the bus terminal in Detroit. Thanks
to an overnight bus trip from DC to Detroit, with a 3 a.m. stopover in
Cleveland, my buddy Phil and I wound up by ourselves at the terminal, and the
owner conveniently forgetting his promise.
We had to get a cab to the airport, then a rental car to his house near
Flint. There we found the car almost
impossible to start with its ignition switch poking through the left knob hole
where the radio would be. We tried to
locate a flatbed truck, to no avail, so we simply drove the rental car all the
way back to Northern Virginia. So much
for that.
