[Squidward]

Anyone? I know it must be some kind of no-no from a style point of view, but I need more gear hauling capacity when I drive to the track.

I will be running a set of drag radials on a second set of wheels. Plan is to drive to the track on street tires, and change the rears to sticky tires.
Besides... hauling tools, cooler, etc. becomes a challenge to fit in the tiny trunk and backseat. I was thinking a tiny utility trailer to pull behind it.

Any install or logistic issues for anyone that has done this?

[Sirrotica]

Looks like no one manufactures one any longer so you'd be buying a universal style and making it fit your car. Depends on how handy at fabrication you are, and ability to weld.

U haul will build you a custom hitch and as luck would have it their fab facility is in Tempe. Says they'd need to have the car for 2-3 days.

https://www.uhaul.com/Locations/Trai...-85281/822053/

I do remember seeing 1st gen F body cars with class 1 hitches years ago as well as 68-74 X body cars which is essentially the same underbody as the F bodies. My 05 GTO is a unibody car and I have a class 1 hitch which I've used to haul a car dolly with a 97 firebird on it as well as a enclosed 5X10 trailer that weighed at least 2000#. No reason your car can't pull a trailer weighing less than mine will.

Go for it.

[b-man]

If you don't do the trailer, consider investing in a fold-down back seat.

[TheSilverBuick]

I asked a guy that had a nice hitch on his Firebird and he said U-haul fab'd it up and installed it. I plan on going down that route this summer.

[teeraven]

They had one on the One Lap Camaro but I don't know where he got it.

[Squidward]

I was looking to pull a small utility trailer.

I have no room for a car trailer, so space is a premium. And my son is almost 15, so it will be a year before I have another driver available to haul gear/cars.

[Squidward]

Originally Posted by b-man

If you don't do the trailer, consider investing in a fold-down back seat.

The original owner already did that for me.

[68tpls400]

I pulled and junked 4 or 5 OEM hitches off '68 'birds back in the '80's. You could order them. They are almost impossible to find these days. But I was able to pick up a nice used one from this site (parts for sale) a year or two back. They pop up on Epay from time to time, but usually at a premium price.

[68tpls400]

Here is a link to a non OEM one that just sold:
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=797734

[Keith Seymore]

I have an OEM bumper pull hitch for a '69 Bird that I don't plan on doing anything with.

K

[rohrt]

I still have a 68 bumper with a ball hitch. I have not look at it in years but it seemed pretty sketchy how it was fastened. I need to get a picture of it sometime.

[Squidward]

Where do these tie in at? Bumper, rear frame rails, ???...

[nashcar]

Sure they're a premium now, I scrapped the one that was on mine. You can see a picture of it in my signature. The previous owner made it to haul a boat.

[rohrt]

Originally Posted by Squidward

Where do these tie in at? Bumper, rear frame rails, ???...

The one on my car, if I remember correctly, think of a 2" wide metal square with the ball hitch at the bottom. It sat under the bumper and attached at the top to the same location as the screws to the license plate light. You could see the license plate though the square opening. The bottom had a separate bracket, that attached to the lower pan under the bumper at the pinchweld. Wasn't even tied to the frame.

[sts]

How do they attach to the car?

That's a good question because I don't see how either pictured hitches will mount to a fg f-body. Maybe I'm overlooking something, so somebody please explain the attachment points.

I wouldn't use either of the pictured hitches because I don't see 4-point mounts, unless they're missing pieces. No offense Rhort, but based on your description, I wouldn't use that one either. “Wasn't even tied to the frame” shows that you weren't impressed with it! I'm glad to see that many of us fgf owners understand the limitations of our cars when it comes to light-truck duty.

My 9 had a luggage rack and a hitch. Although it's off topic, I'll start with the rack because it was an “interesting contraption,” and you like fgf trivia. The luggage rack was GM, but it wasn't listed on the phs. So it was a dealer add-on, or the factory invoice didn't include it in the option's list, not unusual.

The luggage rack looked more hideous in life than it does on page 24.
http://thefirstgensite.com/library/6...iacoptions.swf
It had small rust pits. Other than that, it was perfect, including all the black-plastic plugs in the bottom end. The decklid, on the other hand, was crushed-down at the mounting points. My guess: po used the rack to haul sbc-blocks on it because he was a Chevy man. I chit-canned the lid/rack as a single unit.

The trailer hitch, also went into the chit-can. Unlike the picture-documented GM luggage rack, I cannot document the trailer hitch as GM; still, I can verify one thing. The trailer hitch on the Camaro, teeraven's picture, is the EXACT hitch that was on my car.

That hitch could be GM, or JCWhitney. Of course, JCW sold lots of junk and gadgets; likewise, they sold extremely, high-quality accessories.

It might not be apparent because you cannot see the mount points on the pictured Camaro. It's a 4-point hitch: 2 mounts bolt to the empty/open bumper holes, the reason for the empty holes in the bumper. The other 2 mount over the studs for the gas tank straps.

In all fairness, it was pretty stout, and I'll let it go at that because I don't have a clue about weight rating. The way I see it, the only increase in the load rating of that pictured Camaro hitch requires attachment to the frame rails, unless someone can come up with a better game plan.

As for possible hitch failure, if you let U-haul make/install the hitch, it doesn't pass liability onto U-haul. But it keeps your hands clean of negligence (that's how lawyers feed their kids) because you exercised due-diligence by using a qualified, professional build/install, rather than buying something on the internet, from someone whom told you that it's a correct part. Just saying.