[66sprint]

Jeff
I am really glad to see you will be getting the car.
I am not sure I have ever seen one as original as that.
I would guess that it is hard to put an exact value on all or mostly original cars, as opposed to a restoration with lots of repop parts installed.
Congratulations and enjoy the “new” car!
Chris

[Hokie1984]

Congrats on the car. A while back I tried to estimate the number of Sprints with AC and came to a very small number. I have seen one in person ( my own car) and only a few pictures, yours being one of them. Regarding the stripe, it was an option. When I get around painting mine I will add one to my car. Love the look.

[camerjeff]

This will be my 3rd A/C Sprint, my other 2 were A-Bodies, a 66 Lemans Automatic, and a 67 Tempest 3-speed. I should have kept the 66 but it was so slow compared to my other cars at the time. And the Tempest only had AC, tinted glass, and an AM Radio as options. It was a nice car, but it needed interior work and I was not prepared to pay for the custom seat covers and door panels it would need.

I have also Seen Fred Simmonds 67 4-Door And Jeffs 66 Lemans together at Norwalk a few years ago. I don't think I have actually seen another Firebird. But I have seen a few 68/69 1bbl A/C Firebirds in the past.

[camerjeff]

Well the car was delivered yesterday, but I am in Tennessee for work until the 24th. So my Wife and her Father got to take the 1st test drive around the neighborhood. He says everything but the hood tack seems to work. Looks to be original paint with 104K miles worth of stone chips & small door dings. 1 small dent in the passenger side rear 1/4. So far it sounds like I will be happy with it.
I will post some pictures when I get home. Then you all can tell me what else isn't stock under the hood, besides the Radiator hoses, thermostat bypass hose, and the ignition system. I also see the oil pan has been repainted the wrong color of Pontiac blue (looks to be 78 & later GM Blue to my eyes) Starting to get a little geeked about it!

[camerjeff]

Posted the wrong pictures, Duh, those are the are the car being loaded by the shipping company. This is the 1 picture my wife sent me of it in the driveway.

[66sprint]

I would say the FIL owes you one.

Congratulations on the very nice addition to the collection.

[camerjeff]

Well I got my 1st look at it a couple of hours ago, it is what they advertised it a 104,000 mile survivor with a few after market & replacement parts. So I am bassicly happy. I am confused about the Carb (see my seperate post if interested) and a few other things don't work like the AM Radio, the high beam headlights (but the dash indicator lights up). one of the horn buttons on the steering wheel & the winsdshield washer. Nothing major.

Most urgent mechanical issue is the brakes, acts like only the rear drums are working, and the rear portion of the master cylinder is dry. So probably a leaking wheel cylinder or 2. But I won't know for a while.

Broken things are the drivers side lap belt female cover is missing, the latch still works & the passenger side cover is cracked, thats about it. So really not bad for a 50 year old Firebird. I will post some more pictures later this weekend. Bummer that the brakes need work, I wanted to do a bit more of a test drive before the salt hits the road.

Also I did not know Hurst made a 4-speed floor shifter for the Saginaw 4-speed? The original shifter is in a box in the trunk.

[north]

Sounds all like minor stuff! No rot, no collisions, no knocking engine… the rest is tidbits!

Interesting that hurst made aftermarket shifters for those saginaw’s. My 69 sprint has the factory hurst shifter but it has the rubber bushes rods like on other factory hurst applications. Is the hurst shifter on your car a factory 69 or an aftermarket unit without the rubber bushings?

My shifter works really well but the Saginaw 4 speed was a lot of grief to get sorted it. It made grinding noise when downshifting into second and it too several openings and finally a bunch of NOS gears and shafts etc to get working right.

Apparently it’s a common problem on the Saginaw 4 speed, the cluster gear and the reverse gear are really close so any kind of wear in syncros or shaft end play leads to undesired gear contact.

[gtospieg]

I'm glad you're happy with the car. My only gripe would be...since the seller was asking "top dollar" for the car some of those nit picky issues should have been sorted or at least divulged...especially the brakes. We're all looking forward to seeing more pics and finding out more about the car. Thanks for sharing.

[camerjeff]

A few Pic's, I found the brake issue today, the Right rear wheel cylinder is leaking, I ordered 2 new cylinders & rear brake shoes today. The good news is all the brake hardware & flex lines look new! I have no idea what make the added rear sway bar is? Any Ideas?
The Heat and A/C work! And it looks to have new A/C Lines installed, it has the wrong flex fan installed, it has an aftermarket 6 blade unit. Why anyone would replace the original 7 bladed flex fan I have no idea. Also the drivers door hinge roller needs to be replaced. All small items, except for the brakes, that issue kinda ticks me off.

[camerjeff]

rear Sway Bar & engine block code is ZR and that is correct for a manual trans 4bbl 67 230 OHC-6! So it looks to be the original engine as claimed. The Mr Muffler exhaust system looks and sounds terrible, It also hangs to low.

[camerjeff]

A few random shots I am pleased with the condition, even with the issues that were not disclosed.

[north]

That's a really dry looking undercarriage! all the mechanical bugs will soon be forgotten. Brake issue may be a blessing in the long run if it gets you to go through the whole brake system. could probably use a thorough flushing and cleaning front and rear. Lovely car! keep it wide and clear of Leno ;-)

I had a 70's Fbird (non TA so no factory rear bar) that had an Addco bar that had a very similar looking clamping system.

[padgett]

"Why anyone would replace the original 7 bladed flex fan I have no idea." have seen them crack and lose blades. Seems were problematic even when new. Prefer the solid seven blade clutch fan.

[camerjeff]

Thanks, most likely that is what happened to the fan, either that of it was damaged some how.

After looking at the Protect-O-Plate it looks like the car was Originally sold in Santa Barbara CA at Hughes Pontiac. That name sounded Familiar so I dug out what is left of the West coast Dealer frames I have (I used to buy up any I found at yard sales in the early 1980's when I was working on that side of the country) I only have a couple of singles from Ford dealers and a couple with no Brand Name just the dealer name and location. And sure enough I have a single "Hughes Santa Barbara" frame no indication it was a Pontiac Dealer in good shape but with most of the chrome pealed off and all of the paint missing. But very little damage or pitting! Score! It only took 40 years to match it to a Pontiac Dealer, and match it to a car from that dealer. According to Google Maps it is now a Tesla Dealership located at 400 Hitchcock Way, Santa Barbara, CA 93105 .

[north]

I had a GTO ragtop from Hughes, still have the plate frame that was on it, like yours no indication of Pontiac. It was a Pontiac dealer to the very end or close to it.

[camerjeff]

Interesting, researching the dealership, I found it was started by 2 brothers in 1953, I found that info in a online Obit for one of the brothers wife dated 2012. I also found a photo of a different frame sold on Ebay years ago that has Pontiac GMC & says Hughes Bros not just Hughes. I don't know what version would be correct for 1967 though? What year was your GTO?

It looks like Red would be the correct Color to repaint the lettering background.

[north]

1969, of course ;-)

[camerjeff]

DUHHH!!!!!!!!!

[camerjeff]

Well after reading what little info is available on line about the Hughes Brothers Dealership, it looks like one of the brothers died suddenly in 1964 at around 50 years of age, and shortly after that the dealership was renamed Hughes Pontiac GMC from Hughes Brothers Pontiac GMC. So I am assuming the plain Hughes plate frame is correct for 1965 and later cars. So I am assuming I have the correct era dealer Plate frame! But if I am wrong, I doubt I will ever know for sure!