Proud Bird
 

One of the most striking examples of ‘70s styling trends was this 1967 Firebird 400. Built by owner Jim Cox, it was featured both inside and on the cover of the May 1978 issue of Car Craft magazine.

It’s a well known car that I can remember seeing a couple of times cruising around Chatsworth CA back in the mid to late ’70s. This car really knocked you off your feet when you saw it.

Here’s how it looks today after languishing in the owner/builders backyard for 35 years, pretty much untouched from the way it was built in the mid ‘70s.

I took a ride in it today, one of my friends rescued it. I have to say that little 283 really is a runner. This car started out as a true factory 400 4-speed car.

It features ‘65 Thunderbird taillights along with ‘68 Corvette bumpers and license plate surround. It’s super solid, the doors close like when it was new. That rear spoiler has a piece of marine plywood inside to build it up. The trunk lid is operated using a Cadillac remote trunk opener, also note that the gas filler is a flip up cap located in the top of the drivers side rear quarter panel.

The epitome of ‘70s awesomeness. :)

And you could have owned it!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334348650695

That was my friend who had it listed on eBay, testing the waters a bit.

It will likely end up on Bring A Trailer pretty soon.

When I saw it in his driveway today for the first time I almost flipped out. :eek:

I saw that listed online. It's way cool, and hopefully the next owner keeps it the way it is, or restores it to its former glory, fully customized.

So that was as good as it gets iin the seventies or eighties? I am a bit young to remember much of the eighties but i do remember liking all the 911's with the fat spoilers as a kid...

It's amazing to me with all the decades sitting outside in the weather that the giant wheel flares and spoilers are still intact. I assume they are made of wood, fiberglass and bondo, and they don;t look badly cracked in the pics. Much like old race cars, these customs seem to be mostly abandoned when the styles change. Will be interesting to see what a new owner does with it.

According to the article the flares are made of steel.

Stuart: How were you able to make the article big enough to read? And it was sideways. Do you have that actual magazine?

I saved it to my computer, then rotated it and magnified it.

Great idea! Learned something today. I saw it said 18 gauge sheet metal, steel tubing and minimal bondo. Also, all the highlights of scrapping the Pontiac 400, in favor of the high mileage Impala 283! Boy, how times have changed.

Someone needs to prod Tom S into buying it....

I like widebody stuff, but thats a bit on the extreme end for my tastes. I guess the 70s was all about extreme styling trends though. It always amazes me that someone just parks something like that and lets it sit. Did the previous owner have tons of other projects?

I love the gas filler. Filling up my first gen with that short neck to the tank is a nightmare on modern pumps. It spits back out all the time. Takes forever and always ends up making me smell like gas.

It wouldn’t pass the current smog regulations back then after several attempts so he parked it and moved on to other things.

Life got in the way unfortunately.

I remember that car back in the day. Loved that wax ad pic. Wanted to do the same to my 68 Firebird…

Don

When did California start the pre 1975 emissions rules?

I had always assumed those have been in place since then 70s when I lived there.

I have numerous family members who live in the San Diego area. The Firebird would have had to meet the tail pipe emission standard at 150% of the new emission level at idle only. This would have been tested at a remote testing site licensed by the state. The proper emission equipment installed at the factory would have needed to be in place. For a CA equipped 68 Firebird that would have been a closed PCV system and possibly an air injection reactor. (air pump) No evaporative emissions in 68 in CA to my knowledge, certainly no EGR, CAT or any of that stuff yet. It's possible having a clapped out SBC with an aftermarket carburetor was just too rich. Shame, that's what ended up putting it out to pasture.

They changed to 1966 and newer right around the ‘78 -‘79 timeframe.

I remember that pretty well since at the time I was driving a ‘66 VW bug with a heavily modified engine sporting twin 48IDA Webers and a centrifugal advance Bosch 010 distributor. Had my hot little 13-second street racer exactly the way I wanted it and the next thing you know....... :(

So I know there were even more lineant rules for early 60s cars. Like you had to tell Summit you car was from the 50s to get certain exhaust components.

But from a practical standpoint as long as your car is from 75 or earlier in Cali you dont have to do anything emissions related. Or at least I didnt. My car was never inspected. At least not anyone who would have known what they were looking at.

Saw that car on eBay, and I vaguely remember the Car Craft cover from back in the day. So I thought it was pretty cool that the car was still around in its "as it was" form.