My first ride was a '77 1/2 with a 250 auto. The trans was bad and finished off the junk 250 on the way home. I was 15. Dad traded labor and some Chevy parts to a guy for a 220hp 79 400 out of a TA. We put that and a th400 in the truck with its 3.50 gear. I started looking at the firebirds because of the engine I had. Then I'd look through the Chiltons manuals looking at all the engine specs. I decided I wanted a '66 GTO. Wound up picking up a '71 Catalina 2 door for $150 and put my 400 in it with a Saginaw 4 speed. I then picked up a '70 GTO roller for $500 and built my first engine with the original 400 from the Catalina. Being 18 I made a few dumb parts choices and wound up with a .030 400 with 96 heads,a magnum 292 cam, 3 tube headers, performer rpm intake and a 750 Carter running through a 2500 stall and 2.79 gears in the GTO. I had fun but it liked to bend valves. I kept the drivetrain and traded the GTO for a '71 formula, and added a 3.73 posi. My engine did better in the formula, but I sold it to cover closing costs on our first house. And somewhere in there I bought my '66 Catalina from a car crusher for $400 when I was 18, replaced a lifter and drove it. It had a mid 70's 400 with 4x heads, auto, and craptastic 2.56 gears. I traded it, then spent 10 years looking for it. Found it again, gave $300 for it this time with no drivetrain, and have been putting it back together on a tiny budget. The fun part was delivering pizza in high school and college in all those pontiacs.
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