[Cammer-6]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

yep
way different

RA96 might be thinking more about 68 April Gold and 69 Antique Gold.
That would be closer - but still different mixes / formula numbers

I have an april gold 68
changed the color in 1970 as soon as I had enough money to.
FYI it was $465 to do a color change in lacquer.
That was about 1/3 what I paid for the car.
would I change it back?
no

[wr17]

Originally Posted by thews

.....I found this pic on the post pics of your Firebird thread. This claims to be "one of the 16 french 1969 firebird convertible." Anyone know what a "French" 69 Firebird is?
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...459912&page=35

it's mine
one of the 16 "french" Firebird.
"french" means that those firebird were sold NEW directly to a french dealer
and only 16 were sold NEW directly to a french dealer in 1969

and 3 of them where "champagne"
- one is mine
- one has been repainted yellow
- one has been sold to an american guy 4 years ago

"french" firebird can be recognized by this special plate :

[Diego]

Were 16 really sold in France? Or there was a batch of 16 and this is one of them?

[Kurt S]

How do you know the quantities and colors?
I can't read the VIN, but I assume that's a NOR or LOR assembled car?

http://www.camaros.org/foreign.shtml

[wr17]

Originally Posted by Kurt S

How do you know the quantities and colors?
I can't read the VIN, but I assume that's a NOR or LOR assembled car?

http://www.camaros.org/foreign.shtml

someone, here, own 10 of the 16 french firebird
he know it's 16 because he has contact GM france, the only authorized dealer, and from their archive, they said only 16 were sold new in France in 1969

i know some other french firebird, 2 white, one yellow, one red, one black

[Kurt S]

I'd be interested in any contacts that you can provide.
And can you email me a better pic of your GM France tag?
Thanks!
KurtS2@gmail.com

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Originally Posted by wr17

someone, here, own 10 of the 16 french firebird
he know it's 16 because he has contact GM france, the only authorized dealer, and from their archive, they said only 16 were sold new in France in 1969

i know some other french firebird, 2 white, one yellow, one red, one black

Sounds like all 16 are still accounted for.
Very cool info you provided us with about these French cars.

Kurt isn't being subjective or objective - he is a historian / fact collector on 1st Gen F-Body cars and has a website about them. Probably wants the data and details for his website.

[Cammer-6]

there was a factory in Belgium so doesnt make sense to "import" from USA

[wr17]

all "16 french firebird", from what i've seen , got those options :

400 ci 330hp
th400
3.08 posi
steering, brakes, four windows, driver seat and top are electric powered
fold down rear seat


here's better pics

yes it's a Norwood car

[johnta1]

Thanks for the pics!

Interesting that this looks like a very early Norwood Bird.
Be interesting to see what the other 16 VINs and cowl tags were.

Cool Bird.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Pretty wild that all 16 were Convertibles - and nicely equipped 400 Verts at that.

Groovy man

[wr17]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

Pretty wild that all 16 were Convertibles - and nicely equipped 400 Verts at that.

Groovy man

what i 've said, is that there was only 16 "french firebird convertible" in 1969
maybe there was some 2 door hartop too, but i don't know the numbers
but i've not seen a lot of them here

[thews]

Originally Posted by wr17

what i 've said, is that there was only 16 "french firebird convertible" in 1969
maybe there was some 2 door hartop too, but i don't know the numbers
but i've not seen a lot of them here

Did it come with the stripes on the hood, or did you add them with a repaint?

[wr17]

Originally Posted by thews

Did it come with the stripes on the hood, or did you add them with a repaint?

strips has been added later, not from the factory or the french dealer

[wr17]

i will show you something you probably have never seen before

here some pics of a french test of 2 firebird in 1969
you probably don't understand french, but it's written like a trip from Paris, to Spain..
enjoy

[Kurt S]

Originally Posted by Cammer-6

there was a factory in Belgium so doesnt make sense to "import" from USA

Then you didn't read my article.
They imported the convertibles - must not have been worth the complexity of building them - jigs for the top, etc - for the low volume.

But by 1969, they were importing all Firebirds and Camaros and.....
68 was the last year of CKD production at Antwerp for Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, and Olds.
http://clubs.hemmings.com/chevytalk/.../antwerp4.html

[Kurt S]

Originally Posted by wr17

all "16 french firebird", from what i've seen , got those options :

400 ci 330hp, th400, 3.08 posi
steering, brakes, four windows, driver seat and top are electric powered
fold down rear seat

here's better pics
yes it's a Norwood car

What was the date of that magazine?

I'd expect that they imported some convertibles earlier in the year. That's pretty late in the model year.
It's seems like most European sold US-cars were trying to impress and are very well optioned.

Note the lack of the US conformance statement on the tag. I take it the car still has the NOR VIN on the dash too?

Thanks!

[wr17]

Originally Posted by Kurt S

What was the date of that magazine?

the car still has the NOR VIN on the dash too?

Thanks!

no exact date
it's only written : second quarter of 1969

and yes it has the VIN on the dash

[thews]

There's a green convert top on ebay now, thought the tan interior was an interesting color combo. I've heard most 68's and 69's were green.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1969-...orcev4exp=true

[Diego]

What's interesting about green/tan?

I think green is a popular color in that era but I would hardly suggest "most" were green. I have numbers of numerous cars from the era and there are other colors that are as popular, if not moreso. I realize the Firebird has a certain niche that wouldn't necessarily reflect on GTOs, but here's 1970 GTO numbers:

http://web-cars.com/phorum//read.php?3,32601

I think it would be more accurate to say "Earthtones were all the rage and Verdoro Green was a very popular color for Pontiacs of that era."