Filed in archive
BMW
, General Motors
, Muscle Cars
, Pontiac
by Philip Powell on July 17, 2009

Almost forgotten among the thousands of currently available muscle cars is the original Firebird. Pontiac enthusiasts tend to overlook it because the base engine is a six rather than a V-8 but in doing so they miss the significance of that early Bird. This was no ordinary six. Influenced by European trends, Pontiac engineers created a single-overhead-cam unit that rivalled many V-8s of the period yet was lighter and thus achieved a better front/rear weight balance. Ergo, superior handling. The platform and most body panels were, of course, identical to the Camaro but much as I admired Chevy's pony car I thought the Firebird, with its BMW-type twin nostrils, had more flair.
For those of you who agree with me and might want to purchase an OHC-6 Firebird, Keith Martin's Collector Car Price Tracker now has a searchable data base with comparable prices to act as a guide. It mentions that the split chrome grille provided significantly more front-end protection, the hood scoops offered an optional Ram-Air, and the tick-tock-tach rev counter was on the hood. What if Pontiac had persevered with an inline overhead-cam six instead of giving in to the muscle car fad... where would it be today? America's BMW, perhaps?
Tags:
Pontiac
Firebird
single-overhead-cam
SOHC
six
engine
BMW
V-8
Camaro
muscle
car
price
classic
concour
Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/156830
Mr Wong
Vote for Early Birds Featured in Pontiac Firebird Search:
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Rating: 8.00 out of 1 vote(s) cast.
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Response from:
Harley
(07/20/09 7:43am)
Going back a decade, the original Corvette was a 6, and an old one at that, but that didn't stop it.
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