Black Betty 1968 Firebird

[ACR-Mark]

I'm pretty excited about the 3 hour trip I'm making tomorrow to pick up my new car. I borrowed a trailer, and if it wasn't raining, I'd go today.
Tomorrow night I will post some pictures, and explain the project a bit, but for now, here's a quick bit of info:
383 stroker
Muncie 4 Speed
Hurst shifter
Brand new Ford 9" w/ 3.89 gears
So, eventually, you will see me bringing out the bird to the local autocross events instead of the RX-8!

[68400BIRD]

Looking forward to some pictures. Keep the Birds alive!!!

[CliffS]

me too, more birds please!

[ACR-Mark]

Just got home about an hour ago. The car is filthy and covered in a layer of dust, so the pics aren't all that great. The car needs a lot of TLC, but it's a good starting point, and it runs and drives.
Eventually, it WILL be black, but for now, enjoy the pics from today:

[MSTSFabbed]

Yeah Mark!! Bout time you actually joined in the Pro-touring fun! Looks good I'm excited to watch!

[tcronkright]

Looks like a solid body to start with. Good choice of color. Nice to see all the Firebirds coming alive!

[ACR-Mark]

Here is where it all started. When I was younger, my brother had a 67 Firebird 400 with a 4 speed. It was a beautiful, black car. I remember him sitting me on his lap, letting me steer as he worked the pedals. He sold it in 1987, for $2500. I was about 2-3 years away from driving age when he got rid of it. I really wanted it for myself, but I guess he needed the money.
Anyway, I tried pretty hard to find the right 67, but the cards don't always work out. I want to make my 68 look just like his, so it must be black, eventually.
These are scanned photos of his car, taken around 1985. I don't know why my scanner makes it look green and dull, you can actually see the shine in the polaroids. I may try to re-scan the pics at work tomorrow.

[69X22]

I remember those old Appliance mag wheels, back then I had a set on my Nova. Came out one day and the car was up on blocks, they only got the front 2 though! Love those old pictures.
Looks like you have a good starting point, good luck with it.

[rickpaw]

Looks like a solid project to start. Glad to see another bird on this forum. Keep us posted on the progress.

[ModernMuseum]

Looks awesome. I love the front noses on 67 and 68's. Paint that bumper the same color as the paint for an awesome effect.

[ACR-Mark]

This picture is a bunch better, obviously the scanner here at work is higher quality. I hope to make mine look like this sometime in the near future.

[David Sloan]

Very nice Mark! You shooting for auto cross with this car! I hope.
Take care and keep us posted.

[bkkpool]

We are getting close to converting him back to American muscle!!! Maybe 1 or 2 more events and the RX-8 will have a for sale sign on it.

[BumpaD_Z28]

Great looking Project ! I love the 1st gen's

you towed it home with a 4.0L JEEP ? !!! WOW ;)

~DaVe

[ACR-Mark]

To answer David's question, yes, I do plan to autocross it, once it is ready. Right now, it couldn't be any farther away from autocross ready. Here are my current plans:
1: Seat Belts! The car has none, and I don't plan on taking it out of my driveway until I address that. I'm not taking any chances with my life, I see an accident or two every time I'm out driving. It's only a matter of time before one of them hits me.
2: Steering. I don't know why GM bothered to put a steering wheel in this car. It doesn't do anything! I had to turn it about 17 times just to get the car from the road into my driveway. A quick ratio box and full PS setup will be the first major "mod."
3: Brakes. The car has disk front and back, non-power, but there may be a problem with the master cylinder. The brakes work, but not very well. Should be a simple fix when I have time to look at it closer. Might convert to power brakes, not sure, have to get what's there working first.
4: Paint. There are a few spots with surface rust here and there, and a few areas where it is bubbling through. I need to address them right away, so the car may end up with a few ugly areas where the blue paint has been replaced with repair and primer. And again, I want to paint the car black, so we'll see about working all that in.

Other than that, there are a lot of little small things and ideas I have in mind, but I want to just drive the car for now. I don't want to tear the suspension apart, or anything else, when I have a perfectly driveable car to mess around with.
Eventually, it will end up with a more serious setup at all 4 corners.