My '71 Classic has been STOLEN from a guarded car storage!

[NOT A TA]

whoa you got yours stolen too? thats darn shame and sad.

Didn't know there was a fellow pontiac enthusiast here!
What year? 1973? 455 SD is one hell of a machine, heartbreaking to hear yours got stolen.

Been following along hoping there's a good outcome for you. I'm sure there's more than a few of us here with old Pontiacs. Over the years I've had a 68 Camaro that was stolen and while moving my whole tow rig was stolen with my 66 Mustang in the enclosed trailer. Camaro was stolen by a "ring" and never recovered. Mustang was found a week later stripped but still in the trailer with tow vehicle ('84 454 Suburban) attached but also stripped. Here's my '70 bird at Sebring for inspiration.

[Manoah2u]

Oh wow, i know that car from the Performance Years Forums, what a small world! That car has done nothing but to drop my jaws to the floor, i had no idea it got stolen

[Shrieker]

Sooo.. What's the latest news ?

[Manoah2u]

Still nothing. Waiting for police to do their work which seems to go agonizingly slow.
By friday, if i haven't heard a thing i'm going to go after them again.

[NOT A TA]

Oh wow, i know that car from the Performance Years Forums, what a small world! That car has done nothing but to drop my jaws to the floor, i had no idea it got stolen

Yes, I'm on PY. My Firebird was not stolen, just the Camaro and Mustang (which was still really bad). My bird is currently undergoing a full bare metal rotisserie restoration with a lot of track oriented upgrades. It's almost ready for paint and final assembly. My friends all thought I was crazy for taking it apart to the unibody when it looked as it does in the pic above. I started a thread on this forum about the splitter/under tray/rear diffuser for the bird but it didn't seem to get much interest. viewtopic.php?f=14&t=26699 Kinda surprised at lack of responses given the number of folks interested in aero stuff on this forum.

I'm not surprised at the time involved in recovering your car. Patience is necessary and hopefully there will be little or no damage. Hopefully you're not responsible for any storage fees since it was recovered. When my tow rig with enclosed was stolen it cost me about $5,000.00 to get it back due to towing, storage, etc.

[Manoah2u]

yeah i'm a bit worried about that too, BUT i am going to throw that too on the car storage' responsibility too.
will see.

Good to hear your bird isn't gone, still sad about the other. and yeah, there's unfortunately a 'booming' and 'blooming' market for this in asia.

[strad]

74 ... Mine was white with blue...yours?
Also had a friend with one almost as much fun in a different way. He had the OHC six. It handled like it was on rails. Got to drive it from Seattle to Phoenix a few times and I've never had more fun coming thru Shasta.
Also had a friend recently deceased that had the most beautiful black SD 455 I have ever seen,,, cept for one thing..It was a perfect clone.
Everything and I mean everything was a perfect match except the numbers.
I lied,, the spring compressor was in the left front...That one has always killed me..stolen from a friends front yard... and nobody seen nothin

[Manoah2u]

74 ... Mine was white with blue...yours?
Also had a friend with one almost as much fun in a different way. He had the OHC six. It handled like it was on rails. Got to drive it from Seattle to Phoenix a few times and I've never had more fun coming thru Shasta.
Also had a friend recently deceased that had the most beautiful black SD 455 I have ever seen,,, cept for one thing..It was a perfect clone.
Everything and I mean everything was a perfect match except the numbers.
I lied,, the spring compressor was in the left front...That one has always killed me..stolen from a friends front yard... and nobody seen nothin

sounds fishy indeed.
personally i don't really care so much more about matching numbers. it's great and cool, and it has it's value, but in a way it's also a bit overrated. Don't get me wrong i love it, but i'm not sticking my head in the sand and ignoring that 40 years onwards technology has advanced and is better. Additionally, it's not like these cars originally were pagani/bugatti exotics, they were sporty driver machines, meant to be driven and enjoyed in the same fashion today's challengers, mustangs, or european BMW's, alfa's etc are. Who in their right mind actually expects that a lightbulb or a connecting rod needs to be year specific, brand specific, material specific, color specific.

mine is a 71, gold, black stripes, custom interior (as you undoubtedly know, that means the custom option, not a non-original interior) with the pretty weave on the seating and door panels. i only regret having sold the original rallye wheels which came with the car in a not so good shape but were the originals. it got treated to a gorgeous set of cragar originals, back in the day which were still in pristine condition to this day.

i never got around to decide what i think is the most beautiful version of the 70-73 firebird. there's something to be said for all of them, but i do really like the gold touch and the black striping. I've almost buyed a dark blue metallic 73 formula 350 with a tan interior, was gorgeous too but the seller acted weird and i didn't trust the deal so walked away. looked fantastic though, even though it wasn't in a mint condition, but i don't think that's the most important thing.

I think the most beautiful version i've seen yet is a 1971 Laurentian Green Firebird Formula 455 SD with all the rare options including rear seat armrest, manual shift 4 speed, spoiler delete option, fully original unmolested. Not neccesary the 'coolest' i've seen but the most beautiful wowfactor in color and expression. Brewster green looks a lot like it, also great stuff.

[strad]

I had already installed a Richmond Gear 5-Speed.
Can't remember right now what they used to be called, what I remember was I ordered it for my 69 Roadrunner but they sent a GM so I kept that one to put in the Pontiac and ordered another for the Roadrunner.
We didn't even consider things like matching numbers back in.. what?, about 74.

[Manoah2u]

I had already installed a Richmond Gear 5-Speed.
Can't remember right now what they used to be called, what I remember was I ordered it for my 69 Roadrunner but they sent a GM so I kept that one to put in the Pontiac and ordered another for the Roadrunner.
We didn't even consider things like matching numbers back in.. what?, about 74.

exactly, nobody's worrying about matching numbers now for the current cars, like the modern stingray or challenger or so, which in due time will become classics too, and i guess that by then, there will also be some loons going for the matching numbers treatment and artificially up the value.

I enjoy these cars most in just driving them, like they were meant to. Daily and on the track.

If i ever get my hands to enough money to spend, i'd go and have fun and get me a 79-81 firebird (base) model, strip it, get my hands on a schwartz performance chassis, coilovers, 6-piston brake kit, lightweight wheels, perspex windows, anvil auto 100% carbon fiber body parts (nose, hood, fenders, trunk, spoilers, etc), a full roll cage, and i'd probably call up my buddy Jim Lehart over @ Central Virginia Machine Services to hook me up with another fantastic injun-engine OR i'd try my luck and go crazy on a LS-engine (LsX would be crazy) and twin-turbo the hell out of it. for the money spent on that though, i'd probably reconcider and be wise enough to just buy myself a low-mileage Aston Martin Vantage or a Porsche 911 GT2, perhaps a Audi R8 or with some luck a Gallardo. I'd need atleast 20k just for the chassis alone given that includes suspension and rear axle, but i'd still need that fresh monster of an engine, need the body, the replacement parts, the labour (a lot i'd happily do myself but still) i'm sure i'm looking at 65k the very least before it's up and running.

[George-Jung]

At least added a photo to the topic- or is that just me being autistic?

[NOT A TA]

Just so you know in case of building that ultimate pro-touring bird, Jim at CVMS got out of the engine business a few years ago and the new owner got a bad rep on the internet. Jim was a nice guy and good builder. Last time I saw him was years ago when I was passing by on the way to my moms house and I took him out to lunch. Haven't talked to him since or seen him on any of the forums..

[Manoah2u]

Just so you know in case of building that ultimate pro-touring bird, Jim at CVMS got out of the engine business a few years ago and the new owner got a bad rep on the internet. Jim was a nice guy and good builder. Last time I saw him was years ago when I was passing by on the way to my moms house and I took him out to lunch. Haven't talked to him since or seen him on any of the forums..

oh that's a real pain to hear. i hope he's doing well. Imagined he couldn't go on forever. A shame that the new owner has a bad rep then.

[Manoah2u]

At least added a photo to the topic- or is that just me being autistic?

lol.

[George-Jung]

Beautiful car indeed!