1967 Firebird 400 Convertible, Numbers Matching, Power top AND Power Windows

1967 FIREBIRD 400 CONVERTIBLEINTRODUCTIONUp for sale is a numbers-matching. 1967 Firebird 400 convertible with power top and power windows…the perfect car to cruise around. while restoring at the same time…that is if you like original. convertible muscle cars!You’ll spend the same money restoring a non-convertible. non-400. non-numbers matching car. But at the end of the day. it will never be worth as much as a numbers matching 400 convertible. It’s a little more to buy-in. costs the same to restore. but worth a lot more once you’re done…plus all those days in between. IT’S A CONVERTIBLE !!!I believe the interior is all original as well…in parchment. While the red paint isn’t perfect. with white top and interior. it really POPS. WHY FIREBIRDS?The Firebird is the perfect car to restore. for a couple reasons. First. the front end of the 67’s and 68’s look better. to my eye. than Camaros of the same years or the 69 Firebird. The 1967 is the only year to have front Quarter Windows. And Pontiac was more focused on performance details than Chevy at that time. From what I’ve read. the engine is set a little further back for better weight distribution. the rear BOP rear end (Buick Oldsmobile Pontiac) came factory with C-Clips eliminated. the 400’s came from the factory with a traction bar. and the spring rates were a little better sorted. Second is that the price of Camaros has already run up. At the moment. the buy-in for a Firebird is easier. Lately. the Hot Rod industry eye is moving towards Firebirds. Hot Rod and Popular Hot Rodding both had 1st Gen Firebird cover stories last year…get in while the getting is good ! COMES WITHThe top is in excellent shape and works great. up and down. The first thing I did. when I got the car. was have the top completely redone by a guy that normally does Ferraris and Porsches…as in the frame. the pump. the lines. the pistons. the top. the latches. the chrome header across top of the windshield…basically. everything but the switch! Think the price of a small used car…not cheap. but it works great !The PHS (Pontiac Historical Society) documentation to show originality. What I believe is the original manifold and carb (didn’t look to see if it has the mythical 25hp tab still on it or not). Original air cleaner. Original AM radio. though. I don’t think anyone will fault you if you update it. Nostalgia is all good and well. but seriously. cruising in a convertible. you need tunes !The previous Owner sent me pictures of the original protectoplate and manuals. etc. At this point. they will be bonus material only IF I can get them in time. Other than that. they’re not guaranteed to go with the car. But I will pass along his contact info if I don’t get them in time. Some arm rests (passenger side was missing when I got the car)The little chrome hash marks that are supposed to be on the side of the car. behind the doors (the previous owner took them off thinking it looks better). A handful of Firebird emblems. A couple misc. engine-looking brackets. What looks like an original kick-down switch. Misc. small metal hardlines. Brake rebuild parts. etc. It’s all there in the picture. I ADDEDIt already had an Edelbrock manifold installed. so I added:An Edelbrock carb. MSD Digital 6A ignitionMSD coilMSD billet distributor POWER WINDOWSNot only is this the second or third Firebird I’ve seen with power-windows. it’s the second or third of ANY muscle car I’ve seen to have power windows. Maybe the Vette’s had them. I don’t spend a lot of time looking at Vettes…too many of them. for my taste. Sounds trivial. but power windows are really easy to get used to !!! Especially when you’re cruising down the highway. top down. and want all the windows up. or down. Infinitely easier than pulling over and stopping or having to reach across and behind you while still driving. I drive here in Southern California…it happens more often than you’d think. I was at a car show when I first got it…showing a friend that it had power windows. His car doesn’t have power windows. so he started shooting his mouth about how “…it’s not a big a deal. just reach over and crank the windows. takes two seconds…blah blah blah…” While he was explaining. I started nodding. telling him. “oh yeah…really…I see your point…. ” while powering the windows up and down. in front of his face…up and down…up and down…up and down…LOL SNOWBALL EFFECTIf I keep the car. the engine is going to get a rebuild. A short while back. I headed out on Route 66 to drive from CA to Texas. In the middle of Arizona. it started making a ticking sound. up high on the left. The ticking sounds like a collapsed lifter. or something like that. I pulled out the pushrod. and rocker just to be sure. The engine starts and runs fine. but with the valve covers off. idling. I’m not seeing much oil coming out the pushrods. Someone I met said it’s common in these old engine. and that you need to rev it to see the oil…but I’m not convinced. It’s a numbers-matching 400 engine…this isn’t the place to guess. speculate and mess around…and people LOVE to do that…when it isn’t their engine. I read that some of these older 400 oil pumps had a ¾ check ball that would occasionally get stuck in the bypass position. I could yank it apart and swap the pump out. but at 100k. with all the good performance parts out there. I know me…it’d be the Snowball effect…. If it’s the oil pump. it’d be a good idea to swap out the cam…which means a lifter and the high volume oil pump. The thing is. if you do one lifter. you should do them all. And if you’re doing a cam. it might as well be something a little hotter…like a roller cam and lifters. Of course. changing lifters means new pushrods. then new rockers to match…of course. might as well be higher ratio roller tip rockers. And. with the extra lift and duration. it’d want new valve springs. retainers. locks…and since the head is apart . might as well do a complete valve job and a little porting. And with the heads off and engine out. with all that top end work being done. and 100k on the engine. probably should do the bottom end as well…like a stroker kit. And with the engine out. well. the transmission would be easy to swap with a stick or Automatic w/Overdrive…which could then take advantage of a lower rear end…which would benefit from a rear disc conversion…and on and on and on. (Which reminds me of a joke…I’ll get to it a bit later…read on. ) I don’t have room in my garage to pull the engine and swap the pump as an experiment. so if I were to keep it. when the engine comes out. it’d be for a rebuilt engine to keep driving it. Then do the engine later. I really like the car. but just don’t have the time to give it the attention it deserves. I’ve had it about 5 or 6 years. and have been driving it on a regular basis. But at this point. need to thin the herd and get some time back. If the car doesn’t hit the reserve. I’m going to do the engine swap for a rebuilt. readvertise the car with both the rebuilt engine and original engine shipped at the Buyer’s expense. then raise the reserve price accordingly. Winning the car now. you can decide which way you want the car to go…make it exactly what you want. and save some money in the process. You can either restore it fully or just freshen up the engine and keep cruising around…that’s what I’ve been doing. With or without restoration. it’s a really cool car! Best of luck bidding. MILESIt’s “about” 100k miles. At the moment the car is stored 350 miles away in the dry Arizona desert. I was out a couple weeks ago and it fired right up. Runs smooth. I will be bringing it back to Southern California shortly. PAYMENT TERMS$500 deposit within 48 hours of end of auction. Full payment within 5 business days from end of auction. If payment is not made. I reserve the right to cancel the sale…deposit not refundable. The car is in Southern California. Buyer to arrange shipping from Long Beach. CA. Car will only ship after all payments have cleared. It's also for sale locally. I reserve the right to end the auction early if I have a local interested Buyer. JOKE TIME Ok. so this guy get a sales job at one of those Mega Stores that sells everything…from automobiles to zucchini…EVERYTHING. It’s his first day. first thing in the morning. and the Sales Manager is giving him some advice. “Ok. I understand it’s your first day. and it’s a big store. so it can get a little overwhelming…. just remember…it doesn’t matter how small a thing you sell them. just sell. sell. sell…. it’s ALL about turning people over…talk to as many people as you can. and just keep selling…”The New Guy responds. “Ok. ”The day goes by. the Sales Manager keeps eyeing the New Guy. thinking. “…is that the same guy he’s been talking to all day?”At the end of the day. the Sales Manager walks up to the New Guy and asks. “So. how’d ya do? How many people did you talk to? How many Customers did you have?”The New Guy. exhausted from his day. sighs “just one. ”Exasperated. the Sales Manager yells. “What?!?! Just one?!?! The WHOLE DAY ?!?!” “…you had the whole day and only talked to ONE GUY?!?!?!”The New Guy. absolutely exhausted. stands there and says. “…yeah. that’s all I could handle…one guy. ”The Sales Manager regains a bit of composure. still hot under the collar. and asks. “Well. did you at least sell him SOMETHING ?!?!?!”“Yeah…” the New Guy says. “…yeah. I did…”“Well???” the Sales Manager asks…. still a bit hot under the collar. “Well…” the new Guy responds. “…I sold him some hooks. ”“That’s it?!?! You sold him some hooks!!!” “Yeah. some hooks…. ” Responded the New Guy. “And some bait. too…I told him he’s gonna need some bait for those hooks. ”“GREAT…so ALL DAY LONG. you talked to ONE GUY. and sold him some bait and some hooks…” responded the Sales Manager. clearly not overly impressed. “Yeah…some hooks. some bait. and some fishing line and poles…you know. to go with the hooks and bait. “ said the New Guy. “…oh. and some nets and a tackle box to carry it all around…. finished the New Guy. Finally coming around a little. the Sales Manager relaxed a bit. “Ok. fine you got a few items off the shelf…”…when the new Guy interrupted. not finished with his story. “…and some camping gear. ”Relaxing a bit. the Sales Manager consoled him. “Ok. ok. you sold hooks. bait. fishing line. poles. nets and a tackle box and some camping gear…you got some things off the shelf…you really should have talked to more people. but not bad for a first day “Yeah. and a boat and trailer. ” Interrupts the New Guy. “…and a boat and trailer?”. asks the Sales Manager. now getting a little impressed… “So you only talked to one guy. but managed to sell him hooks. bait. fishing line. poles. nets and a tackle box and some camping gear and a boat and trailer? Okay…. that’s actually pretty good for a first day. ”“Thanks” the New Guy continues. “…and a new truck. …told him he was going to need a new truck to pull the boat and all that gear. so we got him one of those too…”At this point. the Sales Manager is impressed…a little dumb-founded even. He’s got a new Guy that’s outsold his most experienced sales people…he just HAS to know. So the Sales manager asks. “So. you had this guy come in. talked to him all day long. and in the process sold him some hooks. bait. fishing line and poles. some nets. a tackle box. camping gear. a boat. a trailer and a new truck…. what the hell did you SAY to the guy !!”“Well. the New Guy says. “when he came in. I asked him what brought him in to the store. today. He told me his wife was on her period…. so I told him “…wife’s on her period? Might as well go fishing !” Best of luck bidding !!