1969 Pontiac Firebird Convertible (LHD)

Description

General Motors entered the Pony Car wars in 1967 with two new personal sports cars that shared the same platform - Chevrolet's Camaro and its more upmarket cousin, the Pontiac Firebird, launched a few months later. Pitched at an altogether more luxury-oriented market, the Firebird had sculpted 'coke bottle' styling like the Camaro but with a distinctive corporate 'twin grille' front end. It was available in five distinct models, ranging from the mild to the wild, with the headline 400 a serious muscle car. Sharing the same 400ci V8 used in the legendary GTO, the Firebird 400 was rated at 325 horsepower at 4800 rpm, with a heavy-duty three-speed transmission standard (a four-speed or auto transmission were optional), enough to deliver a 0-60 mph time of just 6.5 seconds. Options included Ram Air induction and a hood-mounted tacho. Few changes of note were made in 1968 other than revised rear suspension, with staggered shocks and multi leaf springs, before Pontiac unveiled a substantially restyled Firebird for the 1969 model year. With its colour-coded nose and muscular stance, the new Firebird was a great looker, in either Hardtop or Convertible form. Offered in Firebird Sprint, 350, 400 and 400 Ram Air models, the range was expanded mid-year with the addition of the new low volume Trans Am. The 1969 Firebird also came with a revised interior, with a unique dashboard (previous models shared the Camaro dash). In the case of buyers who went for the 400 Package (option code 345), they received a 400ci V8 with 10.75:1 compression, rated at 330 horsepower, a Rochester four-barrel carburetor, chrome engine parts, dual exhaust, F70-14 red stripe or whitewall tyres and a special bonnet with non-functional scoops. Pontiac began racing the Firebird in the Trans-Am series in 1969, in what would be the final year of the first generation model.