Great to see all that you went through to make your Dream happen! Man, the smiles from your family are priceless! It's icing on the cake when everybody at home can get on board with your vision of what a car can be! Sir that's one fine job! smiles per mile.... THANK'S for sharing
the '71 is very unusual year model that you dont see or hear about so often. But it has a unique style inside & out that I like a lot. You really brought it back to life here! Very nice work!
Of the 2nd gen fire birds and cameros the 70 to 72 were the best looking ones. The small bumpers and the pointed noses compliments the body shape so well.
Very nice job on the bird ! Hard to go wrong with a big inch Pontiac . Hell yea 👍 Big Torque !!! I like those gauges … very nice. I may have to put those in mine. Again very nice job on the car !!
Beautiful job !!! I had a 73 Formula 455 same color. Ended up as a street and strip drag car running 10:50. I miss that car so much. Have fun with yours !
No offense to Camaro owners their nice looking cars too, but 70 to 73 Firebirds are an awesome design. Pontiac hit a grand slam with those years in my opinion. And proud to say I own a beautiful 73 SD-455 4sp buccaneer Trans am since 1979 that God bless me with. 🙏👍
You've got one sweet ride! I built a 72 back in the late 70's very similar to yours. Brings back some awesome memories 🙂 I picked up a 70 Formula 400 that needs work. My plans are to make her into my old car. That nostalgic thing kicking in 👍 That's nice the wife's into the ride as well ! Cheers 🍻
Thanks, when the wife and I got together 35 years ago the first car we bought together was a black 1970 formula with a 400 auto, we unfortunately had to sell it, and have been looking for another early second GEN Firebird for quite a long time, even though this is a 71 Esprit, they are still very rare, we built this one to be driven, so when the weather is nice we both drive it everywhere. Congratulations on finding and purchasing your 70 formula, those are super rare! Would love to see it
Well done all round,also loved the dog heaps.I have a 71 with 502 ho,t400,gear vendors,9 inch/3.9,same as you global west connectors with solids all of them and lakewood ladder bars.I enjoyed you videos and your little personal touch with the drivers seatbelt.A big hello from Greg Perth,Australia.
@@bigd27z Hi,i love it,if you take the vendors of me,take the whole bloody car then.I yous to run 3.0 diff now 3.9,with overdrive as that was the main reason for gettind it.Ihadly ever use 1st over but every other gears yes.ive always driven it on manual mode with a T handle on the quickshifter with button,option from vendors.Me personally i reckon if you get one go 3.7 or 3.9,maybe 4.1maybe,and you will never look.
@@gregmakris7287 Nice, this thing had a 3.50 rear gear, swapped it out for a 3.00 A couple weeks ago, wanna put the gear vendors unit in I’ll go back to the 3,50. I don’t know if CZcams will let you post Photos on here, would be nice to see what your firebird looks like
@@bigd27z Hi,il get my son to send photo,im not the best at phones but its a true orange with black custom interior and a comaro 4 inch scoop cause of the 502,sits high.Also your personal choice of rear end but if you talk to the gear vendors people they will tell you what revs and speed youl be doing in overdive etc.Mate i can't say what you may like but i can't do without my vendors,depends how original you want your machine,once you got extra gears you will play with them,nearly a hell of a lot of a different car it would feel.
@@bigd27z Also the car originally was a Espirit,Lucerne blue,sold in New York 1971 with one option,rear bumper gaurds whatever you call them,still on the car.
I had a 1971 Formula 400 in that exact same color of blue when I was a teenager (I'm 64 now). I had front and rear spoilers molded in and interior redone, and Centerline rims with. . . . of course. . . . BF Goodrich Radial T/A's. I rebuilt the motor, and had it balanced with a Holley 650 double pumper with mechanical secondaries which IMHO was a PERFECT carburetor for that car. Man, I miss that car.
@@ninjaricky4385 wishing you luck, enjoy your Journey building your dream car, because when it’s done it’s done. If you need any help or advice, just holler, 🤘
Great job man that turned out very nice I love those Firebirds and Trans Ams I had a 1974 Pontiac Firebird with a 400 in it got rid of it which I didn't now I got a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am with the 455 bored 60 over with the four-speed posi rear end I love these cars great job man
Awesome, great job, keepin the dream alive. She is a bad ride! I'm working on a frankinbird. It's a 75 Esprit with a 1973 front clip and ram air hood, and a 1972 455HO, and a M-21. Man I love those gauges, actually the whole car, sweet. 👍👍🏁🏁
Damnit man you've got this beast put together right! Look into front brace,it changes the ride 100%,ties everything together and it's not much. Great job
Thank you, it’s a work in progress, that brace you’re talking about, is that the one that goes under the hood that mounts from the front subframe to the firewall?
@@bigd27z okay,I don't know how to send it to you,but here's a great video. It's from: The Garage clinic, The video is :G-Brace install Pontiac Trans Am
first, an "eternal" restoration. tremendous hard work and tremendous "taste." yes, a work of art like the great "painters." don't doubt it. as far as the firebird, i have only recently started to pay attention to them. i heard that they were coming out cheaper than comparable camaros. i bet that may start turning around. as far as the styling on this ... funky...a little..., but now a welcome variation on the camaro theme. now equal to the camaro and eventually more valued.
You have done a beautiful job! I have always wanted to buy a true 70-73 firebird or clone John Waynes "Green Hornet". Unfortunetly After two Kidney X Plants, I can No longer do the work! I'm just curious how much it would cost to find a firebird equal to yours and pay a reasonable person to make sure she's mechanically sound and do interior , body work and paint myself? If you intend to sell the car I'd like to find out what you want. Once again you did a very nice job and you got me thinking Firebirds again! Have fun!
Thank you sir, I’m sorry to hear about your health situations, hopefully you’re feeling much better now and on the road to recovery. It’s been my experience that the hardest thing to do is find a good builder car nowadays, that’s mostly there and not all rusted out, If you can find one of those your allot of money ahead, the sky is the limit on what you can spend on one , as far as selling my Firebird, it would be almost impossible to replace it or just find another clean early 2’nd gen, if I did sell, it would probably have to be in the 50k+ range, hope you find the car you looking for
Thx for your restauration videos. This gives me inspiration for the restauration of my 1973 Formula 350. How do you clean up the cable management in the engine compartment?
Nice! On the wire covers, they were summit racing equipment, brand vinyl wire covers, they are really easy to use and quite cheap, all the hoses, and everything else is tucked behind the fenders
man all these "hot" firebird owners from the past coming out of the woodwork here ... this is like watching an old rocker sing his hit better than originally .... why do we feel like we are talking about an entirely different time and "America?" we are now "dinosaurs". long live the dinosaurs.
Nice, congratulations on getting a 71! The wheels are from summit racing equipment, front wheels are 15 x 8 front and rear wheels 15 x 9 US mags Indy u101 polished wheels
Ha ! My engine is almost identical, 6x too. A shop in Canada built it, and I just got it freshened up and running. What air cleaner base did you use? I have hood clearance issues. The old stock ram air box won't fit with my holley style carb.
@bigd27z Hey, thanks for the reply. I went from an edelbrock quadrajet (800 cfm) to a holley style carb (850 vacuum secondaries). My factory ram air box won't fit over the carb. The base I'm using now only lets me use a 2-inch air cleaner. Which I don't think is enough flow for wfo throttle. Your car is quite nice, I enjoyed all the videos of it.
maan you did a really fantastic job on that firebird i have been trying to find a 1970 in any shape i need it on the east coast though yikes rust belt area so i must look to the west so far nothing
It’s a Pontiac 800 CFM Q-jet with edelbrock, regular performer intake with a drop base air cleaner, the top of the air filter lid clears the hood by 1/2 inch. RPM performer intake was too tall for a hood clearance,
Glad to help, I believe the drop on the air cleaner is a 1 inch drop base with a two and three-quarter inch filter, Summit racing part number, proform air cleaner kit, 66801
Not sure if you know but i am following another person with a 1971 Firebird here on CZcams. Her name is Liv Scaffidi. Check her out. She has quite the car too. I like your car. Very nice.
Almost 35K for parts and some minor labor. Still needs about 4k in parts to finish, dash pad rebuild,trunk forward wiring harness, rear bumper re chrome etc,
Loved what you did before but topping it off with old-school sloted wheels. Hats off Man
You lucky son of a ...... Thanks for saving one. ❤️🍻🇺🇲
Threw the old formula hood on it too, nice look, nice color.👍
Nice Firebird👌. Owned a ‘71 Esprite when I was in my 20’s then upgraded it to a ‘77 T/A 400 both great cars which I wish I still owned.
Nice job!... now, get a "Ram Air" air cleaner and hook up the hood. It won't ad much HP, but always nice to know the hood is functional.
Great to see all that you went through to make your Dream happen! Man, the smiles from your family are priceless! It's icing on the cake when everybody at home can get on board with your vision of what a car can be! Sir that's one fine job! smiles per mile.... THANK'S for sharing
those gauges are stunningly beautiful
They were about 1200 bucks, compared to the other options out there, it was worth the extra few hundred bucks
Awesome looking car. You did it right enjoy.
the '71 is very unusual year model that you dont see or hear about so often. But it has a unique style inside & out that I like a lot. You really brought it back to life here! Very nice work!
Man!! My dream car...in high school I drove a '72 charger but I drooled when one of these passed me up.
Of the 2nd gen fire birds and cameros the 70 to 72 were the best looking ones. The small bumpers and the pointed noses compliments the body shape so well.
I agree 100%
I have always loved the 71 to 72 Firebird Formula of all of the years and models...something so sleek about the design.
BRILLIANT!!! Outstanding!!!
Incredible job. She looks amazing!
Very nice job on the bird !
Hard to go wrong with a big inch Pontiac . Hell yea 👍 Big Torque !!!
I like those gauges … very nice. I may have to put those in mine.
Again very nice job on the car !!
Thank you, Oh yeah, nothing runs or sounds as good as a big Cube Pontiac!
The gauges are definitely worth it, I think you’ll be very happy with them.
Thanks
Removing the vinyl top was such an improvement. IMO the 70-73 Firebird is the best-looking car of the muscle car era. Epic, clean shape.
Beautiful job !!! I had a 73 Formula 455 same color. Ended up as a street and strip drag car running 10:50. I miss that car so much. Have fun with yours !
Thank you,
How funny- I had a 1973 Formula 455 with a 4 speed in college and I still dream I have that car. What a beautiful beast it was.
That old bird looks fantastic now. Best body style in my opinion.
I had a 72 white on white 350 ram air hood and this brings back memories, some of them not so good.
No offense to Camaro owners their nice looking cars too, but 70 to 73 Firebirds are an awesome design. Pontiac hit a grand slam with those years in my opinion. And proud to say I own a beautiful 73 SD-455 4sp buccaneer Trans am since 1979 that God bless me with. 🙏👍
Absolutely awesome, watching you polish that gem. Thanks for sharing.
Great job on this 1972 firebird restoration seeing this car brings back childhood memories
You've got one sweet ride!
I built a 72 back in the late 70's very similar to yours. Brings back some awesome memories 🙂
I picked up a 70 Formula 400 that needs work. My plans are to make her into my old car.
That nostalgic thing kicking in 👍
That's nice the wife's into the ride as well !
Cheers 🍻
Thanks, when the wife and I got together 35 years ago the first car we bought together was a black 1970 formula with a 400 auto, we unfortunately had to sell it, and have been looking for another early second GEN Firebird for quite a long time, even though this is a 71 Esprit, they are still very rare, we built this one to be driven, so when the weather is nice we both drive it everywhere.
Congratulations on finding and purchasing your 70 formula, those are super rare! Would love to see it
Well done all round,also loved the dog heaps.I have a 71 with 502 ho,t400,gear vendors,9 inch/3.9,same as you global west connectors with solids all of them and lakewood ladder bars.I enjoyed you videos and your little personal touch with the drivers seatbelt.A big hello from Greg Perth,Australia.
Nice, thank you for the compliments, My plan is to do the gear vendors as well, how do you like it?
@@bigd27z Hi,i love it,if you take the vendors of me,take the whole bloody car then.I yous to run 3.0 diff now 3.9,with overdrive as that was the main reason for gettind it.Ihadly ever use 1st over but every other gears yes.ive always driven it on manual mode with a T handle on the quickshifter with button,option from vendors.Me personally i reckon if you get one go 3.7 or 3.9,maybe 4.1maybe,and you will never look.
@@gregmakris7287 Nice, this thing had a 3.50 rear gear, swapped it out for a 3.00 A couple weeks ago, wanna put the gear vendors unit in I’ll go back to the 3,50. I don’t know if CZcams will let you post Photos on here, would be nice to see what your firebird looks like
@@bigd27z Hi,il get my son to send photo,im not the best at phones but its a true orange with black custom interior and a comaro 4 inch scoop cause of the 502,sits high.Also your personal choice of rear end but if you talk to the gear vendors people they will tell you what revs and speed youl be doing in overdive etc.Mate i can't say what you may like but i can't do without my vendors,depends how original you want your machine,once you got extra gears you will play with them,nearly a hell of a lot of a different car it would feel.
@@bigd27z Also the car originally was a Espirit,Lucerne blue,sold in New York 1971 with one option,rear bumper gaurds whatever you call them,still on the car.
I had a 1971 Formula 400 in that exact same color of blue when I was a teenager (I'm 64 now). I had front and rear spoilers molded in and interior redone, and Centerline rims with. . . . of course. . . . BF Goodrich Radial T/A's. I rebuilt the motor, and had it balanced with a Holley 650 double pumper with mechanical secondaries which IMHO was a PERFECT carburetor for that car. Man, I miss that car.
Great looking Firebird. Still love these I had a 1972 was an awesome car.
OMG that is a gorgeous Firebird....That is art to me. Great job!!!! Lets Make Cars Great Again!!!!
Gonna start on mine soon wish me luck! 💪
What are building?
@@bigd27z Same thing 71 Firebird formula 400
@@ninjaricky4385 wishing you luck, enjoy your Journey building your dream car, because when it’s done it’s done. If you need any help or advice, just holler, 🤘
@@bigd27z Thanks man means alot, be safe out there
How's it going?
Great job man that turned out very nice I love those Firebirds and Trans Ams I had a 1974 Pontiac Firebird with a 400 in it got rid of it which I didn't now I got a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am with the 455 bored 60 over with the four-speed posi rear end I love these cars great job man
I always felt the formula hood scoops looked super cool. Nice job. Beautiful bird
Really nice rebuild glad you kept it a true Pontiac instead of putting an LS. Swap like so many do
Thank you, LS swap was never an option,
Really nice build and real close to the color of my 72 formula 4sp. Steel blue I called it at the time. Love this car.
A real beauty.🏆 I would have went with Pontiac rallies.
Awesome, great job, keepin the dream alive. She is a bad ride!
I'm working on a frankinbird. It's a 75 Esprit with a 1973 front clip and ram air hood, and a 1972 455HO, and a M-21.
Man I love those gauges, actually the whole car, sweet. 👍👍🏁🏁
Nice resto the subframe connectors that were welded that boy needs a little help with the welding
Great car. Nice work. Love the formula hood. The gauges are awesome. Great motor. Glad you didn’t do an LS.
Damnit man you've got this beast put together right! Look into front brace,it changes the ride 100%,ties everything together and it's not much. Great job
Thank you, it’s a work in progress, that brace you’re talking about, is that the one that goes under the hood that mounts from the front subframe to the firewall?
@@bigd27z it is,it goes behind the hood bracket,to the subframe behind the upper control arm then fender. I'ma send you a link.
@@bigd27z okay,I don't know how to send it to you,but here's a great video. It's from: The Garage clinic, The video is :G-Brace install Pontiac Trans Am
@@thomasmoore2695 Thank you I’ll check it out,
I had an identical blue 72 Formula except no rear wing.
Awesome video!
Sweet restoration.
I love old cars. Nice video.
Super effin nice,had one myself and loved it
Beautiful car 🚗
Gr3eat job on the car.Pontiac forever., as you can tell by my avatar. 😀😀😀😀😀
Thanks, hell yea!!
Great job ! 👍🇺🇸
first, an "eternal" restoration. tremendous hard work and tremendous "taste." yes, a work of art like the great "painters." don't doubt it. as far as the firebird, i have only recently started to pay attention to them. i heard that they were coming out cheaper than comparable camaros. i bet that may start turning around. as far as the styling on this ... funky...a little..., but now a welcome variation on the camaro theme. now equal to the camaro and eventually more valued.
that is one bad ride my friend.
Thank you
Dam Purdy bird 🐦
Beautiful build
Thank you, should have more upgrades to come soon
Nice car,beautiful 😍
shes so gorgeous
1971 firebird and Trans ams are rare and few were produced become of the strike at GM at the time
You have done a beautiful job! I have always wanted to buy a true 70-73 firebird or clone John Waynes "Green Hornet". Unfortunetly After two Kidney X Plants, I can No longer do the work! I'm just curious how much it would cost to find a firebird equal to yours and pay a reasonable person to make sure she's mechanically sound and do interior , body work and paint myself? If you intend to sell the car I'd like to find out what you want. Once again you did a very nice job and you got me thinking Firebirds again! Have fun!
Thank you sir, I’m sorry to hear about your health situations, hopefully you’re feeling much better now and on the road to recovery.
It’s been my experience that the hardest thing to do is find a good builder car nowadays, that’s mostly there and not all rusted out, If you can find one of those your allot of money ahead, the sky is the limit on what you can spend on one , as far as selling my Firebird, it would be almost impossible to replace it or just find another clean early 2’nd gen, if I did sell, it would probably have to be in the 50k+ range, hope you find the car you looking for
Sau Geil Bruder🥃 Grüße aus Germany Coole Maschine
Nice
Glad I pulled mine out of hibernation.
Very Sharp looking BIRD‼️👍🏼
BEAUTIFUL *
Thx for your restauration videos. This gives me inspiration for the restauration of my 1973 Formula 350. How do you clean up the cable management in the engine compartment?
Nice! On the wire covers, they were summit racing equipment, brand vinyl wire covers, they are really easy to use and quite cheap, all the hoses, and everything else is tucked behind the fenders
killer mags
man all these "hot" firebird owners from the past coming out of the woodwork here ... this is like watching an old rocker sing his hit better than originally .... why do we feel like we are talking about an entirely different time and "America?" we are now "dinosaurs". long live the dinosaurs.
Kool
Pontiac Torque 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Nice.
Thanks!
Hoping you would share where you got your rear bumper, tail lights and tail light bezels from.
Rear bumper is the original to the car, tail light bezels came from original parts group
Very nice ❗️ I want to do the same thing later. What did the cost end up at?
nice fucking job man about to trade one of my hogs for a 71
Im thinking of buying a 1970 Formula 4spd, A/C matching numbers for $16k deal or no deal?
Man NICE work!!! I just got a 71 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400 and I was wondering where did you get the mag wheels from and what size are they.
Nice, congratulations on getting a 71!
The wheels are from summit racing equipment, front wheels are 15 x 8 front and rear wheels 15 x 9 US mags Indy u101 polished wheels
Front tires are 245, 60 15 rear tires are 255 60 15
@@bigd27z COOL!! Thanks for the info.
Man wouldn't you know it summit is sold out of the 15 by 9 wheel there saying if you order them now they will ship them out in march man that sucks.
@@m1a1hm dammit! Sometimes Summit shows up earlier than the backorder date, March will be here soon
Nice job, but for God sake, take that cheap dollar store steering wheel cover off of that beautiful formula steering wheel!!
Nice job used to have one so my girlfriend burned it to the ground if you ever want to sell it would love to buy it
Ha ! My engine is almost identical, 6x too. A shop in Canada built it, and I just got it freshened up and running. What air cleaner base did you use? I have hood clearance issues.
The old stock ram air box won't fit with my holley style carb.
Nice, I’m using a 2 1/2 inch drop base air cleaner. From Summit racing equipment.
@bigd27z Hey, thanks for the reply.
I went from an edelbrock quadrajet (800 cfm) to a holley style carb (850 vacuum secondaries). My factory ram air box won't fit over the carb. The base I'm using now only lets me use a 2-inch air cleaner. Which I don't think is enough flow for wfo throttle.
Your car is quite nice, I enjoyed all the videos of it.
WOW OH BOYOBOY
maan you did a really fantastic job on that firebird i have been trying to find a 1970 in any shape i need it on the east coast though yikes rust belt area so i must look to the west so far nothing
What exact intake and carburetor were you able to fit under the formula hood? I saw the Carbs Only mention so was thinking you went with original.
It’s a Pontiac 800 CFM Q-jet with edelbrock, regular performer intake with a drop base air cleaner, the top of the air filter lid clears the hood by 1/2 inch. RPM performer intake was too tall for a hood clearance,
@@bigd27z Thank you. That is the exact info I was needing. Was mainly wondering if an RPM performer would fit under a formula hood.
Glad to help, I believe the drop on the air cleaner is a 1 inch drop base with a two and three-quarter inch filter, Summit racing part number, proform air cleaner kit, 66801
Not sure if you know but i am following another person with a 1971 Firebird here on CZcams. Her name is Liv Scaffidi. Check her out. She has quite the car too. I like your car. Very nice.
Thanks for the heads up I will check her CZcams out
Нет слов, она просто красотка! Мої вам вітання із Харкова. Слава Україні.!!!
Can you tell me what those rims are? Would look good on my 72 Maverick.
Summit racing equipment part number u10115806140. US Mags Indy u101
@@bigd27z cool thank you!
@@dr.zippymcscoots8725 You’re welcome, price is good on them and they have a really nice polish and balance out nice
СТОЛЬКО ЛЕТ ПРОСТОЯЛА И ЕЩЕ УМУДРИЛАСЬ ЗАВЕСТИСЬ
5:10
SO WADDA SAY lets do it again only i need a \970
I would take that crap off steering wheel.
Check out build number 4, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised
Absolutely great 1971 Bluebird you have! I decided to restore a 1985 Blackbird-check it out on my channel!
shoulda went with a cam with a more modern grind ra is good but
Could’ve, yes, and could’ve this and could’ve that…..
Lower I had one just like it lower
Does the new ??? Tach stick at 2500 like the originals ????.OH, DAKOTA, GUESS NOT 👍👍👍
May I ask what youre into this dollar wise?
Almost 35K for parts and some minor labor.
Still needs about 4k in parts to finish, dash pad rebuild,trunk forward wiring harness, rear bumper re chrome etc,
Wow looks beautiful. I grew up around this car. Enjoy it. looks amazing
Thank you, we will as it’s the daily every weekend 👍
Firebirds OK,Camaro's better
Det. Frank Bullett 11 ????