Before my feed of delightful old cars on Facebook Marketplace slowed to a crawl this 1970 Pontiac Firebird popped up. This patina rich old pony is about an hour so south of our triple-wide here in Cleveland, Ohio with an asking price an eye-watering $2,500.
Aside from the ridiculous asking price, this is a $250 junker back in my day, it's condition highlights the weather extremes we get here; hot and humid summers and, on occasion, brutal winters. The weather extremes here reek havoc on roads and buildings to say nothing of what they do to cars if they're left out in the elements. .
That $2,500 asking price is a lot of money for something that even the poster of the ad on Facebook Marketplace claims "needs everything" and is not a Trans Am. No VIN posted so I can't check to see what it had originally or what it was. Formula? Esprit?
It's not even numbers matching. Ad says there's a "1973" 400 engine in it along with a turbo-hydramatic 400 transmission. '73 Esprit's came available with two Pontiac 400's; two and four barrel versions.
Seems like $2,500 for this not unlike paying a king's ransom for the right to hit yourself in the head with a hammer. Repeatedly. Body work alone could be fifteen-grand; personally I'd leave it as is and make a rat-rod out of it. Engine rebuild or crate engine another five (at least). Twenty-five hundred for a transmission rebuild, fifteen-hundred for the rear end, couple of grand for front and rear suspension work. Interior, wiring, at least five more. Throw in another twenty-five hundred for miscellaneous I mean, fresh rims and tires will set you back twelve-hundred. Redoing the air conditioning is going to cost $3,000. Holy smokes we're around forty-thousand dollars for a $2,500 car.
Making this another prime example of its always better to buy a restored car than to restore one.
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