Either the world has indeed finally gone completely mad or the owner and\or poster of the ad for this car has been taking swigs of grandpa's cough syrup. This 1977 Pontiac Firebird Esprit is for sale somewhere up here in northeast, Ohio with an asking price of $34,000. Say it slowly and it sounds even more absurd; thirty-four, thousand-dollars. Grab your bell bottoms, Charlie's Angels t-shirt and your Bee Gees 8-track, kids. This is going to be an interesting ride.
While I believe this car has an asking price that's too high, it's actually not out of the realm of reason. NADA peg this car in Concours condition, essentially showroom or museum quality, at $37,000. Excellent shape at $24,000, good at around $14,000. "Fair" (whatever that means) at some $7,500.
Seeing the shape this is in, which is actually very, very good, I surmise it should have an asking price somewhere around $25,000. Not that I'd pay that for a Firebird that didn't have a "screaming chicken" on the hood but that's just me.
Gosh, you'd think then that if these cars are worth so much, my 1977 Corvette could go for somewhere near that, right? Granted, my Corvette is not in the shape this original and unrestored oldie is, but my '77 ain't worth half of what the asking price of this is. Shoot, I'd be hard pressed to get $12,000 for it. Why? Because of the market. And the market, while kinder to most third-generation Corvette's or "C3's" like mine than most C4's, is driving the white or blue-hot values on these cars. Camaro's of this generation as well.
What's really a kick in the tailpipe is these cars retailed for almost half of what a Corvette went for in 1977. And the Corvette, everything being relative, with it's independent rear suspension, was a better all-around riding, handling and performing car. Better looking too if you ask me. Take a drive in one of these and I'd hard pressed to believe you wouldn't think it rides like a truck with square, wooden wheels. My '77 Corvette, which I've painfully restored to original 1977 suspension spec, dare I say rides like a Cadillac in comparison. With it's mildly hot-rodded 350-cubic inch Chevy small block would suck the doors off this thing too.
But, again, it's the market that's driving the proverbial bus here. These cars are nostalgia trips for Generation X and older Millenials as they were everywhere when they were young; I was born in '64 and therefore technically a "Boomer" but I identify as Gen X. Corvette's of this vintage were actually rare sites back then. Very rare. Not unlike seeing a late model Corvette today. And then, as now, there was a quiet, somewhat unspoken disdain for anyone driving a Corvette. Trust me, whenever I take my creaky '77 out, I see and feel the sneers and hear them saying under their breath, "what a douche bag". If they only knew.
For 1977, long gone Pontiac built four different types of Firebirds. There was the bone stripper base model with a Buick V-6 and a 3-speed, floor mounted manual. Our luxury-tinged or themed Esprit here was next on the model totem pole followed by the "Formula" and the apple of everyone's eye, now as then, the Trans Am. Especially black T/A's with the gold trim that Burt Reynold's Bo "Bandit" Darville drove to fame in the greatest bad movie of all time, the original "Smokey and the Bandit". Fun fact, all four of the T/A's in the original "Bandit" where 1976 models with 1977 front-ends.
The big news at Pontiac for 1977 was a revised engine lineup that included our Esprit's 301-cubic inch V-8 that was not only Pontiac's first new V-8 since the introduction of the 455 in 1970, it was the first Pontiac engine sold to the public that was not based on the venerable 287 "Strato Streak" Pontiac engine dating back to 1955.
Based in part on the 303-cubic inch V-8 Pontiac developed for Trans Am racing in 1970, an engine never sold publicly, our Esprit's 301makes all of 135-horsepower in base guise, an optional four-barrel carburetor goosed horsepower to 150. With 235 pounds of torque just off idle, it provided reasonable scoot for the time period. "Reasonable" being relative, of course.
Despite the shape it's in and the honeycomb rims, its $34K asking price is making be ill. Perhaps it's the sickly blue exterior color (I don't mind the interior) or that I'm not the biggest fan of most Firebirds made after 1974 that have the larger, more wrap-around rear windshield. Or, if I'm being perfectly honest, and what do I have to lose by not being so, I'm just jealous that I couldn't get half the asking price for my Corvette.
As with most things in life, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.
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