1968 Firebird Sprint
 

https://youtu.be/S5gWSWH053Y

This is an interesting and somewhat rare Firebird Sprint, anyone ever seen one in person or driven one?

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Pontiac put that same engine in the Le Mans for awhile and called it the Sprint, too. Of course, it was a much more appropriate engine for the size and weight of the Firebird.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_LeMans

Pretty interesting.

Bad execution as I recall. Things required 1968 premium and, I imagine, would detonate themselves to an early death on todays fuel. They changed the stroke for the Firebird which made it less of a revver. Low HP for 3.53 liters.

And the Firebird was a porker, weighed 40 lbs more than the LeMans.

Lots of info on Ate Up with Motor….

guy in the neighborhood has a LeMans Sprint convertible 3 speed manual/hood tach light blue with white int/top. Very interesting car

I remember riding in my Aunt's brand new 1968 convertible firebird (one of my first memories)...but with the 326 V8, and auto trans, a much more satisfying car to drive, and listen to than the I6/4 spd.

Interesting indeed.

When a teenager, saw a Lemans Sprint in the junkyard outside of Culpeper, VA. It was all there, with a few dents - a shame really.

Jay has the coolest cars and that straight six was ahead of its time!

Great video, Thanks.

I remember drooling over the Pontiac Firebird brochure in the fall of '67 and believing at last domestic automakers were going to do it right: light, higher specific output engines. It took a bit longer than I thought. I even imagines what a Corvette would be like with the OHC six but didn't find out until much later that Pontiac had built a show car. (Banshee?)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1638280056.jpg

I loved seeing Jay's episode on this car. I had been eating up the restoration updates on it for a couple of years.

Where's that Racoon pic?

Best
Les

Up until a couple of years ago when I saw the shop tour on JLG I had no idea this car existed. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.

Imagine a high school kid in the 70's swapping out the OHV 6 for a SBC.
50 years later finding out what you'd had and diminished.

I am redoing a 67 Pontiac Tempest Sprint now. Total restoration. Car needed everything. Should be done in a month.

I remember looking at one and wondering why anybody would buy one. 1/2 century or so later?
A rare collectable. Go figure.

If I had one it would get a pissed off 400 crammed in there :)

rjp

That was cool, as my '66 Mustang is a 200ci straight six, of course it has 3x1 barrel Webers on it and a 6 into 2 header.

First car I had was a base 4.1L OHC ‘68 Firebird with a three on the tree. Immaculate, red on red, 99,000 miles for $1,100 in 1972.

We will want pictures, and a story here when it is finished !

Ok. Will post pictures when done. I put a hotchkiss suspension under it. Totally. All the 1960's tie rods, sway bars, upper and lower control arms, ball joints, everything. Added A/C, added power steering. Rebuilt OHC 6 engine. Its a factory 4 barrel carb car which means a little bigger exhaust valves, a little hotter cam and maybe a couple of other things I can't recall.
People would find these and make GTO tribute cars out of them. Put in a 389 or 400 and GTO badges. All they did was make the Sprint rare and getting to be exceedingly so.
I sent the carb to All American Carburetor in Jacksonville Florida. That thing came back looking better than new.
All rust cut out and patched properly. Primed a couple of times and now in paint. Interesting thing about this car is we think it was used by a fire chief or assistance fire chief in California. Top of car originally was red and bottom white. We did find a hole in roof for a big red bubble gum light.

Where did you go for interior pieces? I got a 70 LeMans sport that needs pretty much everything.

My mom bought a new '67 Tempest with an OHC 6. We were moving and our old station wagon broke down in front of the Pontiac dealer driving from South FL to NC and it was not economically repairable...or at least that what the salesman convinced her. It was a pretty and sporty car. We did not have it long because she was later hit by a dump truck (full of gravel). It was pretty bad, but she survived with a lot of neck and back pain. I never realized the care was anything special. She probably did not either. It sat out in the yard all crushed up for a long time...and eventually someone bought it for parts (I think). She eventually got better and drove our pickup to work.

Cool stories. I thought it was a pretty cool car. So it seems that there was a whole line up of Pontiac Sprints, I had no idea.

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I'd actually like to see that, sounds really cool!!! I had a TR6 that the exhaust was like a 6 into 2 and had 2 exhaust pipes that ran all the way to the back and went into a large muffler and then exited as 2 pipes. I removed the single muffler and had a split free flow system by Monza, 2 very short mufflers with 2 chrome tips each. It sounded really good and looked super cool!!!

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That video really caught me by surprise. Straight six with over head camshaft sounds very Euro.
The six cylinder engine (straight and V) was king in Australia for a long time.

I'd bet it would respond well to modifications.

I agree. Beautiful car, but that six does absolutely nothing for me. 207 hp, (230 in 1969) is not impressive. I don't even think it sounds good. Im a pontiac guy, so I'm familiar with the sprint cars. Glad my parents wanted the V-8 when they bought my Pontiac in 69, saved me the work of having to swap out that boat anchor. ;)

how about a Royal Bobcat. a convertible. the 428 option.

https://vancouver.craigslist.org/rds/cto/d/delta-central-1968-pontiac-firebird/7393290031.html

Perfect candidate for BaT.

that's a killer car. the Royal Bobcat. dunno about the details on this particular one. ultra rare.
there was an HO Sprint for sale locally, last week - looks like it's been sold. (8500 Cdn Pesos, iirc)