bowtietilidie

iTrader: (1)

years ago I owned an 85 Camaro base model. as much as I loved it, it was basically a driveway ornament that turned into a big beehive in the summer time.
I bought it from a friend of a family friend, and it came with a blown 6 cylinder motor, and included with the car was another 6 banger.
I paid $600 for it, and the engine swap was done in a fun filled weekend.
it ran good and drove good, and we brought it home the following weekend.
this is the part where I wish I could tell you about how fun it was to drive around in. but unfortunately, we didn't do a title transfer at the time, and soon after the previous owner fell off the face of the earth. we did have the unsigned title, but tracking the guy down made things a little tough.
it was still fun to play with, and I kept busy tinkering around with it.
then I bought a brand new 04 cavalier in late 03, which immediately consumed all my attention. that's when the Camaro turned into a big beehive, which led to my father's request to get rid of it.
after some help with the title from a friend at the car dealership I was working at, I sold it for $300 to someone I went to high school with.
he drove it for a couple months and then sold it to someone else.
fast forward a couple years, I still love thirdgen Camaros, and browse craigslist every couple days, and bid on cars on ebay.
one day I see one of my old buddies at the mall, and ask him if he still has the Camaro he drove in high school. he tells me he doesn't, but he has a "cambird" he is trying to sell on craigslist for $3,000. I was slightly intrigued, but 3 g's was a little steep at the time because I was a few months away from my wedding date.
shortly after, I message to guy I sold my old Camaro to, and ask him if he can get me in contact with the dude he sold it to. he doesn't have any way to contact him. I still had the VIN written down, so I could have made an effort to find out where it is, but I thought "nah this isn't worth the effort it's gonna take" and pretty much gave up on the idea of getting a Camaro.
sometime after the wedding, i'm not sure how it happened, but my wife said I could get a project car to work on, as long as it doesn't cost more than her engagement ring did.
so I contact the owner of the cambird, and ask if he still has it. we texted back and forth and he sent me pictures of it and told me all about it, and told me to make him an offer. I was going to say $2,000, but told him that since he wanted $3k on craigslist for it, I didn't want to insult him.
"since I've known you since kindergarten, how does $1,800 sound?"
perfect. I go drive it, I fall in love with it, I agree to buy it.
I was about to go on vacation, and he travels for work for months at a time, so the time it took for us to meet up and sign it over to me was a span of 8 months.
in that 8 months, I've spent countless hours looking at pictures of firebirds and Camaros, reading everything I can, and buying tons of diecast cars of them. it got out of hand.
so I finally get my car, and at this point my plan was to fix it up, clean it up, and repaint it. and then sell it to get an iroc.
since I've spent so much time on here and looked at everyone else's cars, I have decided that even though I love the Camaro front end the most, i'm going to convert this back to a firebird and possibly keep it.
so in this thread, as time and money permit, I hope to be able to keep a photo journal of the transition back to a firebird.
now for some pictures. sorry about the novel!






here's my little guy pretending he's driving.








there it is with my impala


and there's the impala jumping it at wawa lol

crafty_z28

that has to be the oddest looking F-body I've ever seen, glad to see to taking it back to original. I love both the camaro and firebird, but not in one car lol. good luck! Be interesting to see the headlight work.

bowtietilidie

iTrader: (1)

lol thanks, it's overwhelming just thinking about everything I need to round up for the conversion. slowly but surely she'll be a firebird again.

Cadaver_Puncher

What about doing a projector headlight behind plexi do it doesn't need motors and has the exotic car look.
? Just a thought.

crafty_z28

Or do something like this? If I find a decent trans am I wanna do it lol. Just an idea

bowtietilidie

iTrader: (1)

wow that's awesome!
I wonder what headlights they used

Boosted_Ecotec

X2....That's pretty sick!

mmadden55

Actually I am working on doing that with mine , I am building a headlight with a 9007 bulb and some stuff from Home depot.

That guy may have used halogen bulbs in aftermarket driving lights or mounted Camaro lights in the bucket holes. I considered both. The Camaro lights would be partially obscured and the driving lights pulled to much power and had the wrong pattern.

WTR388

Dude... Where did you find that picture?! I need info on that!

fozzi58

LMAO. That's great and good luck with the project.

Back in the early 90's there was a guy in Garfeild NJ who had a 2nd gen Camarobird. It didn't work quite as well as yours cause the fender crease from the camaro front end didn't line up with doors & quarters of the firebird back end. But yours looks good.

bowtietilidie

iTrader: (1)

got a start on this with a "new" bumper.
I don't like how the bumperettes look, it kinda looks like a mustache on the back of my car. that bumper is in the classifieds is anybody wants it.

but now with the trans am bumper, sideskirts won't look out of place..





hopefully I will have more updates soon. especially now that I definitely need sideskirts on since the little bulge on the sides of the bumper look awkward now lol

bowtietilidie

iTrader: (1)

thank you!
wow I would love to see one in 2nd gen form lol

fozzi58

No interest in going 91-92 bumpers instead of the skirted firebird?

I always thought the skirts looked out of place on a plain-jane FB. I had a couple of mid 80's v6 FBs and I just liked the clean FB/formula appearance unless it actually was a T/A. No skirts for my 89 formy proj. But I am going to update to the 91-92 rear bumper. Haven't decided on the nose but def not using the "rubber bumper insert" nose circa 85~90 FB.

Then again, my opinion stinks just like everyone else's.

bowtietilidie

iTrader: (1)

at first I did want to keep it skirtless, I feel like it has more of a muscle car look without sideskirts on it. but then I spent too much time on here looking at other cars and decided I really like firebirds with them now.
i'm sure i'll change my mind later on at some point. and I found this trans am bumper and got too good of a deal on it to pass it up lol.
I don't have a trans am, but this car already has an identity crisis as it is right now lol.