If you can find such parts for your restoration project at a local junkyard, though, that is a good idea, too. Then you will be able to get them yourself and save those shipping costs. You can also go to swap meets to see what you can find. Vintage Pontiac Firebird parts are often available in this kind of setting. Come with cash and negotiate to get the best price. They would rather sell their vintage Pontiac Firebird parts for a bit less money than to have to load them up and take them back home again.

Consider buying a second vintage Pontiac Firebird that has parts you need if you can get one for a decent price. Take a good inventory of what you have to get to complete yours. Then you can decide if what you find out there is a good deal or not. Some people have old cars around that they haven’t gotten around to restoring. While they aren’t advertising them for sale, they may change their mind if you show up with an interest and a dollar amount to offer them.

Do some research and you may find that there are some parts from other similar vehicles you may be able to use. Always try go with parts that are traditionally from the Pontiac Firebird. If you can’t find them from exhausting all other means, though, then you may decide it is time for you to become more creative.

The General Motors RAM Jet 350 engine is bolted to a 700 R4 transmission. This will help you to get better gas mileage. At the same time, it will help you to get better overall performance from your vehicle. This engine offers 350 hp so you won’t be disappointed with it at all. This engine and transmission combination will push your classic Pontiac Firebird into about the 20 mpg range if you are still running the factory rear end-gear ratio.

If such modifications are too expensive for your budget right now, there are some other things you can do to get better gas mileage right now. Check your vehicle to see if it has a solid engine fan or one that runs on a clutch. If it is solid, then replace it with one that runs on a clutch.

Consider a K&N air filter system and new mufflers. These two changes will allow your classic Pontiac Firebird to bring in more air and to have less resistance when it is pushed back out. That will cut down on the amount of fuel that is used.

Consider new tires that are rated at 44 psi. The older ones are about 30 to 35 psi. Your fuel mileage will increase with the 44 psi because there will be less rolling resistance experienced.

Each of these steps can have a significant impact on the gas mileage of your classic Pontiac Firebird. That means you can have the fun and excitement of owning a great muscle car and afford to drive it, too.

One of those names that defines the classic muscle car is the Pontiac Firebird. It is interesting to note that Pontiac almost missed the muscle car party before getting the Firebird onto the market. The actual 1970 Pontiac Firebird fits well into the pony car division of Pontiac’s foray into the muscle car world. While 1970 was just about too late to join the muscle car party, the Firebird still made a serious splash that was worth the wait.

Part of the reason for delaying the entry of the Pontiac Firebird was that the designers basically started from scratch rather than adapting existing design ideas for the body parts or the suspension. The outcome is that the Pontiac Firebird hit the market like a storm because it was so dramatically forward thinking in design and for how superior it was in handling and acceleration to anything comparable in the muscle car universe at the time.

Pontiac made the Firebird with enough options that any muscle car enthusiast could find a model to suit his or her dream. The initial production of the Pontiac Firebird came as a two-door coupe or as a convertible. The bucket seats added even more style to an already stylish muscle car which Pontiac offered to the car-buying public in the base model or as the Formula, the Espirit or the famous Trans Am. The cultural excitement over the Trans Am as evidenced in the movie Smokey and the Bandit only added to the mystique of the Pontiac Firebird as the ultimate muscle car vehicle.

The amount of power you could have at your disposal when you bought a Pontiac Firebird was also up to the buyer. Many buyers went with the standard model that came with an inline 6-cylinder engine and a 3-speed manual transmission. However, in some of the more powerful variations on the Pontiac Firebird, like the Espirit, you could pump up the power with a 255-horsepower V8 engine and go with the automatic or the manual 3-speed transmission.

That meant that muscle car lovers could invest in a Pontiac Firebird for the style, for the power or for both. Whatever way muscle car fans went when they got their own Pontiac Firebird, it was sure not to disappoint.