Please give me a reason to ignore this Firebird

Guys, my brother in law lives on the east coast but this car is a 4 hour drive for me. He is infatuated with it and wants me to take a day off from work this week and drive over to see it. It is a little out of my area of expertise. My brother in law is a decent enough mechanic but not a body guy at all. So not sure how much he can do on his own vs paying someone. The buy price is 13k which seems reasonable. But the rust photos make me wonder.

Any thoughts or wisdom to get me out of this?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/278300454300

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Aug 23, 2026

Reply to 1980Z28Man…

Replies (34)

· 3w

Interior photos.

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· 3w

Rust photos.

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· 3w

More...

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· 3w

That car ticks every box for a musclecar.  (400HO, 4 SPEED, BENCH SEAT ,POSI, DOG DISH CAR..MANUAL DISC) and it is matching with paperwork.    But...

1968 Firebird is a unibody and that car is swiss cheese.   I need to study it more carefully.

Interested in @Hupp31 thoughts as he is the bodyman.    I'm very leery.

· 3w

Oh my. That’s not a job for someone who is not experienced with a grinder and welder. Anything can be saved but that is a massive undertaking. Not necessarily because of the Flintstone floors, the pans are probably the easier parts to replace. I’d be more concerned about the rocker panels, suspension mounts and wheelhouses that we can’t see there. In one of the interior photos, it kind of looks like the inner rocker panel has a hole in it. It’s major surgery to replace the structural pieces like that. If I look into my crystal ball, I see the body tags mysteriously finding their way onto a cleaner shell at some point in the future.

· 3w

I think you nailed it.

· 3w

This is exactly what is going to happen. It would have been better to sell that car privately.

· 3w

I'll give the seller credit. This is a pretty good advertisement. When he says "needs floors"' he wasn't kidding!!!

· 3w

Yeah, even the floor braces are gone. I’d put money on the fact that the only thing holding those rockers together is the stainless trim. And I’ve seen cars that looked to be more solid than that break in half getting loaded on a rollback. But I’ve seen much worse cars bought just for the desirable numbers and paperwork.

· 3w

See the 68 GTO in the background? Looked pretty solid and had a full chassis under it. When I sold it in 1983 it was a 15 year old car. Same as 2011 right now. When the guy went to load in on the rollback it split in half.

· 3w

Ouch!!!!

· 3w

And ironically, on the other side of this discussion, the worst car I ever saw bought just for the tags and paperwork was in fact a GTO convertible. It was in a condition where calling a shell would have been generous.

· 3w

Travis, the blue car on the left was a father son project with my dad. We started it my junior year of HS but didn't finish it until I was a freshman in college. But it gave me the gravitas of having it while in HS even though it was not road worthy. It came out pretty good for being gas welded back together from swiss cheese by a laywer.

When I bought it the car was 11 years old but had been parked in a kids back yard for 3 years after a decent front end collision took out all the sheet metal. There was nothing covering the enigne for those 3 years. What mess that car was. Amazing how fast cars could rust back then.

· 3w

When I was very young, probably mid-late 80’s, my dad had a Malibu convertible from that era. I was just old enough to know that a Chevelle was a cool car and since it looked like one to me, I assumed it was too. In reality it was a turquoise granny car but it was really clean inside and out. I remember my dad saying how it was rusted underneath and was junk. I couldn’t understand how a car could still look good and be junk. Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.

· 3w

As someone who has done some mig welding on a unibody if the torque boxes and rockers need to be replaced you are looking at a big expenditure and the right equipment.

I can see the allure with that configuration though.

· 3w

Me too! I don't like the idea of body swaps but this one may be destined for that fate. What is the cost of a rust free Arizona 68 Firebird with appropriate sheet metal date codes? Because this car has been all over the internet those rust photos will be held against it forever.

· 3w

I think your brother in loves the idea of that car more than that actual car. How old is he? He needs to be young to ever see it finished. I might advise holding out for a lesser but nicer car.

· 3w

He is not that young, and still has 3 kids at home. I see some good ammunition here to get me out of driving all day. I'm hearing what my heart was already telling me. That level of floor rot must mean more issues in the structural places. And he will be paying someone to do it.

I don't think he would contemplate a body swap. Not his style.

· 3w

I think it would be great 13k garage art. But finishing it would be years and many 10ks of dollars.

· 3w

I love first gen F bodies esp 67 - 68 & I think the Firebird is undervalued compared to Camaros of the same vintage.

That said this seems pretty far from OK - better to spend up a bit on a better start even with a more mundane powertrain.

· 3w

It does seem like Firebirds bring less than Camaros.

· 3w

I'm no expert in that type of car but I would stay away!!!!.. looks like $100k of work and you would have a $50kish car. But it is cool!!

· 3w

Close. 200k plus worth of work and you would have a 75k car. Maybe a bit more.

· 3w

It's always cheaper to buy a car that's 90% finished and handle the last bits yourself.

I always tell my customers: "Make sure you buy a project with two out of three in good condition: Body, Mechanicals, Interior."

Fixing more than that is a money pit.

· 3w

This is good advice. I love the configuration of this car and for a musclecar, documentation, matching numbers and optional engine are a home run, but you get thrown out at home by all the rot.

· 3w

Oh my...

· 3w

I feel like we have adequately shot down this expedition @1980Z28Man ? What is the word?

· 3w

I just saw this post. You guys called it out as well as I could. Proceed with caution!!!!!

· 3w

Guys, I sent him a link to this conversation last night. I'll report back but at this point I'm thinking he is out. I hope. Too much going on this week for me to be taking time off from work anyways.

· 3w

I know that car is desirable with the options it has, and it is easy to have your analysis focus on that exact package. You can convince yourself “where will I ever find one with these options”, and you might not. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other desirable 1st Gen Firebirds that you could be owning and driving immediately for an “all in” cost equal or less than the $ you would have into the subject car with the bodywork still incomplete.

I’m also more aware of time as I get older……. A quick look at what the market has lately on these would help ease me off of the “crush” I may have found myself having on the subject car.

Of course, you already know this, I will readily admit that I’m great at giving advice to others that I sometimes struggle to follow in my own foolish endeavors.

https://bringatrailer.com/pontiac/firebird-1967-1969/

· 3w

Just saw this topic. Everybody looks like they are of similar mind. I'm in the pass bucket too, but would understand why somesome would buy it. Finished cars in the 70s range is probably what you would find if you look. But as optioned it would be hard to find an exact comparision.

· 3w

Good timing.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1969-pontiac-firebird-127

· 2w

For anybody interested, this sold for US $10,178.00. Not my brother in law either.

· 2w

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1967-pontiac-firebird-117