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Before We Go Any Further into The Firebird Story

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It's the muscle car your cool uncle drove when he wasn't in jail.

The fire breathing, tire burning, highway ripper from [insert location]

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Before we go any furtherinto the Firebird story,go ahead and hit that like button,lets us know that we're doing a good job.And apparently it helpscrack the YouTube algorithm.And I love cracking algos.It's the muscle car your cool uncle drovewhen he wasn't in jail.The fire breathing, tireburning, highway ripperfrom "Smokey and the Bandit".It from its humble pony car originsto the airbrushed Phoenix ofthe 70s to this, what happened?This is "Everything You Needto Know to Get Up to Speed"on the Pontiac Firebird.(James screaming)(bright upbeat music)- Thank youto Keeps for sponsoringtoday's video.Hair loss has been eradicatedon earth but in a universewhere two out of threeguys experience some formof male pattern baldnessby the time they're 35,we're on a mission totackle universal hair loss.For we are?- AstroKeeps.- We've arrived onPlanet Epilonte, Captain.- Doc McTompson, report.- Oceans are clean.Atmosphere is breathable.Parking is front and only, paradise.- Access granted.- The ambassador is readyto meet with us, Captain.- Thank you officer Hawk.Jr. Officer Tips, send us down.Oh gosh, nevermind, I'll handle it.- The volcano at the heart ofour planet is going to erupt.Is catastrophic to our species.- Dang, we should really do something.- Hey Doc Mo, why don't you let 'em knowabout our secret weapon?- You got it, Captain.Keeps off as clinically proven,research back treatmentsto stop loss.Homegrown hair plus expertcare without having to travelthe stars for a doctor'soffice or pharmacy.- I mean, that soundsincredible but the volcano.- Great work, Captain.The alien's long flowing locks for Danetteto keep the volcano magma at bay.- That's textbook baby.Just like they taught us at the academy.- How can we thank you Starship follicle?- The warmth of yourgratitude is thank you,hold on, wait one second.Does your planet have gold?- No, I don't think so.- Well then the warmth of your gratitudeis thank you enough.Start your hair loss prevention todayby going to keeps.com/uptospeed50or by clicking the link in the descriptionto receive 50% off your first orderand check back for another adventure of-- AstroKeeps.- It's the late 60s and everybodyis obsessed with muscle.Muscle cars, muscle rockets and musclesin a white wine butter sauce.The young Pontiac executiveby the name of John DeLorean,yes, that John DeLoreanshoves a honking V8in the midsize LeMans,calls it the GTO Packageand changes the course ofAmerican car history forever.He was like, kids are gonna love this.And he was dead right.DeLorean not only turnedPontiac's boring imagecompletely around overnight,he proved that youngpeople wanted fast cars.Imagine that.Ring, ring, ring, ring.Duh department?Pontiac was arguably thefirst to do this excitingcar market with the GTO if you don't countthe Oldsmobile Rocket88 but this muscle partygot crowded pretty quick.Ford came out with the Mustang,even though it's arguablethat that might not be amuscle car, it's a pony car.A Plymouth made theBarracuda and Dodge flankedwith the Polara, Dart and the Coronetbut it was really theMustang that concerned GM.They watched year after yearas Mustang sales exploded,they sold a butt ton of these.In 1966, Ford sold a recordbreaking 600,000 Mustangsin a market that DeLorean andGM had basically invented.And now they're at the riskof losing their own market.They needed a new car.Taking down the Mustang was a tall orderbut John DeLorean was a tall guyand he doesn't take defeatvery easily, all right?GM wanted Chevy of chase fameto be the one steeled crownfrom Fior but DeLoreanwouldn't hear of it.He tried to convince thehigher ups at GM that Pontiacwould be the one to make a Mustang killer.The GM was adamant thatChevy are the guys do it.And in the end, the guysin the Pontiac divisionwere able to convince GM to letPontiac design their own carbased on the F body Novaalongside new project dubbedthe Camaro with thehopes that GM could floodthis new market with cheap fast cars.With the okay, the Pontiacteam got to work designinga sister car for the Camaro.For design influence, theylooked back to a concept carfrom a few years earlier called the GM X.X stands for experimental.If you have an E in there,you're not even experimenting, all right?This prototype debuted atthe 1964 New York Worlds Fairand people freaking loved it.It blew their minds.Guess who else loved it?GM employees, that's who loved it too.Pontiac was like, hey,what if we made that carthat we all loved from a few years ago?And they got to work on a new prototypewith elements from the GM Xlike the split nostril grilland taillights inspired by the GTO,as well as the classic Cokebottle shape of that area.Skinny waist, long hood,absolutely yoked in the rear.I'm talking thick inches.To differentiate it from the Camaro,they added an integratedfront bumper which you know,just made it look more sleek.Now the people at Pontiacweren't holding their breaththat this thing would actuallymake it to market, right?They had been burned before by uncle GM,I'm talking about the PontiacXP-833 a.k.a. The Banshee.Does it look familiar?It's like a 3rd gen Corvette, right?That's because this prototypewas finished in 1964and execs at GM found outit was gonna have equivalenthorsepower to the Corvettebut be 500 pounds lighterand quicker to 60 miles perhour and they were like,no, no, no, we can't have that.And they told John DeLorean to immediatelystop working on what he wascalling the Mustang Wire.Now the Corvette is GM'sflagship sports coup meaningnothing else they offeredcould outperform it, period.All right, sales 101, look at Porsche.So understandably, DeLoreanand the Pontiac teamwere straight up, I'll sayit, man, they were peeved.Here they had designed andbuilt a full working prototypethat if it had actually gone to marketwould effect absolutely smoked the Mustangbut they made it too good and ended uphaving to hand their designover to the Chevy team.They watched as theirhard work went to marketas the third gen Corvettewhich is a class above the Mustang.But now Pontiac had aplatform and a designthat were in final stages of development.GM was concerned that the new projectwas gonna be indistinguishablefrom the Camaro.So John DeLorean spent a fewextra months making it more,shall we say Pontiacy.One way the team Firebirdwas gonna differentiatefrom the Camaro was the trim options.- And there are five distinctive versions.- While the Camaro offeredgreat engine choices,its interior options were bare bones.It was considered a people'scar, a Volkswagen, if you will.It was always gonna bemore widely availableeven though Pontiac offeredmore upmarket interior featuresand options, more of those in a second.With every bit and bob in order,the car was ready to hit themarket, it just needed a theme.Pontiac chose to honor the GM Firebirds,a series of jet inspiredconcept cars from the 50sthat inspired the development of XP-833.Pontiac finally had anew horse in the racebut how would it compareto its rival, the Mustang?Or even to its sister the Camaro?Would it be the favorite daughteror would it be the one that nobody likes?You know, every family has onesibling that everybody likesand then one who has tolive in the basement.In 1967, the first year it went on sale,the Firebird came in five, count 'em,five different level trim packages.Something the marketing teamcalled the magnificent five.There's the base six cylinder, The Sprintwith the hotted up six,the 326, 326 High Outputbut the top option that yearwas the Firebird 400 optionwhich included functionalhood scoops, dual exhaust,stiffer suspension, better transmission,a Chrome air cleanerin the bell of the ballthat sweet, sweet honking boy of a V8,the 400 cubic inch monstercapable of 325 horsepowers.Base price, the Firebirdwas $2,666 in 1967which is about 22 grand today.A great value but for an extra $274,you could add the Firebird 400 packagewhich is about $2,200 today, not bad.Even though this was themost powerful Firebirdyou could buy that first year,it was still 50 horsepowershort of its sister, the juniorCorvette, the Camaro, right?One weird thing about thisera at GM was that they hada rule that horsepowercouldn't exceed one horsepowerper 10 pounds of car weight.Meaning if you had a 3000 pound car,you couldn't make morethan 300 horsepower.So the Firebird with the 400V8 weighed about 3,250 poundswhich meant that they had torestrict it to 325 horsepower.That is math by using athrottle linkage that onlyallowed it to open to 90% of its potentialwhich seems like a thing youcould undo pretty quickly.Customers who bought thispackage quickly found outjust a few minutes of tinkering.The pins in the linkagecould be bent a little bitto open more allowing for more power baby.The general public loved the Firebird,even though to most ofthem, it was just a Camarowith a hat and a mustache,costs slightly morethan the Camaro but the features.Guys, the features made it all worthwhile.Optional, I'm talking optionalBurwood push button radio, all right?A center console, okay?Rally wheels, a premiumsteering wheel, soft ray glasswhich is basically sunglasses for a carand beautiful little badasscute Firebird emblemsall over the place.Even though the Firebird sold82,000 cars in the first yearcompared to 220,000 Camarosand 472,000 Mustangs,it was a success and people took to it.But why James?Why is that a success?That's only 17% of what the Mustang did?I say good job, you didthat Math really fast.Your tutor is working, I'm proud of you.Well, the truth is GMnever wanted the Firebirdto compete with the Mustang.That was the Camaro's job.The upmarket Firebirdwas in direct competitionwith the Mercury Cougarwhich was basicallya fancier Mustang and GM'sintent for their two pony carswas to flood the market andtake down both the Mustangand the Cougar.So as far as they wereconcerned, GM succeededbut despite the positivereaction from car enthusiasts,John DeLorean wanted to makethe Firebird even betterand even more different than the Camaro.But how will was he gonna do it?1969 was the last yearof the first gen Firebirdand this is when it reallystarted coming into its own.This was the year thatthe Trans Am debuted.John DeLorean was constantlytrying to push the envelopewith every car he worked on.And whether his bosses atGM liked his ideas or not,it didn't matter becausethe public, the peopleloved the cars that he made.It was like he could see into the futureand as the tumultuous 60stransitioned into a new decade,pop culture was changing as welland DeLorean was ready tocapitalize on it, okay?The 1969 Firebird got anextensive appearance upgrade.The whole front end was redesignedas well as the instrumentpanel and steering wheel.A new high end trimoption was added as well.The Trans Am Packagecould be added for $1,800,7,600 bones in today'smoney which gave youthe most powerful V8, the 400 High Outputplus a shaker hood, freaking rear spoilerand upgraded suspension and brakes.The Trans Am Package alsohad a bunch of decalsand functional ductsbehind the front wheels.This thing looked mean, all right?They made 697 Trans Ams in1969, nice, painted exclusivelyin cameo white with tyrolblue racing stripes.It was the most expensivePontiac option of the timeand it cemented the badge asthe trim king of the GM family.The next generation ofFirebird would carry the torchand in the process createone of the most iconic carsof all time.Every great musical artisthas a definitive albumthat you can point to and be a like this,this is what that person sounds like.For the Firebird, that'sthe second generation.Debuting halfway through 1970because of machining issues,this next gen Firebird movedaway from the Coke bottlestyling into something withmore scoops, more angles.And Pontiac really downon having more optionsthan the Camaro.New for this gen, was theEspree and Formula trims.The difference is wereminor like heavier sway barsand different spring rates soI'm not gonna get bogged downinto all the details whenI can just talk aboutwhat I really wanna talk about,the most significant modelmaybe of this entire era.The Trans Am now came withthe new Ram Air VI V8.VI in Roman numerals like a rocket shiptuned to make 345 horsepower.This engine could only be orderedwith the Trans Am Package.Only a year later, Pontiacoffered an even bigger honker,a 455 cubit of kitch, legendary V8,this is peak muscle carera right here, baby.A 7.5 liter V8 that put out 335 horsepowerwhich is not a lot for that displacementbut it was back then.And it added to the mystiqueand reputation of the Trans Am.And thanks to the Pontiac'savant guard styling that changedseemingly every year, theFirebird was becoming a favoriteof the muscle car community.Another thing that reallyhelped its popularitywas a little thing called Burt Reynolds.You ever heard of it?He's the mustache guy with the hats on.Now, even if you don'tknow who Burt Reynolds is,you are probably familiarwith "Smokey and the Bandit"if you like car movies.it's up there on the list ofthe best car movies ever made.- I want a jump, Papi.- A jump mate.- And one reason is the herocar is one of the coolest carsout of any movie ever.This 1977 Trans Am droveinto the hearts of millionsof Americans with pin striping,gold snowflake wheels,giant hood scoop and fender flares.Burt Reynolds in his darksteed ripped past the Jakeswith their skinny tires, dumbhats and presented a lifestylethat many didn't realizethey wanted, to be an outlaw.The Firebird was successful beforebut after "Smokey and the Bandit" debuted,sales of Firebird skyrocketedfrom 110,000 cars sold in 1976to 211 in 1979.That's almost double, noone could have put predictedthe massive success the moviewould've brought Pontiac.(tires squealing)This generation lastedanother couple yearsbut because of the gascrisis and it's increasinglyrestrictive environmental regulationswhich I actually agreewith, it just kinda keptgetting worse, just like allother American cars, right?And Pontiac was forced to finally ditchtheir big block engines.Third gen Firebird debutedin 1982 and by this timeAmerican cars across theboard just kind of were dukey.I'll say it, they were dukey.Cover your years kids,straight up doo-doo.Instead of performance, themain focus was fuel efficiency'cause gas cost so much fricking money.This was the first genthat the Firebird gota four cylinder option.And there was a rumorthat they were consideringmaking it front wheel drive.The redesign brought theFirebird into the 80sbut this gen is considered oneof the worst in all respectsin power, performance,styling, everything.I guess, if you had topick the coolest modelfrom this generation Trans AmGTA which had a interestingnotchback reminiscentof a Ferrari 288 GTO.The most power this generation sawcame from a 3.8 literturbocharged Buick V6 from the GNXwhich produced 250 horsepower.That sounds pretty rad,actually, I would drive that.It would be a few moreyears until the Firebirdmade the type the power thatit did before the gas crisis.The fourth generationFirebird came out in 1993at a time when V8s werefinally getting powerful again- The muscle car lives.- The SVT Cobra and Lightning,the 454 SS all came outaround this time and Pontiaccouldn't have timed it better.Alongside the 4th genCamaro, a.k.a. The Catfish,the new design wasfuturistic for the time.Featuring a sleek, an aerodynamic profilethat breathed fresh breathin the car after yearsof staleness which is theopposite of freshness.One of the most over thetop ridiculous versionsof this generation was the Firehawk.This was an option that you could get,the Formula or Trans Am trimand featured a twin inlet hood,a big old way, 17 inchwheels and just too manyrandom body and ducts and flair.There was a lot going onhere and to add to it,you get it in a tee top.You wanted to put yourhat on a hat on a hat.Now the cool thing about this trimas well as other Trans Amtrims was that you could get itwith the LS1 V8 from theCorvette, detuned a bit of courseto make 330 horsepower.Now this was the first time in two decadesthat horsepower figures wereback to a respectable numberfor a muscle car.Now my friend Josh's mom inhigh school had one of these.It was really fun.2002 was the last yearthat they made the Firebirdand to celebrate the 35year run that spannedfour generations, they madea special collector's editionTrans Am available in eitherconvertible or tee top.It only came even yellow,black stripes on the side.It looks like Hulk Hogan.It's truly the worst wayto commemorate the legacyof what was once such a cool car.It really is not great looking.It looks like a skido.Unfortunately, Pontiac was shut downduring the financial crisisof 2008, thanks Adam McKay.So it doesn't look like we'regonna see a new Firebirdever again but if youreally, really want one,GM has licensed the name Firebirdto a company that takes new Camarosputs a bunch of Firebirdstuff on it, badges and paintsthe golden Firebird logo on your hood.It's also got some prettycool throwback looking wheels.I don't know, it's cool.But maybe it's best ifwe just respect the past.- Check out Donut's new badassWe Buy Junk Cars shirt.Get it in this nice black and yellowor this luxurious white and warm red.Plus, if you order rightnow, we're gonna includethese limited edition WeBuy Junk Cars business card,so you can help spread the word, junk.And unlike these junkcars, this shirt is qualitythat lasts at the low price of29.98, which is much cheaperthan buying one of these used junk cars.Yeah, that's a great piece of junk.So go to donutmedia.comto pick up your junk car shirt today.This thing is sick.- Thank you so muchfor watching this videoand everything else on Donut.Hit that subscribe buttonso you don't miss anything.Hit that like button,really really helps us outin the old algorithm.I'm really excitedabout our merch program,we're just dropping newstuff almost every week.Go to donutmedia.com to check that out.Follow me on Instagram,Twitter @JamesPumphreyand TikTok The Kentucky Cobra.I love you.