Debbie and Kevin James of Castor are proud owners of a North American classic, the 1969 Pontiac Firebird. They enjoy putting the top down and going cruising on warm days.

Kevin James of Castor owns a classic 1969 Pontiac Firdbird convertible.

“I found this car on-line and it was actually in Strome. We messaged, met up and made a deal. I always liked these old Firebirds, even as a kid. I used to go down to the GM dealership in town and I would see these sitting there and admire the car. I just loved them,” Kevin explained.

The Pontiac Firebird was an American automobile built and produced by Pontiac from the 1967 to 2002 model years.

“This car is all original and redone. It was a California car and was brought up to the Edmonton area to be restored. I don’t know a lot about that,” said Kevin.

It was designed as a pony car to compete with the Ford Mustang. It was introduced on February 23, 1967, five months after GM’s Chevrolet division’s platform-sharing Camaro.

“This car has a 350 engine with a three-speed automatic transmission. This is a numbered car, so they are original to the Firebird,” he shared.

The name Firebird, previously used by GM for the General Motors Firebird in the 1950s and early 1960s concept cars, symbolizes youth, power and beauty.

“I just love the front end on these cars. I really like the fact it is a convertible. It is a nice car to have,” Kevin said.

The first generation Firebird had characteristic Coke-bottle styling shared with its cousin, the Chevrolet Camaro.
“It is a beautiful car to drive, it handles really well. I like the simplicity of the interior. It is so clean looking,” added his wife Debbie.

Announcing a Pontiac styling trend, the Firebird’s bumpers were integrated into the design of the front end, giving it a more streamlined look than the Camaro. The Firebird’s rear slit taillights were inspired by the 1966-67 Pontiac GTO and Pontiac Grand Prix.

Both a two-door hardtop and a convertible were offered through the 1969 model year. Originally, the car was a consolation prize for Pontiac, which had desired to produce a two-seat sports car based on its original Banshee concept car.

However, GM feared this would cut into Chevrolet Corvette sales and gave Pontiac a piece of the pony car market by sharing the F-body platform with Chevrolet. The listed retail price before options for the coupe was $2,666, and the convertible was $2,903.

There was an additional Ram Air IV option for the 400 cubic inch (6.6 L) V8 engines during 1969, complementing the Ram Air 400 (now often colloquially, but incorrectly called the Ram Air III, a name never used by Pontiac).

The Ram Air IV was rated at 345 horsepower at 5,000 rpm. The 350 cubic inch (5.7 L) HO engine was revised again with a different cam and cylinder heads resulting in 325 horsepower. During 1969, a special 303 cubic inch (5.0 L) engine was designed for Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) road racing applications that were not available in production cars.

The 1969 model received a major facelift with a new front-end design, but unlike the GTO, it did not have the Endura bumper. The instrument panel and steering wheel were revised. The ignition switch was moved from the dashboard to the steering column with the introduction of GM’s new locking ignition switch/steering wheel. In March 1969, a US $1,083 optional handling package called the Trans Am performance and appearance package, named after the Trans Am Series, was introduced. A total of 689 hardtops and eight convertibles were made.

Due to engineering problems that delayed the introduction of the new 1970 Firebird beyond the usual fall debut, Pontiac continued production of 1969 model Firebirds into the early months of the 1970 model year. (The other 1970 Pontiac models had been introduced on September 18, 1969.) By late spring, Pontiac had deleted all model-year references on Firebird literature and promotional materials, anticipating the extended production run. After the 1969 model year, convertibles were no longer made.