National Firebird and Trans Am Club Blog

These are the people and services that help bring information to our club members by advertising in our club publication, the Eagle.  Please support them.

Accessories, Events, Insurance, Parts, Service

Accessories

Stencils & Stripes, 847-692-6895
offers exact reproduction, one-piece birds and other items for all Pontiacs and others

Hot Firebird and Trans Am Items, 1-866-403-2243, www.carcrazymerchandise.com
shirts, caps, pins, posters/prints, flags and more!

Phoenix Graphix, 1-800-941-4550, www.phoenixgraphix.com
world’s largest manufacturer of licensed GM restoration decals

Events

A Pontiac Celebration, Warwick, RI, 401-934-0663,  frdigi@cox.net
come celebrate 84 years of Pontiac’s rich history, September 17-19, 2010

Insurance

Classic Auto Insurance, 1-800-397-0765, www.classicins.com
collector car insurance for less

Parts

Functional Shaker Hood Scoop Kits, 512-789-3005, www.PontiacPlus.com
complete kits to convert hood scoops on 1971-1981 Trans Am to operate

Ames Performance Engineering, 1-800-421-2637, www.amesperf.com
Firebird and Trans Am restoration parts

The Paddock, 1-800-428-4319, www.paddockparts.com
the best parts and accessories for your 1967-2002 Firebird or Trans Am

Frank’s Restoration Parts, 760-361-3242, www.frankspontiacparts.com
buy, sell, new, used and reproduction

Convertible parts, 1-800-343-4261, www.hydroe.com
pumps, cylinders, roofrails, weatherstripping and more!

Parts for your Firebird or Trans Am at http://partssearch.firebirdtaclub.com.
parts for all Pontiacs and other vehicles!

Publications and Literature

Books4Cars.com, 1-206-721-3077, www.books4cars.com
books and manuals for all Firebirds and Trans Ams

Firebird and Trans Am color sales brochures, 315-432-8282, www.autolit.com
original sales brochures for most cars & trucks

Pontiac Shop Manuals on CD, www.firebirdtaclub.com/regalia.htm
with Fisher body service & 1963-75 Pontiac parts, for ‘67, ‘68, ‘69, ‘70, ‘71 or ‘72

Service

Tuner Tools, 1-888-639-9750, www.tunertools.com
providing the latest equipment for monitoring, diagnosing and tuning engine management systems

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June 18-19, 2010

Whether you’ve got a bone-stock base ‘67 Firebird or a fully-modded ‘02 Trans Am, a Trailer Queen or a Daily Driver, you’ll want to turn out at this fantastic and exciting new event! We’ll have something for EVERY Firebird Enthusiast at this show! Vendors, swap meet, a road cruise, and a Silent Auction are just some of the fun things we’ll have happening at the Sheraton Imperial this Memorial Day Weekend!
Come in on Friday evening and join us for a casual dinner on-site! Discuss your Bird, your travels…or just kick back and listen to others talk. After breakfast on your own, Saturday will hold tons of fun and exciting things to do, with plenty of Birds nesting in the parking lot! We’ll wrap up Saturday evening with a Road Cruise and dinner, with special seating for winners of the competition!

There have been many new developments if you haven’t visited our website lately! In the works is an on-site dyno, an Opening Night Gala in Downtown Mebane, and we now have a block of hotel rooms!
Hotel Information: Holiday Inn Express — Mebane, ph.: 919-304-9900

ACCESSIBLE ROOMS, SMOKING, AND NON-SMOKING AVAILABLE!! Rooms include a Fitness Center and a HOT Breakfast. Room rate is $84.99 per night and the Group Name is “Firebird Fest”. Rooms MUST be booked by May 29, 2010, to receive the locked-in rate. So, if you’ve been putting off registering because you were waiting for hotel information, here’s your opportunity! DON’T wait because space is LIMITED. I am looking into booking a second hotel group at a neighboring hotel, so that information will also be forthcoming soon!

Bethany Orr

More information on the website at www.firebirdfest.com.
Firebird Fest of the Carolinas, phone: (919) 619-5097

ALL PROCEEDS FROM FIREBIRD FEST WILL GO TO THE NATIONAL MS SOCIETY FOR MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS RESEARCH!!

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Additional merchandise including the following can be found at our Fieldhouse Club Store located at www.fieldhouse.com/nftac .

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Another Saving Pontiac effort involves asking BMW to purchase the Pontiac name. This might not be as popular because it would mean German ownership, but it may be our only chance. Both BMW and Pontiac share the same automotive philosophy of sport and performance.

Pontiacs can be more fuel efficient and more affordable for most Americans. And with so many Pontiacs still on the road, BMW would stand to gain MANY MORE potential customers! Also important is that a dealership network already exists, the plants are still standing, and there’s thousands of workers ready to go! Ask BMW to put them to work! Here is their address:

BMW North America LLC
300 Chestnut Ridge Road
Woodcliff, New Jersey  07677

website: www.bmwusa.com
Customer Relations: 1-800-831-1117

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The January 2010 Eagle club member magazine’s featured car is the ‘67 Firebird of Jim Muldoon. Here is his story:

Here are some photos of my car. It is a 1967 Firebird convertible with 326 engine. It has a three speed on the tree manual transmission, manual top, no air conditioning and an AM only radio.

I bought the car in February of 1969 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It had 20,342 miles and it now has 92,481 miles on it. It is all original except for new paint and top in 1977 and the spoke wire wheels. I have the original wheels and hub caps.

It is a fun car and now I am in Florida so the top is down all summer.

HTML clipboard

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A group of Executives who believe that government should be held to a responsible standard for managing our assets; and also are Pontiac enthusiasts that want the brand to survive have created www.Savingpontiac.org , as a non-partisan organization designed to ignore the politicizing of all government decisions, to take advantage of an existing, unique and singular opportunity to CREATE JOBS NOW by saving Pontiac!!

Sample Petition to be sent (available online at www.savingpontiac.org for direct submission)

To: Congress of the United States; The Treasury Department; and Mr. Ron Bloom (“Car Czar”)

We, the undersigned, do hereby strongly request and ardently urge that General Motors, which is 61% owned by the taxpayers of America, be instructed to divest, to third parties, its ownership in the Pontiac brand and available, dormant manufacturing facilities to support the Pontiac brand in order to ensure that this car company will be permanently in operation in the United States. This divestiture would be for the purpose of ensuring thousands of jobs are kept in America, that American manufacturing capability will be kept in this country and Americans will continue to have a choice of American made automobiles for the long term.

We also believe that this divestiture can be done in a manner which is for the enrichment of the American public and the employees of the “new Pontiac” as opposed to the enrichment of a small number of owners or financiers. The American people have already bought these assets with little likelihood of repayment. The people who own these assets should be able to use them for themselves and to stop what amounts to restraint of trade by General Motors.

www.Savingpontiac.Org and the undersigned encourage the Government to move quickly to minimize damage to the brand by the continuing “shut down” of Pontiac that is currently being executed by the management of General Motors.

Sincerely,

(signature and printed name)

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by Robert Thomas and Frank Ochal

Thanks to all of the new members that joined recently.

Thanks to Keith Fuerst, John & Sheila Beard, John Ingersoll, Steve Reed, Chuck Lincoln, Jim Muldoon and all of the other contributors to this issue! Also many thanks to Todd Stahr, Justin Kwarta, Bethany Orr, Bill Simcox and Brett Campbell on their continuing technical help to our members on our message board at http://board.firebirdclub.net .

We as I am sure many of you are sorry to see the passing of the Pontiac brand but we know that the spirit will live on with our cars. There are many grassroots campaigns to save Pontiac. One of the more organized ones is located at www.SavingPontiac.org . Some of the details appear in this issue along with a sample petition to be sent to government officials. If you go to the website you can submit it through the internet.

We have updated our payment form on our website to directly take credit card and PayPal payments. Your credit card is now checked for accuracy and verified and your order is placed into a shopping cart of items awaiting checkout. This type of program should be very familiar to people who pay for items on other Internet websites and is available on the PayPal/Credit Card website button. The old form will also remain for members that are comfortable with it.

Also there is a now a Local Groups/Activities section on the Club Message Board where each local club has its own section where local club items can be discussed.

You can now find us on the popular networking sites myspace, facebook, friendster and twitter in the groups/clubs section.

I am happy to inform you that Technical Sections Volume II is now available which continues the great tradition of practical tech advice started with Volumes I. In keeping with the times this one is available only on CD for PC or Mac and is available in the Club Store section of each Eagle and on the website at www. firebirdtaclub.com. Another new item in the store is a complete copy of the past ten years of the Eagle available on CD only for PC or Mac.

We have a new and improved club message board. You can access through the club website at www.firebirdtaclub.com or directly at http://board.firebirdclub.net . We have a members only section of the message board. You can use the user id and password on page 3 of each Eagle or you can get a personal id and password. To do so, register and then logon to the message board and send a message to us with a reply in this section or via email. This allows you to access the Member Only Question & Answer and Upkeep and Performance Hints Area.  It also allows you to post items in the For Sale and Wanted sections as well as post photos in the Member Photos area. Also there is a now a Local Groups/Activities section.

The club also now has a blog located at http://blog.firebirdclub.net . Members can publish items or comments to the Blog.

We have a National Firebird & Trans Am Club photo gallery located at http://photos.firebirdclub.net . The same login is used for the gallery as the Message Board. Members can download photos directly here.

We now offer a 3 year membership or renewal rate which includes a free t-shirt or tech volume II CD. The rate is $95 or $125 for members outside the USA. And in response to many members we now have a 3 year eMembership for $65 which also includes a free t-shirt or tech volume III CD. So save some money and get a free t-shirt or tech CD in the process!

Classified ads are FREE to members but now you can add photographs of your items for sale. For $15 we will include a photograph of your car or item. Also the classified ads will now appear on our website and in the eEagle.

Remember we will send out the eEagle, our email newsletter in addition to the regular Eagle for members that have given us their email address. Our website address is www.firebirdtaclub.com and our email address is info@firebirdtaclub.com . The website has a “Members Only” section on the web site. This section contains technical staff contact information, recommended repair shops, spare parts lists that members have sent in as well as complete current and past issues of the member magazine which can be viewed on-line or downloaded for printing.

You need an ID and password to access this area. You will find the current ID and password on page 3 of each issue of the EAGLE. These will change with each issue so use only the current ones listed. Also now you can to create your own id and password for the members only section. Submit the form on the members only page to do this.

Thanks for all of your support and to this issue’s contributors and start making plans to get you car back on the road in the spring!!

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Story by Frank Ochal
Photos sent by ramair1 on Motortopia.com

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by Keith Fuerst

The All Firebird Lawn Show at the Saratoga Auto Museum is rapidly approaching our “wildest dreams” that we have for this show. This year 157 Firebirds came from NY, VT, NH, ME, MA, CT, RI, NJ, MD, DE, VA, PA, OH, Florida, and even Arizona! Let’s not forget our friends from Canada. After expenses, the host club Firebird Nation of North America presented a check for $6,140 to Special Olympics.

On Friday evening the weather was absolutely gorgeous for the All Firebird Cruise. At the museum, forty three Firebirds gathered in the parking lot before cruising through the streets of Saratoga to Mr.Ed’s. Instantly an all Firebird show formed… much to the delight of the Firebird owners and Mr.Ed’s regular customers.

On Saturday, cars arrived early and often and by 11:00 am the field was filled with all four generations of Firebirds. A feast for the eyes, it’s obvious that the owner’s passion for these cars will keep the Pontiac name alive long after the Pontiac division dies an undeserved death. It was nice meet newcomers to the show and to see old friends who return to Saratoga year after year.

The date for next year’s show is: July 10, 2010. Rain date is July 11, 2010

A big thank you goes out to:

Event founder and organizer: Tom Smith

Trailer Queens: Sandy Smith, Margo Bagneschi, Arlene Delaney, Sandy Byron.

General Raffle Sales: Mary Schwartz and Judy Keehan.

50-50 Raffle Sales: Keith Tanny with his sons Jack and Sam.

Athlete Representatives: Brian Smith, Jennifer Delaney, Todd Byron, and DJ Nolan.

Parking Staff: Joel Auger, David Lord, Ron Delaney, Terry Bush, Ron Pratt, Ray Eggert, Jay Hill, Steve Reed, Gerry Garing.

Food Staff: Mike Bagneschi, Lisa Lord, Chris Radz, Terry Bush, Judy Keehan.

Judging Staff: Joe Carey, Ray DiCresenzo, Michael Tyler, Keith Fuerst, Eddie Barra, Dean Meneilley, Neil Silberkleit.

A special thanks to:

Alan Edstrom of the Saratoga Auto Museum and Ralph Mangino Jr. of Mangino Pontiac for their continued support. To NFTAC for suppling items and Eagle magazines for the show.

See 2010 show flyer and 2010 registation form and 2009 show pictures here:

http://clubs.hemmings.com/firebirdnationofnorthamerica

Here is the 2009 All Firebird Lawn Show winners list:

Name Home town Class Place Year / Model

Kathy DeCrescenzo Clifton Park, NY 1967-1969 Stock 1st 1969 R/A III T/A

Paul Menin Ashley Falls, MA 1967-1969 Stock 2nd 1969 Firebird 400

Beth Ann Agostini Athens, VT 1967-1969 Stock 3rd 1968 Convertible

John Bianco Poughkeepsie, NY 1967-1969 Modified 1st 1969 Firebird

Tom Martens West Nyack, NY 1967-1969 Modified 2nd 1969 Firebird

Keith Tourville Cambridge, VT 1967-1969 Modified 3rd 1968 Firebird

Ray DeCrescenzo Clifton Park, NY 1970-1976 Stock 1st 1974 SD455 T/A

George Berg White Plains, MD 1970-1976 Stock 2nd 1973 Formula 400

Neil Silberkleit Oxford, CT 1970-1976 Stock 3rd 1970 T/A

Fred & Linda Martin Morrisonville, NY 1970-1976 Modified 1st 1974 T/A

Jay Hill Cohoes, NY 1970-1976 Modified 2nd 1976 T/A

Stuart Bach Bennington, VT 1970-1976 Modified 3rd 1976 Esprit

Jim Napoletano Norwalk, CT 1977-1981 Stock 1st 1979 10th Anniv T/A

George Berg White Plains, MD 1977-1981 Stock 2nd 1978 T/A

Tom Benvengi Sykesville, MD 1977-1981 Stock 3rd 1979 Black SETA

Phil Ginsberg NYC, NY 1977-1981 Modified 1st 1979 T/A

Nick Rossi South Salem, NY 1977-1981 Modified 2nd 1979 Esprit Redbird

John Kunasek Agawam, MA 1977-1981 Modified 3rd 1978 T/A

Jeff Clune Sparrowbush, NY 1982-1992 Stock 1st 1989 Turbo Pace Car

Joyce & Dean Meneilley Lansdowne, Ont 1982-1992 Stock 2nd 1986 T/A

Adam Sweeney Burlington, VT 1982-1992 Stock 3rd 1988 Firebird

Brad Zeigler Harleysville, PA 1982-1992 Modified 1st 1982 T/A

Steve Reed Brick, NJ 1982-1992 Modified 2nd 1989 Formula 350

Dianna Seymour Plattsburgh, NY 1982-1992 Modified 3rd 1988 T/A

Ryan & Grace Corcoran Milford, PA 1993-2002 Stock 1st 1994 25th Anniv Firehawk

Michael Adamski Fleetwood, PA 1993-2002 Stock 2nd 2002 Firehawk

Stephen Dike Milton, VT 1993-2002 Stock 3rd 2002 Firehawk

Matthew Bohn Blairstown, NJ 1993-2002 Modified 1st 2001 Firehawk T/A

Chris Gennaro Carmel, NY 1993-2002 Modified 2nd 1999 T/A

Andrew DiSalvo Ravena, NY 1993-2002 Modified 3rd 2002 T/A

Andrew Colling Monson, MA Best of Show 1967 Firebird 400

Andrew DiSalvo Ravena, NY Athletes’ Choice 2002 T/A

A.J. Viruet Edison, NJ Coach’s Choice 2001 Formula

Dianna Seymour Plattsburgh, NY Dealer’s Choice 1988 T/A

Mark Rocheleau Swanton, VT Museum Choice 1977 SETA

Brent & Wendy Rowland Loretto, Ont Joe Nolan Award 2002 Firehawk

2009 All Firebird Lawn Show

2009 All Firebird Lawn Show

2009 All Firebird Lawn Show

2009 All Firebird Lawn Show

2009 All Firebird Lawn Show

2009 All Firebird Lawn Show

2009 All Firebird Lawn Show

2009 All Firebird Lawn Show

2009 All Firebird Lawn Show

2009 All Firebird Lawn Show

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by Viknesh Vijayenthiran Viknesh

There are many behind-the-scenes players in the automotive industry that few on the outside ever hear of, despite their huge contributions. One such company is Trans Am Depot, who together with designer Kevin Morgan plans to launch a new Pontiac Trans Am conversion for the latest.

Trans Am Conversion

Labeled the ‘Phoenix’ Trans Am, and inspired by the original Camaro-based Trans Ams from 1977 and 1978, the new design has been in development for the past three years and was previewed for the first time in concept form at the 2009 Trans Am Nationals.

The concept will be followed by the first production conversion later this year. It will vary from the concept car but will be an exact version of the conversion kits that are expected to go on sale this fall.

The kits will be available as an installed conversion only, with order details and pricing expected to be revealed closer to launch. Some of the basic specs will include a suspension lowering kit and new sway bar, 20-inch wheel and tires, a new ‘shaker’ hood, fender vents, custom bumpers and of course a Trans Am graphic package.

Believe it or not but this is not the first Trans Am conversion kit currently in development for the new Camaro. Earlier this year, ASC Creative Services has also unveiled its own modern interpretation of the legendary muscle car.

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