7: Third-Gen Junker F-Body Firebird
Pony cars revolutionized the way that we approached enjoying our automobiles. The Firebird was one of the pioneering pony cars in the industry. Hepna told the story of his 1986 5Spd Firebird model. “I owned a 1986 Pontiac firebird 5 speed that I had purchased for 1800$ and only had 54k original miles on it. Little to my understanding it sat outside for a while and being young and naive I didn’t think much of it. Whilst driving down a backcountry road I was revving the 8 cyl. big blockage throttle body stuck open spraying full throttle and without me doing anything!
“At this point, I am in panic mode and try to step on the brakes as I’m climbing in speed. The brakes helped none and if I took it out of gear I was afraid the engine would blow. Now I’m doing around 95 in a forty and I turn the ignition off but the engine was still “dieseling” (I was told it does this when there is a lot of fuel in the carb.) so I was still climbing a bit in speed. I pull the handbrake and press down on the brake peddle ad hard as possible and with tires squealing it started to slow.”