"Good things come to those who wait, but only the things left over by those who hustle." - President Abraham Lincoln
Trying hard to think of a cool title for this part of my page, I decided to use that quote above. I believe it fits well with what I am putting here. This page, as you can probably tell already, is about my new 1990 Pontiac Firebird.
It all started when I was a young lad (around 6 or so), just like almost everything else I write about. When I started to watch the show, "Knight Rider," I knew that was the car I wanted. It was black, sleek, long, and fast. For some reason, this was the only car I could picture myself in. Sure, I saw and liked those Corvettes, Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, and all those other faster and more expensive cars but I knew the Firebird would suite me just fine and I had no reason, nor the aspiration to shell out all my doe for a sports car. Before I continue further, you must know this: The Pontiac Firebird and Pontiac Trans Am's are the same car, baring little differences (i.e. Trans Am's usually have a v8 and Firebird's have a v6, the car seats bare some differences, and a few minor things)
Every time I went outside and saw a Firebird pass by or sitting parked someplace, I looked at it and couldn't help myself but zone out and dream about myself behind that wheel and of that red "scanner" light right in the middle of the pop-up headlights on the nose of the baby. It was calling out to me to go for a ride in it and I knew some day, somewhere I would eventually get my chance to own and ride my baby when the time comes.
Days, months, years, and a little more than a decade had passed until the time was getting closer. In 1999 I moved down to Florida and it was time to get my license and then get a car. I was 18 when I moved down. With some complications along the way, I managed to get my license in September of 2000. With more complications, which is explained here, managed to get a 1997 Dodge Neon.
Even though the Dodge Neon wasn't the car I pictured myself in all those years, it was a black, 2-door, sporty looking car, which I had grown to get used to and attached to. I also did quite a bit of modifications to it, which can be seen here. I went from getting dragon car seat covers, floor mats, etc, to a new paint job and spoiler, to a new stereo system with a subwoofer in the trunk. I spent around $3000 for the car and another $3000+ for mechanical stuff, paint job, stereo system, and etc. It also came with around 41,000 miles already on it and I passed it on with 34,000 miles added to it from my journeys to the jail in Fort Pierce, Toys R' Us, West Palm, and a whole slew of other places. Many people loved it and it was given the title "Dragonmobile" because of the dragons in it and on the outside of it. I started getting recognized by it when going to fast food places and the car wash. After two and a half years of owning it, it was time to let it go. If I wasn't a poor bastard, I would probably keep that one along with the Firebird but I couldn't so I didn't. Enough about the Neon; time to talk about the Firebird!
A few months before the damn hurricanes, I realized I needed to go online and start searching for that car of my dreams because I knew if I didn't, I may never have a chance to get my hands on one and also because my Neon was on it's way to hitting 75,000 miles. As soon as a car like that hits that many miles, the price I can get for it starts to plummet. With a little less than 75k, I could have at least gotten about $1500 for it if I sold it to a dealer or around $2500 if sold to a private person. After that, it will go down to a thousand and less.
So, I went to www.autotrader.com and searched and searched…. and searched. I found quite a few but mostly out of the area. I printed out many of them and showed them to my uncle and he weeded out the bad, high-mileage ones, and showed me which ones he thought were worth checking out. Long story short, he called a few of them located in or around Tampa and we were going to take a ride there on the first or second week of September.
The end of the week was getting closer. Then weather broadcasts were showing this hurricane coming by from the south which may or may not pass this state. We didn't think much of it until Friday came. The hurricane reports were saying the hurricane was headed straight to us, well not straight, but crookedly toward us. Of course, my chance to check out my dream car the next day was squished like doo doo on the bottom of your shoe. I, of course, was pretty pissed; all the hard work of me searching online every day for the cars, my uncle spending his lunch time at work contacting the people who owned the cars, seemed like it was a waste of time to us and what we did just wouldn't matter anymore because by the time the hurricane was over with, another one came, and I knew, by that time, the cars would have probably been sold already to local people around the vicinity of the car locations.
During the hurricanes, I was just sitting around, saying to myself and others, "if it were not for the damn forces that be, I would be driving my dream car this very second and it would have been the best thing which has happened to me in over a year (or something like that)." Another essay will be written about the hurricanes soon.
Anywho, the 'canes came and went; it took about a month for them to clear out and destroy other places because, apparently, they did not think they did a good enough job here. After they were over, I commenced the searching again, only to find the same cars on the site so I didn't bother printing them out.
On Sunday, October 3rd, my uncle saw an ad in the classified for a 1990 Firebird for sale. He told me about it a couple days later and he said he'll give the guy a call. I was like, "cool!" He called the dude up on Wednesday and got some information on it. It was a 1990 Firebird with auto everything, t-tops, and a v6 and it had about 163,000 miles. He called me as I was on my way home from work and said he got an appointment to see it at 6pm. We got there at about 6pm and we saw the car parked outside. It was a nice dark red (maroon for you people who like colors) and the body was in great shape. I knocked on the door and the dude came out and he should us the inside and stuff and talked about it. He then pulled it in the garage and we took a peak at the heart of the car; the engine. I never saw an engine that big in person before; I was used to looking at my small neon inline 4 engine. After that, we took it out for a test drive and my uncle drove. Everything seemed pretty good so far, except for the stuck up headlights, which stayed up and didn't go down for reasons I'm not going to get into here. There will be a separate page devoted all of the mechanical and other work which has been and will continue to be done with it. After the little test drive, we talked a bit more about other stuff, i.e. where we were from, our life stories, and all that. We then talked about the price of the car; the guy wanted $2000. My uncle looked at me and asked what I thought and if I wanted it. Well, considering this is probably going to be the only opportunity I will get and have gotten in a long while, why say no? You know I couldn't walk away from my dream car, when I have the opportunity right there to own it. So, I said, "sure, it everything looks great to me." My uncle then asked if the dude would take $1500 cash for it. The dude agreed and my uncle said we'll come back tomorrow night with the cash and he wrote and left a temporary check to the dude because I, of course, am a poor soul who barely has enough money to go to taco bell for a lovely dinner.
So, to finish it off; the guy drove the car home, then next day I went to get a plate for it and insurance and then a week later, I brought it to the mechanic. About a month and around $2500 later, I got it back from the mechanic and sold my Neon to my cousin and I've been driving the Firebird since.
Keep checking the main Firebird page for updates to the Firebird!
Click on the pic of me standing by my car like a cool dude to go back to the main page!
This page was created on December 3, 2004
Last updated on December 3, 2004