{"id":86700,"date":"2022-07-28T12:40:56","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T19:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=86700"},"modified":"2022-07-28T12:40:56","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T19:40:56","slug":"take-a-second-look-at-this-1969-camaro-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/take-a-second-look-at-this-1969-camaro-bird\/","title":{"rendered":"Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"jetpack-slideshow-noscript robots-nocontent\">This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p><div id=\"gallery-86700-1-slideshow\" class=\"jetpack-slideshow-window jetpack-slideshow jetpack-slideshow-black\" data-trans=\"fade\" data-autostart=\"1\" data-gallery=\"[{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/DSC_0927-min-e1659037230474.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;86706&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Click Here to Begin Slideshow\\n\\nYou have to take a second look at J. Ebert\\u2019s car to figure out it\\u2019s not what it looks like. At a glance you\\u2019d think it\\u2019s a \\u201969 Camaro, but underneath it\\u2019s actually a \\u201969 Firebird. Dick Kornowski\\u2014the builder of the car\\u2014wasn\\u2019t planning any funny stuff. He just bought an old Firebird with a poorly-installed flip-up front end and decided to turn it into something no one else had.\\n\\n\\u201cIf I had bought a frame kit and put a Camaro body on it to build a resto-mod, no one would have given it a second thought,\\u201d Dick told Hotrod Hotline. \\u201cBut, I bought a Firebird frame and put a Camaro body on it.\\u201d Building the car was a retirement project that took 11 years.\\n\\nThe Camaro and Firebird were called \\u201cpony cars\\u201d because they were created as a marketing reaction to the Ford\\u2019s very successful Mustang. The Mustang grille had a chrome rectangle (nicknamed a \\u201ccorral\\u201d) and galloping pony inside it. So, the \\u201cpony\\u201d name stuck for the sporty cars of all brands that the Mustang inspired: Camaro, Firebird, Cougar, Barracuda, Challenger and Javelin.\\n\\nCamaros and Firebirds used the same basic body shell, with different sheet metal \\u201ctailoring.\\u201d Chevy rushed the Camaro into showrooms in the fall of 1966. Pontiac spent five extra months to finish the Firebird and introduce it at the Chicago Auto Show on Feb. 23, 1967.\\n\\nDifferent sheet metal was used for the Firebird hood, grille and taillight panels. Firebirds also had Pontiac motors and a chassis tuned by Pontiac engineers. The Firebird\\u2019s suspension was firmer than that of the Camaro.\\n\\nDick Kornowski studied the similarities of the two cars. He found that Firebird doors and Camaro doors fit exactly the same. He says that alone told him his plan to build the car as a Camaro would work.\\nThe engine in the car is a big-block Chevrolet 454, but it\\u2019s been bored .060 over and has 496 cubic inches. It mounts a Holley 850 four-barrel carburetor with a vacuum secondary. A true dual exhaust system with headers and \\u201cshort\\u201d tailpipes was installed, but current owner J. Ebert wants to extend them out back. The car has gone 505.3 miles since it was restored. It\\u2019s fast and fun.\\n\\nFeatures of the build include a Muncie four-speed, a Hurst floor shifter. power steering, power 4-wheel disc brakes, an aluminum radiator and de-clutching fan, front control arms with 4-degrees of extra caster for better steering action, coil overs and a 4-link rear suspension. The rims are five-spoke Viston Legends with Nitto NT555 245\\\/40ZR18 tires.\\n\\nThe interior is almost 100% Camaro SS with aftermarket gauges and a stock-looking radio. Kornowski left the Firebird dash and cowl in the car to make it easier to register (as a Pontiac\\u2014but not a Firebird).\\nIf you don\\u2019t know whether to call the car a Camaro or a Firebird, don\\u2019t worry. Just all it cool!\\n\\nClick Here to Begin Slideshow&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/DSC_0919-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;86705&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/DSC_0917-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;86704&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/DSC_0898-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;86701&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/DSC_0904-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;86702&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/DSC_0905-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;86703&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Take a Second Look at this 1969 Camaro-Bird&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}]\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>You have to take a second look at J. Ebert\u2019s car to figure out it\u2019s not what it looks like. At a glance you\u2019d think it\u2019s a \u201969 Camaro, but underneath it\u2019s actually a \u201969 Firebird.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":86706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3447,5044,3700,3697,17,3470,4879],"tags":[147,39,6506,385,813,994,304,41,1468],"class_list":["post-86700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classic","category-cool-cars","category-featured-vehicles","category-galleries","category-guest-column","category-news","category-slideshow","tag-camaro","tag-chevrolet","tag-featured-car","tag-firebird","tag-gallery","tag-gunner","tag-john-gunnell","tag-news","tag-pontiac"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/DSC_0927-min-e1659037230474.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-myo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86707,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86700\/revisions\/86707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}