As a member of the Pontiac Transportation Museum, I recently had the privilege of listening to a presentation (I attended virtually) by Pontiac styling chief John Schinella, who was perhaps the primary driving force of the Firebird’s fantastic success in the 1970s. Because the styling department was always ready to try new things, the aging F-body stayed fresh and popular. Although the “Sky Bird” shown here was perhaps not the most memorable Firebird of the era, it’s certainly ostentatious, and it’s being auctioned by the AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on Hagerty Marketplace with no reserve.
Raise a glass to the 1970s if you have one available, because these are decals of the likes we’ll never see again. No, the Sky Bird was not the most popular variant of the Esprit, but sales over the 1977 and truncated 1978 model year numbered in the thousands, so it filled a niche. According to an article on Hemmings, the AACA Museum worked with Penn College of Technology to repair some minor rust and repaint this Sky Bird, which was purchased in Colorado and eventually driven to Virginia before being donated to the museum. While the decals are reproductions, the students painted the distinctive stripes and applied the Lombard Blue paint.
The interior was restored with help from National Parts Depot, but refurbishing the oft-peeling steering wheel was clearly unsuccessful. The seats, which were originally upholstered with blue vinyl, were recovered with velour (the only material that could be found), but that is the only deviation from the car’s original build specification. This is clearly a well-optioned Esprit, with air conditioning, rally gauges, tachometer, and power windows.
An interesting and unfortunate addition is this dash-mounted aftermarket oil pressure gauge. The optional Rally Gauge package came with gauges for oil pressure, engine temperature, and voltage, so given that the car has that option, I’d prefer to make the original equipment work.
That’s minor stuff, however, especially considering the documentation, which includes the broadcast sheet showing the litany of optional features came with this Van Nuys-built Firebird. Aside from the aforementioned convenience options, this car has the optional LM1 350 V8 and a 2.41:1 “Posi Axle,” perhaps ordered due to the car’s original home of Pansing Pontiac in Littleton, Colorado. Throw a set of snow tires on the rear and you could probably get through anything.
Unfortunately for those who bleed Arrowhead Red, the 1978 Firebird engine lineup consisted of very few “real” Pontiac engines. Unlike the Poncho 350 offered in 1977, 1978 cars that were ordered with the 350 got a 170-horsepower Chevrolet small block. It’s obviously a pretty good engine, but this was a time period where divisional bias was real and not to be taken lightly. In reality, the engine shakeups taking place in the late 1970s probably didn’t offend most buyers, although I imagine few Sky Bird buyers stepped up to the optional four-barrel 350. The Buick 231 was standard and the Chevy 305 the first step up the order form.
As usual, the luggage compartment of the second-generation Firebird was laughably small. My wife and I recently tried to fit a hanging basket into the back of our 1974 Esprit, and it wasn’t happening. Wrong car, wrong time.
The undercarriage is surprisingly clean for a 1970s F-Body, and you can see how Pontiac handled a dual-exhaust system in the late 1970s; it was a single exhaust split at a transverse muffler behind the axle. All for show.
But that’s what the special Esprits were all about—showing off. You didn’t buy a Firebird to blend in regardless, and having it painted baby blue (sorry, Lombard Blue) or bright yellow wasn’t going to help. The Sky Bird was replaced by the Red Bird in the middle of the 1978 model year, and the run ended in 1980 with this Yellow Bird, seen here at the Pontiac Transportation Museum in Pontiac, Michigan.
But the one that most people recognize is probably the Sky Bird, the originator, and this looks like a good example. Given how passionate about Pontiac styling John Schinella still is at 86 years of age, I know he’d love that people were still bidding on and collecting these Firebirds.
Related Reading
Curbside Classic: 1977 Pontiac Firebird Esprit Sky Bird – Pretty Bird (by Joseph Dennis)
COAL Update: 1974 Pontiac Firebird – Fiery Leaves and Firebirds (by me)
Wow, nice color!
Wow, does that bring back some memories. I dated a girl who had one exactly like this. All show, no go. Car wasn’t much either….
I recall seeing these in yellow and red as well, definitely aimed at affluent young women. They weren’t cheap. Nice looking example here.
Wonder what the split, men -v- women for the blue were?
If you mean as new vehicles, such men would have been the literal contemporary Boys named Sue.
Volkswagen’s SEAT Division put out a girly car which even a male-gendered Sky Bird owner would think more than twice, before buying. Namely, the SEAT Cindy.
I’ll have to go back and get better shots with my digital camera, before visiting the local used car lot where this has been sitting a long while. This is the best my crappy cellphone was able to do:
Not knowing its exact build year and model, it’s difficult trying to find an online example or Wiki explanation. Note its heart-shaped exhaust tip:
The article mentions the Sky Bird’s Chevrolet 350 availability being a good engine. During that era, any Pontiac engine would have been better, if that model year Chevrolet engine was included in that batch having soft camshafts.
The last shot in my gallery:
Well, I said it was a “pretty” good engine, with the “pretty” being added because although the Chevy small block is one of the best engines ever when taken as a body of work, the late-1970s examples were some of the worst of the bunch. Chances are that if this one’s made it this far in life, it’s probably had its cam and lifters changed, but who knows.
That’s a Seat Ibiza 4th generation that the owner had fun with. Not the first car I see with heart shaped exhaust, though here they even had to modify the bumper to fit it
Love those snowflake rims!
I remember that these were bought by women, except as used cars for young men desperate for any Firebird, regardless of how feminine it was painted. The Red Bird was one my sister in law drove as a rusty used car. It was unremarkable.
Excellent marketing move for Pontiac. The TransAm was still hot, thanks to actor Burt Reynolds’ action comedies, so this was a great way to get the ladies to want a secretary’s version.
Pony cars at this time, were often sold as commuter cars. We see Mustang II sold as posh secretary cars, a la “Charlie’s Angels”, Mean Mary Jean selling Dusters, and Celica being popular with the ladies. GM had these dated old second generation Camaro/Firebird to sell, and this was how they tried to stay relevant in the market. Clever. However, if it wasn’t for Burt Reynold’s TransAm, the Firebird would have been phased out with a J2000 version by 1982. Reynolds saved the Firebird and made it iconic.
“However, if it wasn’t for Burt Reynold’s TransAm, the Firebird would have been phased out with a J2000 version by 1982.”
LOL! That was actually my first car in 1983 at 15, which for that year was called a 2000. It had the 1977-1978 Firebird teardrop front, and for such a small economy car, putting high beams on with all four lights on would really light up the road at night. Way better than the ’82 Tempo a friend had for his first car when we’d drive at night. That J-car had an anemic 4-banger but the 5-speed manual helped make that relatively light 2-door sedan more fun. I never understood the hate those J-cars got. They did their job well for the fuel economy/first car Zeitgeist back then!
The first Tempo came out in 84.
Oh good grief thanks for that correction…had to go back and think. It was an Escort.
I think GM handled the Firebird well during the 1970s. It was one of best performing american cars of the decade, yet it had also good sales to a gentle public with the Esprit. I can certainly imagine a young woman appreciating the Sky Bird, while her boyfriend aspired to a “Burt Reynolds” Trans Am
Despite being an F Body fan and even (briefly) owning a new 1981 TransAm, I have no recollection of these blue ones. The “Yellow Bird” seems vaguely familiar. Maybe I’m subconsciously blocking the Sky Bird from my memory. I can deal with the body, and even interior, color … but to paint those handsome snowflake wheels blue, with whitewall tires? No thanks.
I remember the trio of RYB ‘birds, and their color coordinated anodized dashboards. For some reason, this one does not have the blue anodized engine-turned aluminum panel in it. The blue version could not follow the actual color name theme with the Red and Yellow prefixes and had to be called ‘Sky’-bird. Blue Bird was already trademarked by the famous school bus company and could not be used.
Lots a these roamed the roads back in those “halcyon, days”. Always liked them. In the pic of the yellow one, the “Ventura” in the background is one I’d like to see a bit a closer.
That’s actually a 1974 GTO, and I have enough pictures of it to do a feature on it later on.
When I was 14 years old, I absolutely lusted over the Firebird Esprit. Car and Driver loved it and it could be optioned to become very close to a Trans Am.
The real reason I loved the Firebird Esprit was the TV show The Rockford Files. I thought Jim Garner was the coolest man alive!
I didn’t lust after Firebirds for long. With fuel prices spiking in 1979, I then lusted after the Rabbit Diesel. Ahhh, teenagers!
I loved the Rockford Files. Not only were there good storylines, James Garner had infinite charm with a nice dose of sarcasm, plus all the great car chases. I loved his Firebird without all the doodads and those perfect Rally II wheels. I don’t know why any of the die-cast model makers haven’t done a Rockford Firebird.
That clean underside is not at all uncommon. on long time Colorado cars or the SW in general. I was astonished the first time I looked under the all original untouched ’75 GMC we picked up when we moved to CO, and those “square bodies” were known to be notorious rusters.
Seems like everyone liked Jim Rockford, it must have been a big boost to Firebird sales!
These are extremely rare today, I’ve only seen a yellowbird on my time and it was at a junkyard and it was poorly painted black with gold screaming chickens added to the hood and B pillars to make it look like a Trans Am(and literally nothing else). I realized it was a yellowbird because every single pinstripe and yes the B pillar’s yellowbird decal/script was either visible under the black paint or was peeling off in sheets revealing its yellow color!
It doesn’t particularly appeal to me as I really don’t care for this shade of blue(which I equate with hospital scrubs or latex gloves) but it’s definitely an attention getter and an interesting model. I’m glad to see one that still exists!
Yep, these were definitely aimed at women. Our middle school teacher had a brand new one in 1978 she was proud of, and that was after we all had seen Bandit of course. It had a rear spoiler that this one lacks (RPO Code D80). The amazing thing was how much the lack of a rear spoiler changes the looks (and not for the better) of the rear of both the 2nd generation Firebird and Camaro.
Still, these are extremely rare ‘Birds in original/original restored condition if you can find one. Same with any Yellowbird or Redbird. Thanks for the memory Wayback machine!