Topic: My 1976 Firebird Esprit. Metalime Green with deluxe white/ black interior.

[metalime]

Metalime, that is quite cool.  I love the Rally rims.  I have never been a fan of the Camaro dash, but those seats and door panels look awsome.  Super clean.  BTW, how is your metalime green 76 Esprit going.  Do you still own the car, I would love to see more pics.

Hi Ron,
The summer of 2012 was very rainy in Sweden and almost all of the US-car happenings was affected. I just dream about sunshine and warmer climate, just wondering why I'm not living in California. Wintertime here can be very cold, now there are around -20 degrees Celsius outside and a lot of snow. Besides I have two small baby boys that takes almost all time. Sometimes I feel bad that I can not restore it in a more serious way, I just got no time. Especially bad when I'm looking on your green beast .
I will never sell this car, I did groove up in this one (actually another identical car that my father bought new), and so will my boys. I will post some pics later on, I have completed interior details and some outer (sail panel emblems) and moldings. More to come, I have a new floor carpet just waiting to be installed.
Best regards,
Stefan Westlund

[Greenbird76]

Stefan, your car and how original it looked in those pictures you posted on that Swedish car site is what inspired me to build a metalime sleeper ( aka Greenbird).  I'm glad you are enjoying reading about the build of my car.  Your compliments mean a lot.  It still needs quite a few things like paint and the 400 Poncho under the hood for starters.  But, it is an eye catcher, fast, fun as heck to drive, handles like a dream and I am proud to say I did all the work my self.  Our cars are quite rare giving what they offer in color options.  Pontiac probably produced a fare share of them, but over the years very few survived in their original form.  I am pretty sure I have the only one in CT and maybe the only one in the Northeast USA LOL!.

I just thought of something- Can you post some good detailed pictures of your bucket seats.  I am in need of recovering the front drivers seat on Greenbird.  Except for that and the sail panels, the interior is pretty much show worthy.  The perforated inserts seem to be an off white compared to the rest of the seat.  Any research I have doing on seat covers from PUI, Legendary etc show the seat covers as all white.  I really want to retain the factory look and do not want to have to recover my excellent passenger seat.  If I cannot find an original looking after market seat cover, then I will Have the original one patched by an upholster.

[Greenbird76]

I finally got around to replacing the reproduction outer window felts that never functioned correctly since the day I installed them and installed new inner felts on my factory door panels.  Pete set me up with the correct ones (without chrome bead) from Fbodywarehouse.  I adjusted the windows correctly and gave the interior a good cleaning with my favorite product for white vinyl- Mr Clean's Magic Eraser.  Any ways, here are some pictures-
passenger side outer and inner felt


Driver's side inner and outer felts


Pictures of Interior all cleaned up including some of the original 37 year old white head liner










And some general pictures of the car.

[N PRGRES]

I love how clean this car is.  It is amazing..

[CT Bird Fan]

Ron, the more I see your Esprit, the more I love it! It is so cool that you've kept it original and didn't clone it into a TA or Formula, or change the color. Makes me miss my 1980 Esprit even more. Thanks for sharing your pics, and keep up the good work!

[Greenbird76]

Ron, the more I see your Esprit, the more I love it! It is so cool that you've kept it original and didn't clone it into a TA or Formula, or change the color. Makes me miss my 1980 Esprit even more. Thanks for sharing your pics, and keep up the good work!

Thanks for the kind words sir!

[Bayou_Flyer]

I have always enjoyed the look of contrasting interior colors in these cars. My recently sold W72 had three shades of tan/brown and I felt it helped appreciate how nice the pontiac interior really is. the black and white is no exception and is very classy!  Love the color and really enjoyed reading through this!

[Greenbird76]

Thanks for the compliment Bayou_Flyer! 
I had her out today.  She is just so solid on the road.  All the modifications really work together.   A joy to drive.   And I have not seen another one this color in person yet.  The contrast in color is an eye catcher.   

[Greenbird76]

A buddy of mine is into restoring antique metal lathes the same way we like to restore our cars.  He loves to use them as well as restoring them.  His current lathe is a 1947 South bend 9a.  He has been making one off shift knobs for his friends and offered to make a factory like replacement knob for my 76's automatic shifter.  The knob installs as the factory one using custom made set pins and the factory c clip.  This is only a prototype and the extension or handle on the bottom has been milled off.  (see 2nd pic)  What do you think?  I like the look with my interior.  In addition, we are going to mirror polish the finished product using a buffing wheel.   Can't wait.

[pancho400cid]

Looks awesome!  Even better when polished up!

Like most of us, I love old machinery, tools, etc. as much as cars.  I bet your buddy is a cool guy..... We have an ancient lathe where I work he would be interested in, Niles brand with a huge swing (120 inches or better), built in the 1920's or before if I recall correctly.