![]() ![]() But if you’re gonna go stealth on a 572-cube, monster-wheeled Pontiac Firebird, you do need to offset it with some zesty details to pique the punters’ interest. “I got told it would be a mistake, but it depends on if you want bling or stealth!” he laughs.īesides, as owner of PROcoat on the Central Coast, powdercoating is kinda Mark’s thing. “And it could do with more carbs, but I don’t race!”Īs the Trans Am variant swallowed a big-block from standard, the stock Pontiac front-end was retained, with Mark treating it to a refresh powdercoating found its way onto the suspension components, inner engine-bay skins and all the shiny billet bits. “These second-gen Firebirds are hard to get low I’ve only put a 2.5-inch exhaust system on it because of that,” Mark says. Like the factory snotter, it’s under-stressed, but because it packs more cubes than the Oxo warehouse, a lazy 650hp on the bench was easily achievable. Instead, a fresh 572ci big-block was ordered from Muscle Car Engines in New Jersey a single 1050cfm Demon carby went on top and a bunch of billet accessories were fitted to hold up the ancillaries. Mark flicked the engine and the bonnet, replacing the latter with an all-steel item, into which he then integrated a fibreglass cowl scoop ![]() Mark’s F-body is one of 5250 Firebird Formulas built, which included the asthmatic 350 V8 coupled to a trick, dual-scoop fibreglass bonnet. While love for the Trans Am is universal among Firebird enthusiasts, they only built 1286 of them for 1972. Pontiac’s 1972 Firebird, for example, had to comply with lower maximum horsepower standards (although the full-fat 455ci V8 found under the hood of the Trans Am version was still good for a respectable 300hp). So what does a guy build who has built it all before? A malaise-era, F-body ’72 Firebird with a fat ’n’ lazy 572 big-block, of course! For those unfamiliar with the term, ‘malaise era’ refers to the US car industry from the early 70s until the early 80s, when the oil crisis, increased emissions restrictions and changing consumer tastes all conspired to effectively end the muscle-car era, transforming formerly hairy-chested high-performance icons into sluggish, limp-wristed shadows of their former selves. Mark Sullivan has had more cars in Street Machine than many have had hot breakfasts, including a ’69 Firebird, an insane ’65 Mustang fastback, and the 1BADHK Monaro, which has not only popped up a couple of times, but bagged SMOTY back in 2007. ![]() This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of Street Machine. A firebird can rise from the ashes in the right hands. ![]()
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