1968 Pontiac Firebird Sprint | Jay Leno's Garage

i think the only thing i would do after hearing the exhaust on this vehicle is put a resonator on it to help with that decelerating buzzing sound.

I was a third generation Pontiac guy. Still hard to believe Pontiac is no longer.

the one i had used a rochester quadrajet instead of that carter afb looking thing on yours so i would say it had a different intake manifold and it had two three onto one cast iron headers instead of the welded tubular headers on yours. it ran pretty good all things considered. i do not care for at all the 194 (215 64/65 pontiac only) 230, 250 or 292 series chevy six cylinders which is basically what this was. the chevy engines had NO power and got about -15 mpg as the throttle is continuously wide open. anything that maintains too much throttle angle at cruising speed is going to burn too much fuel. a very aggravating engine to drive even in a light car which GM didn't seem to know how to build. if GM built a 4,800lb car, they thought it was light. the pontiac ohc version was better than that. at the time i owned a pontiac ohc you could only have a camshaft ground as none were available. the problem with that was there were no rocker arms available and the one barrel carb engine used different rocker arms than the 4 barrel performance engine as the 4 barrel cam had a smaller base circle and there was no provision for rocker adjustment. it was a poorly engineered, hurriedly slapped together mess that was doomed from the start. good idea and it almost worked, just flawed enough to make it fail. most of them probably went to the crusher. i think the 4 barrel intake manifold and exhaust header will bolt to a regular push rod chevy six cylinder head, have never looked at it though, i'm just guessing. the most powerful standard american inline six cylinder car engines i know of are the amc 258's, they are rock solid and have a great 12 port head and are easy to squeeze hp out of. i have seen them run 10's in a 1/4 mile.

Yup, I had never heard of the Sprint. Fascinating. That motor needed to be mated to a roadster-type if Pontiac mgt couldve taken the chance. One can see, at the time a V8 would have been the go-to for that car.

This is beyond awesome.

Saw one in high school friends dad started it and at idle it rumbled like a V8.
It was pretty fast for a six. I ask the guy what sprint ment. A six with a quadrojet 4b split exaust

I wonder how difficult it would be to put a 4.2 Vortec into a 2nd generation Firebird? Hmm...

I had just gotten out of the USMC in 1968 & bought a 1967 green DOHC Firebird Sprint 4 on the floor w Pirelli tires & hood tach for $2200. Guy had given it to his daughter, who couldn't handle it. Sure is good to see this! Wish I still had mine!

I love the car, but the exhaust note sounds too...European, or Street Punk Honda, I can't decide which. Also, Jay raves about the handing and the transmission. Of course they're great, you've sunk thousands and thousands of dollars into both!!! I respect resto-mods, but it makes it hard to listen to someone rave about the original design when they've poured so much money into changing it. Jay could make any car handle like a Porsche, by putting Porsche-like money into it and turning loose a team of engineers and aftermarket products on the thing. I would respect his word more if he just replaced some suspension bushings, and rebuilt the stock transmission. It probably helps when you get all this crap for free, if you give them a plug. Still a fan, despite the corruption.

Such great content presented so well and enjoyable to watch. His true love for vehicles is so apparent as he shows all the non-cliche cars that are hard to find or special in their own way.

Sell me that firebird and I will stop calling you names...

Great show Jay, I never heard of this Firebird, what a beauty. You are right the first generation Firebird was the best looking pony car in that era. This one is so unusual, I think you perfected it with the resto-modifications, it's more of a sports car with the upgrades and rebuilt inline 6.

What a beautiful car!

Correct...everyone had a Camaro, but not everyone had a Firebird!

So the club is being outfitted with Jay Leno rockers ?

DassDope! 😭I gotta get my 68 Bird to fly again & get it that damm clean from bumper to bumper. Everything about that, heart is exceptional! 🤯

I am curious now as to what exactly is in those rear weights? Jay mentioned 'lead', but I think lead is awfully heavy and wonder, with the upped suspension, if they are even needed to keep this baby on the road? He speaks so approvingly on how it handles.

Miss my 1st gen birds

My brother bought one for $6000, it's not a convertible though.

Nice 68 Firebird Sprint And Great Video 👀🤠🇨🇦

I Got A Blue 67 Firebird Sprint OHC 3.8 It's My Favorite Of All The Cars I've Owned .🤠🇨🇦

In high school(1986) one of the guys who gave me a ride to work had a 69 Le Man's with this engine. He raved how cool it was, I was like meh...give me a 400. Now I think how cool and rare it was.

A real rarity for sure. I had one 10 years ago. I had to rebuild the carb and the guy at the parts store told me I didn't have one of those. I never could get the timing right. Eventually sold it because of that.

In the 60's this was a absolute dream. A great "SIX", and a four, or five speed transmission, and all the "handling" upgrades…nobody had it. Great fun.

Had they properly sorted the Pontiac OHC Six at the start, it could have easily formed the basis of a 1.8-2.5-litre OHC Four derived from the Chevrolet 153 4-cylinder and thereby negate the need for developing either the Vega or Iron Duke engines. Imagine how Cosworth like they did with the Cosworth Vega in real-life, could have developed the OHC Four/Six into a DOHC Four/Six.

when my grade school gym teacher brought his brand new Sprint to school and a few of us poked fun at his 6 cylinder, he made the doubters (me included) get in and went around the block. I do remember it got rubber even going into 4th.

probably the most difficult thing about the series 1 F'bird was getting the cowl/bumper alignment right, otherwise the headlights looked "weird" as in this one, and, frankly , most you see. The factory alignment was hard to duplicate, How do i know? 223378U607387.. my ,ordered 68 Sprint.

Are those Chilton books back there on the shelf?

Where could one get hardened rocker arms like that? Asking for a friend who has a 68.

🎉😂p

Cracks me up. Jay's idea of a light restomod is WAY different from most people's idea. 🤭👍

Beautiful car indeed. My brother had a hardtop version, 3 speed on the column.

I could not take my eyes off that car.

The anti-vibration canisters in front & rear, I removed all 4 of mine out of my1968 Pontiac 400 x 4 speed convertible car in 1977 and noticed NO DIFFERENCE with them gone. I keep them, but I would never put them back in.

Paid 800 $ for it in 1988

Mine has a 4 barrel mine was fast 180000 still would 130 pretty easey. I need the engine rebuild total restore

About 60 % of these 4.1 firebirds went to Australia

I have a 4.1 68 2 door hard top. it's rough, but it's mine soon to get to it 160 mph speedo auto trani

My wife and I bought one of the first 67 Firebird Sprint convertibles new, paid 4,400.00 dollars. Had the same wheels as this one, Rally 2s, black top. Loved it but mustangs that year didn't.

Leno's DeLorean is of questionable character. The Delorean I know, through his engineering expertise, is a genius, who actualized near perfect expediency in production practice. This challenge to the predominance of the Jaguar XKE, is an example of his passion for flawless creativity drawn out from the sophisticated constraints top performers compete with in a free-market capitalist environment. Wearing the many hats which includes the Wile E, Coyote/Junkyard Dog persona, is a choice made by a very aggressive and zealous will to power. There are NO RULES in the race for excellence. Delorean's unsurpassed magnificence as a creative force in the American Automotive Industry proves the ferocity of his motivation for VICTORY.

A car that matches Jay's clothing. Can't even see him driving it lol

No more "walking" with so mutch cars

A lot of people swapped the engine of these rare cars with a V8 which was a shame. Awesome car Jay.

Camaros get all the attention..but this is a beauty

your videos are great and your an awesome person nothing like a cold one on a sunday afternoon and jay lenos garage .

The 68 Pontiac Firebird was a a beautiful car, better looking than the Camaro.

Love this car! My pops had a 67 convertible. I have fond memories of it during the late 60s riding with the top down around PR.

Perfect candidate for a turbo 😅

There was one for sale in Chicago $4000 great engine

He's said "normally I don't get convertibles" YES!!!!! I hate them. I think it totally ruins the look of ANY car. I know there will be a lot that disagree. Im hardtop / coupe all the way.!!!