Meet the Pegasus! Pontiac Firebird with a Ferrari V12 Under Hood
When Bill Mitchell and Enzo Ferrari got together, they created a wonderful Firebird Ferrari mashup called the Pegasus.
Putting GM V8 power in just about every car imaginable is commonplace. However, putting a Ferrari V12 in a GM car is not something you see every day. In fact, you will likely never see the day. But it has been done before, albeit nearly 50 years ago. The Pontiac Firebird is a legendary car. Of course, Ferrari has no shortage of legendary cars.
So, putting the two together should yield something pretty special right? Well, that depends on your definition of special. The Ferrari Firebird or “Pegasus” as it is better known is certainly unique. Take a second-generation Firebird and a Ferrari 365 GTB/4. Run them both through a Calvin and Hobbes transmogrifier machine and the result would be the Pegasus.
In the early 1970s the transmogrifier was not yet invented so it took the efforts of two automotive icons to make this dream a reality. A design exercise done by Chevrolet designer Jerry Palmer and was eventually seen by his boss Bill Mitchell. Mitchell took the drawing to the Pontiac studio and from there injected a little more Italian flair. This included a Ferrari-style gauge cluster and interior. In addition, a Ferrari-sourced exhaust was used. Why would you bother using a Ferrari exhaust on a GM V8 engine? Well, you wouldn’t, and neither would Mitchell. With the permission from Enzo Ferrari a 4.4-liter V12 that would normally go in to a 365 GTB/4 was sent to Mitchell to use in this project car.
The Ferrari V12 produced about 350 horsepower. However, more importantly, the engine looked and sounded like nothing else coming out of a Pontiac in those days. Sadly, this engine was originally hooked to a three-speed automatic transmission. This is a transmission that defined the term slushbox.
Thankfully, a Ferrari five-speed manual transmission was eventually installed. But this car didn’t just borrow from Ferrari. The rear brakes were four-piston discs from a Corvette. The only thing left to do now was to drive it. And Mitchell loved to drive it.
In fact, Mitchell loved to drive this car much that he kept the car when he retired in 1977. He would take it to car shows and even track days to enjoy the full performance of the car. He enjoyed the car for over a decade and then when he passed on in 1988 he willed it back to GM. The car was restored and now resides in GM’s Heritage Center.
A couple of years ago Jay Leno and Ed Welburn, Former VP of Global Design, GM Worldwide discussed Pegasus in an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage. CNBC Prime posted a clip from this show on their YouTube channel. The overall style of the car is discussed and what makes it an obvious Mitchell design. Beyond the design the big news is of course that engine. This car was built before the first LS engine, but it can be thought of as a reverse LS swap of sorts. It may not be common but it sure is an interesting piece of history.
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