1999 Pontiac Firebird Formula SLP Firehawk is Practically Brand-New
 

1999 Pontiac Firebird Formula SLP Firehawk is Practically Brand-New
By Joseph Coelho

How did this 20-year old time capsule fare at a recent auction?
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/ls1tech...2a7c3ba13b.jpg

2002 Firehawk
 

My family actually has a 2002 Firehawk with 93 miles. Wonder what it would bring considering what this brought.

$30,000 was the price and I agree with some of the others mentioned in the slide show that it was a good buy. You can't turn the clock back with cars but once in awhile it actually does happen. Despite the non-use I have found that these more modern cars don't deteriorate like cars from decades earlier (even the 80's) when so many things fail due to age. Other than fluids, it should be good to go for the new owner unless it's just going to sit again.

Beautiful car.. Have a hair over 400 miles on my DEI. Yes, very hard to enjoy the miles. But each one is a joy.

Isn't $30K about what this car would've stickered new? Great that it didn't depreciate much over the years (assuming no inflation), but hardly getting to drive it for 17 years seems like a high price to pay for that.

^^ It's certainly a horrible investment money-wise for the owner, but it sure is amazing that 20 years later (it's a 1999), if you missed out on buying one then, that you can still get one for the same price. It's like telling the salesman at the old Pontiac dealership, "Can you hold this for me for 20 years when I can afford it??" Very cool :cool:

It's great these cars are getting a good price. That's what us owners want. Nobody wants a depreciating asset. I believe it could've gotten more than $30K.

I agree; financially this was actually a terrible investment over a 20 year period. Based on original MSRP (which doesn't even include sales tax and also assumes a cash purchase), $30k doesn't even come close to keeping up with inflation - not to mention the cost of proper insurance and such over all those years. One could have done much better with such basic and 100% secure investments as bank CDs or T-notes over the same period. Granted, there is sometimes money to be made in buying and selling just the right car at just the right moments, but buying one brand new and stashing it for 20 years almost never proves to be a sound financial decision. That's something which should only be done for reasons of personal pleasure and love of the hobby.

Having said all that, I also completely agree that it's very cool to see cars like this. I've found great pleasure in keeping mine as much of a time capsule as possible as well, but at 18k miles it's not nearly as "new" as this one. I'm thankful I was in a position to buy two of these LS1 4th gens when they were actually still brand new, but examples like this are the closest thing anyone will find today - that's a nice treat for folks who didn't have the chance when they were still in the showroom.

Wow, pretty incredible.. and I saved an article stating top collector cars of that era included the FIrehawk.. Stating as much as a 31% increase in value. Thought right off my car was worth $45K.. Obviously wrong.. I don't know if anyone else saw it on youtube 2000 FIrehawk #001 sold with only 495 miles,, they did not disclose the amount. The owner of that car kept it in a bubble inside his garage. It still had the original stickers, everything. Not for me... I've enjoyed and drive my car.

I recently read an article on Haggerty's site about a restored '76 T/A Special Edition 455/4sp w/ T-tops bringing 6 figures at an auction recently. That kind of blew me away. Sure, the '76 SEs w/ T-tops numbered in the low 3-digit range and fetch top dollar, but its great to see the '76 455 T/As getting some respect finally. With only 200 HP, they've been the butt of jokes for a long time for being some of the slowest 455 T/As built. However, with that many cubes, its not hard to bump that up significantly. My old '76 455/4sp HT was still a blast to drive, and I often though that, other than the '70-73s, that the '76s were the 2nd best looking of the 2nd gen Firebirds: Last of the single round headlamps in a smoothed shovel nose (compared to the '74-'75s). Of all my old cars, I miss that one the most.

A guess this is all to say, you never know when cars like ours might tickle a new generation's fancy.

It was Haggerty's who wrote the article I saved back a couple months ago. SW here in Austin has a nice collection of cars he sells, collects and trades.. Said in an article I read his 1973 FIrebird Formula 455 is his favorite car over Ferrari's, Mclaren's plus other exotics which I find hard to believe.. His '73 is really nice... I still lean to 1970 being the best year.

A 31% increase from original MSRP? I don't believe that any regular production LS1 F-body has seen gains of that magnitude, nor does this appear to be on the horizon (based on known examples such as the Firehawk in this article). And if there are any which have (or soon will) hit such a range, it would likely be examples with only delivery mileage up to high 3-digits at most, IMO.

FWIW, I would take any value claims that Hagerty makes with a grain of salt - especially when it comes to these later model cars. I remember Hagerty stating, in an article years ago, that they use asking price data as part of their valuation matrix; we all know how many dreamers list their cars at outrageous prices, some remaining for sale for literally years, so it's not really a true testament of what you should expect in the market at large. Having said that, I still see dealers listing 4-digit mileage examples of collectable LS1 F-bodies at prices which are thousands less than original MSRP, so reaching or exceeding MSRP will likely only be the territory of sub ~1,000 mile examples for the foreseeable future.

Also, the average enthusiast will generally over-estimate the condition of their vehicle when listing it for sale, such as folks with #2 cars thinking they have #1 cars, etc. While speculation and new trends in collector demand might cause some pretty drastic price spikes of the nicest available examples, the percentage of increase may not be linear across all condition ranges.

Have my eye on a lo-mile Firehawk Convertible, after I bring her home, I hope values do go up. :)

Pictures, man. Pictures...

:confused: There were several pictures in the slide show.

No, for the Firehawk convertible...

I bet getting behind the wheel is a pretty cool feeling