British Columbia has a collector car program. If your car is restored to factory specs then you can qualify for "collector" Status. There are some conditions as you have to have another vehicle for commuting, and you cannot drive your car to and from work, but other than that you are able to drive it every day anywhere. I have owned two collector vehicles. You are not allowed to have aftermarket accessories such as mag wheels, new stereo or any other accessory that was not available during the year of manufacture. I had a terrrible time trying to find the correct air cleaner assembly as most people just chucked the factory one and installed the chrome wafer air cleaner.
When I purchased the car I thought that it would be a simple, inexpensive task to find the correct wheels, trim rings, exhaust manifold, air cleaner, but I misjudged the rarity of a car which was not made in Canada. The 326ci engine was an American model and also the car was only sold in this country for half a year, being a half year 1st Generation model. All parts had to be sourced from the USA.
I really didn't use the Firebird very much as, at that time I had two other convertibles in my home fleet and I still have my C5 Corvette Roadster. When I sold the car I spent the last weekend (of ownership) driving around town and taking photos of myself with the car, this was at the end of July, 2006, over 5 years ago
The car had very nice sounding Flowmaster Dual Exhausts and it drew a lot of attention. A bit loud for my taste but the higher noise level was music to the ears of other car collectors. Most often people would come over to talk to me, even before I had parked. When approaching stop lights the people would look over when they heard the "sound" and I got many thumbs up. Cars would also come up to me and the driver would smile and give me a thumbs up. It was a magnet . . . I only drove the car with the top down.
Sometimes I miss it . . .
(Me & my 67 Firebird: July, 2006)
and sometimes I don't. Two wheels give me a bigger smile
