Streetside Classics Fort Worth

[daleone3]

First I will say that I am not a fan of the high volume muscle car dealers (Volo, Gateway, Streetside) as a rule. I am a bit skeptical in general when it comes to Dealers however Streetside has a car I am interested in and would be curious if anyone had experience or opinions to share? The car they have seems to be an "honest" car, pictures seem to represent the car well and there are indicators that the prior owner or consignor was meticulous in its upkeep, retaining different original components (bagged) that were replaced over time, small thing but part of the story I guess.
If anyone has anything to share (good or bad),I would love to hear it. I am in Boston and as many of you know, finding a dry car up in the northeast is not an easy task. The car in question is a west coast/Arizona car and the pics seem to show a well kept car.
They show a 4.5 star rating on google but as I go thru these, there are more than a few one star reviews that create some of my concern and seem to show some pretty serious allegations. I know, caveat emptor applies and one has zero recourse once the take delivery but trying to gather some intel before I get sucked in.

This is a link to the car
https://www.streetsideclassics.com/vehicles/2987-dfw/1975-pontiac-firebird-trans-am
and YES, this is the car I had in high school, please don't judge.
Thoughts and opinions appreciated.

Beyond that, does anyone have a person they can recommend for an independent inspection in the Fort Worth area?

Thanks!

[njsteve]

I can give an educated opinion of the car from the photos since I own a '75 myself: https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=113621&page=28

Cons:
-sits too high - wrong front springs
-engine color is wrong - should be metallic dark blue
-headliner is falling away from its cardboard backing
-seatbelts are after market (should have one piece shoulder/lap belt setup) - removing factory setup may have messed up seatbelt warning lights on dash.
-missing the air cleaner intake hose and duct to the fender
-spare tire just seems to be thrown into the trunk - is it missing the tire mounting bracket welded to the floor?
-aftermarket radio which probably means they hogged out the factory hole in the vinyl portion of the dash area that the radio mounts into.
-dashpad appears to be vinyl covered - not in original molded pebble grain.

Pro:
-underside looks really nice, dry, and original
-old belts,radio other parts boxed up to go with car
-interior looks nice though seat covers could be fitted better. Reproduction door panels missing the power window circular block off appliques where cranks would be on a manual window car.
-outer sheetmetal looks straight with decent panel gaps

Yeah, this is one you definitely want looked at in person. $25K is kind of high for a 1975. If you could get the price down to under $20K it would make a nice driver.

[daleone3]

I can give an educated opinion of the car from the photos since I own a '75 myself: https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=113621&page=28

Cons:
-sits too high - wrong front springs
-engine color is wrong - should be metallic dark blue
-headliner is falling away from its cardboard backing
-seatbelts are after market (should have one piece shoulder/lap belt setup) - removing factory setup may have messed up seatbelt warning lights on dash.
-missing the air cleaner intake hose and duct to the fender
-spare tire just seems to be thrown into the trunk - is it missing the tire mounting bracket welded to the floor?
-aftermarket radio which probably means they hogged out the factory hole in the vinyl portion of the dash area that the radio mounts into.
-dashpad appears to be vinyl covered - not in original molded pebble grain.

Pro:
-underside looks really nice, dry, and original
-old belts,radio other parts boxed up to go with car
-interior looks nice though seat covers could be fitted better. Reproduction door panels missing the power window circular block off appliques where cranks would be on a manual window car.
-outer sheetmetal looks straight with decent panel gaps

Yeah, this is one you definitely want looked at in person. $25K is kind of high for a 1975. If you could get the price down to under $20K it would make a nice driver.

Thanks for the input.
I had not noticed the headliner, makes me wonder why someone would go deep on the cosmetics and not do that. Springs....agreed. Intake hose and small things add up, spare tire, etc....Radio not thrilled about but has original so that is a plus. Carpet does not seem to be set as well as it should and the dash (to your point) is hokey.
Just enough to take a flier. Reinforces my thoughts on the dealers I mentioned, they go far enough to get it out the door but leave a couple of thousand dollars in small things to the new owner. Body is dry, that is the only plus and no docs on the engine build is concerning.
Thank you for your reply, the hunt continues.

[njsteve]

Happy to help. The 75's are probably the cheapest to find at the moment. Not many people like the slant nose bumpered cars. We have a personal family attachment to ours since Gramma owned it new.

They started that new headliner style in 74 I think. It was a padded vinyl glued to a cardboard backing and would fall down like a modern headliner does after the foam layer disintegrates.

What did you have back in the day?

[Tracker1]

Unless you have a specific attachment to the 1975 model year, that kind of money will buy you a pretty nice 1976 455 4-speed driver. Cleaner nose and bumper treatment, thus a much more handsome car AND more collectible than a '75 400 car. Of course the 455HO package was available in '75 as well if that year is a "must-have" for you. Just my 2 cents. Good luck with your search.

[daleone3]

Happy to help. The 75's are probably the cheapest to find at the moment. Not many people like the slant nose bumpered cars. We have a personal family attachment to ours since Gramma owned it new.

They started that new headliner style in 74 I think. It was a padded vinyl glued to a cardboard backing and would fall down like a modern headliner does after the foam layer disintegrates.

What did you have back in the day?

I had a 1976 TA, black on black, 4 speed, console delete. Not the fastest car in town but sounded nice running the gears. It had one repaint, no decals, gold honeycomb wheels, all the right stuff. May end up in a Z28 though (79-81), Burt dying drove the interest up overnight in these cars but the 75/76 is where I would like to be in terms of years.

[daleone3]

Unless you have a specific attachment to the 1975 model year, that kind of money will buy you a pretty nice 1976 455 4-speed driver. Cleaner nose and bumper treatment, thus a much more handsome car AND more collectible than a '75 400 car. Of course the 455HO package was available in '75 as well if that year is a "must-have" for you. Just my 2 cents. Good luck with your search.

Agreed, 76 is the target year, 4 speed, ideally black but silver may get it done, just not too much red......

[resto4u]

These large dealers that have locations across the US have high overhead costs. Most places do not put much if any into there cars, i do not know there profit margin. But i would guess they try to make 5k or more per vehicle. And the buyer is paying transportation costs that they paid to get the vehicle. It looks like a 15-17k car.