The Pontiac Firebird was conceived as a badge-engineered version of the Chevrolet Camaro, but it soon stamped out its own identity. 

As chief engineer at Pontiac, and then when he became general manager of the division in 1965, John Z. DeLorean (above) aggressively lobbied senior management at General Motors to approve a two-seat sports car called the Banshee. The two-seater never did get the green light, but ultimately, GM car and truck boss Ed Cole offered DeLorean a compromise: a Pontiac version of the F-body Chevrolet Camaro, then scheduled for a fall 1966 introduction.

Early prototypes of the Pontiac ponycar wore the Banshee name (and some others) but in the end, the name Firebird was selected, after the series of GM turbine dream cars a decade earlier. Reportedly, the F-body Pontiac didn’t get the official go-ahead until May of 1966, when the Camaro was effectively completed.

Pontiac styling chief Jack Humbert (above left, with Chuck Jordan, then executive manager of Chevy/Pontiac styling) had the job of crafting a Pontiac visual identity for the Camaro clone. This was accomplished in little time, and with surprisingly few unique components: hood, front and rear bumpers, rear body panel, tail lamps, and miscellaneous interior trim. As an addtional flourish, six simultated louvers were stamped into each Camaro rear quarter panel. At 188.8 inches, the Firebird was four inches longer than the Camaro, mainly in the combined grille/bumper up front, which previewed the look of the ’68 Tempest/GTO and full-sized cars.

At the rear, the Firebird sported a stepped bumper and a more expensive lamp panel  with a concealed fuel filler and lenses with a ’67 GTO flavor. DeLorean’s Pontiac engineering staff developed their own chassis calibrations for the F-body, including new springs, dampers, and a trailing link for the monoleaf rear suspension to limit spring wind-up (prototype drawing shown above). V8 and Sprint Firebirds were equipped with a single link on the passenger side, while stick-shift V8s received a complete pair. In mid-’67, a similar setup was adopted for the Camaro.

In December of ’66, automotive writers were granted a preview of the Firebird at the GM Milford Proving Ground, with the information embargoed until January. Overall, the media reports were glowing. The official public introduction came on Februrary 23, 1967, nearly five months after the Camaro launch. The delay can be attributed to the late start, but in his memoir, On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors, DeLorean wrote it off to the usual deference given to Chevrolet as GM’s largest division. Later, DeLorean would become Chevy’s general manager himself.

Pontiac took an unusual approach to the rollout, offerering the Firebird in five distinct models (above). They were billed in print ads as the “Magnificent Five”:

+   The Firebird base model, with a standard 230 OHC six with 165 hp and a column-shifted three-speed manual or automatic transmission.

+   The Sprint, powered by an OHC six with a four-barrel carb and 215 hp, and a floor-shifted three-speed or automatic.

+   Firebird 326, with a standard Pontiac 326 cubic-inch V8 with a two-barrel carb that developed 250 hp and ran on regular gasoline.

+   Firebird HO, short for High Output. Here the 326 CID V8 sported a four-barrel carb, 10.5:1 compression ratio, dual exhausts, and 285 hp, while the exterior sported exclusive graphics.

+   Firebird 400, with the same 400 CID V8 offered in the GTO but detuned slightly (via a throttle stop) from 335 to 325 hp to comply with a GM limit on hp/weight ratio. An optional Ram Air package was offered but reportedly, only 65 were produced.

Despite the extremely short production schedule, Pontiac sold 82,560 Firebirds in the 1967 model year—more than respectable in comparison to 221,000 Camaros in a full year by the much larger Chevy division. (As DeLorean predicted, nearly 78 percent of the Firebirds were V8s.) Despite its obvious Camaro origins, the pony car was a perfect fit for GM’s youth and performance brand, and with its own distinctive identity, the Firebird remained in production through 2002.