We love to peruse auctions sites for two, mostly pointless reason: To drool over vehicles we can never afford and to uncover insanely weird vehicles we’ve never seen before (and also can’t afford). As you can tell, this frumpy Firebird falls into the latter category.
Listed on Hemmings for $94,950, this 1970 Firebird Concept was designed by Harry Bentley Bradley and built by GM Engineer Dave Crook. The vehicle also comes with a letter of documentation from GM design staff.
Why would this vulgar ‘Bird come with an official certification from GM? It turns out Bradley was actually a designer at GM from 1962 to 1966. He left his post to work at Mattel and it turns out he was the very first person to design vehicles for the then-fledging Hot Wheels line.
However, Bradley didn’t think the toy car market would be successful and left to start his own company just one year later. He even designed the famous Oscar Meyer Wienermobile in 1993.
This particular concept was a Pontiac Show Car proposal based on the second-generation Firebird and it features a Turbo Hydra-Matic 350 Automatic, a 255hp, 350 cubic-inch V8 and a scant 17,456 miles on the odometer.
We can only assume that somewhere along the line GM turned to Bradley sometime in ’69 or ’70 to help create a “vivid glimpse into the future of Firebird.” Judging by the wacky Hot Wheels-esque result, it’s fair to say Bradley’s creation was a little too wacky to be considered for the new ‘Bird.
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