Some folks take cars a little too seriously. The crazy dyno numbers, the big price tags, and all the usual macho posturing seem to be par for the course for a selection of enthusiasts, but if you aren’t having fun, what’s the point? By contrast, the Pontiac Firebird restomod featured in the following video takes a different approach, rekindling a youthful passion for cars to become a real-life Hot Wheels.
Coming to us from the folks at AutotopiaLA, the video is just over 36 minutes long, and includes an in-depth look at the build, plus the experience of driving it on the street.
As it turns out, this Pontiac Firebird restomod belongs to Brendon Vetuskey, who works a day job as a designer for Hot Wheels.
“My passion my whole life has always been cars and toys. The ultimate combination is of course Hot Wheels,” Vetuskey says. “Even in college, I knew it, I was like, ‘I want to be a Hot Wheels designer,’ and took a couple jobs, but I finally got there, haven’t looked back.”
Vedusky purchased his IRL Pontiac Firebird in 2009, picking it up with green paint, a black vinyl top, and black interior with a manual transmission. However, as Vedusky started to take it apart, the car’s decent condition outside revealed to be only skin deep.
After acid-dipping it a few times, Vedusky decided to dig in and replace or rebuild everything that wasn’t up to snuff, including all of the body pieces ahead of the firewall, the frame, and more. The process taught Vedusky quite a lot.
“In the beginning, I didn’t even know how to weld,” Vedusky confesses. After eliciting some help from a pro, Vedusky rolled up his sleeves and got to building his Pontiac Firebird as exactly as he wanted it.
Now, this Pontiac Firebird looks raw and untamed, with a 383 stroker LS1 under the hood and a T56 six-speed manual transmission. And you can bet it’s a ton of fun, as well.
Check out the full build right here:
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