Throughout its 33 years on the market, the Pontiac Firebird has offered owners their fair share of open-air driving, thanks to its cloth roof and targa top iterations. Well, this digital restomod proposal takes the Poncho outside the usual open-sky muscle car experience by portraying a folding metal roof for the machine.
While other muscle cars of the 1970s still packed a decisively retro look, the Pontiac Firebird, as well as the Camaro it was based on, stepped into the new decade with a then-modern design. And this is why, in his attempt to deliver a restomod with a bang, pixel master Oscar Vargas (aka wb.artist20), chose a first-gen Firebird.
The model in question is a ’68, which enthusiasts mostly praise for the larger engines (this was the second year for the OG ‘Bird).
Compared to the factory Convertible, this Firebird packs a much shorter greenhouse, which could bring it in line with the chopped top culture.
The said artist, which made the transition from 2D to 3D earlier this year, invested quite a bit of time in modeling the windshield, as well as the roof itself, which has a bit of a fastback aura, from scratch.
There are plenty of other changes beside the top
Outside of the roof, the Firebird has been given a modern widebody akin to what Dodge offers these days, while the pop-up door handles serve the same purpose.
Then we have the fascia changes at both endsโwhile we didn’t spend too much time contemplating the front bumper (as you’ll see below, the artist himself is not too sure about this), the way in which the diffuser reshapes the spoiler-adorned posterior is appealing to us.
“I spent way too much time modeling this one. It’s still not exactly what I wanted, especially with the front bumper, but it will do for now,” Vargas explains on Instagram.
Interestingly, this proposal comes at a time when hardtop convertibles are being quietly phased out by most carmakers.
Following their mainstream introduction the 1990s (thanks, Mercedes SLK!), coupe-cabriolets were all the rage in the 2000s and also did pretty well in the following decadeโwe’re referring to popular models and even Pontiac offered the G6 in this form.
Nowadays, though, this solution, which offers greater comfort compared to a cloth roof and can help a carmaker merge two sporty models into one, but brings handling and space penalties, is mostly reserved to supercars like Ferraris and McLarens.