Not Your Dad’s Six Shooter – This Firebird Pays Tribute to Its Original Engine, With a Turbocharged Twist
Although not as heavily produced as its Chevrolet counterpart the Camaro in the early years, the Pontiac Firebird had some intriguing options, including the 250 cubic inch 6 cylinder engine with a 4 barrel carburetor available in 1967, 1968 and 1969.
And although this Firebird didn’t come into Derrick Sanders life as a 6-cylinder version, he will enter his first drag-and-drive event with it carrying the same numbers of cylinders.
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The ’68 Firebird was purchased by Derrick’s father in 1995, when Derrick was only three years old. “It was a very rough old beat-to-death race car,” said Derrick. “Someone cut the quarters open to fit a huge slick.”
Despite the initial introduction, his dad spent several years building it into a street car cruiser, complete with a 406 cubic inch Pontiac with a 6:71 BDS supercharger on top, and a 4-speed manual transmission behind it.
After building the Firebird into a clean cruiser, Derrick’s dad passed in 2016, leaving the Firebird to him. “It was basically every old school muscle car guy’s hot rod,” said Derrick, but it didn’t light his fire. “I let the car sit basically the entire time since he passed, until this past summer.”
Derrick decided he wanted to do something with the Firebird, but he was about to change up the look and performance. “I told my wife I wanted to do something with the car so we could enjoy it as a family, and not just let it sit in the corner of the shop,” Derrick said. “That’s when my wheels started spinning.”
Reflecting back to the car originally leaving the factory as a ‘Sprint’ overhead cam 6 cylinder ride, Derrick bounced some ideas off a friend. The brainstorming led Derrick to combine the car’s original heritage with a modern driveline, an Atlas 4200 4.2-liter 6 cylinder out of a 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer.
Choosing the engine was the easy part, but the tough part was making it work. “I fabricated my own oil pan, intake and exhaust manifold, along with the exhaust, intercooler piping, and more,” said Derrick. He also rewired the entire car, did an all new fuel system, added a Vintage Air A/C kit, and bumped up the audio with a new Kicker audio sound system with a sub in the trunk.
The Atlas 4200 4.2-liter 6 cylinder engine was rated at 291 horsepower new, but Derrick decided to bump it up a little more with the addition of a VS Racing billet 78/75-millimeter turbocharger, and runs the unique engine on a FuelTech 450 unit.
All of it will be put to the test at Derrick’s first drag-and-drive event, as he travels from Kentucky to Georgia for Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive later this month.
“I have absolutely zero experience in drag-and-drive stuff,” Derrick said. “I’ve always dreamed of doing it, but never have. I think my biggest strength would be my determination and knowledge. I don’t really ‘farm out’ any work in my cars. Everything is basically done here in house, so I know the entire car front to back.”
As the owner of a transmission and performance shop, Derrick has a good amount of racing experience. “I have done a bunch of small tire no-prep style racing over the years,” said Derrick. “I’ve driven some cars for others, and raced my ‘86 S-10. Unfortunately I wrecked it in 2022.”
Although he almost has the truck back together again, Derrick is ready to give drag-and-drive his focus. “With 2 kiddos running around, it’s hard to ‘race car’ 24/7,” he said. “My wife was actually super stoked when I mentioned drag-and-drive to her. Especially since it’s in Florida.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Derrick Sanders.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com