'67 Firebird - Getting It Done

We all have obstacles in life we must overcome. There are financial woes, bad marriages, poor decisions, car trouble, and even bad hair days. Sometimes these hurdles seem insurmountable until, of course, you hear about someone who has it worse off than you do. Then you may even feel a bit foolish for fixating on your problems. Get ready for that feeling.

Take a look at the photo of Paul Tavana, on page 52. The Northeast, Pennsylvania, resident appears to be your typical Pontiac hobbyist posing in front of his latest pride and joy-a partially completed Firebird project. What you don't know is that Paul was diagnosed with two rare blood disorders 26 years ago, at age 19. At the time, his prognosis was just two years.

Paul has since made beating the odds his battle cry. Instead of succumbing to self-pity, he used his condition for motivation. He earned a dual degree in Business and Computer Science, gradu-ating at the top of his class, and became a financial planner. He married the love of his life, Dawn, and of course started building Pontiacs.

Fueled by cherished memories of his youth, driving his dad's '76 Firebird and his love of drag racing, Paul bought a '75 Formula to build up back in the mid '80s. His brother Alex tells HPP about his next project. "In 1993, Paul purchased a '69 Firebird convertible out of a junkyard in Virginia. Everyone told him he was crazy. Four years later, after a body-off resto, it was complete. He cruised and raced that Blue/Green Chameleon-colored Bird for six or seven years, posting a best e.t. of 10.82 at 130 mph with a 125-shot of nitrous, on street tires, and through the exhaust. The only problem was that the car kept blowing the top right off, literally."

Paul decided that a solid-roof Bird would be best to keep the lid on things at the top end, so he purchased the '67 in July, 2002. His plan was to build a Pro Streeter that would be just as comfortable on the strip as it was on the street. That meant a stout motor and a back-half with mile-wide meats tucked under the wheelwells. The same 605-horse 455 that powered the '69 ragtop would be used in the '67. A TCI 10-inch 4,000-rpm stall converter, a trick Turbo 400 and a 4.11-geared 9-inch rear would back it.

Friend Dale Gregg performed the chassis fabrication and body and paintwork over a two-year period. He tells HPP, "I did it in my spare time, on nights and weekends using the three-car garage attached to my house. I stopped counting the man hours at 800 and it didn't even have paint on it yet." Then Greg Felix lent his talent for six months, providing the artwork for the flanks of the Firebird. Finally, the '67 was brought back to Paul to finish the rest of the assembly over the following two years. The project was moving along, but Paul's health was deteriorating.

According to Alex, "The final assembly was trying for Paul. His health was declining to the point where he wasn't able to work in the garage for more than an hour or two at a time. Transfusions every other week turned into transfusions every week. One or two units were nothing for him, and yet my brother never complained, not once. Whenever I visited or picked him up from the hospital, it was always, 'What's next with the car?'"

What was next with the car was employing the combined talents of friends and family to attain Paul's ultimate goal-to get the car finished. Perhaps he would even show and race the Firebird at the '07 Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals.

After a final six-month thrash of long days and late nights, the Bird was completed in June 2007, and Paul and Dawn enjoyed it for the month of July. Plans were put in motion to attend the Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals and Paul bought a fire suit and helmet in preparation for the big event..

As fate would have it, his condition worsened a few weeks prior and he was hospitalized and had to undergo surgery. Paul Tavana passed away on August 14, 2007, at the age of 45, but his memory and his Firebird are treasured by the family and friends who cared for them both.

Friends Erik Esper, Dave Lossie and Ray Gloss made the trip to the Ames event, found me, and shared Paul's story. Plans were made and Alex, Erik, Dawn and the rest of the group then delivered Paul's Bird to a location for this feature shoot.

"This Pontiac reflects everything my brother was," Alex says. "Attention-to-detail was how my brother lived." Chassis fabricator and body specialist Dale Gregg says, "This car was Paul's passion and his dream, and he was very proud of what he built."

"I'll never forget the first ride we took after finishing the car," Alex remembers. "After about a mile down the road he turned around to head home and he looked at me and said, 'hold on.' The smile on his face said it all. My brother touched a lot of people in a short time. That's why he was able to enjoy this car. His friends and family made it happen for him because he was a great guy; a great human being." After all the happiness and hassles that life can bring, when all is said and done, there are no kinder words than those to be spoken on your behalf.

The Tavana family would like to thank everyone who helped out on this project.