"I didn't just build the car...
"I didn't just build the car for looks. It will move out, too," owner Jeff Garlitz explains.
Most Trans Am owners are familiar with Tipp City, Ohio, because of its annual cruise-in scheduled around the Trans Am Nationals in Dayton. The evening get-together is host to some of the nicest Birds in the country. Parked there next to a small, family-owned pizzeria was this '68 Firebird at the 2009 event. Proudly smiling and sitting behind it was the owner, Jeff Garlitz. After a quick discussion with him, it was clear that this was the materialized version of what he yearned for 20 years earlier. The Pontiac of his high school dreams had finally come into his life, and was even better than he could have envisioned as a 15-year-old.
When Jeff was a young lad, he saved up enough money so that he could buy the very first car he fell in love with-a '68 Firebird 400. "My parents had final say, and it was a big 'N-O'," he says. Most parents would agree that a 400 cubic-inch mill was a little too much for a first time driver, such as Jeff. With the Firebird out of the picture, he had to settle for something a little more sedate, a '73 Nova with a 350 small-block.
Jeff kept the Chevy and it held him over pretty well. "That car did okay, but it was never anything special," he quips. Deep down, he still wanted a Firebird. Approximately 20 years later, Bowtie madness had run its course, and he finally spotted a '68 Firebird 400 for sale in 2002. "I just stopped in and told the guy I would take it. I knew it was going to be a real fixer-upper, but I didn't mind." Jeff saw this as an excuse to build the car exactly the way he wanted to.
He took it to his friend, Mike Landis in Brookville, Ohio. There it would sit for the next three years as the restification went full swing.
The Mod Bod
The two of them began by stripping the paint with razor blades and sandblasting. In the process, they realized that the body was in worse shape then they originally thought. Almost every panel on the car needed to be extensively repaired or replaced. "The only ones that didn't need any work were the rear quarters because they had already been replaced by the previous owner," Jeff jests. Luckily, Mike is highly skilled at body repair and was up to the task. The panels were straightened and the rust cut out and replaced with fresh sheetmetal.
Enter Mike's Body Shop of Brookville, Ohio, where Mike Brown and his son John did final body work, and sprayed the Bird with four coats of PPG DP 2K Urethane Primer. Lots of block sanding followed. Once the body was perfectly straight, it was sealed with DP sealer and shot with three coats of PPG Deltron 2000 Midnight Blue Pearl.
"My 10-year-old son, Tyler, asked me if I was going to have "fire" on it, since it was a Firebird, Jeff recalls. "So, I had light-blue-metallic ghost flames added down the side." Three coats of clear finished things off. Wet sanding with a progression of 600-grit paper to 2000 grit, followed by polishing, made for a mirror finish. Freshly chromed bumpers were installed, and the Firebird was looking sharp.
 Home, sweet home. Jeff had...  Home, sweet home. Jeff had to wait over 20 years before he could pop the hood and see a Pontiac 400 staring back at him. |  Jeff's friend, Mike Landis,...  Jeff's friend, Mike Landis, made this trick wiper-motor cover because Jeff thought the factory one wasn't very attractive. |  The flames were added because...  The flames were added because Jeff's son asked him if there was going to be any "fire" on the car because it was a Firebird. They add some character to the side. |
The Gut
Nearly every piece of the interior was customized, from a new black carpet to a pair of Corbeau bucket seats recovered in black leather with light-blue inlays. The original radio was tossed to the side, and a modern Pioneer CD and audio system were installed. The factory gauges weren't up to snuff, so Jeff found updated replacements from Dakota Digital.
Ron Sutton of Sutton Custom Upholstery in Tipp City fabricated the custom console and door panels, and then wrapped them in the same two-tone leather treatment as the seats. The flame theme is represented inside with the chrome, leather-wrapped steering wheel from Grant, and the final creature comfort added was an air-conditioning system from Vintage Air.