There was an era when the Pontiac Firebird wasn’t a cliche. There was a time when, if you wished to empty a bar in New Jersey, you didn’t call out, “Hey, Vinnie, somebody hit your Firebird!”  There was a time when General Motors was proud of the Firebird and wanted to see it thrive,  instead of letting it die a slow, lingering death.

That was a long time ago…

Unfortunately, that time was nearly four decades ago, when the “ponycar” (loosely defined as a front-engine, rear-drive two-plus-two built by an American  Read more . . .