My first job after graduating from Electrical Engineering at the University of Toronto in 1979 was in Central Plant Engineering at General Motors Canada's South Plant, on Park Road South in Oshawa Ontario. When I had worked there long enough to be approved for the employee discount (it was either 20% or 25%) for a new car, I bought a 1980 Firebird Esprit, and took delivery February 1, 1980.

The wisdom of the staff was that since the cars had a 1-year warranty, you'd buy a new car every 6 months and sell the older one (which would still have 6 months warranty) for about the same as it costed. So you could always be driving a new car. And you'd always be buying cars with options that favour resale. For example it was wise to order the cars with trim levels that had lots of chrome (as this was very visible and valued upon resale), but you would not get any increase in resale price for limited slip differential (as this is "invisible" and therefore wouldn't increase the resale value as much as the original purchase price).

So I ordered the car with the smallest engine, as the "Arab Oil Embargo" was then causing gasoline prices to increase, so presumably a car with a smaller engine would get better mileage, and therefore better resale value. As it happens, I left General Motors after about 1½ years and kept the car for 32 years, so this didn't quite work out as planned.

As a side point, while I was working at General Motors in 1979 and 1980 everyone saw the beginning of General Motor's market share begin to drop. I still clearly recall my manager's manager confidently telling me that there was "pent-up demand", that due to high gasoline prices consumers were just delaying buying the cars they really wanted and the General Motors market share would go back up where it belonged. As I listened to this I remember thinking that there is certainly a chance that people actually prefer the small and trim Honda, Toyota and other "foreign" cars to the massive "couch on wheels" and cheapy small "tin-can cars" that General Motors was selling. As shown in this graph, there was no "pent-up demand".

During the time I drove the car I got married and then had two children, and even with switching which child's car-seat was behind Margot (as she could pull her seat farther forwards), eventually the children just wouldn't fit in the back seats, so it was Minivan-time.

When I sold the car, it had factory-original everything, even the tires. Apparently one definition of an antique is anything more than 25 years old, so I figured the longer I kept the car, the more it would be worth. As I recall, with the employee discount, the car costed about $8,900 (about $25,350) I sold the car after owning it for 32 years for $1,700 (sadly for its parts, as the frame was too rusted for a restoration, but the good side is it will live on through many other people's happier cars).

Indeed the body did have some rust.

And the door handle (and one trunk hinge) was cracked.

I first posted the car for sale on http://AutoTrader.ca, but received very few inquiries. Then I posted it on http://Kijiji.ca and received many inquiries.

The advertisement said:

1980 Pontiac Firebird - T-roof and factory-original everything
I have owned this car since it was new, and have been the only driver. It has original factory everything (except the battery) – the cloth seats, even the tires and floor mats are factory original. The T-roof covers, spoke wheel covers and security wrench, and owner's manual are included. It has never been in an accident, and never been painted. It has the V-6 engine, factory T-roof, and cruise control. As shown in the pictures, there is rust at the back corners of the doors and behind the rear wheels. The driver-side door handle is cracked and the left-side trunk lid bracket is cracked. The driver-side inside door handle has been repaired. Everything in the interior is in excellent condition, with no rips or cracks. The power windows work. The headliner is loose in the back corner. The only after-market additions are a power antenna, graphic equalizer and four speakers. It never had a factory radio, and there is a factory blank plate covering that opening.

Except for the first year I had it, it has always been parked in a garage. It has not been driven or started since 1995, and had an oil leak at the time. The brakes are seized, so would need to be towed out of my garage.

I was envisioning someone restoring the car, but many inquiries asked about the frame and the floor, which I hadn't thought about or knew how to judge. Of course the bottom of the car was rusty, but people told me the floor was rusted through, and the frame would need to be replaced or reinforced.

Some realized that I would be pained to hear that the car would be worth more by selling the parts (to "part it out").

I began to accept the logic of the organ donor, where so many others may benefit from one act of kindness.

Because the car was designed for a massive V8 engine, a long cowling is required to funnel the air from the cooling fan (mounted on the engine) to the radiator (mounted at the front of the car).

After many inquries and visits, Maurice from Gatineau e-mailed. We went back-and-forth on the price. I eventually learned that he had bought a yellow firebird and its black interior was destroyed by a fire, so the perfect interior of my car was exactly what he needed.

He worried me that he wanted to know that I would have the tools to remove the wheels so he could remove the brakes as they were seized (I didn't know if the rusted frame would be strong enough so the car could be jacked-up). The tires were factory-original and 32 years old, and the differential hadn't been turned in 16 years, so other potential buyers knew the car should be put on a full trailer. But Maurice said he had lots of experience towing cars, and he rented a dolly only for the front wheels, so the rear wheels would need to roll for the six-hour drive back. They didn't bring a jack for the car, and though I told him I had a small winch and that they should bring their own, they had no way to get the car up onto the dolly.

Maurice's uncle immediately figured out that only the rear brake drums were seized and I had a sludge hammer that he knew would be enough to remove the drums. It turned out that the Firebird's jack (after a while I realized it stowed under the overhang above the spare tire) worked. My winch was enough to get the car onto the dolly. The wheels made horrible scraping sounds as we pushed the car down the driveway and as he drove off. I later e-mailed him hoping they all had a safe drive home and asking him to send me before and after pictures of his car restoration. Maurice replied that they had two flat tires on the drive home (I assume this was for the Firebird's tires as they were 32 years old). Thinking about this, I suspect they would have swapped a front tire with the flat tire.

Bye bye Firebird.