Once forgotten Firebird set to shine at WW&K on Saturday

Anyone who appreciates vintage cars and trucks dreams of discovering a “barn find,” a classic car that sat forgotten in a garage for decades.

A restored 1968 Pontiac Firebird barn find is the car featured by Memory Lane Car Club for Wings, Wheels, & Keels, set for this Saturday, Sept. 30, at Hummel Field airport in Topping. (See related items, pages A4 and 5.)

Michael W. Oien of Lancaster found his forgotten Firebird Coupe deluxe model that had been sitting in a garage for about 20 years. It was in rough shape. But, after a seven-year restoration it was transformed into an icon of the muscle car era.

Crash

Oien, who says he was not a mechanic, said the biggest issue he had was when he dismantled the car. He took pictures of every part and where it went and carefully bagged all the nuts, bolts and pieces. “When it came time to put the car back together all the pictures I had stored in my computer were gone,” he said. His computer had crashed.

So, he put the car together by memory — with help from his brother-in-law, Paul, his nephew, Opie, and Paul’s brother, Dean — all who had restored 1969 Camaros. “When I ran into some trouble I would look at one and do some comparisons,” said Oien. “Camaros and Firebirds are relatively the same from the firewall back.”

Transformation

He had the car painted “Hot Rod Red.” Like the bird Phoenix rising from the ashes, the Firebird radiated in the sun when it emerged from restoration in 2014. “I can look at this car and remember putting every piece back on it,” Oien said.

Oien had many people helping him in his “restoration journey,” he said. “I was no mechanic by any stretch, my background is in medicine. So with help from many people in my family and some others outside of the family I owe them all a thanks.”

“First crush”

Oien, 58, enjoyed the restoration process but he doesn’t think he would do it again. “It is time-consuming and it’s not 2007 anymore. My bones wouldn’t be able to do all of that any longer.”