Once the dust settled from the bidding war he was the new owner, and arrangements were made to ship the car to Sydney in New South Wales. In 2015 at the Kissimmee Auction held by Mecum in January this car came up for public sale, the price estimate was $30,000 to $50,000 USD and it was seen by an Australian man named Cam who just happened to be looking for a Rockford Files clone.Ĭam has long been a fan of the show and of James Garner’s other work, so when he realized he had a chance to buy an actual screen-used Firebird from the show he jumped at the chance. Then you release everything, hit the gas, and off you go in the opposite direction.” – James Garner Buying The Rockford Files Car That locks the wheels and throws the front end around. “When you are going straight in reverse about 35 miles an hour, you come off the gas pedal, go hard left, and pull on the emergency brake. This was essentially what we would now call a J-turn or a “moonshiner’s turn,” Garner describes it in his own words below in his book The Garner Files: The importance of the car to the plot of The Rockford Files is hard to overstate, the car featured significantly in every episode and Garner famously liked to do his own stunts – the most famous of which was the famous “Jim Rockford turn-around.” James Garner wasn’t a fan and as a result this car was kept and used on the show for three years from 1978, though 1979, to the final season in 1980. In 1979 the Firebird was given a new front end, it’s remained controversial to the current day with some loving it and some hating it.
NEW FIREBIRD SERIES
When it was built the car was equipped with a 350 cubic inch V8 and a 3-speed automatic transmission, it would keep this powertrain throughout its time on the TV series to the modern day. The car has been preserved just as it was when James Garner drove it in the TV series.
NEW FIREBIRD FULL
The car was painted in Glacier Blue rather than gold and once it was acquired by Cinema Vehicle Services it needed a full repaint in its current color plus a new flat hood was fitted and the rear wing was deleted to match the previous Firebirds used by Garner in the series. When it originally rolled off the production line no one knew this car would go on to become a television star in its own right. The Story Of The Last Rockford Files Pontiac Firebird The car you see here was used in the series from 1978 until the show ended in 1980, reportedly because James Garner didn’t like the look of the new Firebird front end, insisting on keeping this one.
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