Hi all, my name is Dean I live in Surrey and am currently 19 years old. I drive a 1991 Pontiac Sunbird, which is my first car. The car has a 2.0 liter (121 CID) straight four, mated to a 3-speed auto Trans with a locking torque converter for efficient highway cruising. I bought the car when I was 17, I didn't have a licence yet but I had the money and the car was cheap enough, so with a little help from my father I bought it and he drove it to his workshop. The car lived there until I passed my test when I was 18, in that time I did a bit of work to get it up to MOT standards. I had to wire up the fog lights myself, as it had none beforehand. I changed the right hand CV gaiter as it had a hole in it. And I had to patch up the exhaust as it had a hole in it.
After I passed my test I took the car to get its MOT, which it failed. As the MOT tester raised the rear end the wheel hit the suspension. The whole wheel was aligned in at the top. So to get round that I made a spacer to go behind the hub and I took it for a retest which it passed! After that my dad helped me out with the deposit on the insurance and then he came with me in the car to make sure I could handle a left hooker. I remember after about 126 miles (I don't know why I remember that figure but I just do!) I was in Horsham and I was pulling away from some traffic lights and the engine just stopped. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been uphill, but it was.
My dad caught the train back to work and brought his van and tools. We tried to turn the engine over but it wasn't firing. My dad had a hunch and we took off the dizzy cap and tried to turn the engine over, the rotor arm wasn't turning! D'OH, which meant the cam belt, had snapped. We towed the car home and checked over the valves and it was all OK much to my relief, so I went to Halfords with the belt and the parts manager there let me search through the cam belts until I found the right one! Nice chap. I fixed it that day and had it running as sweet as it did before.
After that I drove down to pipecraft in Essex to have a new exhaust made. Since then the car has never broken down, the only major problem I have had is the alternator stopped working. I got home OK so I just rebuilt the alternator myself, and job done! Other things I have replaced include the front left tyre, the left track rod end; I have up rated the sway bar bushing to polyurethane, and a host of small screws and fittings to stop those squeaks and rattles.
 At the moment I need to overhaul the brakes, replace the front shocks, replace the right tie rod end, the front right tyre and have the tracking done. You may ask yourself why I bother? Well it's simple. I was born and raised on American cars of all kinds, from barracudas to Econolines and Toronados. I have a love and appreciation for all things American that stems from when I was born! My old man informed me I was brought back from the hospital when I was born in his Econoline, you can't start much earlier than that can you? I just want to keep another American car on the road, also a rare American car at that.
As far as I know there is only one other sedan sunbird in the country, I have never seen it but apparently my neighbour has. At various shows I have seen a few coupe sunbirds. This is my first year of going to shows, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far! I am looking forward to, many years of show going and cruising.
For the future I would like to get a 91 firebird as my first V8, mainly because it comes with a 350 as standard and not a 305, the parts are mostly available off the shelf. My ultimate car would be either a 64 or a 65 Plymouth Barracuda, not a 66 as they changed the front bumper and the rear lights were made square. I would love to stick a stroked 426 HEMI (stroked to about 500 CID) into an A-body and see the results. I love the engineering principles behind the HEMI, hence why I was called HEMIGUY by a couple of friends, and the name has stuck since then.
If I could say one more thing; my advice to younger yank owners would be wait to get a V8, you'll enjoy having something like a sunbird as they are economical and parts are cheap! They look different and you'll get much more respect for not having something the same as everyone else. Plus you won't have too much power and you won't kill yourself, or get injured.
I'm sure you'll see me at some shows across the country!
Dean (Hemiguy on the AACI discussion forum)
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