Michael Ziehl's vehicle is a 1967 Pontiac Firebird. The vehicle sports a 326 HP V8 and was nicknamed "The Plucked Chicken" by his friends. The nickname came from when the vehicle was first purchased by Ziehl when he was 19 because it often didn't start and ran poorly.

Ziehl purchased the car from a dealer in Milford, Connecticut named Chip Auto Sales. Ziehl knew Chip through a co-worker at the time and Ziehl got a hot tip that he'd recently purchased the Firebird from a student in New Jersey. At the time of purchase, the top leaked, the tires had patches, and the engine and radiator had both sprung leaks. Ziehl remembers that on the drive home, "The Plucked Chicken" barely made it home from Milford to Brookfield, Connecticut where they were residing at the time.

In the summer of 1978, Ziehl was rear-ended in his Firebird by a drunk driver. The car was pushed into a Volvo in front of the Firebird and ended up being totaled out by the insurance company. Before the accident, Ziehl had completed what they call a "budget-update" with his friends. Together they painted the car in Regimental red and rebuilt the engine with an aftermarket cam, Holley carb, Edelbrock manifold, and a few other goodies.

Rather than letting the insurance company total out the car, Ziehl decided he wanted to try and buy it back from the insurance company and in the end was successful in doing so. Ziehl's step-grandfather ran a body shop at the time. Ziehl was able to take the car there and use tools lie welding torches and a frame straightener to pull and straighten out the damage from the crash. From there, Zeihl worked to install new front and rear valence panels, a new front nose assembly, and lower valence caps among other small things. When Zeihl got the Firebird back to his garage, he decided to strip everything down and repaint it (once again) in Regimental red. Zeihl used a much higher quality paint this time. Additionally, the Firebird saw a new top frame, replaced the top, added new seats, replaced the carpet, and added all new chrome. The firebird was converted to a 4-speed at that time, and the stereo saw an upgrade to a new head that kept the factory look but added a cassette player.

Since those restorations, the car has more or less stayed the same. Zeihl recently added a new Bluetooth classic stereo to update the sound system with some modern technology. Additionally, Ziehl also updated the headlamps with new Octane lighting units along with updating LED bulbs around the entire car. "The Plucked Chicken" recently saw an upgrade to a Pertronics pointless ignition as well.

Zeihl recalled a recent road trip with friends in other classic cars as one of his most favorite memories with the vehicle. Other than that trip, he recounts a funny story in which a friend borrowing the Firebird attracted the attention of local law enforcement while driving. The officer let the friend know, "Son, crank it up one more time and you'll be cranking it off a tow truck...". When not generously letting his friends borrow the car, Ziehl also fondly recounts driving his young son around in the car to soothe him to sleep.