Trans Am Erik

Thanks for all the great stories and pics guys. As my story continues here is one of our engagement photos.

I am loving this one, Good redesign of the hood and trunk. I also like the door lines by the A pilar. Good luck on that flame job, VERY difficult tape work! Love that exhaust. Check out my Merc too.

WOA, crazy man!!! that's my kind of customizing. I'll be watching to see this one take shape.

Is it just Iphone, or can I get it on Android?

So I got the decals from Phoenix Graphix, their "ultimate kit" where all the pinstripes are molded to shape rather than a roll of gold striping. I got refered to a place called Graphik Concepts for the install. It turns out that the owner, Joe Rupp worked for Hurst in the 70's putting the decals on the Trans Ams when they were new. Subsequently in late 1976 he put the graphics on the new 1977 Trans Am where the first 6 cars were bought by Universal Studios for use on their new movie Smokey and the Bandit. So, the guy that did the movie cars put the decals on my Trans Am!

Thanks for the compliments and stories guys. So, after we got the tail lights and bumper on we ran into another problem. The filler neck on the fuel tank was too long for the licence plate flip door to fit. I ended up getting a 77 fuel tank off a friend and it wasn't too hard to change. I found an origional set of 77 snowflake wheels and restored them by hand. Doing the panel fit and the body work, then off to paint

Fire in the bird

The nose is easy, 14 bolts and 1 different bracket behind the emblem. The rear....................oooooo we had to change the WHOLE tail pan of the car to get the tail lights to bolt up so that had me looking fo not just tail lights but a rear pan, bumper, the ends of the rear spoiler were also different. Also the fuel tank but that comes later. This is how you melt a trunk seal

Halloween 2007 and the stache is REAL!!

The before pic Right after I put the first 77 nose on it The gold SE wheel. I still have to change the instrument panel to gold and change that B&M shifter. (Ihave a 79 bump shifter for it) My Dad and I at the Downriver Cruise

lol The car began life as a 1981 Turbo T/A. When I got it the floor pans were new, 355 crate engine, full length headers with dual Flows, Turbo 400 trans, 3:73 posi, 4 wheel disc brakes, and what was paint looked like grey primer. I'll post some build pics. Turning an 81 into a 77 SE is harder than it looks.

This has been a 6 year projectand a 32 year dream to own a Bandit Trans Am. I had a lot of help from friends, my Dad , and my Fiance Rachel and I wanted to share it with you.

Lookin good so far, cool project.

Your welcome, and yep it will be shiny, "Eleanor" gun metal grey metallic

Also, before the putty is dry if I have any putty on the lenses (I did), run the lenses under warm water and scrape off the putty with your fingernail.

The lenses are not glued in yet. I get the shape of the sockets about right with putty. When the putty is about half dry I push the tail lights into place and take them back out. When the putty is dry I sand the fenders, put the tail lights back in, still with no glue, and check my fit. Pull the lights out and repeat til I'm happy with the fit.

Flush mounting the tail lights

I like it sectioned too. Chopped it will look even better, keep it up.

Thanks The rear wheels are off a Jada die cast car.

Progress on the tail lights

I changed the peakes of the rear fenders so they will match up with the center of the tail lights.

WOOOOOOoooooooow! Man does that look good! Keep it up Ira, very impressive design.

Lookin good, I like the wide whites too.

Thanks David, that does look really cool. Lately i've been smoothing out the nose and A pilars. As soon as i have some significant progress I'll post more pics.