am73grand

Looking good!

Man that's some sick cage work. This thing looks killer!!!

I'm looking forward to seeing more of these!

Nothing makes or breaks the look of a car more than wheels and tires. I knew from the start of this project it was going to get Rally II wheels with RWL tires. The problem is I wanted the Rally II wheels without trim rings. Monogram does some nice Rally II wheels without trim rings but they are 1/24. After some thinking I decided to make my own wheels. The best 1/25 Rally II wheels come in the MPC Ventura annual kits. I started by de-chroming the wheels. Then I cut the trim rings off with a razor saw. Then I took the custom wheels from the Revell '68 Corvette roadster kit and sanded the backs until the centers fell out Then I painted the wheel centers Then I glued the painted rings to the wheels And here they are with the tires mounted. These should make all the difference in how the finished model looks. Thanks for looking!!

Looking good man!

Really nice! What a clean build!

Love it!

What a transformation. That's a really nice build.

BEAUTIFUL build!!! I Love it!

Got some more work done on this one. The engine bay is DONE! It's going to be a challenge to put this together but I think I have an assembly sequence worked out. Here's the engine bay: I still need to add the radiator core support but that shouldn't be a big deal. The chassis is ALMOST done. I've added the wheel wells from the '72 to the '69 chassis pan. All that's left is to add the filler piece in the rear and this things ready for body work: Next up will be fabbing up the tail lights/housings and engine work. Thanks for looking!!!

Love the color!

Very nice collection of 'Birds!

NICE!!!!!

Nice body work. Those are both going to be cool builds!

Good looking build!!!

Very nice!!!

Got a lot more done on this today. First up is the nose. I filled the parking lights in the bumper and removed the molded in headlight bezels I'll use a set of headlights/bezels from a Johan Cutlass The Johan interior has been glued to the Cutlass floor. I'll use the Grand Prix dash, console, and some Ventura seats. Next step is going to be grafting the '72 rear inner fenders to the '69 Chassis pan. Thanks for looking!!

Thanks for the comments. There are a couple reasons I did the chassis the way I did. First off I didn't have the '66 chassis. Second, even if I did have the '66 it uses leaf springs in the rear. The real car uses a four link. Also the Trumpeter front end has poseable steering and real springs. This was the easiest and most accurate way to build the chassis.

What a paint job!!!! Really nice build!

Nice build man! That really looks fantastic!

Big update. I'm using the chassis from the AMT '69 Olds 442. I cut the back of the floor pan off so I can use only one piece of plastic to extend it. I also removed the front inner fenders because they are too tall. I cut down the firewall and inner fenders from a Revell '72 Cutlass. they fit better under the Pontiacs hood. I've got to cut down the cowl to fit under the hood. It will have to be tomorrow as I'm waiting for some glue to dry. Here's a mock up with a Pontiac engine: Lots more to do but it's really shaping up! Thanks for looking!

The body was made by Larry Belcher. Here is his e-mail: lbelcher@stetson.edu Tell him I sent you!!

Man this is really coming along nicely!! Fantastic body work and paint!!!

Next I opened up the grilles and headlights on the nose. I also made new grille shells I also started on the interior. I'm using the basic bucket from a Johan '75 Cutlass. I cut the floor out to remove the crummy seats and wrong console: I'll replace the floor with the one from a "Superfly" Grand Prix. I'll also use the dash after modding it:

The '73 Pontiac A-body is my favorite car of all time. I've owned 5 of them over the years and even built a model of the one I had the longest: I always wanted to do a model of the car I would have built if I had kept mine. I picked this resin body up off a member of another forum. It's his first attempt at casting. I am VERY pleased with the results as it captures the look of the 1:1 car very well and is a much more accurate replica than mine. It comes cast as a Grand Am but he included the GTO nose for me. First steps were to open the windows and cut the G/A nose off: Here is the GTO nose: