johnwitzke

So I have been doing some additional research and have found out some interesting facts about the Hi-Performance Cars Magazine 1973 Car of the Year GTO. A good friend of mine that knew Joe Oldham confirmed that the 1973 Pontiac GTO with a SD-455 motor was in fact Florentine Red. It was also thought to have been a 4-speed car. The GTO was an engineering development test mule. This was a 1 of none car as the SD-455 motor was only available in the 1973-74 Firebird Trans Am and Formulas. Like the SD GTO, Pontiac also built one 1973 Grand Am with the SD-455 engine and was also an engineering development test mule. It was a white car with burgundy interior with an automatic transmission. Unfortunately the car doesn't exist anymore but the engine does. After the press review was completed and the journalist left, Joe was asked to stick around while Pontiac brought out the SD-455 GTO for him to view. Other than Joe Oldham, no other car journalist seen it, nor do any photos exist. While not 100% sure of the interior color, we do know it exterior was Florentine Red. So with that said, I have decided to make the 1 of none 1973 SD-455 GTO. I had another interior tub made along with a bench front seat. it will have a burgundy interior. I will put a correct style 4-speed shifter add the proper number of pedals and transmission.

Decals have arrived. GTO on the fenders and trunk lid will be white. the body stripe will be applied. There are various interior and under hood decals that I will use.

Polished Florentine Red. No clear coat. Trying to replicate a factor finish. Next will be the masking off the engine compartment, front wheel wells and interior roof and side panels for semi gloss black paint. Work continues on the interior detailing, it will be time for the cardinal red carpet. I will post a photo of the completed interior later.

Golden Olive is a great color and a good choice.

Interior color was changed to Black with red accent carpeting. This was a factory option. Paint used was MCW semi gloss black lacquer.

So here is an update. Final color coat on the car. I will let this set for a couple of weeks to allow it to gas out. Then it will be hand polished to replicate a factory finish. I used Scale Finishes 1973 Pontiac Florentine Red.

I have this picture and one other. However, my understanding is none of the orange cars have been accounted for.

Couple of photos od the body prep. These take quite a bit of clean up work. Have to very careful not to alter the body panel lines. Still a couple of of imperfections that need to be sorted out before paint. Sine I cannot validate not have seen one of the orange Can Am's I have decided to go with Cameo White with Buckskin interior.

Yes complete interior. Steering wheel is either the Pontiac custom sport wheel or the standard custom three spoke wheel

Yes. Here is a photo of the kit interior in primer

Who did you order it from?

Once I have the paint work completed I will show all sides

First pass at color. Few minor areas to touch up. Will let it set and dry out for a week or so then tackle the imperfections and smooth the finish, then apply the final coat of paint

1973 GTO's came from the factory with Goodyear G60-15 Polyglass GT. Some came from the factory with Firestone G60's. The tires with correct tread pattern are available from Fireball Modelworks along with the correct decals.

I purchase mine from Andy Lesiak. Andy is on Facebook along with his contact information. I am not sure of the process other than it is a computerized process.

The steel wheels, tires, and white letter decals are from Fireball Modelworks. The baby moon hud caps are from Parts by Parks. The Pontiac arrow on the hub caps is from Fireball Modelworks using an extra Pontiac Honeycomb decal set . Lastly Pro-Tech wheel valve stems.

Buckskin

I was originally going to do burgundy, but have re-thought the interior color. I am going to do black trim with optional accent carpet in red. Pontiac's order code for the combination was sales code 561 Black Trim with Red accent carpet sales code 811. This was a very rare option, but was available.

This one will be built after the 1973 GTO. This is a 3D cast done by Andy Lesiak. Like the GTO the body is free of the fine lines found in a lot of 3D cast. Body is currently in clean up to eliminate flaws. I am trying to decide on the final exterior color. Do I go with Cameo White that was the factory color for the Can Am or do I go with Mandarin Orange that according to Jim Wangers 7 were built. The Rally II wheel is painted Mandarin Orange. Car will have Buckskin Interior a rare interior color on a Can Am. Exterior color will be from Scale Finishes with interior paint from MCW. Tires and Rally II wheels from Fireball Model Works. Decals will be from Rays Kits and Decals

Here we have 1973 PONTIAC GTO that is a 3D cast. The casting was done by Andy Lesiak. Andy does a great job casting so that he eliminates the majority of the lines that can be found in the 3D finish. There is still clean up needed on the body. My car will be a 455 with the standard wheels in body color with baby moon hub caps on Goodyear G60-15 Polyglass GT tires. Exterior paint will be Pontiac Florentine Red from Scale Finishes with Burgundy (MCW) interior with black carpeting. In 1973 Pontiac would allow to mix interior color and carpet colors. Engine color is from Scale Finishes and correct shade of blue for 1973 Pontiacs. Decals will be from Rays Kits and Decals. The decals are currently enroute from the Netherlands. Car is currently in final primer and will be wet sanded with 800 and 1000 grit sand paper before color

The 1970 will be the final one that I do. Correct on the 1971 B5 hue being darker. I actually prefer it over the earlier B5. MCW has the correct shade and two bottle are on the way to me. The 1971 is an interesting build. I have collected parts from other kits to make this one a correct Hemi car. For example the ramcharger hood, air cleaner and correct bazooka exhaust tips are from the 1971 Charger street machine kit, bucket seats are from Harts Parts, short 4-speed pistol grip shifter and body color sport mirror are from the Revell 1970 Cuda kit along with the exhaust resonators. The 426 Hemi engine and rear axle are from the 1970 Charger kit, the Tuff steering wheel is from the 1971 GTX kit, steel wheels and dog dish hub caps are from Fireball Model Works, AMT Goodyear Polyglass W/L tires. Finally, decals from Keith Marks. I will need to scratch build the torque boxes for the chassis. In addition to the Chargers, other Mopars I have waiting are the 1969 Dodge Super Bee A12 (haven't settled on a color yet), 1970 Hemi Cuda that will be Plum Crazy with steel wheels and dog dish hub caps, 4-speed no console, stripe delete, a 1970 Super Bee will be a Hemi car, 1967 Coronet 426 Hemi, redlines with dog dish hub caps (color?), 1970 Challenger T/A (haven't settled on a color yet.

I have been away for awhile and am in the process of starting back building a series of Dodge Charger R/T and Daytona's. I have been busy getting all parts prepped for painting, building the engines, working on the interior seats (eliminating seams) removing all mold lines and pin release marks on ALL parts including the bodies, test fitting part making sure everything aligns properly, buying the factory paints, and doing a lot of research between a 440 car and a 426 Hemi car such adding the torque boxes to the chassis on the Hemi cars and difference in the exhaust. All cars will have decals from Keith Marks and paint from MCW. Here are cars that I have under construction. 1968 Charger R/T - LL1 Medium Dark Turquoise, no stripe, black interior, 4-speed no console, 426 Hemi, redline tires, painted wheels with dog dish hubcaps 1968 Charger R/T - Black, black vinyl roof, no stripe, black interior, 4-speed with console, 440 engine, whitewall tires, deluxe wheel covers (Bullet Car) - not shown 1969 Charger Daytona - R4 Charger Red, white wing & stripe, black interior 4-speed, no console, 426 Hemi, redline tires, painted wheels with dog dish hubcaps 1969 Charger Daytona - W1 White, red wing and stripe, red interior 4-speed with console, 440 engine, redline tires with styled wheels 1969 Charger R/T - A4 Silver, black vinyl roof, red stripe, black interior, 4-speed, no console, 426 Hemi, redline tires, painted wheels with dog dish hubcaps 1969 Charger R/T - B3 Ice Blue black stripe, blue interior, 4-speed no console, 440 engine, redline tires with styled wheels 1971 Charger R/T - B5 True Blue, stripe delete, B5 blue interior, bucket seats 4-speed no console, 426 Hemi, Ramcharger Hood, A54 painted front and rear bumpers, N42 bright exhaust tips, Goodyear polyglass w/l tires, painted wheels with dog dish hubcaps.

For those who have close connections to the model manufactures I have a great question. With the popularity of the recent Dodge Challengers such as the Hellcat, Demon, Challenger T/A and 392 Shaker cars why hasn't the kit manufactures capitalized on the success Dodge is having with the Challenger and the Charger. I am sure they would be more popular instead of the constant re-runs that keep doing.

You are doing a lot of great detailing work! I will be following your progress