'79 Base Firebird / Esprit

[ClassicDarts]

This was an RC2-era 10th Anniversary Trans Am.

I bought it in a 4-pack of models with the "AMT" (at the time) '72 Cheyenne, '72 Chevelle and '67 GTO around 2006 at WalMart. (when they still sold model kits... don't know about other areas, but they haven't sold them here in years)

From the very start, I wanted to build this as a stripper Firebird because you never really see them outside of the occasional Rockford Files build, never in any diecast form and because they have their own charm. In some ways I think they look better than T/A's.

 

Anyway, I never got around to actually building it until last year because of the amount of free time I had. The others (other than the GTO) were built shortly after I bought them.

I wouldn't call myself an experienced modeler by any means. I've drifted in and out of the hobby a few times over the years, and this was my first experience with actually using body filler, (bondo in my case) shaving and cutting things off and generally not building a model that was more-or-less box stock.

 

Here's how it looked when I'd just built it:

I probably should've built it as a curbside because since then the hood fell on the floor a few times and chipped away at my crappy bondo work.

More recently, I've gone back and re-silver sharpied the wheels, added fender well and rocker trim, and ditched the out-of-place, nearly offroad tires that came with the kit in favor of more appropriate whitewalls.

 Here's how it looks now: (it was raining slightly today so excuse the scattered drops on it)

You can see the outlines of where the t-tops, fender vents and shaker scoop opening were. The interior doesn't fit quite right in the body.

And, in hindsight, I probably should've left off the T/A exhaust tips.

But, I did cut off the stems from the mirrors and made my own from leftover custom AMT Gremlin rollcage pieces (or custom lake pipes, or what looked like plastic axles, I forget now) so that the mirrors would actually fit the body close to correctly.

As well as cut the license plate area out of the rear bumper and made it more inset as it is on the real car. (the rear license plate backing was made from a piece of the Gremlin's unused custom front air dam. the plate decal from the Bad Company '82 Dodge Van decal sheet, and the not entirely accurate Rally II rims from the '67 GTO... I used what I had on hand)

I now have a resin base firebird hood to replace my attempt at creating my own... but it still needs to be trimmed to fit and painted.

Edited October 4, 2021 by ClassicDarts

[charger74]

Very nice

[Zippi]

Looks good.  Looks like you got caught in a little shower while taking your pics. 

[FLHCAHZ]

Cool Looking Firebird.

[Intmd8r]

Nice!

I remember getting rides to school in my uncles Esprit - looked just like your build!

thanks for sharing

[espo]

Your changes to the wheels and tires go a long way to look like the more standard Firebird. 

[kelson]

Good effort to build something different than the top of the line version.

[stavanzer]

Great Build! The Rain Spots actually improve the photo, IMHO. The Atmosphere and setting really show off the car well.

+1 on changing the wheels / tires, a Huge improvement. 

[slusher]

Nice build..

[ewetwo]

Looks nice.