1989 Pontiac Grand Prix SE

[Volvoman]

Hi folks, here is my latest offering, my Revell of Germany Pontiac Grand Prix SE.

Built pretty much box stock and painted in a Renault Persian red metallic which if you have seen this kit, is a close colour to the box photo.

Some parts box license plate decals to replace the damaged kit ones and some photoetch license plate frames finished this off along with some added tyre valves.

Please feel free to add comments and thoughts as I did have to do a fair bit of internet research on this one as I have never seen a real one here in the UK so I may have made some mistakes, I genuinely do not know.

[Volvoman]

A few more pics...

[Porscheman]

Very nice looking Poncho!!!

[Rob McKee]

Looks spot on to me Mark. Nice job.

I really like the rims.

[charlie8575]

The only real mistake I see is the chromed scripts. The SE models were monochromatic (or very close), and the scripts were about body-color.

That metallic red is a pretty close match for the old standby GM code 72 red that was used for years and years in one form or another.

Wheels I'm not too sure about. I always liked Pontiac's factory offering of the tri-spoke rims.

Overall, though, very nicely done.

Charlie Larkin

[Volvoman]

Hi guys, thanks very much for your comments, as always they are very much appreciated.

Charlie, I very much appreciate your input regarding the model, the rims that are on the car were used as the standard rims that are also supplied with the kit were the ones that I wanted to use but after painting them to match the body, there was too much red in my own honest opinion so opted to use the rims that are now on it.

You also say that the scripts should be monochromatic? What colour would you suggest that I paint them in? I am curious as I saw a Grand Prix SE on the web and the scripts were painted in silver which is what I painted mine in.

As I said earlier on, we don't see these here in the UK, so people like yourselves who may have knowledge of these cars are helpful and your help on these things is very much appreciated.

[hjracing]

Nice looking Pontiac!

[peekay]

Very nice work, specially the detail paint on window frames etc.

[cobraman]

Looks nice and tidy.

[charlie8575]

Hi guys, thanks very much for your comments, as always they are very much appreciated.

Charlie, I very much appreciate your input regarding the model, the rims that are on the car were used as the standard rims that are also supplied with the kit were the ones that I wanted to use but after painting them to match the body, there was too much red in my own honest opinion so opted to use the rims that are now on it.

You also say that the scripts should be monochromatic? What colour would you suggest that I paint them in? I am curious as I saw a Grand Prix SE on the web and the scripts were painted in silver which is what I painted mine in.

As I said earlier on, we don't see these here in the UK, so people like yourselves who may have knowledge of these cars are helpful and your help on these things is very much appreciated.

Mark, the body-color wheels were actually very rare. I can only remember seeing one or two cars with them- the rest were natural-finish aluminum.

From my recollections of these when new and from the pictures I've seen, the SEs had scripts that were approximately body color. The red cars used plain old red, and Humbrol or Tamiya red would be just fine on a red/metallic red car. The LE and standard-trim car used bright-finish scripts. They also did some minor trim shuffling in 1990-91, and I believe went to the bright script then, but from what I remember seeing in catalogs and on the roads, the SEs all had painted scripts. Black had black, red had red, white had white, and silver or grey might have been plated to save one step and a few cents per unit.

I do remember the SE had a limited number of colors, too. I don't believe you could order blue, and I think gold was available on the lower-level trims, but not the SE. Put it this way- I don't ever remember seeing an early SE in gold.

I remember when these cars first came out- HUGE departure from the G-body. They took a while to catch on, but those that drove them, especially the mid-year 1989 and up with the bigger engine, liked them. When I was in college, I almost bought a 1990 Buick Regal with the 3800 in it, and it was a very nice car. I kind of wish I had bought it. For a then nine-year-old car, it was in nice condition and drove well. The 3800 is still one of the best engines GM ever made and would move that slightly-heavy front-driver very authoritatively, unlike the little 60-degree Chevy V6 that's in the GP kit, which would move the car, but nowhere near as well, and with their propensity for burning out lower ends, for nowhere near as long a time miles-wise.

Charlie Larkin

[sjordan2]

That is outstanding. What are the specifications for your paint -- brand, color, etc?

[Skydime]

From most of the pics i see here on the ipod, it looks like a real 1:1 car

[Harry P.]

Looks good to me, too! I like the washer bottle detail, very nice!

[slusher]

Very impressive build Mark. Great paint and detail...

[Volvoman]

Hey guys, just want to say a big thanks to all who has commented on my Pontiac. All your comments are very much appreciated, they really do mean a lot.

Charlie, your info on these cars is a really great help, I will now change the scripts on the car and post up some pics as soon as possible.

Skip, as I mentioned earlier, the colour that I used for this car is actually a Renault colour called Parisien red metallic from a motor store called Halfords here in the UK. The actual colour called out in the instructions is called Garnet red and the box photo shows a deep metallic red car so I guess that mine is not to far off from that colour.

Again, many thanks to all for your comments.

[The70judgeman]

Although mine was a sedan, a '93 SE, your model brings back some great memories of that car. Mine was all white, including the rims...like Charlie said, kind of rare as most rims were painted aluminum(silverish) and clear-coated. I like how your model turned out, but having owned one, I see a few things that you may want to correct. All of the key slots, no matter what color the car was, should be black. The second is the reverse light...it's the lower inner square part of the taillight...the turn signal(lower longer lens) should be yellow. They were red after that some time into production. And finally, the engine block should be black as it was a paint cast iron block not aluminum. That one would be hard to change now that the model is put together. If I can find the picture, I could post it here if you need a little reference. All in all though, it's really sharp!

Edited October 27, 2013 by The70judgeman

[Danno]

Excellent build, Mark!

[PappyD340]

Extremely NICE build Mark, looks very realistic in a few of your pics!!

[MyBradKeselowski]

Beautiful looking Grand Prix ! !

Excellent ! !

[Chris White]

thought I was at a used car lot, very realistic

[Guest]

Not a big fan of current vehicles, but you did a fine job on that!

[mustang1989]

Not bad at all! I used to work on these things when they were still coming into my GM dealer in Dallas. Good detail!

[gwolf]

Nice! I love those late 80's early 90's Pontiacs. Great work!

[kilrathy10]

You've done a great job on this kit....I built this kit a long time ago and found it was half way decent....The biggest problem I had with the kit was the omission of the rear bumper cover.....If you notice, the rear bumper doesn't match the rest of the car....I thought it was just missing on MY model, but I see that was not the case....Revell just dropped the ball....Obviously it's too late to say anything, now, but at least I know, now.....Thanks for inadvertently clearing that up.....

But, like I said, you've done a really good job on this one.....Very nice....

[Dominik]

Well done! clean and looks like you see it on the road.