Tuesday, January 08, 2008

1985 Pontiac Trans Am restoration update

As promised, here are a few updates on my friend's 1985 Pontiac Trans Am he is restoring. The car is getting really close to paint, so the next set may very well already be sprayed black.

Hard to believe that these cars, from 1982-1992, are 16-26 years old. To me, having owned one back in the day as well as currently, it seems like I should be able to stroll into the dealership and still order parts directly from GM. I was quickly reminded that that wasn't the case when I ordered my turn signal switch a few weeks ago, then found out it would be 3-4 weeks because it was on back order. My friend is finding much of the same with certain parts, such as the hood and front facia, neither of which are available any longer from GM or Year One. While surfing Year One's site the other day, I was happy to find that the catalog for the 1982-1992 F-body is currently available for free! As I'm sure many of these cars will be undergoing restoration due to their age, the amount of parts will likely continue to grow over the years. The aftermarket is already very strong, as these were among the few modern muscle/performance cars from the 80's, and are still a very affordable/fun car even today.

Anyway, here are the updated pictures. My other friend building a Pro Street 1978 Ford Fairmont has also made huge progress over the last few months. Time willing, I will try and make it up to his place over the next few months with more coverage.



Here is the car, now mostly in primer.


The doors needed a little work, due to the Michigan winters eating away at them. This shop seems to have gone the extra mile to get rid of all the cancer and replace it with fresh metal. Seldom do you see shops go to this extreme, looks as though they either media or sand blasted it.


The hood; smoothed out, primered, and ready to be shot black.


Another shot of the project car.

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