A video that may divide opinion. Should you ever change the appearance of a numbers matching special edition Trans Am? At first I thought, no.. but was convinced otherwise. This video shows some of the process and the final result.
Wow. I didn't realize people switched different year noses. But I guess I should have seeing the Smokey & the Bandit car was actually a 76, with a 77 front. Me personally, I like the 77 & 78 front end better than the 79. Regardless of which front end it has. It's so cool you have one of these priceless gems. I Just love the Pontiac Trans Ams from all years. Congratulations getting it back on the road. Cool video.
Congratulations. So great you were able to get your beautiful car fixed. Thanks for doing the video. I enjoyed it. Great body work done by your friend. My brother gave me my first car in 1980, and it is a 1977 S/E Trans Am. Unfortunately I live down in S FL and we have RUST here. So the body has a lot of rust. Yes, I still have it. It is obviously so sentimental to me, not only my brother giving it to me who's now passed, My Dad and I did a lot of work on mine also, and he is also gone. I still have hope one day it will be refurbished. If not by me, then maybe my kids or grand kids will want to take it over. If I ever do get it done, I definitely plan to do the Bandit Run. Your car looks really great, just beautiful, again congratulations, It gives me hope watching these. Thank you for posting. Until I get mine done, I'll be watching taking rides with you. Now I do have a question about insurance on the older cars. Is it more expensive than normal insurance, because the car itself is worth so much more. I know if I had mine redone, it would be about a 100k car (an it may take at least half of that to get it refurbished). Obviously I'd want insurance. Didn't know if you had insurance and if they paid to get it fixed. Also, I see at the end it looks like you're driving in the left lane instead of the right. I thought all of the USA drove on the right side of the road. Looking forward to more ride videos. Love your dog too. Thanks again for the video.
I'm a 79 lover/0wner, so I'm not a fan of the decision. 79 rear and 77/78 front....nah! Even though it's an auto, I would have gone original. Yah, now you've got a Frankenam dude. When/if you go to sell, you've narrowed down your potential buyers, right? But it still looks good, no doubt! Dang those hybrids getting in your way!
There’s a plenty parts out there to make the car back with original year nose. I mean , I just purchased a ‘79 T-A on Friday past weekend; already found a Mise cone in usable condition to replace mine. That’s just 4-5 day looking on FB market place. If I can find a nose cone for my “new” purchase of a TA, then this guy could have done the same. .! Bad decision to change that front in my humble opinion. But who am I.? Right? Well, I’m that guy who buys it for cheap to fix those mistakes 😂
A friend of mine had a 70 1/2 T/A. Blue with white stripe . Drove it 2 blocks from the body shop ( In the middle of the winter in Massachusetts) came around the first corner spun out into a telephone pole. Had it towed back to the body shop had it repaired and sold it.
Alot of car enthusiasts charged the front nose to make "Tha Bandit CLONE " i would run from 1979 cars to find a 1978 but now what you find is good enough
The 77-78 front end looks better I think too. You have a driver car, that is meant to be enjoyed so never mind anyone who gets cross about it… its your car and dang it looks super! Ever want to sell one day Id respectfully be interested.
Yes. I never intended to convert the car to look entirely like a 78. I don't dislike the 79 rear end treatment or the graphics. I just decided if I had to put a new nose on it anyway...
I’ve owned a 77,78 and an 80. I would have done what you did , as the 77-78 front end is the most iconic look , and just looks mean imo . The only change I would have done differently than you is , i would have changed the Bird on the hood to a 78 . This way regardless of the rear clip, I think it would look more era correct . Each to his own of course, regardless it turned out amazing
That is interesting. Would you believe only two months after I made this video, I was caught in a horrible hail storm. The hood on the car is toast. So it going back for another winter. I think it will be a full insurance job respray.. so we will see..
@@TimRogersMT dam I’m very sorry to hear that . Hail has gotten worse during the years I swear. I think I’d need counselling if that happened to my Marty
@@TimRogersMT That's an interesting opportunity. As a fellow 79TA owner, I think if you do change the hood bird as suggested, you may consider also changing the tail lights to 78.
