1971 Firebird455 - Project

[1360]

Wow...looks great!

[Aussie]

Looking great

[tazzz25906112]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! COLOUR!!!!!!!

They phoned me late today....seems the booth was free and the painter was keen to paint it....

Even the panel shop owner is impressed with the colour choice.

Without further delay.....the shell - freshly painted.









Is that cool, or what? The pearl in the paint really shows off under the lights of the booth - I can't wait to see this in the sun. And this is just "off the gun".

Looks """Great""" buddy congrats....

[LeighP]

Hung around this afternoon...heres some more panels, fresh off the gun. I hope they'll be fitting the doors up tomorrow.....






Love this colour.....the camera just doesn't do it justice. Its incredibly "green"...deep jade metallic, sliding to a mint pearl depending on the viewing angle and the light. In some lights, it looks almost black.

[Ron.in.SoCal]

Color is sick Leigh! Congrats man.

[LeighP]

Great watching it come together like this.

[LeighP]

Had to run somemore parts down there today...that I thought they already had...man, theres pieces of this car all over the place.

Its coming together -

[68400BIRD]

Looking great, can't wait to see some wheels on it.

[vcho455]

Thanks for the build thread. You have done a great job and I have picked up a few good ideas for my 72 bird. Love the fact that your not putting a T/A spoiler on it like everyone else does.
P.S. What is the red car in the background?

[LeighP]

Only spoiler I'm using is a satin black factory front spoiler (entre section) due to these cars being notorious for getting air under the nose at speed. I wanted the car to show off the basic design shape without all the T/A spoilers.

The red car is a 72 Holden HQ Monaro coupe with a Holden Statesman (twin headlight / twin grill) nose on it....slightly damaged by a car transporter letting it roll into something.

[Ripper]

Looks great!

[Coasty]

Mate I've just read the whole thing. Amazing job. Hopefully next time I'm in Sydney I'll see it around.
The colour is awesome too. Love it!

[LeighP]

Well, some more visual progress......more panels are painted, they'll be going on tomorrow.





Be nice to see it all in one piece and colour!

[Takid455]

Slowly but surely you will see it come together before your eyes. That gave the push to get to the end. I am sure it will have the same effect for you.

[LeighP]

Yeah, thanks....its got the fenders on it now, but one has to come off as he forgot to put the heater and trans cooler lines behind the outer fender out of site, lol....I mentioned that before....but who listens? lol.

Body has been lightly blocked in prep for the final coat of paint next week.

[INTMD8]

I love the color and it looks like they did a very nice job on the bodywork and paint. 71 is my favorite year because of the front fender vents

[LeighP]

lol...the panel guy doesn't like the vents...was surprised when I said I specifically used he correct fenders because I like the 71's one year only vents.

At last it's starting to look like a car again....

[67speedfreak]

Car is looking great !

[gsxrken]

Gorgeous car. It looks like a Hot Wheels car. I had a Bandit Trans Am back in the day and loved it.

I love the color and have always thought the Formula hood really was the Best Hood Ever.

[LeighP]

Finishing up the nose....these endura noses are not the easiest thing to get to line up everywhere, especially after 40 years of use.

Heres the body shop owner, Alan - who's been doing most of the work on my car, shaping the Lord Fusor filler on one end of the nose.



The hood is in hi-fill now, waiting to be blocked and base coated.




There was a broken vent rib here that was poorly repaired previously....can't tell it now, though.