So Project TOW has taken a little change of direction... Earlier in the year I decided to sell my house and move (still within Austin), but that left me with the problem of what to do with the Firebird. After a lot of thinking, I decided to sell the car. Tough choice, but I believed that I could find a better starting point, and given that I was going to be living temporarily without a garage, it just made sense.
I've been searching since that time for the next car, and about a month ago I found it. This car was located in New Hampshire, about as far away from Texas as I could get of course.
I spent a lot of time on the phone with the seller, he had owned the car since 1988 and had done a complete restoration on the car (including the replacement of much of the sheetmetal) during the 90's. So even though I couldn't see the car in person, it was nice to talk to someone who had actually turned a wrench on the car as compared to so many others that I considered that were 'owned' but not 'built' by their current owners.
The plan for the car remains the same, with the exception that some of the work is going to be done by Jake at JRS. Jake arranged to have the car picked up from the seller (about 3 hours away from him) and now has it at his shop. I flew up last weekend to check it out and make a plan with Jake, and the disassembly should start later this week. Jake's going to do a lot of small projects for me that he and his crew can do a lot faster (and better) than I would do myself, such that when the car gets down to Texas, my part of the project should go a lot faster! I'm closing on a house purchase at the start of November, a house with a nice 2.5 car detached workshop btw, so the timing should work out great for me to have the shop all ready for the car's arrival.
While I originally really wanted a red car, I love the blue on this car! I found a picture of a 72 Trans Am that was painted in a Dodge Viper Blue color with the white stripe, and I fell in love with that combination. This car isn't quite that dark of a blue, but it's darker than the original Lucerne Blue that Pontiac used. I imagine that someday I will paint the whole car, and I'll go with a slightly darker color at that point. Until then, this car will be great!
Jake is going to replace the Formula fenders with a pair of Trans Am fenders, the hood with the VFN hood that I already have, and the nose with a carbon fiber one as well. I would love to do the entire CF front end, but that's just a bit out of the budget at this time I think...
Jake's also going to install or fabricate the following for the car:
- JRS Watt's Link Bracket
- DSE Mini-tubs
- DSE SFC's, modified to allow the subframe to bolt in
- Muffler-back exhaust to weave through the Watt's
- Firewall to subframe down-bars
- 4-point roll bar with removable harness bar
- JRS Apex front spoiler/splitter
- Front tow hook
There may be a few more items as well, but this is the plan for now. Should keep him busy for a few weeks, but fell in perfectly between some projects that he had on-going.
Look for more progress pictures now that I am back on track! Hopefully Jake can post a few as he makes progress as well...
Pictures from my visit to JRS earlier this week:
