1992 Pontiac Trans Am Convertible

AKA Robb's Toy!

Here's a story for ya! I started this project back in August of 2001. At that time the 1:1 subject car was Crystal's car, a 1992 Pontiac Trans Am Convertible. A car with an extremely high cool factor if I do say so myself! Well, we had decided that we'd both feel safer during the wintertime if Crystal was driving something a lot less like a sled in the snow, so we purchased a 1999 Blazer. The next thing I know Crystal hands me the keys for the T/A and says "here you go". Needless to say I was somewhat pleased! (Like you wouldn't believe!) So, now I'm building a replica of MY CAR!!!! Cool! The problem was, I was pretty sure I could reproduce the lower body mouldings, and the tonneau cover, but some things might be a bit diffucult. I think my boss's reaction to the pics said it all. Russ was looking at the photos and said," How did you find that big of a piece of blue cloth to park the car on?"

The base kit was a Monogram '91 Formula kit I bought at Toby Tyler's shop in Pleasant Hills, PA.

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Here's the side shot. The lower moldings were made from sheet styrene an d LOTS of Squadron white filler! The surgery on the roof was fairly conventional, but getting the rear deck wasn't. The WS6 wheels were another potential problem. I had NO IDEA how to duplicate them. Then as I was cruising the streets, I saw a Buick Regal GNX. It had the same wheels as the T/A! Luckily, I found a Monogram GNX kit and once getting the current owner to part with it (not THAT big of a deal) immediately began to modify the wheels. In order to get the right look, I sanded the backs off of them until I took off just enough to open the lace up. A coat of semi gloss black paint and Voila!

The interior was also not too difficult, since I had the 1:! Car out in the garage!

The chassis was basically stock, except for the additional bracing the 1:1 has to make up for the lack of a steel roof, which you can see here.

The engine bay was only detailed a bit with Detail Master ignition wire and some judicious paint detail.

The working tonneau wasn't a hard thing to do. Originally, I had planned to add a working soft top, but I just couldn't get it to work prototypically AND fit into the space provided by Pontiac. Nuts!

Here's where it got interesting. The lower molding was taken from an AMT Snaptite Trans Am pro street kit, but had to be widened to fit. The tail lights were another deal altogether. After about 5 attempts to scratch build one, I looked at the kit part and thought, "wait, this might work." After covering a piece of styrene with chrome foil and painting it, I drybrushed the clear lens, and painted the separation lines on the outside. The plate, as is the case with the Mark Martin plate on the front was removed from the 1:! Car and scanned and reduced to be used on Micro Mark decal paper.

This has been a real challenge, and I have enjoyed every moment of the build.

Hope you enjoyed the Story!

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