Another old model, a mystery story
This is the AMT 1977 Pontiac Trans Am in 1/25 scale. This model came to be in 1979 while I was working part time in a trophy shop, whose owner was an avid sports car and auto racing enthusiast. He had gotten a contract for trophies from the local SCCA chapter to be given away at one of their events. The club president requested something a little different for two of the awards, and since the shop owner knew I was a model builder, he asked me to do a pair of car models for those awards. This was one of them, the other was a 1/25 scale kit of Mario Andretti's world champion Lotus 79 F1 car. I built the models over a couple of weekends, after which they were handed over to the car club. And that was the last I saw of them...
Imagine my surprise when I walked into my dad's house on a visit home this weekend and saw the Trans Am sitting on his coffee table! I truly have no idea how he came to have it, as I was positive that it was either sitting on a trophy shelf somewhere or had long been consigned to a trash can. It was a double bit of nostalgia - finding that the model had survived and the fact that my first car was a Sterling Silver 1976 Trans Am,
So here she is in all of her dust coated glory. She'll be on a shelf in my model room when I get that set up as a small reminder of my modeling past.
Thanks to all of you for indulging me on this one!
Nicely done, Jaime (and indeed quite the "mystery") - looks to be easily cleaned up and once again made 'presentable'.
Great story. Are you going to 'renovate' it now ?
KOOL !
A classic American car, just needs a little TLC to bring it back to its former glory.
Ian, I don't know if I'll try to restore it or not. Whatever I used to glue it to the base is still as solid now as it was when I built the model! I tried to get her loose yesterday, but had no success and I don't want to do any more damage. The shine on her now is called "patina"... 🙂 My hastily formulated plan at the moment is to find and build another one and display them together.
George, I've always felt that the Trans Ams are the most underrated of the American muscle cars, probably because just as much emphasis was placed on handling as on brute horsepower. I really enjoyed mine and would love to have another one.
I knew it ! You're a "closet Smokey and the Bandit" fan. Probably still got Burt Reynolds posters hanging in your garage ! lol
Good story, Jaime. Nice to see a different kind of "bird" for a change. Thanks for sharing.
Burt Reynolds? Don't think so. Sally Field was a whole lot prettier! 🙂 I did see the movie about twelve times, though.
To be honest, I never was very crazy about the Bandit paint scheme, which is why this one didn't have the pinstripes. It was easy to find my T/A in a parking lot because it wasn't black and it didn't have the screaming chicken on the hood.
Wonderful story and bit of serendipity! And memories of my youth...!