[1965gp]

I may have posted about this car before - it’s been so long I’m not sure!

It’s been 8 years since I drove this car home with intentions of a carousel red Formula clone. I bought the car for $2300 and drove it home with the 350 2bbl smoking like crazy. It went right to the body shop.... and sat. That shop closed down so it went to another shop..... and sat.

Finally my buddy I bought the car from convinces me that it needed to be a Trans Am clone. Being that I have a white 69 TA clone and a blue 70 GTO red seemed to be the obvious choice.

Car gets painted, bring it home and the shaker obviously won’t fit a 2bbl intake. Go to my buddies shop to see if he has a factory 4bbl intake. He does not. But he does have a beautiful 67 GTO motor that was pulled for a LS conversion. So I buy the motor.

Pull the old motor and trans and decided I should really clean everything and paint it. Then figured I should rebuild the suspension while nothing is in the way right?

After looking online I decided on pro-touring f body for the parts. Awesome quality, not cheap but seemed to be worth it. Then I found a deal on some 18”s from a PY member. Those factory brakes are gonna look pretty small behind 18”s.... better upgrade.

Then I had a turbo 400 built for it and installed the drivetrain.

That’s when it stalled. I’ve built 2 or 3 cars since I bought this one. There was so much aftermarket stuff on it I just kinda walked away since it’s not my thing. I took it to a couple different shops and nothing got done. Finally took it back to the guys I bought it from when they had an opening and they got it back to where it was a manageable project for me. They figured out the brakes, gauges, etc.

So finally this week I drove the car. Pretty good feeling to finally have it start, drive and stop under its own power!

I am going to finish up a few pieces of the interior and the it’s getting some touch up paint done along with the blue and yellow stripe like the car from the movie Cannonball (‘76 I think).

[1965gp]

More pics

[1965gp]

And more...

[1965gp]

Pics from today

[Aus78Formula]

Looks neat. Hope you were joking about the stripe.

[1965gp]

I’m thinking of doing the stripe in vinyl. It would go along with my Hollywood car theme. Just a chance to have another movie car. So far I have:

Bandit TA
General Lee
F&F Grand National
Joe Dirt 10th anniversary
Knight or Day gold 66 GTO

[vertigto]

Wow...very nice. Not sure about the stripe, but I understand what you are trying to create.

What AC system are you running on it?

[72projectbird]

Looks awesome! Very well done.

Is that a 73/4 Blazer I see?

[NOT A TA]

Nice looking! I'm a bit biased on red TA clones though ahahaha.

I'd get rid of the clear plastic fuel filter though. Fire hazard and limits fuel flow at WOT. While they're made for 3/8" hose the clear end is usually 17/64 ID and the white side even smaller at only 7/32" ID. So at WOT it's hard to push enough fuel through an opening smaller than 1/4" fast enough. I've seen cars fall flat on their face before the finish line at 1/4 mile drag strips due to literally running out of fuel.

The reason the enter/exit ID's are so small is due to the plastic construction. It needs to be thicker than metal to be strong enough. WIX makes a metal 3/8" fuel filter if you want to use one there.

[Bluesugar]

Good advice, "No TA TA"

[1965gp]

That’s a good call on the filter.

I’m not 1000% on the stripe but it’s different snd obnoxious so I’m kind of into it.

The AC is the vintage air kit- I think Gen 4

Gauges are custom speedhut gauges and they fit great.

Finally you are spot on with the Blazer. That is my wife’s 73 Blazer that is full time 4wd. We had to replace every panel on that truck!

Not a TA - I’ve followed your build before- very cool

[1965gp]

Not a very good pic but you can see more of the Blazer.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by 1965gp

Not a very good pic but you can see more of the Blazer.

Ahh I remember you now. I loveeeee the General Lee!

I've been chipping away at saving enough play money to pick up a 69 Charger to build a Lee.

[1965gp]

Do your research- I learned real quick you can throw 50k at an Orange Charger and be shunned by the Dukes of Hazzard loyal for using the wrong shade of Orange with the wrong push bar, wrong shade of blue on the flag with wrong #’s on the door and for gods sake do not put black interior in it!

[1965gp]

Found the pic of the blazer I was looking for. This is my younger daughter a few years ago.

[4dblnkldude]

I love it!!! Great job.

[napster]

What a great build. You are dong a great job with the transformation. Keep up the good work. How did the the first drive go?

[1965gp]

First drive went well- I need to bleed the brakes some more and it wasn’t getting full throttle- I think the thick carpet may be causing a problem because there isn’t much travel with the pedal but playing with the carb under hood it revs up extremely fast.

Normal first drive issues. It’s needs to be aligned and I have a few things left to do in the interior before I can really enjoy it

[weranc55]

Originally Posted by 1965gp

I’m thinking of doing the stripe in vinyl. It would go along with my Hollywood car theme. Just a chance to have another movie car. So far I have:

Bandit TA
General Lee
F&F Grand National
Joe Dirt 10th anniversary
Knight or Day gold 66 GTO

I think it would look great with the stripe. I agree do it in vinyl.

[R 70 Judge]

Originally Posted by 1965gp

I’m thinking of doing the stripe in vinyl. It would go along with my Hollywood car theme. Just a chance to have another movie car. So far I have:

Bandit TA
General Lee
F&F Grand National
Joe Dirt 10th anniversary
Knight or Day gold 66 GTO

Your car looks great

Does anyone know what happened to the TA's from the Cannonball movie? Are they still around? I'm having a faint memory of going to HO Racing for the store closing sale and seeing one of the Cannonball TA's. But... it was a '74 TA with a 73 front end. Does anyone else remember this or am I completely losing it? haha I think I remember seeing Tom S. there but its seriously been like 20 years now