[Judge273]

Not to mention it would look way better with those little tweaks...

[feb69judge]

Wow what a time capsule, thanks for the pictures! Anyone find out original miles on The Judge ?

[unruhjonny]

I can see why the original owner would have had the bumper left in as delivered black - I could see the look growing on you, and it definitely makes it that much more unique.

[Mr_GTO]

'72 hood? Sorry if I missed it in the thread. Great thread.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by Mr_GTO

'72 hood? Sorry if I missed it in the thread. Great thread.

No, the two relief hoods began showing up in the late Winter of '71, this orbit orange '71 Judge was built several months later.

[Mr_GTO]

Originally Posted by 'ol Pinion head

No, the two relief hoods began showing up in the late Winter of '71, this orbit orange '71 Judge was built several months later.

Cool thanks.

[Ram4king]

Originally Posted by 'ol Pinion head

No, the two relief hoods began showing up in the late Winter of '71, this orbit orange '71 Judge was built several months later.

This judge was built in April so how does it have a 72 hood on it. Anybody ever think that maybe it was hit in the front and somebody replaced the hood and front bumper? Should it not have that filler panel in front of the radio support?
I thought that was a 72 piece only. Great car. Just not buying this black bumper theory you guys have adorned....

[feb69judge]

Looks like top left picture "Summer 1978" (The Last Judge Poster)from passenger side view shows part of the black front bumper also, the Judge was on the road 7 years at that time. I wonder if the original owner ever considered a "convertible" with the special order paint?? What an interesting Judge.!!

[muscle_collector]

Originally Posted by Ram4king

This judge was built in April so how does it have a 72 hood on it. Anybody ever think that maybe it was hit in the front and somebody replaced the hood and front bumper? Should it not have that filler panel in front of the radio support?
I thought that was a 72 piece only. Great car. Just not buying this black bumper theory you guys have adorned....

well I looked at my 71 oo front bumper and it appears to look just like the paint on my Lucerne blue judge. doesn't look like the oo was done after the fact. so it probably was done at the bumper mfg. ??????? I certainly don't have the answer.

[Judge273]

As a owner of a used 71 GTO in 77. I got it repainted in 78 including endura without issues.

Will say when I saw the OO Judge at MCACN the car was repainted including the endura intentionally painted black.

[Sport71]

Great car and great story. Cool that it has been in the same family for so long. Hopefully we'll see a nice article and photo spread in a future magazine article. Any theories why she doesn't retain the blacked-out grilles? Maybe, like Don mentioned as a possible scenario, the nose was tweaked some time in the past and they were replaced then. Also, she needs one of PB's air cleaner lid decals! Welcome aboard, 71JudgeFNG!!

[68gtoMN]

Gents, I can tell you from having spent HOURS speaking with the owner before this car was even seen in public, and hours with the car after it was removed from hibernation, that this car was received (original pictures) with the black bumper as delivered from the dealer. It was NOT ever in an accident. The hood was NOT replaced....ever. Yes, the car was repainted once during it's life (original owner) but the front bumper was always black and has remained so. Scott married the daughter of the original owner and they are now the proud owners of this car. All speculation is fun to read; however, I can vouch for the original paint under the carpeting, the original finishes on the seat hardware-to-floor attachment areas...under...over...seats removed...etc. The car is the real deal, with one family, with a thoroughly documented history, including family pictures of the car in the day. Always black bumper.

The story is interesting and there are more details to tell about how the car was ordered and picked up. There is certainly speculation even amongst those who have crawled about the car regarding how that black bumper came to be...but I'll wait for the story on this car to be published and I'll speak with the owner again before providing any of that backstory.

Lastly, let me state that I have first-hand knowledge of the original Pontiac document that proves this car's provenance as THE last Judge. I am unable to say much more about that at this time. Another member who posts here has access to that document but he too is forbidden to share it publicly.

Let's wait for the story to be published and then we can resume this discussion.

[Pepper Judge]

Originally Posted by 68gtoMN

The story is interesting and there are more details to tell about how the car was ordered and picked up. There is certainly speculation even amongst those who have crawled about the car regarding how that black bumper came to be...but I'll wait for the story on this car to be published and I'll speak with the owner again before providing any of that backstory.

Lastly, let me state that I have first-hand knowledge of the original Pontiac document that proves this car's provenance as THE last Judge. I am unable to say much more about that at this time. Another member who posts here has access to that document but he too is forbidden to share it publicly.

Let's wait for the story to be published and then we can resume this discussion.

Interesting for sure. When is the story expected to be published?

[Judge273]

Me too!

Maybe it will explain why Pontiac thought a black bumper looked good.

Since, the original owner painted the car and bumper. He agreed with it.

Love the mystery and documentation that surrounds these cars!

[68gtoMN]

I don't know that the original owner painted the bumper. The color portion of the car received a re-do but I'm not certain the front bumper did. We'll add more to this story later. BTW - I can't say WHEN the story will be published, but it will be. I'll check with Scott to see if he has any info on that.

[unruhjonny]

the bumper being black seems wholly plausible to me in light of other "special order" paint colour 70-73 Trans Am's.
Since these components were painted seperately, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume the bumper installed was intended to be repainted to match the rest of the car either before the car was delivered, or at a time that the owner decided to do so.

[feb69judge]

Bump

[71JudgeFNG]

Just checking in - we're planning on heading down to the Indian Uprising show in early August with the car, and will even have the original owner (my MIL) along with us. Hope to see some of you guys out there!

[Pepper Judge]

Originally Posted by 71JudgeFNG

Just checking in - we're planning on heading down to the Indian Uprising show in early August with the car, and will even have the original owner (my MIL) along with us. Hope to see some of you guys out there!

Any "secrets" or theories revealed at the Indian Uprising in August?

Any updated on when the rest of the story is to be published?

[71JudgeFNG]

Originally Posted by Pepper Judge

Any "secrets" or theories revealed at the Indian Uprising in August?



Any updated on when the rest of the story is to be published?

It was a great experience at the Uprising, and my MIL had a fantastic time at the show. It really brought back a lot of memories of the car, and she loved how excited everyone was to see it and meet the original owner. Thanks to everyone who stopped by talked about the car.

As far as secrets or revelations, there weren’t any major revelations, but the black Endura front bumper being factory original seems to have been an agreed certainty. My MIL recalls it always being that way, and that they actually liked the way it looked which explains why it was never repainted. A few of the guys I talked to confirmed that is how special paint cars were delivered because of the Endura manufacturing process. It was also pointed out again that the Orbit Orange paint code was included on the Fisher body tag beyond the “- -“ paint code (AF 128 - the DuPont paint code). There are also some small details brought up like the trunk torsion rods being set too loose so the trunk falls (because the Judge spoiler addition is too heavy), and the missing 455 HO air cleaner decal (not to mention a missing correct cleaner wing nut).

We are expecting the write-up to come out within the year, but haven’t heard of an exact date. There was a good story written by a gentleman we spoke to at the Uprising done on The Transmission if you want to catch up in the meantime. Thanks again for all your interest - it has been a blast bringing this car out for you guys to see!


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