71 Bird Refresh
 

Some of you guys know this car, but some probably don't. I've owned this car since I was 18, and after many years, it's tired. So it's time for a refresh, but not a full blown rotisserie resto!

A brief history:

My Dad stumbled across this 71 listed on Craigslist. There was a few terrible pictures, no real description, and a phone number. It was about 20 minutes away, so we went and looked at it.

The car was frozen to the ground up to the rockers. It had old 28x10.5 slicks on the back that were flat and frozen, a large tree limb that fell and gave the car a slight ass crack on the roof and across the hood and nose. There was a few bullet holes in the glass and I believe the driver door. The car certainly lived an interesting life. The person selling it said that if I didn't buy it, it was being scrapped the next day. They already scheduled a pick up from the local salvage yard. I said I'll give you what the scrap yard will and they agreed.

Once home, work began almost immediately. We sourced a 73 455 out of a Grandville, mated it to a BW ST10 and replaced the rear axle with one out of a 77 with 3:23s. I smashed the roof out with a sledgehammer from the inside, got another hood, fenders and nose, and spray bombed it flat black.

Fast forward a few years, and it's time to make the car look a little more presentable. It received a rather awful single stage paint job (long story), although I guess it looked better than flat black. During that time it went thru another drivetrain swap, and was now a 455 with a TH400.

As the car continued to evolve, various transmissions, converters, exhaust setups, and full interiors cycled in and out. A little while later, the 455 became tired. I was offered decent money for the engine, and another guy wanted the transmission, so I sold them both. With the car now sitting with no drivetrain, I committed a war crime. I found a low mile LS, and slapped it together with a cam, intake, converter and a decent set of headers with a new exhaust. I know, yeah...

Now the journey to making it nice has begun. First up, here's some pics of it over the years. Hopefully the hosting site for the pics doesn't take a dump like last time.

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the white pics look great. are you painting it again? Love those TA's

Oh yeah, it's getting totally redone. Won't be white anymore.

Here's some more pics. I stripped it down to nothing, and actually dropped it off at the sand blaster today. Unfortunately the Ford had to come out in the salt, so that sucks.

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Do I smell some Indian Technology ?? Looks like a fun project!!
" Formulate it" you have a TA , you know you like the hoods!

I have a 70 Formula hood hanging around lol

I'm excited to see it completely blasted. The car had 5 colors on it with layers of primer between. There was no way I was subjecting myself to sanding that all off.

Do you have any experience using these repro lower valance brackets? My fenders are off a 79, so I just rigged up the lower valance back in the day. I should probably do it the right way this time lol

https://www.restoreamusclecar.com/pa...ender-brackets

Was the car a purple-blue combination when you bought it? Do you know what state it was originally sold into?

In the mid-1980s, I ran across a purple 1971 Trans Am that was in the Charlotte NC area. It was sold new in NC. The original owner damaged the engine and sold the body to a local garage. I bought the body minus motor/trans from the garage. The garage owner gave me the name of the previous owner, and I was able to buy what was left of the engine from him. The block was totally destroyed, it took out two rods and a big chunk of the side of the block. I had the car for maybe a year, and decided to put it in Hemmings. Ed Waller from Atlanta bought it. I'm sure some of the guys on the board will recognize the name.

It looks a lot like the car I had. It was a non-a/c white automatic. It was a pretty low option car, and the original wheels were replaced with aftermarket. I got lucky, the original owner let me have the original wheels with what was left of the motor. When I had it, the body shell was rock solid, but I think one fender had some damage.

If it turns out you have the car I owned briefly, I think I have some photos of it from the mid-1980s if you want them.

It was purple, but the car was sold new out of Silveira Pontiac in Healdsberg CA.

I kinda liked it in purple.

I have purchased a few wholesale vehicles from that dealership. They also have a Chevy store in Sonoma.

I have no idea when or how it made it's way across the country. I believe it's been in New England for many decades, long before shipping classic cars around after a sale was common.

So what year is this car?

Was the T/A originally an automatic or manual?

The car I owned was originally bought by an older guy who passed it on to his son after he bought a Corvette. The son is the one who painted it purple, blew the motor, and stuck the ugly after-market rims on the car. So what I knew about the car was second hand information I got from the son. I assumed the T/A was sold in the Charlotte area.

Ed Waller was a well known in the Pontiac community. He bought a lot of non-running T/A project cars. I probably sold it around 1985, so it had plenty of time to find its way to the New England area. I probably still have a copy of the title somewhere if you want to share the last 3 digits of the VIN.

Is it a Firebird / Frankenbird ?
Appears like it was originally yellow.

It's a 71. Built 5th week of December 1970


Well, it's many things lol

The actual shell comes back to an Esprit that was Quezal Gold on Saddle. Somewhere along the line it was turned into a TA, and judging by what it has, I believe two cars were merged into one. I'm certain the shell is truly an Esprit, but I've always wondered if there was something more behind the creation of this car.

However....

During it's very interesting life, it somehow gained a 76 front subframe, and main wiring harness/fuse box. Someone cut up the later frame to fit the early shell and welded in subframe connectors. Go figure? lol


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The reason I asked about the year is that I thought the emission hardware behind the rear seat back, began in 1972. Or maybe I am mistaken and it began in 1971.

The car was just wrapped up at the blaster. Are you ready to see the hack chit I did as an 18yo? lol


I will say, it's much more solid than most of the cars I've started with. All the important areas that are a pain in the ass to fix are pretty good. The nose cone is in great shape, the fenders are very solid down low where they usually rot, and the hood is pretty mint. The doors have the typical perforation in the corners. The rockers are a little worse than I figured, but that's nothing.*



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Some of those pictures need to be censored , or at least blurred in areas. :old:

lol

That's the result of my younger self turned loose with a welder and body filler. I actually forgot about a few of the areas pictured, so I guess I did a good job with the filler! Hah

Still, the shell is much more solid than most I've had.

Very cool project! Seeing the before and after sandblasting is giving me anxiety for when I finally decide to have mine painted :pound: If you hid those patches under the paint (and it looked good) I can only imagine what’s under mine.

A restomod would be a really cool build. Slap in a 5-speed Tremec TKX/6-speed Tremec Magnum or do the ZF8HP70 8-speed auto swap behind a turbo Pontiac or turbo/supercharged LS.

Definitely an ambitious teenager.
Way above chicken wire and porch screen repairs.

What was happening at the roof quarter lead seam ?

Is this going to be a Brewster Green tribute ?
I would take it out of the comfort zone with color .... tribute to a 1972 TA special paint car etc ....
Red , Black, Adriatic Blue and Silver are known so far

It can be a little nerve racking sending a car to blasting, but it's exciting at the same time. I look at it as a chance to fix everything the right way all at once, which is something not everyone gets to do with their cars.

I've been floating around the idea of throwing a used LSA supercharger on it, but idk yet. I'd love to do an 8HP70.

I was quite ambitious back then. Still the same ambition now, but a little bit better skill set lol

The driver quarter was replaced at some point way back in the day. The passenger side is original, hence the puzzle pieces I placed everywhere. Not pictured on the passenger side is a 70-73 Camaro trunk drop-off that I cobbled together. That's a real beauty.

The car won't be white again. I'm going with blue, but not a factory color. I've settled on Indigo Blue off a 2020 Dodge Challenger.

The lower fender new repop parts. Well, they dont look right, and I have not yet tried them as I still have some fenders and parts. That said, the REPOP front lover valence ( in metal) is not formed right in the front at the turn signal/marker lights. When bolted up to original sheet metal, the top sides are out ( forward ) 1/2" from the car. This isnt a chance for a "tweek" . Source a used one and work it is my best opinion.
My Buddy Allan has a 1970 Subframe from Calif up in my loft . I think the "A" frames are powder coated and off it. needs a small dent welded on the bottom. Probably could own it reasonable, would be more correct ( if that matters)..LMK
Also I have a Pass side quarter from about half way back, Forward including B Pillar, Door Jam and the window channel. One of mine was hit in RR bottom area. LMK
Brian does excellent work blasting. I trust him with some irreplaceable parts sometimes.

I have an original lower valance that's in decent shape. The brackets to mount it to the fenders were MIA so I just used self tappers to hold the corners of the valance to the fenders lol

I'm actually going to Ames this week to pick up some sheet metal, although they currently dont have any full quarters in stock. No ETA on when they'll be in, so I guess we'll just be skinning the passenger side. No big deal.

The car is in epoxy primer now:


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