[bossbirdta]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ponti...dWJpum&vxp=mtr

[2manyT/A'S]

Nice lookin' car....

The interior needs help though....Those PUI seat covers really jump right out at you...

The off color and puffy pleats just look wrong...

I think the console is the ONLY interior piece still the correct color...

[bossbirdta]

Originally Posted by 2manyT/A'S

I think the console is the ONLY interior piece still the correct color...

I think you may be right!.....

[Transamric]

Shark tank anyone?

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by Transamric

Shark tank anyone?

Who.....ME?

[RicksGTO]

is that a plug in the top of left quarter where an antenna once was or am I seeing something?

[1971455HO]

'72 lower door panel arm rest....unless very late '71's got that type??? I didn't think so though. Still a very nice car.

[giles]

Originally Posted by 1971455HO

'72 lower door panel arm rest....unless very late '71's got that type??? I didn't think so though. Still a very nice car.

Eddie, have a look again. Door panels are correct for a late '71 standard interior car. They are not '72 lowers. Rather the door panel itself is the same as early '71, but they substituted the Camaro-style hard plastic armrest for the latter half of the model year (my 04A car has these). In '72 the door panels switched to an all-plastic lower that included the pockets.

[1971455HO]

Originally Posted by giles

Eddie, have a look again. Door panels are correct for a late '71 standard interior car. They are not '72 lowers. Rather the door panel itself is the same as early '71, but they substituted the Camaro-style hard plastic armrest for the latter half of the model year (my 04A car has these). In '72 the door panels switched to an all-plastic lower that included the pockets.

Thanks Chris, glad you knew this. You've always been a big help to me. That would make sense for when I have saw those armrest and always thought they were being erroneously listed as being correct for 71's. Truth was they were correct for later built 71 models. What date would everyone here agree that Pontiac started using them? My car is 09A your car is 04A. When was the start of the '72 builds. Do they overlap with late '71's?

Thanks Mr. Giles for the education.

Eddie

[giles]

Eddie,
I don't believe there was a firm date for changeover. I have notes on what I observed on a number of cars. It looks like the change in armrests was only made on base interior and began about February or March, but depends a little on color and plant. I'll post some findings when I have my spreadsheet handy.

[2manyT/A'S]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pontiac-Tran...m=321927373101

[RamAir]

Originally Posted by 2manyT/A'S

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pontiac-Tran...m=321927373101

Sequence seems a little off kilter

['ol Pinion head]

All the errant stamping isn't the only thing wrong with the asm number.

A '71 usage asm number of 020137 would have been proceeded by a (, and that particular range of asm number, if used on a '71 HO block would have been stamped on a very early block, a "140" cast in May of '70, not a 485428 cast B011. Realise the the seller states the YE block is not original to the 04E built '71 TransAm, but something "funny business wise" is going on here.

[Judge273]

Or someone's hope of clever deception...VIN was errantly exposed for further tracking? Maybe a slip up?

[Transamric]

I can answer a part of your question Eddie. The earliest '72 tag dates I've found are 08C and the latest '71 (Norwood) tag dates are 06D. This is a bit unusually large gap, as a previous model year build usually lasts until the end of July, and at least in later years, even the first week of August.
Chris, does this match what you've found?

[giles]

Two part answer here;

1) '71 standard interior armrest - it appears that everything prior to 02D had the deluxe style soft armrest with map pockets (like '70). The hard plastic "camaro-style" armrests started to appear in 02D, but not on every color. There was a mixture of armrests, probably based on color as door panel inventory turned over, and after 03C all standard interiors appear to use the Camaro armrest.
Custom trim interiors used the soft '70 style armrest throughtout the '71 model year.

2) '71 vehicle production weeks - the earliest '71 Firebird I have record of is 08A (VIN less than 00100) built on 8/7/70. Production continued until the "all GM strike" of 1970 that ran from 9/14/70 to 11/19/70. All plants were shut down during this period. Van Nuys reopened shortly thereafter and the earliest post-strike Van Nuys car I am aware has a build week of 12B (12/14/70). Norwood stayed out on a local strike for several more weeks and did not produce cars until January. The last '71 car that I am aware of was built 06E.

An interesting outcome of the '70 contract strike was that many cars were stuck in process during the strike and unlike the well known '72 Norwood strike these cars were completed and sold. As a result there are a number of cars built in early VIN ranges of Norwood 1n105600 - 1n106300 and Van Nuys 1L102300 - 1L102700 that can have body build dates of 09B or 09C but have ship dates on their invoice and FMVSS door sticker dates of December or January. These cars also can have a mixture of component date codes ranging from June through January (dates in October are highly unlikely!).

Earliest '72 is 08C. Seems like a long changeover from '71 to '72

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by giles

The last '71 car that I am aware of was built 06E.

Earliest '72 is 08C. Seems like a long changeover from '71 to '72

Say giles, do you have the invoice and/or shipping date on that 06E body dated '71? Also - was it a Van Nuys build or a Norwood car?

Just curious . . .

[giles]

Originally Posted by Lloyd-TX

Say giles, do you have the invoice and/or shipping date on that 06E body dated '71? Also - was it a Van Nuys build or a Norwood car?

Just curious . . .

Unfortunately no ship date or invoice, but it was a Norwood car. I do have record of an 06D Norwood car with 6/23 ship date. Transamric might weigh in on this one because he used to own it.

Last Van Nuys build that I know of was 06C.

[bossbirdta]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ponti...tWYQzr&vxp=mtr



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ponti...BWHvMk&vxp=mtr

[2manyT/A'S]

The blue car is attractive...but incorrectly "over restored".....

The interior just rubs me the WRONG way...totally.....

Just goes to show that the ones that give away the trophies.....go for "bling"....NOT originallity...