[blue71ta]

What are the best quality decals available for a 1978 Trans Am? Phoenix Graphix or Stencils & Stripes? What have you used and why? Any pics would be appreciated.

I know there has been some discussion in the '70-'73 F-body forum about the '70-'72 stripe kits, but am wondering about the quality of the later kits. Thanks!

[Norwood]

Well James, you know what I will say...

[blue71ta]

Originally Posted by Norwood

Well James, you know what I will say...

Yeah, I know about the '70-'72 kits, but was wondering if the same holds true for the '78 kits? But thanks for the input Craig.

[1971/455/HO/4-SPD]

James:

I have always had wonderful results with Phoenix Graphics. Whether the Mopars or Pontiacs!!!!!

[turbo]

I use nothing but stencils and stripes. Excellent quality. Never had any issues. I highly recommend them.

[blue71ta]

Great guys, thanks for the input.

Turbo - do you have any pics of your Platinum '78 T/A you could post? ...or e-mail directly to me?

Anyone else that has specifically used the '76-'78 decals from either company?

I'm mainly wondering about the colors of the decals for the silver cars. The decals I'm referring to are the red/charcoal/black variety. Some pics I've seen of cars that have been repainted & had new decals applied seem off on the colors in the decals - mainly the hood bird. The reds look too orange & the charcoal color looks too light of a grey. Obviously, this can be due to the camera flash, the lighting, etc, BUT I recall a friend's immaculate silver '76 T/A with these (red/charcoal/black) decals that looked darker, richer...

Maybe my memory is off, but the pics I see on the interernet & cars I've seen in person just don't quite look right - so I'm wondering if it's just the brand that's off in color?

[turbo]

Sadly I have decided to sell my Platinum 78 Trans am. I just listed it on ebay. I am in the middle of restoring a 73 Brewster Green Trans am and it is getting expensive. I found the original dark saddle interior material and will be having the seats custom made for my car. Restoring these cars is expensive so I am sacrificing my 78 T/A. Check it out on ebay. The car needs to be restored but is worth it.

[78w72]

blue71: heres some pics of my phoenix decals. they are the charcoal/red for platinum 78's but i put them on my black car as it has a red interior (gold decals would look terrible) i used to own a platinum 78 & these decals are a very good match & the quality was excellent, went on easily with no problems.

[PonchoV8]

A Pontiac friend here owns a body shop with his dad. He's also on this site sometimes and is a TA guy. He says to go with Stencils
and Stripes because of a wrinkle in the hood bird of the Phoenix product. It's the only problem but if you look at any picture of a
the decals on line uninstalled, you'll see the wrinkle right in the center of the bird.

He installed one and the wrinkle wouldn't work out. So he had them send him another and it was the same way.

[78w72]

strange....i have had at least 5 kits from phoenix & have never seen or had any problems with "wrinkles" in the bird. your friend's issues must have been a fluke as i have never heard of anyone else having problems with phoenix kits over many many years & have had excellent results myself.

any company can have a bad decal here & there, but to say every decal from phoenix has wrinkles is totally unjustified. i see pictures of their kits all the time online & dont see any wrinkles. check out ebay or look at many of the resellers that are out there, none of them show these alleged wrinkles.

& most of all if there is just a wrinkle in the decal & it is not a defective decal, the wrinkle can be worked out. first by situating the decal while its still wet & removing the wrinkle. second by using the squeege when getting the water/gel out.


phoenix offers excelllent quality kits, just because someone had a "problem" with 2 of their decals does not justify boycotting them all together. jeez!

[blue71ta]

78w72:
thanks for the input and the pics - nice looking car. The red color in your hood bird DOES look good. Some of the other ones I've seen look too orange...

[piratepowwow]

I used a phoenix kit and had no problems. I had never installed decals of any kind before and all of the phoenix decals went on perfect. I used the slide-on gel as an extra precaution. My hood bird wound up perfectly centered with no wrinkles. There were a few small bubbles, but they disappeared after a couple days. IMO the phoenix graphics were of high quality.

[LeighP]

I just did a set of PG decals on a 74 T/A last sunday....they'd been stored in their shipping tube for 5 years. Went on without any problems and looked great. There was a couple of spots on the edges of the hoodbird where there was a slightly raised sharp edge to the decal....maybe from the cutting process, but they laid down OK. I've done three cars now using PG kits and they're OK for me. I do think they should include the correct engine callouts for the year model when you order them, not just supply everything with "T/A 6.6" W72 callouts and expect you to buy the right ones seperately.