Welcome to the second posting of the Second Generation Trans Am in Miniature section. The small die cast pieces were first and now it's on to the plastic kits, including one of my mistakes. Enjoy!
Small Die Cast
Plastic Kits
Large Die Cast
 | This is a Racing Champions "50 Fastest Muscle Cars" 1978 Pontiac Trans Am. They were listed in order of quarter mile performance, with the T/A ranking number 48 at 15.91@88 mph. A production run of 10,000 pieces meant each one is numbered. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | Text beside the tach reads "A horsepower boost and compression ratio change for the W-72 engine option added up to a 20bhp increase." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Here's a Johnny Lightning rendition of a 1973 Trans Am - in Gold!.
A copyright date of 1999 is on the back and this series is known a a "Red Card".
I'm sure JL did this in other colors, the proper ones - anyone have one to show? |
| Hot Wheels used to be everybody's favorite die cast. Here's part of the
reason -the "Hot Bird" . A copyright date of 1995 predates the latest die cast craze.
"Sporty Spoiler & T-Top!" are features listed at the bottom. Not my clever use of
nickels to prop up the base. Picture looked nice and square thru the LCD display. OH-well! |
| Last of this section's die cast mini T/As is this Racing Champions
"Smokey and the Bandit" "Bandit's Trans Am". Car is detailed with some of the gold
striping and the correct Gothic lettering. Don't remember the tan interior from
the movie though - Picky-picky-picky! |
Growing up in the 70's, nothing was more gratifying than assembling a plastic model kit.
That's right, if you weren't playing baseball in the summer or football in the winter,
you and your dad were putting together plastic kits. The absolute most frustrating chore
possible. No Nintendo. No Play Station. And only the big three on the tube.
And what could be better - the Firebird Formula kit that was available in 1976 was
replaced with an honest-to-goodness Trans Am kit for 1977. The bad timing is that about
this time girls began to consume more time than the kits...
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This 1977 Trans Am might just be the first official Trans Am kit. These kits were
later reproduced, but this is the box the '77 came in. I will have a completed version to
show for the next installment. The kit is still in my parents showcase and the pictures
I took didn't turn out. Made by MPC ( I believe their gone by now) you could build as
stock or the "Street Machine" version. A small chuckle comes from the highlight on the
box proclaiming "CB Radio Gear Included". WOW! |
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Heres a highlight shot ot the side panel. Of note is the the mispelling on the box. A the
top it says "BUILD THE FIREBIRD AS A WIDE STREET MACHINE OR BUILD IT STOCK". Instead of
WIDE, I believe they meant to say "WILD". |
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Remember my mistake I mentioned earlier. Here it is. Here is the body from the '77 T/A box.
It's bad enough I cut this kit up, what's worse, I cut a '77 kit up and gave it Fisher
t-tops. Someday, I'll finish the kit. Maybe no one will notice the detailed 1977 grilles
and I can pass it off as a '78. Sure. |
The net two kits are interesting. One I've opened, the Monogram Kit, (but the model is
still in the sealed bag) but the AMT I've not. When I picked up the AMT, I thought it
was a remake of the earlier Monogram kit, but they are not. The Monogram is a 1/24 scale
(why did they do that - there was no way you could put a Hemi out of the Duster kit
into the Trans Am this way!) and the AMT is the more standard 1/25. Both are T-Tops,
but the Monogram kit has the Custom interior seats, the AMT, the plain old base seats.
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This is a 1978 Trans Am kit I picked up in 1991, shortly after I bought my '78 Trans Am
and I couldn't believe my luck. This is a re-release of the kit, the box is copyrighted
in 1991. I remember this kit when it was first released (and I know somewhere I have
it) but since my car doesn't have T-Tops, I never did put this together. Why didn't
I find this kit before I hacked up the above '77?
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This is a re-release AMT '78 Trans Am. I believe it is a current kit (Winter 2002) because
it coincides with the small die cast car above. I haven't opened the kit, but the
box photos look pretty good. I bought two of these, so I might put one together some day.
Just like the small die cast, the have Burt driving a 1978 with tan interior, but with
Hurst hatches. |
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AMT got a lot of mileage out of this partictular body mold. I remember two other 1979
versions of this kit and also an '80 version. This is a big, 1/16 scale version, and the
one I have is of the 10th Anniv. edition. As time passes, I know I'll regret not getting
the others when I had the chance. I am sure this is a re-release, but there are no dates
on the box. Maybe inside the box there will be some dated documents. The celophane wrapper
is in too good of shape to be an original kit. Of note to mislead the youths, the image
on the box is that of the real car, not what's in the box. |
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Well, these are the kits I can lay my hands on at the time. I'm sure I find more...
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This is my embarassingly small selection of larger die cast second generation cars.
All three ERTL pieces and are seem to be based on what appears to be the same
basic casting. All examples are in the 1:18 scale.
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This first one is my newest aquisition and it certainly is a strange one to me.
A gold 1973 Trans Am. I guess these cars would have looked ok, as I've seen
base cars of this vintage in gold. Fairly well detailed, the car has Firestone Wide
Oval 60's on honeycombs. The shaker lettering is in gold and it is an honest-to-goodness
SD-455!. The date on the box is copyrighted 2001.
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I picked up this kit before Christmas 2001 and the date on the box is 1998. This car
seems to be a bit better detailed than the above 1973, but it is clear the dies were
starting to get worn. Goodyear Polyglass GT F60-15 tires are mounted on Rally II's.
Inside the engine turned dash is visible as are the correct low back bucket seats.
This is as close as I'll likely get to owning a Lucerne Blue 1970 Trans Am.
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Well here's the last large T/A diecast in my collection. It's also the first one I
purchased in 1995, the dat of the copyright. I had two of these, the Bucaneer Red one
and also a white one. The White one was given to a very good freind and it is part
of his collection. This car, being the newest from the dies, also seem to have the
best fit and sharpness to the details. For example the honeycomb wheels are have much
shaper detail and the welting around the spats is well defined. Inside, the white on
black interior is stunning. Like the 70, this might be the only '73 Super Duty I'm
likely to call mine.
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I would have liked to take these out of the packages to show them better, but the
darn "collectability" of these cars won'y let me take them out like the good
old days when these were called "toys".
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When I put this kit together in 1977, I never dreamed that twenty-five years later,
the model would still be in this kind of shape. I painted it silver because this
seemed to be the feature color of the time. The decals have yellowed a good bit but
the glue is still holding everything together. Way to go Testor's!. Here are a few
pictures of my "antique".
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Until I find some more pieces, this will be the last update for a while.
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I wish to thank the people at Web Counter for their counting service provided to me at no charge.