Post Apocalyptic 1969 Pontiac Firebird

Reborn in the atomic fire of the apocalypse, this clapped-out former getaway car became a high-speed guardian of the faithful.
Flying wide open on all eight, the fiery bird soars through the wasteland, 356 cubic inches of racing glory rending apart all those who would oppose us. Praise be to the fearless one who drives her and to the gifted who keep her internal fire burning with expert craftsmanship and solemn prayer.

The project combines AMT's 69 Trans Am kit with an AMT Thunderbird stock car and lots of miscellaneous kit-bashed and scratch built parts.
The front end on these has a weird grill/bumper arrangement which I've modified on this car. I've left the four headlight brackets empty.
Getting the stock car frame and cage to fit has been a real challenge. Once I extended the frame for the front bumper, I had to cut the frame in half at the firewall to get it into the car.
The fit of the hood was wretched. You can see in the pictures the careful body work I've done to get it to fit better. I'm happy with it now. I also carefully carved out the two openings in the Firebird 400 hood.
I'm a huge Trans Am fan but decided to go with the Firebird 400 parts on this one, mostly because I want to paint it a very specific light green color, Limelight Green, and the Trans Ams weren't that color. I also like the 400 hood better than the TA hood.
The front suspension has been a fun challenge. The stock car suspension didn't work with the spoiler I added to the front underside of the body. I ended up kit-bashing what you see in the pictures. It helps having a robust supply of random parts.
This has been one of those projects where I've gotten bogged down with it and set it aside and then picked it up again in a cycle many times. I bought this kit new, off the shelf from the AAFEX back when I was in the military. I'm sure I didn't pay more than $6 for it back then. I remember buying two so I had an extra body when I mess up the paint job. I had originally intended for it to be a getaway car. Later, when the Mad Max madness really took hold, it evolved into a post apocalyptic build (that was formerly a getaway car.)
I built up a Pontiac stock car engine for it with a very modified oil pan to fit just right. I put the dorky, Firebird factory air cleaner on it to help it look a little more stock. No gleaming forced induction on this one. Usually I am all for that, the more the better, but here it just doesn't feel right. I don't want to do anything to disrupt the lines of that hood.
I do have a large, S or K size, industrial gas cylinder to mount where the back seat would be so it can run on nitrous oxide for about an half an hour at a time. (I'm just guessing here. I have no idea of the actual time you would get.)
I'm currently building up a new engine for it and I'll see which one I like better. I'm also not sure about the paint. The can of Tamiya metallic light green I bought in a Japanese hobby store has gone bad years ago. I've kept it hoping there is still liquid paint in there I can extract and run through an airbrush, but I'll figure that out once it's ready to paint.