For Pontiac, the early 2000s were a time of change and adaptation. Gently guided by the revamp of their lineup and the broadening of their market by General Motors in 2004, which saw legendary names like the Firebird getting axed in 2002(which had less to do with the revamp and more to do with the beyond terrible sales numbers for it and the Camaro brother), the Bonneville getting axed in 2004, the Grand Am in 2005, the GTO came back badge-engineered from an Australian badass that still lives today(as the HSV Commodore); the Holden Monaro and the last decade also saw the introduction of a few new ones like the Solstice, a fun and quite killer looking little two door, the G6 and G8 saloons and the… Aztek, which got replaced by a more sensible albeit a slightly fatter looking Dodge Caliber.
And then… in 2008, GM finally ended their drunken stagger in financial misfortune by falling face first into their own puke puddle and realized it was time to either sell their puppies off of tell someone to get shotgun from the shed, either for themselves or the pups in question. Hell, Pontiac wasn’t the only one to go in that decade… Oldsmobile got shuttered in 2004 already even though their kill shot occurred in 2000. But anyhow, in mid-2009, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, GMC and Hummer were led in front of the wall and blindfolded as the GM execs debated and fought on which they could keep, sell or shutter, like some demented game of fuck-marry-kill. GMC got saved, likely cause American pick ups just sell like hotcakes regardless of brand. Saab got sold off, again, only this time to one of my country’s finest; Spyker Automobiles, a sale that legit got laughed off the stage here in the Netherlands and dragged Spyker to its knees in debt, shuttering Saab in 2012. Saturn got… well, I kind of liked Saturn’s brief 20-something year existence but that was a shot hardly heard around the world. Hummer too got shot down in flames in 2010 and Pontiac? Well Pontiac got shuttered all together, all operations ceased, the dealerships would sell their stock and get closed or rebranded and the only thing that remains today is the Pontiac trademark that has been updated every ten years, set to expire in July 2027 – and based on the somewhat melancholy attitude around Pontiac’s death, they’re likely to keep renewing the trademark every decade.
So, y’know, long story, but the last decade of Pontiac’s life was actually kind of depressing and the Firebird being killed off in 2002 didn’t help. But it got a nice little last hurrah if you will, being granted a “Collector Edition”, originally intended as a 35th anniversary which turned more into a final salute. Less than 2000 were offered, with options like a convertible or a T-top and by default the nice WS6 package which comes with the LS1 5.7L V8 that churned out a solid 325 horsepower, embroidered Collector Edition emblems into the seats and a number badge on the center console showing the build number of the car, two metal CE badges on the doors and a series of black, gray and silver stripes running along the rear quarter and across the hood. In kit form however, the ’98 Firebird wasn’t a Trans Am model but a mere Ram Air with the same engine block, mostly cause, I’m just assuming here, they didn’t get the rights for the Trans Am name as they didn’t manage to get them either for the ’77 Firebird. It also has the single exhaust set-up, so there’s that.
Anyhow, last year I got the ’98 Firebird built and was quite pleasantly surprised. It’s like its real counterpart based mostly on the Camaro, with a fair amount of Camaro parts still being on the sprues, like the LT1 engine parts and the little stamper to get the fog-lights into the bumper, but it does have the benefit of its build quality which is quite awesome! It’s one of those nineties kits that was designed to be versatile and really, really detailed. It started with the ’93 Camaro Pace Car kit, followed up by the ’93 Firebird very shortly after and those eventually became the ’98 and ’02 Camaro and the ’98 Firebird, as the Firebird never got a final salute by Revell. This kit, is the one I suggested folks should get in the ’98 Firebird post, which is infinitely better! Well, I was wrong it turns out, it’s just somewhat better due to the choice of wheels, given the decals are still prone to being milky and will get ugly borders if the box has been opened before.
But that’s besides the point, the plastic is also of a somewhat increased quality, the T-top decals were once kind of matted glass-textured and now turned into literal black slabs, which in some cases can be seen as a improvement or considered to be a lot cheaper and worse, up to the builder I suppose, but y’know – it’s still a bit better. The only problem I ran into is that given the previous owner of this delightful little kit had opened it and somehow let it get squashed. The body warped outwards which I stupidly over corrected by squeezing it too far back inwards, causing the bumpers to no longer fit and the hood to no longer shut properly. This exaggerated the panel gaps on the bumpers quite a friggin’ bit… But oh well. That’s just how life goes whilst trying to be a cheapskate.
Initially, I made a decal sheet for the whole thing that includes some interior things I didn’t get around to using like a pair of floor mats cause I tried to flock the interior flooring however the decals for the engine bay I did use to great effect cause Goddamn I am happy with how crisply they came out, especially the text. The tail light masks which in my opinion should’ve been a part of the kit in the first place given how weird it looks without make a hell of a difference too. Other than that, I genuinely wish the kit came with dual exhausts cause… the bumper has the two holes for it, it’s so strange to see the open exhaust port and just have nothing there. I genuinely don’t know if its because of the type of Firebird or if its just something they did to avoid Trans Am related bits and bobs.
So, in the end, it’s really just another kit I built to try and test fit some decals onto, bit similar to the AMC Gremlin and Pacer of late and I dunno, it’s quite a success! The stripes look fantastic, the text based decals look sharp as hell and the whole thing kind of came out looking quite alright besides the fact that obviously, it was warped a fair amount. Not to mention I do friggin’ love me some special edition GM material, like the whole Camaro anniversary line up and sooner or later all the Firebird ones! Revell has made a 25th Anniversary edition Firebird and I’m in the process of making a version of the 30th – so at least there’s that.
’98 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Collector Edition specifications:
Kit: #85-2159
Skill Level: 2
Parts: 102
Molded in: White
Scale: 1/25
Okay, imagine this. It’s January 1979, the new Firebird Trans Am just a few months prior was beginning to hit the market with the updated front end and darkened out tail and celebrated its 10th anniversary with style. Two years before, Smokey and the Bandit lit the fire under the Firebird popularity and made it go stratospheric, effectively making the Firebird the “go-to” muscle car of the late seventies. However, in April of ’79 the second energy crisis crippled the United States once more and even stricter regulations had to be made to curb the giant usage of oil they no longer could import.
Promo kits were pretty damn popular throughout the fifties and sixties but as the seventies rolled around, the divide between promo kits and just, regular kits, was beginning to get really wide. Promo kits by this point were just there to be given to the car buyers, and at most if it weren’t for that, had a mail order at the dealership where you could order one of these kits for two or three bucks.
Then I came across this one on eBay, all wrapped up for damn near nothing. And I couldn’t resist, I thought at first it was a pre-built promo model that I could dismantle and give a proper model kit freshener, but then I held the box and it made the noise of a bunch of sprues sliding about in the box. That was the first pleasant surprise I got from this model kit. The second pleasant surprise lies with the nature of this kit…
Finished the whole thing up with some BF Goodrich Radial T/A tire decals, which sadly required me to cut off the very embossed Goodyear Polyglas GT tire letters off there to make space for ’em, though then I ran into issue numbero dos; the tires don’t actually fit the rims! So I luckily had some spare tires from a ’70 Mustang kit, a 1/24th scale kit and fitted the rims in there and lo and behold they fit exactly!
Revell-Monogram’s been pushing out 1/24th scale Firebirds since 1982, which marked the drastic change in how the car looked for the third generation.
inside of the headlights in the front bumper, though the chassis is free to much around until the bumper’s glued on so… Yeah, that’s a tug of war the bumper ain’t gonna win. But really, that’s the only niggle I ran into and it’s just a silly little annoyance.
Another golden oldie of the 1/24th scale line up from Monogram, one of the later ones made by ’em in that particular era. And this one might’ve been the hardest for me to find. But Monogram’s been making great kit after great kit since the early eighties, from the best muscle cars to more daily driver type vehicles like the ’79 Chevy El Camino and ’81 Chevy Citation.
parts are always beautifully cast and made, one really can’t ever truly complain about the quality.
Speaking of decals, exterior wise you get the two official choices available in nicely detailed(with faux shading and all!) white and blue stripes and T/A emblems. No giant Firebird for the hood sadly but who really minds, the little bird on the nose with the 
stripes ain’t any less good looking and besides it works beautifully with the appropriately colored Ram Air III shaker sitting ontop of that big six liter Pontiac 400 V8.
A while ago I watched the 
Edition line-up cause it’s way up there. It’s got ridiculous detail, detail on every angle that would normally get overlooked easily. It’s really, really good!
little details like the bumped up detail on the GTO and Pontiac logos and lock cylinders, as well as a detail that easily could’ve gone a-miss like the louvre styled rear lights.
You also get this nifty little statue with it that actually is meant to go inside the car, in the seat, it looks a little goofy but y’know, like that uncanny valley version of Linda Vaughn that comes with the Revell ’72 Hurst/Olds kit, it’s still a nice extra! But anyway, to the engine. It’s got a beautiful 400ci Pontiac V8 Tri-Power engine with again significant detail. The only thing that can be said is that the carburetor detail isn’t up there with the rest, but hey, nitpicking like crazy here.
A 1994 re-issue of from 1982 release from Monogram, and God it’s a great kit. Though it’s entirely molded in a semi-gloss orange, engine, interior etc. It’s molded pretty solid and has little excess flash on the trays and frames, fair amount of detail and pretty clear instructions.
it’s a great kit, the exterior looks amazing in the stock orange which I just ended up keeping and giving it a glossy clear coat.
exhaust pipes don’t actually link up to the manifolds, the wheels sit a tiny bit too far backwards, especially on the front and the tire profile in… small. Oddly small that it stands out pretty badly on front views of the car.
To start off this one, this kit’s not a Trans Am. Bandit’s Firebird was a T/A 6.6 and oddly enough the kit based on the movie’s star vehicle isn’t actually the same vehicle. Granted, it’s still the Special Edition and still has largely the same engine, it’s just not a Trans Am. Though it does have the detailed bits of a T/A 6.6 like the chrome valve covers and the A/C set up.
there are a lot of! I did decide I’d try and do as much detailed work as possible, like wiring up the engine, painting the interior with a bit of a personal touch.
The interior is pretty detailed too, nice touches with extra parts for the gauges and of course, a CB radio build into the dash. And of course the T-top, which I didn’t glue in place so I can remove ’em at will. It’s a snug fit so they don’t just fall off on their own all the time.
Of the few Revell’s Chip Foose designs, this one might just be the best. And that’s a tough pick, the ’67 Charger is fantastic, the ’69 Camaro in gigantic 1/12 scale is just mind-blowing and the Coronet as well as both Impala’s are great.
Technically a 2-in-1 kit, it doesn’t feature a factory stock ’68 Firebird or a Trans-Am alternative, it features the original Foose design with proper decals and engine specs and it features a Trans American(the race, not the Firebird T/A since the first Trans Am came through in 1969) version with an air scoop intake, raised rear suspension and bucket seating.
