Just 3 months after a partial restoration and a new nose, the car was seriously damaged by hail.
So now there is a choice to make..
Given the car now has a 1978 nose job..and effectively all decals will have to come off for paint, do I replace the decals with the 78 version? Or should I stay with the 79..?
While the response to changing the nose was strongly in favor, changing everything to the 78 is possibly less clear. As most reading this will know, the rear end treatment on a 79 is different to the 78 and this will not be changed.
Personally, I have no problem with the 79 tail light set up, or the 79 onwards, decal font..but is the earlier font a little more distinctive?
Comparison Images
It was one hell of a hail storm.
When it hit, it hit with the kind of immediate intensity I find hard to describe. Within 30 seconds visibility was less the length of my hood and the road was so completely covered that my tires were no longer in contact with it. Conscious I was in trouble and sliding in the middle of the road, I tried to guide the car to side, only to be driven backwards by the water and hail cascading down the hill.
Fortunately I now realize, the car was pushed into the silt and my futile attempts to fight nature with the gas pedal, dug itself in. For much longer than was advisable I sat in a rising state of near panic, watching increasing torrents or water flow towards me, and listening to the car we have spent the last few months, and considerable money restoring, being relentlessly pounded by marbles.
The Trans Am?
Well, the old girl took some serious digging out the next day (thanks again for the help, babe). The images here are from the day after and give some idea of the hail, given the amount remaining despite it being back into the 80’s and nearly 24 hours later. It took patience and a very conscientious tow truck driver, thank you Mr. T’s Towing and Repair but she fired right up and we eventually got her out.
