Author Topic: can anyone help me identify a decal?  (Read 6767 times)

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Offline 461 stroker transam

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can anyone help me identify a decal?
« on: January 19, 2014, 02:33:00 AM »
hello. nearing the home stretch of a 1980 rebuild. everything looks like it will be done before spring. I'm sure I'll be asking more questions as we get close, but right now I need to pick a color for the car. don't want to go with a stock color, but it HAS to have the decals. so what I've done is order a sail panel 3 inch bird in 7 colors for 1980. my question comes in here; they only had one version of "gold". but I believe there were 2? 8 total? they haven't arrived yet, and the site didn't have pictures of them all, but the colors I ordered were silver, orange, red, burgundy, blue, bronze, and dark gold.
I remember seeing a picture of a "hollow" gold bird (have it on my phone, but can't remember where I got it), but I'm not sure if this is the missing example, and I don't know what year it was for.
it basically had the outline of each feather in a bright gold. with the background showing through. all the feathers were the same color, the bird body a little darker.
can anyone help me with this? what year would this have been? special edition?
I'm kind of leaning toward a dark red metallic, almost burgundy paint, and thought that the hollow gold bird might look pretty nice. but not if I can't find it...

Offline winks79

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Re: can anyone help me identify a decal?
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2014, 09:11:42 AM »
Are you asking for 1980 only specific hood birds, or 77-81 collectively? There were only 6 colors available in 1980. Here is a breakdown of the available colors of bird decals beginning with 1977.
1977
Gold/Matte Gold, (available only on SE models)
Gold/Yellow/Orange (non SE models)
Charcoal/Red
1978
New style Gold/Bronze (used only on Y-88 Gold SE cars)
Red/Charcoal
Gold-Yellow/Orange (non SE cars)
Blue/Black (Martinique Blue cars only)
Gold/Matte Gold (Black SE cars only)
1979
Dark Blue/Light Blue
Gold/Bronze (only gold decal offered in 79')
Red/Orange
Dark Charcoal/Silver
1980
Dark Blue/Light Blue
Gold/Bronze (was darker than the 79' version)
Red (replaced Red/Orange from 79')
Dark Charcoal/Silver
Burgundy (new for 1980)
Bronze (new for 1980)
1981 (bird was redesigned and one solid color, and the Gold and Orange decals were darkened at some point during the production run. The earlier 81 models are a lighter color Gold and Orange)
Red
Silver
Blue
Gold
Orange
My guess is that you are probably speaking of the 77-78 style hood bird. They have what I call "see through feathers" and there were 2 different color gold birds in that style also. I think the hood bird you may be wanting is the 77-78 Gold-Yellow/Orange decal.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2014, 09:28:48 AM by winks79 »

Offline 461 stroker transam

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Re: can anyone help me identify a decal?
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2014, 07:20:18 PM »
I'm thinking I should try to stick with the 79-81 birds. 78 and earlier had a different style right? (maybe 81 did as well?)
I hope this pic comes through. but this is what I'm looking for. I guess you can call it 'see through feathers', but I don't think it's a '78.
this is an example of the sail panel emblem. hoping the hood bird is similar?

Offline 461 stroker transam

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Re: can anyone help me identify a decal?
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2014, 07:23:34 PM »
very nice T/A btw...
are those 15" or aftermarket snowflakes? what tires?

Offline winks79

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Re: can anyone help me identify a decal?
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2014, 07:07:22 AM »
Yes, the 78 and back birds were a little smaller and styled different. The pic you show is of a Gold 1981 hood bird decal for a shaker hood. 79-80 had the same style bird and then in 81, like the pic you posted, it was similar but a different style also. The feathers are different on the 81's compared to the 79-80 shaker birds. Also, 79-80 hood bird decals are what they call 5 color decals, (they have 5 different shades of the same color on them), in 81' they are basically 1 color.

Offline 461 stroker transam

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Re: can anyone help me identify a decal?
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2014, 08:32:54 AM »
thanks for the info. I really appreciate the lesson.
so did all the '81 hood birds have the "hollow" feathers as well, then?
also, does anyone make stencils to paint the birds? this would be an absolute last resort, and would jack the paint price way up, but I was curious.

and one more question, please. you know a lot about the decals, what about the rims...
were the rally II's an option for the '80 ? I've seen a couple sources say that they were, and others say the rallys stopped in 78 or 79. I need 17" or bigger rims to go with high performance tires, but I'm just not a fan of the honeycombs or snowflakes. I know the originals were all 15s, but the aftermarkets do a decent job of keeping the original look.

Offline winks79

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Re: can anyone help me identify a decal?
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2014, 08:05:29 PM »
Yes, all 81' birds are just like the one you posted for shaker hooded cars, turbo cars had a different style bird all together.
I don't have an answer about the stencil, I'm sure there is something out there, because I have seen painted on birds before myself, just not that many.
And yes, rally II's were standard still in 81' on Formula, and Trans Am, snowflakes were optional on all unless you got an SE and then they came standard with the SE package. The rally's came standard Argent Silver with trim rings, but you could also order them body color with trim rings as an option too.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2014, 08:08:27 PM by winks79 »

Offline b_hill_86

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Re: can anyone help me identify a decal?
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2014, 11:40:43 PM »
I know this is an older post but this may help you or someone in the future.

http://www.tran-zam.com/Spotters_Guide/SpottingbyYear/HoodBirds.html
-Brian-

1977 Trans Am 400 4 speed hardtop