Hi guys, I hope this is the right forum for this. I bought a replacement set of GTA emblems from Hawks a few weeks ago. They overall look very nice, but not only they come in single plain cardboard boxes stuffed in a plastic bag and not in the nice gift box they display on their website (also NO fitting instructions, but they say the are included), also the front emblem seems to be wrong. It doesn't have the bending or curvature for fitting the front bumper like the original emblem has, it's just straight. When I test-fit it, it wiggles around. Also the center pin is not in the same place like on the factory emblem. I have to enlarge the hole to the left to fit it 100% in the middle... I am REALLY disappointed by that. I forgot to take photos of that, but the emblem is a GM restoration part. Anyone ever came across that problem? Is there any vendor that sells the CORRECT emblem alone and ships overseas? You can't imagine how that bugs me right now... No gift box, no instructions, and a non fitting front emblem... And I just removed the original emblem. If I would have noticed that earlier, I wouldn't have removed it.

Thanks!

 

I can tell you that the GM emblems which were available from Service Parts in the early 1990s were not any better. On my old Gray 1989 GTA, the dealer removed my emblem (without asking) and replaced with a new one. The new one was 2 or 3 shades of gray off original. They ordered more, and they were off, too. Not as dark.

After 3 tries, I gave up w/ the Pontiac dealer, and hated the looks. I don't know of any "correct" emblems, sorry.

 

This is what I bought. You can clearly see that the emblem is straight and won't fit the shape of the front cover. Any tips what to do? I am not amused... I guess forcing the emblem into shape would be a bad idea, right?

 

Do you still have the original emblem you removed? What’s wrong with it?

If there’s something wrong with your original emblem I’d get a good, used one - there are several GTA’s being parted out here on this forum.

In my experience, there are very few reproduction or “restoration” parts being sold today that compare to the originals.

Dont get hung up on the jewelry box - the emblem’s going on your car, you don’t need it.

 

I've got the exact opposite problem, from a box just like that one. I have a 83 T/A and all I could find was a 87 GTA taillight bird. It's the exact same size, but the one I have is bent, and my taillight isn't. These are probably acrylic, don't you think?

I'm going to try putting it between a pair of 5lb iron weights in the shop oven. Polycarbonate glass transition temperature is around 300, but acrylic could be anywhere from 185 to over 300. I'll start at 180 and increase temperature by 20 degrees until it starts to feel bendy. Mine's clear, so no guarantees it's even the same plastic, but I'll let you know how it goes. Oven is preheating now.

 

It worked! This must be PMMA. You can even do this in your kitchen oven if you're careful. Nothing smoked, smelled, or discolored and the adhesive tape feels like it will still stick.

Don't do like I did and just leave the part between iron plates as you heat. I only did that because I had no idea what temperature was needed. My plates reached 238 according to the IR gun, and that was a little too hot, so now I have to polish a small area. The magic temperature is about 225.

You could just bake the part by itself for 10 minutes and bend it by hand (with gloves). Preheat the oven with a cookie sheet in it. Put your part FACE UP on a cookie sheet. The backside and adhesive tape won't be affected much, if any.


Curvature before I started



After bending. I could have gotten it even better, but since the front side is the reference plane in my case, I decided to quit while I'm ahead.



There's some minor warping where the right wing got too hot and conformed to the surface of the weights. It's minor and will polish out fine.

 

His is metal with epoxy embossed into the emblem face. Any bending will crack and shatter the epoxy resin. Nothing he can do to make it work.

 

That's rough. I guess if there's no other way you could dissolve or bake off the epoxy, clean and bend the metal, then mix up new epoxy of the same color. That seems even less worthwhile than buying a $25 plastic bird then risking melting it all over the oven.

Edit: Wait, it's useless to him as is, just like my bird was, right? Just take a guess at the temperature to heat the epoxy to and bend it anyway. It will probably crack, but no problem, you can sand down the top layer of the epoxy a small amount and put your own epoxy mix over the whole thing so it comes out a consistent color. That's way easier than trying to remove the epoxy beforehand.

 

I still have all original emblems. I removed them because they are sort of discolored, the gold "frame" and the gold "trans am" lettering are nearly gone and the flame red paint is partially faded. The fender GTA emblems had some sort of copper rust or green rust on them. The car is in mint condition, only has 20k mls, clean history, awesome original paint, uncracked mint D81 spoiler, mint interior and such. I've done a complete ceramic coating by a professional, the car looks like new now, just awesome. So I wanted to add the last touch and replace the old emblems with nice restoration parts. Seems that licensed GM restoration part emblems don't deserve the "licensed" status... How is it possible that a manufacturer produces a licensed emblem that just does not fit? Did I receive just a wrong produced emblem? Maybe I am a bit too picky because I am a german, but that emblem is just trash and it is impossible to install it. Also the alignment pin is off center on the original emblem... The reproduction has a centered pin. And guess what, I have to redrill the hole in the front nose to center it...

I will take the original emblem to a jewelery next week. Maybe he can restore it. Or can anyone here on the board lead me to an emblem that just fits like it should?

 

Have you contacted Hawks about the concern? To see if this is a batch concern?

Although I've not heard of this specific concern before, as Big&BadGTA pointed out, reproduction and even NOS parts are known to not always be 100% the same as the next. Revisions, vendor changes, etc., all can make a part look or fit different.

Might see if @FrankieRider2 has some input. I seem to think he had some direct work with the company that initially made the reproductions which came from overseas. The set that I got, many years ago, appeared fine.

Can you post a picture of the underside of the reproduction?

 

I was told it's glass poured into the emblem. I sent some NOS emblems to the company that was developing them to have those colors reproduced, that is what they told me

 

The repro I purchased ages ago was curved but not curved enough to sit flush against the bumper.

 

I have seen that before on some reproduction nose emblems. Why they thought that would be ok is beyond me.

The only reproduction emblems I recommend to owners are from CAR Motorsports in Kennesaw, GA. Their emblems are contoured correctly and are the best quality emblems I've ever seen, bar none.

 

These are the ones I ordered ages ago.

 

I sent them my NOS Jamaica Yellow and one of the green ones so they could match the color.

 

Ok, It is an older thread, but I've managed to take some pics and can show you some differences.



What you see: On the left is a NOS piece which I bought on ebay with the original GM part number and it was told me that it is flame red... well, it's not. It is bright red... but it is correctly curved. Next right/under this is my original 88 flame red emblem sticked to the bumber. Next right/over it is a repro part from CAR motorsports, which is an absolute fail in my opinion. Colors don't match in any way and it doesn't have a clear coat or something... it is just dull and also not curved. On the outer right is the Hawks GM licensed emblem.
As you can see, four different emblems, four different colors. Is it that hard for the producers to reproduce a simple thing like those emblems correctly? The most important part on a GTA, what makes it a GTA? What is the matter? Forms and colors are all wrong, I just don't get it. And then they make you pay 160-200 dollar for complete sets that have the wrong color and the even an misformed front emblem.

It seems I have to wait until I find a REAL nos flame red emblem or find local jewelery or i.e. to restore the gold parts on my emblem.

 

OMG.....I bought the set fom Classic Industries....jewery box and the whole nine yard. The front nose piece was NOT curved. I bought the Flame Red Metallic set. After looking for close to a year, I finally foud a NOS REAL GM FRM front nose emblem. I paid DEARLY for it. I walk with a limp now! Good luck in your search!!

 

Hm... but that emblem in your picture looks to me like it also brigt red, like my emblem on the very left? I am confused now...

 

It's the lighting. The bright red is REALLY red.

 

That's disappointing, my Jamaica yellow emblems from them look EXACTLY the same as the NOS I had. BUT Car motorsports is no longer owned by the same person/people as when I bought my set. It is possible they went to a different manufacturer

 

when all you can get is 'fabrique en chin' , there will only be a resemblance to the real thing. the originals had a gentle curve that matched the contour of the nose.

 

That is the problem with restoring these cars. The aftermarket does not take us seriously yet. It's not hard to find a dozen guys that are doing 100k builds on 1969 Camaros, and these guys will take their business elsewhere, if they aren't getting near-perfect repro parts. It really is a "supply-demand" issue. There are at least 25 different companies making any given part for the '69 Camaro, so competition is fierce, to make the best product at a reasonable price. Not so, for our cars. At least, not yet.
Dr.K.

 

The color match thing is a huge problem, as it should be. Most car manufacturers today even back in the 80's bought parts from a vendor and there was a color swatch that the part had to be made to. Things like Emblems, Door handles, Bumpers, Mirrors, ground effects, and possibly the gas door were not painted on the car, that is why they do not match. Chances are the color of those parts is the color the car is supposed to be, and the color the factory paint is wrong, but it is close enough. Some car companies are better than others, usually foreign is better than GM, Ford or Chrysler...

Also, If you paint a fender, and then you paint the hood with a metallic paint, and the parts are not like they would be assembled on the car, chances are they will not exactly match...