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History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
You will see these appear from time to time. They were basically a Firebird with the V6 or V8 TBI that was given some appearance options from a company called Choo-Choo Customs as an aftermarket deal and are not "factory". As you can gather, it's a theme based on the Second Generation F-Body "Bandit" Special Edition.
Buncha heinous plastic trash peeled and stuck to a base firebird. Tacky dash trim and seat upholstery and a 2nd gen hood bird that looks like a monkey trying to make sweet love to a foot ball. Oh, and 1985's coolest aftermarket wheels for your boat trailer or your drunk uncle's Disco Van.
Pretty much just the tackyest thing since tacky rode into Tacky Town on the back of his trusty tacky steed.
So Cletus and Jimbobbie Jo got together and figured they could peel and stick an entire JCWhitney catalog and some 'custom racing' wheels on a base Firebird and tell people it's a Trans Am, make a bit of spending money for sloppy joe night at the VFW... No one really fell for it, except Burt Reynolds, during that era when being Burt Reynolds didn't mean anything anymore.
So Cletus and Jimbobbie Jo got together and figured they could peel and stick an entire JCWhitney catalog and some 'custom racing' wheels on a base Firebird and tell people it's a Trans Am, make a bit of spending money for sloppy joe night at the VFW..
I'm surprised they didn't add those wonderful fake white walls JCWhitney used to sell. Wouldn't that make it look Classy!
Buncha heinous plastic trash peeled and stuck to a base firebird. Tacky dash trim and seat upholstery and a 2nd gen hood bird that looks like a monkey trying to make sweet love to a foot ball. Oh, and 1985's coolest aftermarket wheels for your boat trailer or your drunk uncle's Disco Van.
Pretty much just the tackyest thing since tacky rode into Tacky Town on the back of his trusty tacky steed.
So Cletus and Jimbobbie Jo got together and figured they could peel and stick an entire JCWhitney catalog and some 'custom racing' wheels on a base Firebird and tell people it's a Trans Am, make a bit of spending money for sloppy joe night at the VFW... No one really fell for it, except Burt Reynolds, during that era when being Burt Reynolds didn't mean anything anymore.
And yet... it still looks better than 75% of the cars shown on here.
The only "stick on" items, that differ from factory, would be the hood scoop (of course there's no one on here that has EVER posted this mod), the front bumper GFX (not that dis-similar from factory), the actual stickers (again, no one here has done that either), and the interior enhancement plates.
The wheels are an attempt to replicate the stock cross-lace. Huge wheels weren't a big thing in '90, and anything over 15's were pretty expensive. There are so many, much worse wheels, right here on this site.
These cars were made in the black and gold version.
Buncha heinous plastic trash peeled and stuck to a base firebird. Tacky dash trim and seat upholstery and a 2nd gen hood bird that looks like a monkey trying to make sweet love to a foot ball. Oh, and 1985's coolest aftermarket wheels for your boat trailer or your drunk uncle's Disco Van.
Pretty much just the tackyest thing since tacky rode into Tacky Town on the back of his trusty tacky steed.
So Cletus and Jimbobbie Jo got together and figured they could peel and stick an entire JCWhitney catalog and some 'custom racing' wheels on a base Firebird and tell people it's a Trans Am, make a bit of spending money for sloppy joe night at the VFW... No one really fell for it, except Burt Reynolds, during that era when being Burt Reynolds didn't mean anything anymore.
And yet... it still looks better than 75% of the cars shown on here.
The only "stick on" items, that differ from factory, would be the hood scoop (of course there's no one on here that has EVER posted this mod), the front bumper GFX (not that dis-similar from factory), the actual stickers (again, no one here has done that either), and the interior enhancement plates.
The wheels are an attempt to replicate the stock cross-lace. Huge wheels weren't a big thing in '90, and anything over 15's were pretty expensive. There are so many, much worse wheels, right here on this site.
These cars were made in the black and gold version.
Looks better than 75% of the cars on here???????? Seriously? I think you need to get your eyes checked.... That thing is ugly. A stick-on hood 'scoop'? Wonder if they even bothered to cut a hole under it.......
And yet... it still looks better than 75% of the cars shown on here.
The only "stick on" items, that differ from factory, would be the hood scoop (of course there's no one on here that has EVER posted this mod), the front bumper GFX (not that dis-similar from factory), the actual stickers (again, no one here has done that either), and the interior enhancement plates.
The wheels are an attempt to replicate the stock cross-lace. Huge wheels weren't a big thing in '90, and anything over 15's were pretty expensive. There are so many, much worse wheels, right here on this site.
These cars were made in the black and gold version.
I respectfully disagree. The only good looking part of this car is the stock Firebird under all that trash. Look, you can have Bandit embroidered in all the headrests you want, have the local trophy shop crank out a few dozen engraved plates, and have Burt Reynolds appear at your nephew's Quincenera, all you want... You're still not going to make a base Firebird into something special by peel-n-stick'ing a bunch of crap to it. It's dishonest and stupid. It's the same reason that V6 Mustang at the stoplight with Cobra emblems on the fenders is ridiculous, but the Bandit II has uglier wheels than factory, a big stupid 2nd gen bird that just looks goofy, a funky stick on Lund hoodscoop before those were a thing. I mean it's like that V6 Mustang, but it'd have Shelby GT-500 logos, a peel and stick 8-71 blower, a trophy plaque, mall kiosk embroidered seats, and a clamp on 'turbo whistle"... It's fake azz cornball crapola.
I hadn't seen too many Bandit cars in person until about 4 years ago when a guy here bought one and started bringing it out. It's a black 89 #11. I expected more I guess, but I have a base black 89 Firebird and as Drew pointed out, it's the same car really. We popped our hoods and they are 100% identical to his amazement. He thought the engine setup was "Bandit" specific until I showed him mine. It would have been really neat if some horsepower add-ons were done to the Bandit cars, but it's just a bunch of stickers, dash plaque and some seat embroidery. If they were a factory option, it would have been different, but it's add-ons done by another company, no different than myself adding the same things in my garage. The guy told me he was putting GTA wheels on it because he loved how mine looked with GTA wheels.
Just jump on The Google and run an image search for Choo-Choo Customs, and look at all the ill-advised, poor fitting, fiberglass/plastic garbage they've stuck on a wide range of vehicles that neva hurt nobody... The Bandit is actually one of the less offensive to refined sensibilities. Look at the Monte Carlo SS style front end they stuck on El Caminos, or the Iroc treatment they made for El Caminos, conversion vans, the list goes on. They could have used their powers of plastics, fiberglass, and composites for good instead of evil, but they made a choice, and now we have to live with the rash of Bandit II threads every few years. Ya know, just that Burt Reynolds turned down the third Bandit movie should be enough to illustrate that by 1990 it was a tacky, played out concept.
Buncha heinous plastic trash peeled and stuck to a base firebird. Tacky dash trim and seat upholstery and a 2nd gen hood bird that looks like a monkey trying to make sweet love to a foot ball. Oh, and 1985's coolest aftermarket wheels for your boat trailer or your drunk uncle's Disco Van.
Pretty much just the tackyest thing since tacky rode into Tacky Town on the back of his trusty tacky steed.
So Cletus and Jimbobbie Jo got together and figured they could peel and stick an entire JCWhitney catalog and some 'custom racing' wheels on a base Firebird and tell people it's a Trans Am, make a bit of spending money for sloppy joe night at the VFW... No one really fell for it, except Burt Reynolds, during that era when being Burt Reynolds didn't mean anything anymore.
Have to agree with you there Drew, my thoughts exactly!
04-20-2019, 03:01 PM
