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Mason Dixon's Trans Am


HossC

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I took MaryAnne's suggestion as a challenge. Due to the fact that only 250 of these were made, reference photos were, as predicted, hard to find. The conversions were done by National Coach Engineering of Michigan - you can see some of the survivors here:

http://www.firebirdgallery.com/national_coachlot1.htm

I had to guess the interior a little, and I gave it a manual gearbox as I couldn't remember what the real car had. I've also omitted the gaffer tape that covered the Trans Am logo on the trunk - if you've never noticed it, there's a picture of it in The Official Dukes of Hazzard Trivia Thread.

MasonDixon1.jpg

MasonDixon2.jpg

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Beautiful work. S' funny you happen to post that. I found an obscure TV pilot that involved a car kinda like this ( not sure it was the exact same color) and it was basically a Dukes of Hazzard ripoff. Thankfully, the series never got the green light, but it's interesting that this car has been around.

Roger, if you're paying any attention, do you know what TV movie I'm talkin' about, circa 1980? Ah, I should put this on the trivia board or something...

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Beautiful work. S' funny you happen to post that. I found an obscure TV pilot that involved a car kinda like this ( not sure it was the exact same color) and it was basically a Dukes of Hazzard ripoff. Thankfully, the series never got the green light, but it's interesting that this car has been around.

Roger, if you're paying any attention, do you know what TV movie I'm talkin' about, circa 1980? Ah, I should put this on the trivia board or something...

I just looked at the you tube clip, and this car's kinda similar! I apologize for the vid quality but it gets a little better as the vid warms up.

This was a Dukes-alike pilot, starring Dirk Benedict and Tanya Tucker. Originally titled "The Georgia Peaches" it was later renamed "Follow That Car."

Warning, contains a "hot damn" and blatant Dukes like stunts.

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Thanks for posting the video Brian. Looks like Dirk is driving a 1980 Turbo Trans Am (4.9 litre), as far as I know, Mason Dixon's is a 1979 non-turbo (6.6 litre). The 'screaming chicken' faces the other way on the turbos, and the hood bulge replaces the shaker hood.

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Roger, you are correct. Hoss, you are the authority on car details. I never got that the screaming chicken faced the other way on the turbos. Now I can impress my Pontiac friends with my newfound incredible knowledge.

It's a damn shame they quit making cars like this, ya know? With the old school look to the new Camaro and Mustang, I would have loved to see the renewal of the Trans Am.

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Awesome, Hoss! I love the screamin' chicken on the hood. Khee! (I did know the bird faced one way or the other depending on the car).

I guess I never noticed in the episode that the Trans Am decal was covered with gaffers tape. ROFL. I reckon this was done for the same reason they pulled the "Plymouth" letters off the front grill of the patrol cars (or covered 'em up). I do know, now that I look my few (three) screen caps of the T/A, they also removed the Pontiac emblem from the nose of the car.

I guess product placement was frowned on back then. LOL But, really, how much more product placement blatant can you get than a car with a big screaming bird on the hood?! ROFL

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On an aside for anyone following this thread who might give a rip about the movie I mentioned a few posts back. I recently bought the movie and found out Jerry Rushing was in it. Holy Dukes tie-in!

"Follow That Car" aka "The Georgia Peaches" ain't Masterpiece Theater, but if you like Trans-Am's, senseless car chases, shallow plots, brawling, goofy cops, explosions, and complete overkill in an ending, you'll enjoy this movie.

Good luck finding it though, I might have bought the last copy on Earth. Which could be a problem 'cause I gotta get MaryAnne a copy of this thang.

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  • 1 year later...

The Mason Dixon TA has always fascinated me because it's very much an aftermarket customized car. Pontiac didn't produce/sell convertible TAs after 1969 (not again until 1991) and the wire wheels like this I'm pretty sure were never an option for TAs from the factory. The only wheels I've ever seen for this vintage was either snowflake rims (which can be seen here) or the alloy rims like the ones below....

908_main_f.jpg

Occasionally you'll see Rally IIs but them wire wheels... that's different. LOL The only brand I know of wire wheels is Dayton (only from Googling this afternoon. LOL).

There was a company called National Coach Engineering that converted several '79-81 Trans Ams. This article from Motor Trend in 1979 shows a TA....with the same wire wheels which makes me wonder if the wheels were an NCE addition?? (Still can't tell what brand they are tho'..)

I also wonder if the Mason Dixon TA survived at all after it's short lived screen moments...

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I should have re-read my original post. I posted a link to a site about the NCE convertibles (to save you going back, it's here), and about 1/3 of the way down the page is a piece about car #2 of 250. The site claims that this may be the car that featured in the Motor Trend article that MaryAnne posted:

79ta77.2.jpg

When it was listed on ebay it was said to come with "the original Zenith wire wheels". A quick Google image search suggests they may well be Zenith wheels.

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