GMP 1:6 3.8 Liter Turbo Engine

[coolguywalt]

I was thinking that maybe a bunch of you guys wouldn't mind having a 3.8 Turbo sitting on your desk (or wherever) so I wrote an email to Jeff at GMP's Marketing Division and here is what he said:

"...Now the engine might be a different story in 1:6
scale and I will have to check with EMI to see if it is available and what
the total cost of the licensing terms would be. I will let you know what I
discover."

Well, when he gets back to me, I will report back to you all.

 

[Who Needs 8]

I just wish that someone would make a die cast of our cars. Is it because of the limited number of cars made and fans of the car that they don't see it feasible to build it?

 

[coolguywalt]

Here is the email that I sent him, with his entire reply on top:

Hi Walt,

Thanks for the heads up regarding the Trans Am desire. You are speaking to a
long time fan as the first new car I purchased was a 1978 TA loaded to the
gills. The desire to do the car is great, the problem is the licensing and
it's simply not available. Secondly, we don't currently have a tool that
matches the 87-92 Firebird and there are no funds available to develop one.
I would suggest talking with the known companies who have already produced
something close to it. Now the engine might be a different story in 1:6
scale and I will have to check with EMI to see if it is available and what
the total cost of the licensing terms would be. I will let you know what I
discover.

Cheers,

Jeff Stalling
(r)
Licensing/Marketing
770-868-1042 ext. 34

-----Original Message-----
From: Walt [mailto:coolguywalt@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, October 07, 2005 11:04 AM
To: Jeff@gmpdiecast.com
Subject: 1989 Turbo Trans Am Diecast

Jeff~

Many of us in the Turbo Trans Am community were curious as to if it would be
possible to make a Turbo Trans Am diecast. Even though there were only
1,555 made, the people that follow them would also be very interested. One
to consider would also be that if you were to make one, it would require
minimal change to use the same base for the 87-92 Pontiac Firebird GTA as
well.
Another idea that I had would be to make a scale replica of the Buick Grand
National/Turbo Trans Am engine. They made over 30,000 Grand Nationals and
that would make a great collector piece. If you would like to see some of
the message boards where us TTA owners talk about a diecast and how many
people would be interested, here are a few:
http://www.gtasourcepage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48168&highlight=diecast
http://www.gtasourcepage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48332
http://www.gtasourcepage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47681&highlight=diecast
http://www.turbotransam.com/cgi-bin/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=553&highlight=diecast
http://www.turbotransam.com/cgi-bin/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=554&highlight=diecast
http://www.turbotransam.com/cgi-bin/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=558&highlight=diecast
http://www.turbotransam.com/cgi-bin/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=579&highlight=diecast
http://www.turbotransam.com/cgi-bin/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=578&highlight=diecast

As you can see, there is great interest in one. If you could get back to me
on what you think, that would be great.

Walt Chleva
1989 Turbo Trans Am Owner

 

[phillyturbosix]

I'd buy a few of them that's for sure! I have some engines but the 3.8L sitting on my desk would be awesome! A nice TTA diecast would be great.. some day some day!

 

[Jan Larsson]

I'll have a quople for sure !

 

[mr.turbota]

I have talked with these guys every year at SEMA.
All I get is run around.
First, they say that the car would cost too much to produce.
When I tell them about the engine being close to the Grand National, and the wheels close to the GNX that they made, they then say that it's hard to license Indy stuff, even when they have made some Indy Pace cars before.
I then tell them that with minor changes, they could market Trans Ams and GTAs.
I even tell them that Grand national guys would collect the 20th TTA.
After all this, the guy tells me that the head guy likes Fords!
But, I hope it will come to pass someday!
Yes, I would buy engines in any scale!

George

 

[davege]

I would buy an engine.

- Dave

 

[coolguywalt]

Bad news..... got an email from Jeff today:

Hi Walt,

I spoke with John O'Neil of EMI and the license is not available to us.
Sorry as it would have been a great project to do but you never know when it
will become available and John will give us a heads up.

Cheers,

Jeff Stalling
(r)
Licensing/Marketing
770-868-1042 ext. 34


Guess we'll have to wait some more