Prodigy Customs - Project "Empty Nest" Trans Am / Frank Serafine

[Kevin O]

Frank Serafine is the ring leader at Prodigy Customs in Florida, and he and his talented team have build many killer Pro-Touring style cars.  This year, they're thrashing on a 1969 Trans-Am project for SEMA 2007 called Empty Nest.

Project Empty Nest is a 1969 Pontiac Firebird ragtop featuring a pro-touring attitude and about a zillion custom touches.    As part of our SEMA Thrashers Series, we're touching base with Frank Serafine along the way as the Prodigy Customs crew builds this very cool Pontiac for SEMA, 2007.    We'll be posting audio interviews here, and shooting a feature on the car at the SEMA show in October.

This audio interview is approx. 20 minutes long.








Stay tuned for more updates from Frank and the crew, and feel free to post questions we should ask them in the next interview!

- KO

[Kevin O]

Follow up:   Project Empty Nest @ 6 weeks to SEMA

This audio interview is approx. 15 minutes long.






Stay tuned for more updates from Frank and the crew, and feel free to post questions we should ask them in the next interview!

- KO

[ProdigyCustoms]

EmptyNest, a 1969 Firebird convertible, pays tribute to the popular Pontiac Trans Am, Prodigy style! Combining obvious Trans Am hues
from various years, Project EmptyNest is a Firebird like no other. From the legendary white and blue paint theme of the early cars, to
the recognizable Snowflake style wheels from the Bandit days, to the carbon fiber dash and stripes reminiscent of the "disco dash",
you can see obvious T/A influence in the modern day Pro Touring roadster.

Here are some pictures when we started on July 16




Here it is before we tear it apart



The car rested on the side of this house since 1982 when the original owner took it away from his then teenage daughter. They drove
the car to the side of the house in perfect running condition, turned it off, walked away, and there it sat. As the years passed, a
fence was installed around it, trees grew around it. It took some work to get it unlodged.



Removing it from its grave.



Inside shot with just a little rust







Custom feet warmers









Lisa getting ready to through down!



“Where do I start?”



Look, I am driving!



It just gets worse after the interior is removed



Lisa plasma cutting apart the front-end. She always wanted to play with that thing



Removing big chunks now



Draging away big chunks!

[ProdigyCustoms]

Son Michael comes in for some heavy metal removal



A little cutting



A little more cutting



A little grinding



Some targeted spot sandblasting (we will sandblast the entire structure once we get some strentgh back in it)



Floor is in, new upper cowl is in. Now we can start sandblasting in poreperation of the new firewall



Uncle Dave and Michael discuss the custom firewall



In the meantime...... Our interior and stereo guys seem to always run really late on these deadline projects, so this time we are doing
the interior fab in house on the front end. Lisa is cutting out the console she has drawn up.



A little grinding to shape, then we can trace it and make a duplicate for the other side.



Test fit. The shape is greatm but the material is all wrong. That was a training run I guess, now we will use some MDF



That's a little better, we will be making a mold off these parts when they are finished and making them in Carbon Fiber, the MDF is a lot stronger for mold purposes



After routering a reciever groove in the vertical panels, the face can be installed.

[ProdigyCustoms]

 

[ProdigyCustoms]

Live action shot October 17.We leave in 7 days

If you look real hard you can imagine a body between these pieces!
 

Could not be happier with the way the hood / hard boot came out.
 

This is all Jason will see. The back end
 

Nice ass if I do say so myself
 

Some of our new widen mini tub inner fenders for the 295 / 30 / 19 tires
 
That is all for today, more puzzle pieces will come soon, along with more product announcements debuting on EmptyNest at SEMA.

[Kevin O]

Jeez Frank, that thing was a pile!    Looks eerily similar to the Royal Sport Camaro we built last year!  Amazing progress! 

[Farmgirl]

Way to Go Lisa! I'm impressed and know all to well how hard you must be working.  Looking forward to seeing you at SEMA.

[Kevin O]

Prodigy Customs built this 1969 Pontiac Trans Am "Tribute" car not only for the SEMA show, but also to drive!   And technically being owned by Prodigy's Lisa Serafine, you can bet this car will see some serious street time.    Detials include an all aluminum Butler built Pontiac, custom styling and interior, one-off Forgeline wheels, the first Speedtech subframe, huge Wilwood brakes, and about a million other custom tricks.   This car was another of our "SEMA Thrashers " interviews in our V8TVshow.com forum.    There you'll find the pictures of how bad and rusty the original car was... it's amazing to see how it has transformed.  The Prodigy Customs family did it again.   

[Farmgirl]

Now this is what I'm talking about for the shop girls.  I interviewed Lisa at SEMA and we talked a lot off camera.  There is no reason more women can't help in the shop. 
Lisa is the real deal and I'm proud to know her. 
Guys, get your girls out in the shop, have them help you bleed brakes, if the wife is totally over the car thing, get the young involved.  Sons and Daughters are great shop assistants.