[StealthBird]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 442w30</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Steve, aren't there variations with the stripe? Like they used one blue and then went with another blue, although similar? Or is that an urban legend? </div></div>

There are variations on how the blue was painted on the rear spoiler on the assembly line, such as with or without blue pedestals, over/under the wing, etc. </div></div>

Actually, there were NO variations on how the spoilers were painted. The only ones that received stripes over the spoiler were the two press fleet cars. When they went to production, all 1969 Trans Am's had solid white rear wings with blue pedestals. It's an urban myth that some received stripes over the spoiler. Back in the 1970's and 1980's, people repainted these cars, and the only reference they had were original road tests, or the original magazine ad, which showed the pre-production paint scheme.

It wouldn't surprise me if dealers, upon receiving a 1969 Trans Am, thought that Pontiac goofed and forgot to paint stripes over the spoiler, because that's what the Dealer Sales Album insert provided to them showed. Also wouldn't surprise me if a customer requested the dealer to paint on the stripes, as that's how they appeared in the magazine ads. But they never built them with stripes over the spoiler, other than the pre-production version.

From a styling standpoint, you can see why they chose to delete the rear wing stripes. The wing stripes look ok when looking DOWN on the car (such as in the original magazine ad), but from a street view, the stripes appeared broken and fragmented because they floated over the trunk stripes.