History of How the Car Evolved
The Grand Am VT certainly was not a quick and easy project. The car has slowly evolved in stages over the past four years and each component was generally designed in isolation. As much as possible, the general themes and design was followed. In turn, the hope is that this car is a not-so-subtle yet not-too-tacky representation of Virginia Tech, its logos, and its colors.
All along, the purpose has been to be the ultimate tailgating companion with functional attributes as much as possible. Of course, at every step of the way, both Matt and all of those who have seen the car have offered up their suggestions and always strived to make the car more noticeable and more hokie.
Tailgating and the Beginning Suggestions
Matt's Pontiac Grand Am GT1 was his everyday driver throughout his last few years at Virginia Tech and happened to have a nice sound system which worked great to have out at tailgates. During the process of tailgating some subtle ideas started occuring from getting sick of magnets on the side of the car, rear window Virginia Tech stickers, and moving from small flags to even larger flags for tailgates. The Grand Am VT actually started out as a normal car with gray interior, silver exterior, and stock wheels.
Upgrading the Interior and External Accents
After doing some subtle orange accents, such as a orange Pontiac logo and some simple orange sticker inserts on the doors and trunk, Matt decided he'd go ahead and get some Virginia Tech seat covers. Following an extensive search he went with a custom solution with Katzkin leather - maroon seats with orange inserts and a custom VT logo. Sadly, after installing these seats they just looked way too out of place. Thus, "why not" led the charge of swapping out the carpet for Hugger orange and buying some maroon floor mats to hopefully make everything blend together just a little bit more.
After getting this look on the interior, everyone loved it and the car continued to get more and more attention during the end of the 2007 football season. A number of suggestions continued to pile in and Matt oblidged where able. Orange brake calipers were added to the car and some upgraded chrome wheels instead of stock painted wheels. Finally, a large maroon rear window sticker with a massive VT logo was added to compliment the magnets and flags that were added on gameday. (The car was still Matt's everyday driver during Spring 2008.)
Let's not forget, the MP3 horn complete with official gobble was added to make sure the presence of the Hokies was known.
Planning the Paint Job
The motivation for Matt's next stage for his car was two-fold. First, he couldn't take himself seriously anymore driving the car to work; Second, he loved the oldschool orange and maroon Hokiecar with VT airbrush art seen driving around at games and in parades owned by a fellow hokie.
Matt's hopes were to go ahead with a new paintjob for the car in a Chicago maroon to help make the car more noticable after he bought a new every day car. However, Hokie excitement go the best of him (as well as a great deal from Neils Wheels, LLC in Richmond, VA) and a new hood was purchased and custom painted Virginia Tech logos were planned for different locations on the vehicle. After some final negotiations and suggestions, orange racing stripes were added to the car and the exterior look began!
Designing the Custom Fiberglass and Equipment
During the process of painting out the car and discussing future ideas for the car the idea of having the ultimate tailgating machine could not escape the list of things to be completed. Ideas were tossed around between Matt and the designers/painters about better sound, televisions, fiberglass and more. After biting the bullet and realizing he may be able to 'get away with it' as a single guy Matt sent the car off to the shop for 6 weeks during a break of Virginia Tech away games that would see his car only missing a couple of tailgating oppurtunities.
The car came back as a work of art. The sound system was revamped, all the paint was updated to match the body paint, and the trunk was turned into a masterful audio and video experience. For more information check out the other sections of the site.
Exterior Finishing Touches
During the Fall of 2009 Virginia Tech announced a "Crazy for the Hokiemobiles" contest which pushed Matt to find any and every way he could possibly improve his hokie car. The result - more Virginia Tech logos. The one flaw with the design of the car is that each of the logos were very subtle when the car was not parked. While driving down the road, or parked, it may not catch your eye. Thus, Matt added some custom built 19" wheels with color matched orange lips, rivets, and center caps. To adorn the side of the car a massive Hokie Bird head was printed in vinyl and installed and an oversized VT logo was added to the rear window. The ride was now "complete" and the photos taken for the competition. Luckily, on November 21st, 2009 the Grand Am VT was announced as a First Place winner in the Crazy for the Hokiemobiles contest!
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