Pontiac Trans AM Fire Bird GTA 1987 1986 1988 1989

 This pontiac has been my baby now for eighteen years.   I purchased her from my neighbor when I was a young man.   He would pull it out in his drive and wash and wax it.   I would usually notice him doing this and I wanted the car for quite some time before I finally asked him if he would sell her.   It has been a ton of fun to own and drive and as the years have gone by it has increasingly turned more heads as it has become a scarce vehicle to see out on the road especially in this condition.   The car is fully loaded and runs very strong.   It has the GTA package which includes the extra stiff handling components.   The car is all original with the exception of the power antenna and the stereo.   The car came with a factory power antenna that died a few years after I got the car.   I very carefully replaced it with an aftermarket power antenna which has worked very well for ten years now and still works great.   I am a mechanic (not for a living anymore) and I take pride in everything I touch so I do everything right. no shortcuts.   I have maintained the car very well and take pride in how well I have preserved this vehicle.   The passenger side door and rear quarter panel have also been replaced about thirteen years ago.   I was side swiped by an elderly woman in the passenger side door and quarter.   I took the car to a church brothers auto body repair shop.   They are a very high tech chain of auto repair shops that do impressive and correct auto body repair work.   The shop was just down the road from my employment so I went down and checked on their progress every other day while the car was being fixed.   I insisted on being involved in the repair process because I know these things can hurt value.   I demanded an original door. rust free. and even demanded that it come off a red car.   They had a hard time finding one but when they did I inspected the door and approved it.   It came off a southern car with no rust and only a single ding in it.   I made them change out all the guts and the interior panels.   They also found a factory GM full rear quarter.   They wanted to bondo it but I refused.   I went a few rounds with the insurance co. over that one.   I went down to the shop and witnessed the removed panel and the installation of the new one prior to any paint work.   They did a heck of a great job on the car.   To finish it out the painted the entire passenger side of the car and blended the paint perfectly.   Even today after many years of paint fade and change only a very trained eye would know that it has been painted on the passenger side.   The car does have two dings in it now.   One is on the hood and is an "out-y" dent caused by an idiot at the local oil change service center.   I watched from the waiting room in horror as he placed a handle off of a squegie into one of the hood pockets to hold the hood up.   The damage was done before I could pound on the window.   I should have replaced the hood supports sooner!  I got a lousy $300 for that damage from the insurance co. but I did not have it repaired.   I figured it would hurt the value to have paint work done on the orginal hood.   A few years later my son opened the passenger door into a wooden landscaping timber and put a microscopic ding in it down low.   It is probably only visible to a sharp eyed person that is waxing the car.   I took pics of these two dings but not sure how well they will be visible.   I have also replace the tires one time.   This makes the current set of tires only the second set that have been on the car.  

I have NEVER driven this car in the winter.   It has never seen snow.   I also avoid driving this car in the rain but have gotten caught out in it several times.   The T-tops leak a tiny bit in the rain but what car with t-tops doesn't.   They also leak if you take the car through a car wash which I have a few times but most times I hand wash it because it looks better and I don't like the car wash risk.   Also when I installed the radio I did not cut any wires.   I hate it when people do that. especially with the availability of adaptors for that now.   I used an adaptor and I still have the original radio and it comes with the car.   The interior looks perfect.   But upon closer inspection there are some minor issues.   Firstly I will say that the dashboard is perfect and the seats are perfect. no tears. no cracks. no stains of any kind. carpet is perfect.   I never allowed anyone other than adults have a drink in the car or food.   It has not had anything spilled in it ever that I know of.   You will not find one single french fry or lifesaver anywhere in this car. I don't care even if you take the seats out. they just aren't there.   This car has NEVER been smoked in.   I would think about killing a person for that and everyone that rode in my car knew that.   Both door tops have cracks in the plastic toppers.   This is quite common for these cars and they can be replaced economically.   About five years ago I noticed that the vinyl was starting to warp a bit around the shifter trim ring and appeared to be pulling away slightly.   I purchased some high quality black silicone and laid a bead of it very meticulously around the trim ring to prevent the vinyl from pulling away.   This worked very nicely and it still looks really nice today.   I did something similar on the lid of the armrest to prevent warpage and that worked nicely as well.   I did drill a small hole in the stereo trim ring to facilitate the installation of a 1/8" stereo aux input jack for the modern radio.   This allowed me to play music from my ipod on the stereo.   I regret drilling that hole now even though it looks nice it ruined the original part.   I also have the original sun guards that go over the inside of the t-tops but the fabric needs replacing due to being that old foam backed junk that gm used on every car of that era.   I should also mention that the headliner on the car should be replaced soon as well as it is getting some loose spots in it for that same reason.   Due to the t-tops there is not much of a headliner in these cars and so the trim has a tendancy to hold the headliner material in place in spite of the foam faiure.   It still looks fine and it's not falling down but it does have some loose spots so it's only a matter of time.

One thing I wanted to do before selling the car was replace the rear spoiler.   It is the original rubber unit and the paint has cracked.   I removed it from the car once and repainted it properly.   It only took about three years for it to crack again.   I found an aftermarket supplier that makes an exact fit reproduction unit in fiberglass and they only cost $300.   I had planned to do this work but have not.   I will provide the information to the buyer regarding the maker of that part or I will even do that work if they buyer so wishes and will only charge reasonable fee for painting and installing the new spoiler if you so desire.

The AC still works on this car and has been converted to R134.   It does require topping off with one can of freon every year to maintain cold air.

So in the past five years I haven't driven the car much at all due to my desire to keep it nice.   Now it's really just a hassle for me to store it and I need the money so it's time for her to go I guess.   This car has been loved and enjoyed and taken care of.   I have a large building where the car has been kept for the last ten years. nice and dry and clean.   Prior to that it has spent it's life sitting in the garage and driven only on the most pleasent of days.   I hope you consider making an offer. I would love to see the car go to a good new owner that will appreciate the car as much as I have.   Feel free to ask as many questions as you like. I'll do my best to answer them quickly.  I have tons of pics but could only list 24 pics on ebay.   If you want all of them send me a message and an email to send the pics to.

Also published at eBay.com

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