Ryan Mathews

I bought a 91 GTA a few years back from someone who had owned the car since 92. It came with an invoice from the Ponitac dealer that refers to it as a corporate pilot car. It had about 12,000 miles when he bought it and he only drove it on weekends and claims it's never seen rain or snow since he's had it. He had been storing it in his dad's garage for the last 6 years he had it so when I found it. It had 42,000 miles when I got it and now it's got about 44,000. He had kept all service records for oil changes, tires, an alternator replacement, and some warranty paint repair. It's all original and unmolested. I have 2 questions. The hood looks like a standard firebird hood without the vents. The seller said the car is exactly as he bought it and it appears to be original hood and looks factory installed. Any ideas on the hood and what is a corporate pilot car? My dad is a retired GM engineer who used to bring cars home for short term testing and thought that GM destroyed corporate pilot cars.

t_towner

What are the last digits of the vin? That will tell you how early the car was built.

RPM WOT L 98

iTrader: (3)

Interesting, my 91 GTA is sequence # 202747 and was built in March 1990, so check your VIN, I'd like to see how low it really is.
I can't imagine why a pilot GTA would have the base Firebird hood on it, unless they had some fitment or supplier problems during the pilot program with the GTA hoods.
Could it be related to the warranty paint repair that was done?

Very interested in more info and some pictures!
Mark

Ryan Mathews

The last 6 of the vin is 202431. I know the door tag says it was built in early spring of 1990 but I don't remember the month and the car is in storage until spring. What would be a low vin # for a 1991?

Ryan Mathews

The invoice on the warranty paint repair was on the aero kit at the rear quarters and the guy saved every scrap of paper associated with maintenance and service so I'm pretty sure it's the hood he got the car with from the Pontiac dealer. The dealer is local so I should see if they have any more records on the car.

okfoz

Production started in late Feb, and dealers started taking delivery in March...

I would be interested in seeing the paperwork pertaining to the corporate pilot car as it may shed some light on the subject to what made it a pilot car. It could have been a testbed for some special emissions program or possibly a new paint process.

just curious more than anything.

Dens71TA

iTrader: (5)

Sequence 202431 seems kinda high for a pilot car. That would be the 2,431 '91 Firebird built give or take a few if they skipped around on the seququence numbers. I could see it as being originally ordered for personal use by a corporate exec or upper level employee. One of my friends has a '70 Trans Am that was used for some internal GM and promotional services and the sequence number is under 50.

RPM WOT L 98

iTrader: (3)

Yeah, the 2431st Firebird just doesn't sound like it would have been a pilot car for the facelift of the 1991 Birds, maybe John has a point that it was an R&D car for some new process or new part or option.

okfoz

It could have even been used for photographs for promotional literature. Usually however I have noticed that they use previous year cars and mock them up to look like the next MY car. Since the 91's were technically a mid 1990 MY change they could have used the car for the actual 1991 literature. Just a thought...

John

TAdan

Does the VIN sticker on the flat hood match the cars VIN number?

Ryan Mathews

Attached is the invoice that came with the car from Pontiac. Where should I look for the vin sticker on the hood?

okfoz

Could it have been a pep car?

PEP cars are when they have a GM executive, or engeneer drive the car for a short period. Usually 4000 miles, sometimes it is longer.

What color is the car? maybe it is one in the Dealer Catalog?

John