Jason E

So, now that I've cashed the check for the purchase of my RS (bittersweet to see it go), I've narrowed it down to either a Firehawk or TTA to replace it once I sell the TA. I'd prefer a TTA. Prices seem to be all over the map though.

What's a good price to pay for a TTA with under 40k miles? Having a hard time establishing fair-market for one.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

$15-$20K for a low miles mint one. $10K or under for a ratty one. On the ratty ones watch out for missing parts. The heat shield on the coolant overflow tank for example is impossible to find.

Jason E

My goal was/is to find a low mileage one for $15-16k, if possible. Right now, it seems totally impossible. The only one in my area has 17,000 miles on it, and the guy wants $28k for it! He's a classic car dealer, and claims he just sold his 7,000 mile '89 GTA for $23k, so "this one's gotta be worth more."

I offered him a job. He appeared confused. I said "if you can sell a plain old GTA for over $20k, I need someone like you on my staff." He was not amused.

I was hoping a TTA tends to be about $5-6k more than a comparable GTA. I found a gorgeous 18k mile '88 GTA hardtop for $10,900 for sale locally...its on eBay as well, at $8k right now with 1 day left. I'm considering calling them and leaving a deposit over the phone if they'll take $10k. Seems like a good deal for a GTA...that TTA seems purely wacked out to me.

eseibel67

As always, personal inspection and pictures on the internet are 2 different stories. But this one seems legit at first glance, and the price seems reasonable.

The only issue that jumps out is that the wheels have been painted or replaced, they should be gold.

Just make sure it hasn't been cracked up and repaired, which of course is a possibility even on a low mileage car.

And I would be skeptical buying from a dealer. They make their living by telling you what you want to hear. I prefer to buy from a private seller because you can always extract the real story.

This one is worth checking out. Good luck.

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

Last year I paid less than 20 grand for my TTA with 27K miles, in great shape. I think the market has softened even more since then and you should be able to find one in your range as long as you look nationwide and not just in your area. There was a guy selling a hardtop with 40K on it for 17500 on turbotransam.com. I don't know if he sold it yet, but he had it on the board for awhile.
http://www.turbotransam.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=4854

Jason E

I'm a little confused, here...do you know the actual car I'm referring to? I didn't provide a link, but it sounds like it!!

I was wondering about the wheels...I thought they should be gold for an '88. I like them in the charcoal/black/whatever they are (hard to tell).

For everyone else, this is the car I THINK we're both talking about

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ponti...mZ160576916319

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

Looks like a good deal. Almost too good to be true. There's an 87 GTA for sale by me and the guy is asking 18 grand for it. Granted the car only has 8k miles.

Jason E

^^ I'm calling on it at lunch. Do me a favor, guys...don't bid on it! Going to see if I can get them to end the auction early, and sell it for $10k or less...its only 2 hours from me, so I can go see it in the flesh tomorrow. Just sucks, because the bidding ends about the time I'd be getting there. If it bids higher, I lose out. If I leave a deposit over the phone, and it isn't what they say it is, I'll have to fight for the deposit back (MA laws should protect me ok)...

puma1552

iTrader: (1)

Burn hole in the seat, webbing on the spoiler, surface rust in the engine bay, a few dings on the doors, and a few big chips on the nose, dealer badge of some sort stuck to the bottom of the rear bumper...I'd pass.

92GTA

iTrader: (11)

I'd pass too, the money is burning a hole in your pocket lol.

I'd wait for the right TTA to come along, they are damn near falling off trees if you look hard enough...

eseibel67

88 GTA on Ebay in MA. It wasn't too hard to find.

hardon85

I agree you will kick yourself in a year when you find the TTA you wanted. My advice to anyone buying a car is don't settle for less than you want, my brother buys new vehicles about once a year and everytime it's the same story he wanted this but this one was such a good deal he couldn't resist and in 6 months he hates it and talks himself into needing a new truck for whatever reason and the cycle continues. Personally I have been looking for a new daily driver for about 2 years but the "right one" hasn't come along but I do know it will sometime but in the meantime I don't mind the car I bought 6 years ago other than reliability issues it's still a car I really like and it's paid off to boot (part of having no car payment was how I talked my wife into getting my 3rd gen). When I looked for my Camaro I did settle a little bit because I initially wanted a convertible 5 speed but for a number of reasons I settled on a 5 speed t-top car but it was still 500 miles away from me but I don't regret getting it one bit a year later. Sorry it got a bit lengthy but my point is if you get this GTA and in a year you find the TTA for $14,000 what are you gonna do? I imagine you would consider selling this GTA to get the TTA (at least I know I would). If I were you I would stick the money in the bank and stick $100 to $200 a month in that account and keep searching and in a year or however long it takes you to find the right car (maybe less) you will be able to afford more. Good luck and keep us updated.

Also like it was pointed out don't be afraid to look nationwide I made a mini-vacation out of getting my Camaro I flew from Minneapolis to Milwaukee for $63 and about $50 in gas I was home and the trip home was a blast. But when you price out transporting cars it isn't as expensive as you would think to bring it home.

OUTATIME GTA

iTrader: (2)

Can definitely be found for under 15K if you have patience. I used to look for these often and since they are rare, some dealers do tend to go overboard on their 20K+ pricetag. It would have to be a very rare optioned and low mile TTA for that.

Just curious, but what do you plan to do with it? A rare driver for resale later? Looks like you have, or had some low mile 3rd gens in the past.

Jason E

Wow, you make it sound like a POS, and here I was thinking its pretty damn good!!!

1) The burn hole in the seat I can have fixed by my local trim guy for about $40. With the work he does, unless you stared at the cushion for 30 seconds, you'd never tell.

2) He described and sent pics of the dings...nothing my PDR guy can't fix.

3) Where is the surface rust?

4) There are a few small scuffs on the bottom of the bumper...the "chips" I think you are referring to are supposedly white flecks of something stuck on the nose he was going to have his detailer remove.

5) Show me one TA for sale that doesn't need a spoiler

So, what's the bottom line today? Who knows After going back and forth today on the phone, he agreed to $10,000...but then I found out the AC compressor is locked up from sitting for so long. Now, he wants me to pay his cost for a compressor and he'll put it on for free. So I'm at about $10,300, plus a spoiler, plus 4 new tires (original Gatorbacks aren't safe...been there/done that with the IROC last year).

Meanwhile, for a paltry $2,200 more, all in, I can have a hugger orange 99 SS with 17k on it, that needs nothing at all. This is where I start to lose focus. I love third gens, but I don't know what to do...

Jason E

Whatever I buy is going to be a VERY lightly used cruiser, for about 500-700 miles a year. My IROC is treated in the same manner. My RS is gone, and the TA is leaving as soon as someone buys it...have 2 good leads on it. The Z28 will become the "summer driver," adding about 5,000 fun miles a year on it on weekends...this will be doing what the RS has done for the past 5 years...

I am not looking to resell...I don't normally do that. The IROC will go to my grave...the Z28 I've owned for 10 years...the RS and TA are the only 2 cars I've sold in 10 years!

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Why keep posting these threads when you change your mind all the time? I'm not trying to pick on you, but this is getting silly. You've been excited about three different cars in the last 24 hours. Settle down Beavis.

the solitaire

Actually, if I were in the same situation, I think I'd try to search for the TTA untill I found one.
Amongs the different Camaros and Firebirds made it is one of the more desireable models, being a limited production run model and all.

It's also white by default which looks quite nice, and the engine is quite a nice performer as well.

If you don't mind the possibility that certain replacement parts are going to be near impossible to get in the future, and you might have to revert to creative solutions (I know quite a bunch of people with 2nd gen pacecar firebirds having big problems getting replacement parts) then I'd say go for it and pass on any of those "next best thing" kidn of offers you run across during your search.

puma1552

iTrader: (1)

This is a good point, it's hard enough as it is to get NOS replacement parts for my run-of-the-mill RS, even with the most common interior option/color/etc. Getting parts for what amounts to a show car where that stuff actually matters could prove to be agonizing.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

I won't deny that you can probably get a better 4th gen for almost the same money nowadays. But I don't know, 4th gens just don't press my buttons the same way as 3rd gens. You can coldly, analytically, look at it and say that a 4th gen is a measurably better car for the money.......but so what? It's still won't be as cool as a nice 3rd gen, it won't look as good as a nice 3rd gen, and you won't love it as much as a nice 3rd gen....

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Here's my suggestion... If you have limited space, and limited resources, decide what you really want and go get it. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about this car, or that car. It's not like anyone here is buying your fuel, paying your storage, or turning the wrenches for you. You have to do whatever makes you happy. Trying to spread your efforts across multiple cars, or buying into a car, doing a little work, and selling it will lead to never accomplishing goals.

It seems like you're more interested in the chase then actually enjoying the car once you get it. If that's what you enjoy, stick to the nicest of the nice cars, and buy/sell one a year until you've owned one of everything at least once. If you really want something to keep and work with long term, focus on what you really want and stop letting yourself get distracted by other cars.

GTA50

For TTA's or any Thirdgen for that matter, why not ask a member to go look at the car for you? So, check out www.turbotransam.com and go from there.

If the car is a little out of the way and someone is willing to go look at it and you cover the expenses....seems a whole lot cheaper than a plane ticket, etc. That is, unless you really want a road trip.

Jason E

Actually, the chase is the most irritating part I spent all afternoon looking at 2 SSs, and am feeling the GTA is looking better all the time. For the record, I started this thread solely to help figure out a guideline on TTA pricing at this point, to help me figure out if I can truly afford one, or my head is in the clouds. Some people have told me I can find a decent one for $15,000, yet nationwide right now, I don't see one...nor do I want to buy one sight-unseen, either.

In reality, it was one of the recent purchases that actually led me to purge myself of two of them. Buying my IROC made me realize that going low mileage and near-mint is far better for me than taking 2 rougher ones and trying to make them factory fresh. I have neither the time nor patience for that. When I got my IROC out this Spring, one drive in it made me think of how cool it would be to have a pair...which then led me to the GTA thing...which then made me think it'd be nice to have a TTA...which led to this thread.

You may think I'm nuts, but there actually is a method here. I'm downsizing from 4 cars to 3, want 2 really mint low mileage cars (IROC is one, what will be the other??) and 1 to drive...the driver will be my Z28, replacing my RS.

See? Method I agree...its impossible keeping up too many cars when you're a perfectionist like me. It doesn't work...hence the downsizing, and replacing 1 high mileage car and 1 low mileage cosmetically challenged car with one mint offering...

Don't mean to irk people...just trying to figure out if $15k is reasonable or not. So far, I'd say not...

Jason E

Not a bad idea....

puma1552

iTrader: (1)

Have you thought about cars outside the F-body realm?

For $15k you could get into a pretty nice GN, or a mint, sub-30k mile '96-'98 Cobra, among others. '94-'95 Cobras would be even cheaper--you could get an original Indy Pace Car '94 'vert for your price range.

As much as I'd love to have a red 350 '90 IROC, at the same time there are just too many other cars out there that I like too; if I had two or more of what are more or less the same, I'd agonize over comparing the two, always thinking one was better/nicer/tighter than the other instead of enjoying them for what they are. Whereas, if I had two completely different models, I'd be able to enjoy them equally, not compare them, and wouldn't have to buy parts in pairs. Plus it's just kind of cool to be known as the guy who's always got hot cars, be it Corvettes, F-bods, GNs, Mustangs, M3s, etc. rather than the guy who always just has more of the same over and over.

The way I see it, with a 21k mile 350 IROC, you've already got the pinnacle of third gens more or less. It's hard to top that, and TTAs are all the same. I'd try to find the pinnacle of another flavor. It just seems kind of wasteful/redundant to have a bunch of money tied up in the same thing; if I'm going to have $30k, $40k, $50k tied up in vehicles, personally I'd prefer to spread it around the automotive landscape and get a feel for having ownership of numerous different platforms. That in itself can help you appreciate each platforms' strong points more vividly than when you don't have anything to compare it to--I'm quite excited to drive my 'Stang for the first time, and compare it to the Camaro.

For my money, I'd be looking hard at an SN-95 Cobra, but that's just me and at heart I'm probably a Mustang guy, since a 5.0 was the car I originally wanted when I was 15, but I digress--variety is the spice of life.

GTA50

No offense, but that does kind of take it out of the Thirdgen History/Restoration category. LOL

Jason E

Agreed

Puma, I appreciate the thoughts...but there's really nothing else besides a 3rd or 4th gen that appeals to me. Maybe I'm jaded because I work for a new car dealer and drive different vehicles all the time (current demo is a an SRT10 Ram )...there's simply nothing I like better. I was strongly considering 4th gen Firehawks and SSs, but a drive in my Trans Am last night re-confirmed it just feels right driving a third gen. I'm sticking to a TTA or GTA, for sure now.

I placed an inquiry on a 63k mile TTA in New York...waiting to hear back. The car is on eBay for $16,500, cars-on-line.com for $18,500. I'd prefer lower miles, but we'll see what this guy says. I'm still haggling with the guy from the eBay ad on the 88 GTA. They won't budge from $10,000, but the car needs a rear wing, A/C compressor (locked up when I asked them to see if it worked!), the burn hole in the rear seat fixed and I'd put 4 new tires on it for safety (has original Gatorbacks still on it). I'm trying to get them to $9,500, but they don't seem to want to budge.

We'll see what happens...I have access to a small classic car sale at a huge mega auction I go to every week on June 1st. The last 2 years, 1 TTAs ran at each one ('10 a 36k mile one did $14,000, '09 a 13k mile one was stolen for only $13,500!)...I wonder if one may be there this year??

Jason E

Well, I got the guy on the GTA shown above down to $9,500. For a 350 GTA with under 20k miles, that needs nothing more than a couple paintless-dent-dings removed and a small burn hole in the seat repaired, I'm pretty psyched.

I'm going out with a bank check on Friday morning, and plan to bring it home with me. I'll post pictures of it when I get it home, if anyone is interested. Big surprise...sold a third gen for another third gen

I may end up keeping my 86 after all...all I'm getting is kids interested in it, and I'm not selling it to a kid...and if I can't even get $4,000 out of it from an adult, it can stay in the garage for all I care...