Well, after a couple years I finally got another 3rd Gen bird! Picked up this 89 GTA from PA yesterday. I think I paid top dollar (6k) but to me the body and paint were worth it. This car literally didn't have one scratch, dent, or chip in the paint. Notice I said "didn't". While unloading it off the trailer this morning, I caught the driver fender GFX and put a nice tear in it. Bunch of paint came of too. Anyways, I've already bought a replacement from a member and will have it painted to match the car. Some details... The car is SUPER clean. Not even any rust underneath. 57k original miles Nice original interior Did have a high quality repaint a few years back. Only add ons are a Flowmaster exhaust from the y-pipe back and K&N filter Only things I plan to do right away is a couple pieces of weatherstrip, hood struts, shorty headers, Y-pipe, put the GTA emblems back on, and new tires. Here's some pics...

Oh, and my F-up if you didn't notice them in the other pics.

defiantly top dollar, but look stop notch too... NICE!!!

nice gta. I love black and white gta's Wow low miles good find. is it stock or modded?

It's stock, as far as I know. Someone swapped out the intake runners with some aftermarket ones. I'll have to do some digging to see if anything else has been changed.

If the paint, body, and interior are as clean and straight as you claim (and it looks like they are) I don't think $6k is out of line. Frankly if you came in here and said you only paid $5k for it I, I'd say you got a screamin deal for a GTA with recent paint and 57,000 miles. Clean straight third gens like that are not exactly easy to find these days, and when you do find one, they seem to bring top dollar.

Be sure to get the correct GTA badging back on the car, I'm suprised at how much I don't like the car without them.

I'm assuming its an LB9 car?

It has the L98 350tpi. Auto trans.

It really is a clean car. Didn't even have one rock chip or anything on it. To me, a clean body with mint paint is worth extra money, because I have no desire to get into body or paint work. I enjoy turning wrenches, but sanding isn't for me.

I'll try to get a pic of the engine posted up later today. No leaks or anything, but could use a detailing under the hood.

I'll also try to get a pic of underneath in the next couple days. Gonna have to do some custom exhaust work in the near future. Right now it has stock manifolds, but there are 2 separate pipes that run to where the cat would normally be, then it goes into a single 3" flowmaster cat back. I'll have to look at it better to see exactly what's under there.

I ordered a new set of the GTA emblems. He gave me the originals, but a couple of them look a little weathered.

Under hood shot. What kind of intake runners are those?

Looks great! Accidents do happen though. I too like white GTA's.

The runners are SLP's...

Looks good!!! I'd say $6000 is a fair price for that car.

Congratulations on a gorgeous car. Like others have said, $6K was a very fair price for what you have. I have admit some jealousy, though. This is EXACTLY the car I was searching for. I'd have bought it for that price immediately.

i agree, you paid a quite fair price for the car, its looks immaculate, I've seen people ask more for rustbuckets.

sucks about the gfx though, but at least you didn't damage the fender. That part can be repaired or replaces/paint for not a lot of cash

good buy

Ive got an 89 as well. Black 28k miles. All is original. Nothing modified. Plan on staying that way. Ive added a few pics of mine. I recommend bridgestone potenzas for repalcement tires. I did some resarch already. My tire size is 245/50/16. Go look at tirerack.com

Got the emblems on her and new tires installed. I don't know, maybe the car would look better with the side mouldings installed? What do you think?

The sun wasn't out so the pics aren't great...

looks good, leave the side mouldings off though.

I paid 10k for mine and I thought I hada deal. The reason I justify that price is that it only has 28k miles and it looks brand new and in mint condition, the interior is flawless not even any *** prints in the seats.

that a really clean gta, i have one exactly like it no tints but yours looks better than mine lol.

That car looks amazing! What kind of springs are on it? I vote to Leave the moldings off of yours, I really wish I didn't have them on mine.

I think the springs are stock, but I really can't say for sure. They look original to me.

Got the fender ground effect painted and installed now.

Ordered a TransGo shift kit from Dana (Pro Built Automatics) and some stereo stuff, but other than that just been cruisin! I do have to admit one thing though... if I don't make this car faster I might get bored with it.

The car looks a little lower than stock too me, especially the front end. Unless its just sitting at weird angles in every picture giving the illusion. lol

excellent car, i would skip the side mouldings, the engine looks pretty stock meaning there is alot of tweaks you can do for more power, very nice.

That is one nice GTA, Congrats!

+1 for Dana's Shift Kit. I just recently had the pleasure of taking a ride in a fellow members 39K mile L98 89GTA w/ Dana's Shift Kit and was VERY impressed! Enough so to swap out the T5, lol!

What does the shift kit do for the auto? Or are you swapping it to a manual? I'm confused, but very interested if there is an upgrade for the auto trans, as that is what I'm running.

From what I'm told Dana's shift kit provides smooth shifts while just cruising, but when you get on it the shifts are much faster and firmer for performance.

The street/strip kit I ordered is still fully automatic in drive, but if you want to manually shift through the gears it'll hold each gear until you manually shift up to the next. http://www.700r4l60e.com/store/home.php?cat=65


That's good to here. Was his car pretty much stock otherwise?

So it basically allows for it to become sequential, as in it can only go 1-2-3-4 and vice versa? And it holds each until you actually move the shifter to 1-2-D-OD?

Is the 700R4 the auto tranny that comes in thirdgens?

If you put the gear selector in "D" or "OD", the trans will still operate fully automatic as stock. The only difference will be the quicker/firmer shifts and possibly better RPM shift points.

If you drop it below "D", yes, the trans will shift to what ever gear you move the selector to.

Third gens do use the 700r4.

Sorry man, you got my head spinning trying to explain this right.

The trans won't be fully manual under "D". If you start off in "2", the trans will still start in 1st gear and then shift to 2nd. Hopefully someone else will explain it better for you.

The stock tranny seems to have decent shift points. At WOT it goes to redline and under normal driving it shifts at like 2 or 3 grand i believe, so I'm really lost on this kit.

I am new here and joined when I purchased a 1989 GTA in June of this year. You guys from Lorain OH and Medina OH may have seen it advertised in the Plain Dealer in June. It was in Niles OH and I bought on my third trip out there to look at it (130 miles round trip!). So, even though I got the car for $4700.00, factor into the price the gas for those 3 trips! The car has 61K original miles and I bought it from the second owner who owned the car for the past 3 years and put 1000 miles on it. It is flame red metallic, gray leather interior, L98 auto, 3.27 axle, T-top. Needs a wing (ordered - missed the group buy) and driver's seat repair. Other than the paint qualifying the car as a "20 footer", it is a solid and fun driver. I know you want to see photos and I am going to add them in another post.

Congrats on the purchase.

What city are you in?

I picked up my GTA in New Castle, PA which is about 45min southeast of Niles. I had to drive 4hrs round trip to get it, but thought that was pretty close.

A few other details on my 89 GTA. I knew it needed a water pump and it failed just as I pulled in my driveway on the trip home. The previous owner had a new pump for me in the back seat. I replaced the trans mount - it was wasted, and refilled the diff with royal purple as the posi clutches were making noise in reverse. I ordered a kit from Top-Down Solutions to repair the left headlight door - the bushings were trashed. Works fine now, but now the right headlight is acting up, likely from all the use I've been giving it compared to the last three years. The repair kit has enough parts to fix both doors and the right side looks easier to do. Here are some photos from the first time I went to look at it after the car basically sat for 3 years. I worked on the paint and it cleaned up well and while it was a big improvement, the paint is a weak area. For $4700 I am not complaining, however, and I am having alot of fun.

Here's the last photo. The car is rust free. Underside is like new.

Wow! Nice looking car.

What's wrong with the paint? Looks great in the pics. I don't see anything wrong with the wing either.

I am in Lakewood. I have to get some better photos up. Your car looks very clean, especially without the side mouldings. These are fun cars, aren't they? I am having so much fun I have not ridden my ElectraGlide for 2 weeks! I have a stock exhaust and don't like some of the aftermarket stuff because the tailpipes look ridiculously large, but yours look good. How does that Flowmaster sound? My car is so low that I'd be afraid the pipes (aftermarket) would scrape backing out of my drive, etc. The stock tailpipes are tucked up pretty good and have an angle cut probably for that very reason. I need a headliner and I am taking the car to an interior shop Tuesday. Riding with the tops out at highway speed is hard on the headliner above the rear seat. I was going to drive out to Summit Racing today just for an excuse to drive it somewhere, but, well you know - it rained.

The paint is 20 foot quality. Had some repairs over the years and there are a few runs down by the ground effects. I talked to the original owner who I was able to track down. He had a fender-bender once and some panels repainted because of scratches (keyed? he did not elaborate). The repainted areas are medium quality at best and were not blended well into the un-repainted areas. The wing cracked and water gets it and rusts out the metal frame. Not repairable. Have a fiberglass repro on order from Hawks Third Gen. I had an '87 Formula with the same style wing 15 years ago and it was starting to crack also.

The Flowmaster sounds like a flowmaster, pretty loud. My car doesn't have the cats anymore either. I like the way it sounds, but if it was my daily driver I'd swap it out for something else. It does tuck up nicely though.

My headliner will need replaced soon as well, but that's pretty much a given with any third gen. My car is far from perfect, but nothing I can't fix over time. I bought this car as a summer, nice weather driver. Not sure if I want to dump a lot of money in it, but we'll see. I sure would like it to have some more ponies under the hood!

You're not to far from me. If you'd like we could meet up sometime to cheack out each other's car. Maybe meet halfway somewhere.

Ever go to Quaker Steak and Lube (is that Sheffield?) on Sundays? I went last week with my car. Parked between a red '67 427 Corvette and a red '65 Buick Wildcat convertible. My car was invisible. But, it was not the rattiest car there. If it gets as hot as they say I probably will not go tomorrow, but perhaps another Sunday.

Looks good. I personally like the bsm, looks incomplete without them. Also, you have the wrong steering wheel, so add it to the list...;-)

Yeah, I have a Chevelle I take there a few times a year. If you're gonna go sometime shoot me a pm or something if you remember. I'll be brave and take the GTA there if I know there'll be another one there. Most people don't pay much attention to these newer cars there.

That steering wheel wasn't available in an 89 GTA? It's leather wrapped like the RPO code reads. Is it from a different year or car?

My car also came with a factory CD stereo. Maybe the steering wheel with radio controls didn't come with the CD player?

I looked into the steering wheel further, and that is the original steering wheel. 394 GTA's came equipped with a CD Stereo and got the "NP5" steering wheel while 8076 GTA's got the more common "NK4" wheel with radio controls and Cassette Stereo....

1989 GTA Steering Wheel Options....

NK4 -- Steering Wheel, Sport Leather-Wrapped -- 8,076
UK3 -- Radio Controls, Steering Wheel -- 8,076
UT4 -- Radio, AM/FM, Cassette, Equalizer, Clock -- 8,076

NP5 -- Steering Wheel, Leather-Wrapped -- 394
U1A -- Radio, AM/FM, CD, Equalizer, Clock -- 394

Yeah, my GTA has the NP5 steering wheel as well, but I have the tape deck. Thought I was the only one.

[quote=Slick71ss;4225044]It has the L98 350tpi. Auto trans.

quote]

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Beautiful ride !!!
6K is not too much.

Your car has T-tops and a 350?

Correct me if I am wrong.....
If your 3rd gen came with T-tops or a 5-speed - it came with a 305.
Only Non T-top cars came with the 350.
The 350 was only offered with the automatic trans.
I know there are aftermarket t-topped 3rd gen's from the dealers
out there that did not adhere to that.

You could get the 350 with t-tops through 1989. 1990 and later cars are the ones that couldn't have the 350 and t-tops.

My 1989 350 GTA has t-tops as well.

I have the window sticker. L98 5.7, T-top.

Wow, did not know that! Always learning something new about these cars

T-tops were available with the 350 only in 1989 and just about every 350 GTA that year had them. Some 350 equipped GTAs that were exported to Canada were built with factory t-tops even though the factory order sheets show them as N/A with the 5.7.

You have a beautiful car. I always preferred white.

nice gta i just picked mine up saturday
=D