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The category this month is WILD CARD. That means that the "nominees" are pre-selected by way of their status as second place runners up from the past year's COTM contests.
*Editor's Note: Last May, there was a three-way tie for second place. I had to make a decision as to which of those three would likely have the best shot at winning in a contest such as this.
Here's to second chances. And here are this month's Wild Card Nominees.
Suspension:
850# Front / 150# Rear Springs
36mm Front / 24mm Rear Sway Bars
Urethane Bushings, ½” Extended Ball Joints
Koni Shocks (double adjustable rear & single in front)
Fays II Competition Watts Link
De-la-lum Delrin/Aluminum Control Arm Bushings
UMI Frame Connectors, Rear Control Arms
Relocation Brackets & Strut Mounts
C4HD Corvette Front / 97 Trans Am Rear Brakes
13.2”Front/12.7”Rear Cross Drilled/Slotted Rotors
Hawk Pads, 1LE modified Hubs/Spindles/Bearings
No rubber bushings remain in the entire car
275/40-17 Nitto555 on American Racing 17x9 Rebel wheels
Body:
Original 50,000mi rust free body
Stripped to bare metal
Epoxy primed, PPG base clear in factory color
All new weatherstrip, upholstery, carpet & headliner
Modified stereo, w/ double DIN Pioneer APP radio, Amps & Alpine component speakers.
Car was done to appear stock, with minor visual mods to complement the engine & suspension upgrades.
Here are some more pictures of the build progress.
Car was a 3 year project which grew out of control very quickly.
What started as a paint job, grew to an engine swap, then a full on restoration.
By the time I was done, everything but the dash wiring was removed from the car.
Overall I'm very happy with the result. I won best modified in the 90-99 class at The Cabelas car show, which had approx 1500 entrants. On the 90mi ride there I got over 20mpg at 75-80mph.
Better than anything is the performance... I now have an 11sec car with incredible handling/stopping power, that I can drive anywhere. It started with 190hp & became a car that now buries the 140mph speedometer in 4th gear. Every bit of the car was built/assembled by myself with the only part being partially farmed out was the paint at my friends shop. I participated in every aspect of this as well, since I had previous experience working at a body shop. I just did not have a spray booth to achieve the quality of paint work that I desired at home, so I had to get some outside help.
It evolved from my summer driver to a complete resto-mod style project over the 12+ years I have owned it.
I went in blind & gained a lot of knowledge with respect to LSx engine swaps & the nuances of the 3rd gen platform.
Thanks to all for the advice & tech help over the course of the project.
I think this is like the 4th time I've been up for this, lol means a lot to me. No pics for me this time around though, as my car isn't worthy of COTM in it's current state. It's been sitting since march, and I've done nothing with it in about a year. It's pretty sad looking, but I promise it will be back within the next year or 2. So with that said, my vote goes to Stuart S. Good luck everyone!
Since I'm lazy, I'll just repost what I had on the July COTM thread with a couple of added pics.
This is my 7200 mile, 1989 IROC-Z with an LB9 and 5 speed.
It was originally bought new by a little, old, lady from Santa Rosa, California. She wasn't really old, I just added that for effect. . But she was a little lady. Her friends convinced her that she REALLY needed a convertible after her divorce. Apparently she was an Asian woman with short legs (not making that up!) and had a hard time reaching the clutch pedal. So from 1989 through 2004 it was only driven about 6300 miles. The car was meticulously maintained however, even if not driven.
In 2004, a car collector from Wisconsin bought it and only put on about 26 miles during the 9 years he owned it. The rest of the time he had it on display in the "showroom" area of his garage. He told me he never even washed it during that period and in fact, never even titled it!. Those 26 miles were driven to and from a local Chevy dealer when it was displayed for the 2010 intro of the 5th gen Camaro. The dealer wanted one Camaro from each generation.
In 2013 he sold it to someone in the Miami area and that's who I bought it from this year.
I got it a couple of months ago and have been fiddling with it ever since. The car drives and feels like a new car. Lots of fun to drive! Interior is virtually factory fresh perfect. The bottom is as clean as the top. I need to get the factory radio back in, though. (EDIT: It's back in!!!)
Here's a couple pictures I had handy. I'll try to take more in the next couple of days:
Here it is at 11:00 PM the first night I got it. Even though it came in an enclosed trailer, it was pretty dirty. No way was I going to bed and leaving it like that!
Here's a couple more:
Still has the rubber door bumpers the factory put on for shipping to the dealer:
By some miracle it still has all four of it's factory gray valve stem caps, even after a tire change:
As I had posted previously, my 1989 Pontiac Trans Am GTA has about 38k original miles. It is an L98 t-top car, wearing its original Gunmetal Metallic (87U) paint. I am the second titled owner of this car, and its story is unique. I first saw this car on the road in 1998, and knowing exactly what it was, I couldn't help but follow it and inquire if it was for sale, as I was looking for a TA/GTA. While advised it was not for sale at the time, I was told by the driver that it was her brother's car (he had gotten it in 1989 for his high school graduation) and he had recently passed away, and that her parents were keeping "his baby" in his memory. I asked if she would take my number, which she did, and she placed it in the console. In the interim, I ended up finding my '87 TA (which I still own as well).
Fast forward 15 years to 2013, and I received a call from the girl I had spoken to as a high school kid back in 1998... The car was for sale! I had to look... The car had only gone 900 miles in 15 years, and while it had been run, it was used very sparingly and only locally - it was filthy, but nonetheless remained completely original and unmolested. I needed the car like I needed a hole in the head, but I had to buy it and bring it back to its former glory...
The car remains very original and it retains its original plugs, wires, hoses, exhaust and aerowing. I did replace the injectors, serpentine belt, distributer, tires, and front brake hoses. The A/C is still R12 and ice cold.
I want to thank you for the re-nomination!
Anyway, without further adieu, here are a some pictures of my GTA...
December 2016 COTM Alternate Descripton / Category....Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride...
I appreciate the opportunity to again present my 1988 Trans Am. Always stiff competition regardless of the category and this month is no different.
Here's my story once again.
After graduating from college in May of 1987 I started thinking, or really dreaming, about buying a sports car / muscle car. My dad had always been a GM guy and thus that kind of made me one by default. The Ford Mustang was really the only other option at that time in the class of cars I was considering, but it didn't do much for me and I just gravitated toward the Camaros and Firebirds. I especially liked both the IROC and the Trans Am models. I took both for test drives and spent a lot of time reading and re-reading the brochures. Both were great cars and really couldn't go wrong in my opinion.
Ultimately I think I liked the interior a little better on the Pontiacs as well as a few things on the exterior including the pop-up headlights and the rear spoiler. So after working up a budget to save enough for a down payment, I ordered the car I wanted from a local Pontiac dealer in February 1988. The anticipation over the next 8 weeks was nearly unbearable. The car arrived around the 3rd week of April and I was ecstatic.
When I finally got it home I just wanted to drive it. I never thought about how long I may have it or that I would have it now for 27+ years. That first summer I put 12,000 miles on it. When November came around I put it into storage as fortunately I still had my old 1975 Olds Delta 88 that had previously been my parents car. So needless to say the Trans Am has never seen snow or salt that come with Wisconsin winters. The next year I put on 6,000 miles, and each year after the miles diminished. My wife and I got married in 1990 and we did drive it up to the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior for our honeymoon, but after we had kids there were a number of summers where I never even took it out of storage. That was tough. Getting it back out in the spring is always a great feeling with much anticipation. So this year I finally got it out of winter hibernation on May 7th and the car is running and performing perfectly.
As for the car itself, it is a 305 TPI with a 5-speed manual transmission and the WS-6 suspension package. T-tops, power everything, and AM/FM with cassette. The car just hit 49,000 miles this past weekend. Everything is still stock with the exception of the tires (which were finally replaced only three years ago), the alternator (that finally died two years ago), and the water pump that I just replaced last summer. Paint and all interior items are original. I did install new after market speakers last fall as the factory speakers had started to crackle, but the head unit is still original. The speakers are still concealed and I the size matches the stock speakers so as to avoid cutting anything.
The color of my '88 Trans Am Maui Blue with the silver ground effects. In the Trans Am model, this was the only year for this paint scheme. As mentioned above this is the original paint. It is a survivor!
Thanks for your consideration for this month's COTM
Oh my. such a really great group of cars!! (all winners in my book!)
all are the stuff dreams are made of.
Stuart S - I love black TAs...but yours..wow. I am amazed - could easily go your color!
I will wait to vote as I want to see all the people (scott and carlos this means you!) to post up more current pics. I know scott has been working on his and Carlos I have seen a lot as well but not current that I recall.
Stuart S... seriously when you decide you are bored with that... mssg me!
Last edited by IMissMy86TA; Nov 15, 2016 at 09:34 PM.
Oh my. such s really great group of cars (all winners in my book!)
all are the stuff dreams are made of.
Stuart S - I love black TAs...but yours..wow. I am amazed - could easily go your color!
I will wait to vote as I want to see all the people (scott and carlos this means you!) to post up more current pics. I know scott has been working on his and Carlos I have seen a lot as well but not current that I recall.
Stuart S... seriously when you decide you are bored with that... mssg me!
Some very nice cars in here, I especially dig the '82 Pace car & I'm a sucker for a Black '91-'92 GTA those seem to be the rarest to find since they were lowest production.
But I have a soft spot for my fellow mans '87 Iroc since It looks just like my 1st Camaro.
So I voted for Scott's Iroc.
Mine was same Dark Red "Metallica" grey & black striped '87 w/ grey cloth deluxe interior, with 2 differences, I had the last year of the Carb LG4 5.0 4 barrel V8 and It was a Hardtop, w/ Flowmaster 80s series cat-back.
Well, since we just went through an election process much larger than this, I decided to cast my vote for a car that has a good chance of winning, rather than "throwing my vote away".
While I've said it before, I'll say it again. My car has received so much recognition outside of TGO that I'm ok having not ever won the COTM. It would be cool, but I just enjoy seeing the beautiful cars locked into one thread. I appreciate the votes. All of the finalists are winners in my book.
Just figured I would weigh in here since I have not posted anything about my car. I won COTM once and I was honored. So I feel someone else should get to win. But I do appreciate being nominated again, even as a runner up. The cars here are all fine examples and I wish them luck.
Thanks! I haven't taken any new photos in the past few months and I'm not really interested in telling any stories about the car. I'm not expecting to win nor do I really care. Good luck to all of the contestants... you all have beautiful cars! Thanks for the second chance, and here are a few more photos of Lucille, my 1991 Trans Am GTA.
Last edited by carlos64030; Nov 30, 2016 at 05:48 AM.
Carlos...you got my vote. ALL gorgeous....most I've seen before, but again all great examples of our "Gen". .....but I got to your GTA, with the gold on black, stance, 17" mesh...the tint....and the relatively rare later year GTA...and I just....kept.....staring.
Where is DBLTKE? That's a badass car! ... Badass competition!
COTM really needs to adopt the rule that members can only be entered if they approve the nomination. He didn't post when he was nominated the first time either. Why vote for someone who has no involvement?
Carlos...you got my vote. ALL gorgeous....most I've seen before, but again all great examples of our "Gen". .....but I got to your GTA, with the gold on black, stance, 17" mesh...the tint....and the relatively rare later year GTA...and I just....kept.....staring.
All great cars! I went with LonnieP. I was really impressed with his car when it was up against my Formula. That was a close competition too! Good luck to all the nominees!
So far 24 of us went with DBLTKE. Tied with Lonnie for #1. Nice! But where is DBLTKE input?
I googled and saw he was COTM winner in 2013, but where is he now?
Would like to see updated pics and specifications.
COTM really needs to adopt the rule that members can only be entered if they approve the nomination. He didn't post when he was nominated the first time either. Why vote for someone who has no involvement?
. But she was a little lady. Her friends convinced her that she REALLY needed a convertible after her divorce. Apparently she was an Asian woman with short legs (not making that up!) and had a hard time reaching the clutch pedal. So from 1989 through 2004 it was only driven about 6300 miles. The car was meticulously maintained however, even if not driven.
please post some photo essays!
