1989 GTA 350 Convertible triple black, leather, 33k miles $10k

Car is on carsonline. Located in Utah. Owner knows little about the car, and has a financial problem and is being forced to sell this car. Being a 350 makes it special, since it is actually fast, and 99% of the convertibles are not fast. I remember being beaten by a dodge neon in my 92 trans am with a lb9 and automatic. this was back in 1993. Traded car for turbo trans am. and lost convertible top in the process. But here, you get them both. Speed and lack of roof. And the black GTA is the best looking f car of all. Black leather too. Sexy car. Will be worthwhile purchase. Who knows how low they will go on price? These are not seen often, and even with the slow motor, still command higher prices than this.

All I can see from the pics is that the leather looks like it MIGHT be a little bit sunbaked. I am not sure. It is a tiny picture. I am waiting for better interior pictures.

But sunned leather does not affect resale value. Just makes the leather harder to the touch and actually less prone to cracking, since it does not flex much anymore...Most people won't even know there is a problem.

http://cars-on-line.com/51661.html

 

It's either a 305, or it's been swapped. Convertibles were never sold with 350's.

Very nice car, though.

 

It's a true 350 Convertible GTA.

As the GTA was available with the 350 and T-Tops for the 1989 model year, and because a T-Top car is generally what is converted, this car is "correct".

This appears to be the same car that's been on the market several times. It carries a prior salvage title. It's also had several repaints, interior recovers, and few other modifications. It's too bad because the mileage is low.

 

The first question I asked is:What is the 8th digit of the vin #? The owner replied "8" That means 350 engine from factory.

The owner didn't seem to know it had a 350, and even thought the wheels were custom. This seems to be a case of someone owning something that they know little about.

The fact that no OTHER convertibles (besides the '89's) were made with 350's, is exactly what makes THIS CAR special. Well, that and the fact that the 350’s are fast. The 305's can't get out of their own way. The only way to make a 305 fast is to have the performance enhancement group (R6P) with the 5 speed. There is a 2 second difference in ¼ mile performance between a 305 with R6P (14.5 seconds) and a 305 without R6P (16.5 seconds). You will notice that with R6P, the 305 matches the newer LT1 in ¼ mile performance, and without it, well, it is slower than a Dodge Neon. In 91 and 92, when most of the converts were made, R6P was not available on convertibles, so they were crippled. Some had 5 speed transmissions, but they were forced to take the lazy 305 that went into the automatic cars, and all of the lousy equipment that goes with them. Tiny single exhaust pipe, drum brakes, etc. The 1987 to 1990 converts can be faster, because you were allowed to order good equipment on them. Either the R6P 305, or with the 350, which required the R6P.


This car has the 350 L98 and the R6P. These are more valuable than the 305 cars. They were sanctioned by Pontiac and warranted by them too. Don't disparage the car for being "converted". GM stopped making their own convertibles in 1976, and anything since then is subcontracted outside of GM, (low volume production is done by subcontractors in today’s corporate climate.) IN this case ASC was the subcontractor for all Camaro and Firebirds, ASC is the largest convertible maker in the world, who has made over 1,000,000 convertibles for companies like GM, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Nissan, Toyota, Mitsubishi, and many more. This car is one of about 150 made in 89 with the L98, and is one of the most valuable 3rd generation cars. When they start being counted as classic cars, people will start to seek them out.

 

It is too bad that it has a salvage title, but that could be for something as minor as a cut in the canvas to steal the radio. Hardly something to be concerned about.

The owner told me they had a Balloon payment due on a mortgage, and were being forced to sell this car. Since it has the salvage title, it might make a good bargain for someone if the damage was not severe. Or non existent. I have seen salvage titles where no damage at all was ever done.

It would help if you could find out what caused the salvage title. In 1994 I had a minor fender bender at 10 mph in my 92 trans am, and it cost $5,000 to fix. The right front corner was damaged. It needed a bumper cover, a headlight door, and a fender. This did not affect the title, because the car was worth $18,000 at the time. But if that happened today, the car would be totalled. That situation would be more of a matter of insurance company corruption than a case of a bad car. We know the car is worth more than $5,000, but since the insurance company has their phony values, it causes cars to be "totalled" and then "salvaged". When really you are just fixing a fender bender.

Some dealer in Georgia has a 89 gta 350 ragtop with 65k miles for $26,000. I think it is consigned by a guy who owns carmotorsports. He usually wants big money for everything he has. It is rare to see two for sale at the same time. These are the first two I have seen in the last 10 years.

 

The issue is Salvage titles (generally) hurt the resale value of the car. It was said by one of the owners, a year or so ago when some of us seen this car on the market and discussed it, that the car was a theft recovery.

Salvage title, several repaints, recovered seats, likely non-original rims (the car originally had ~20" or so rims), all add up to make the car have a less than great history for such a low mileage car.

This is more of a buyer notice. If you're OK with all that, great. The car is definately uncommon being a Convertible with the 350.

 

..

 

I have a triple black 89 gta conv 5.7tpi. cloth seats and I think the original top.

had mine about 2 years ~89K miles on it. LOTS of piece meal repainting. GM paint on these was crap, lucky if it stayed long enough to get the car home.

$10k is high with a salvage title. If the refurbishing is well done it could be worth $7-8K.

20in rims?

Like mine all the GTAs had gold rims. 2 weeks after I painted my rims black, a local member advertised a set of black ones. The gold on mine wasn't in that great of shape any more.

And the quality of the leather used in 3rd gen seats is not even close to the leather used in the 57's

 

The rims on it now appear correct (Gold PW7), but at one time, it had aftermarket 20" rims. I don't know if the rims on it now are original or not. This is a very minor point because nobody would know if the rims are original to the car or not as long as they are the period correct rims. It was just a mention that it's one of many things that was altered.

No argument about the paint quality from the factory. It's well known. But the car has been repainted atleast 2 times and was said to have had a metallic paint job at one time. It was also said one of the paint jobs was done by a family member, so it may not have been a professional repaint.

A member here on TGO, who collects ThirdGens, was interested in this car when it was on the market 2 years ago for $8500. However, he backed away after too many issues for a such low mileage car.

Just a personal opinion, but for 33K miles, unless the car was sitting outside or drove in stop and go traffic, the car probably should have held up better.

Also, this car is currently on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=320677755144

 

Yeah, I've had it on my watch list the last 2 times it's been on there. My guess is that his reserve is around 8K... The salvage title really takes this from a rare car, to just another thirdgen vert. (Except, much harder/ more expensive to insure.)

 

Mine spent most of it's life in Riverside county, desert with houses.
And per the window stamp the top is probably original but the paint is a totally different story.

I have seen well cared for GMs out here that the clear coats on the tops, hoods and trunks turned to crap in a few years.

My 94 chevy van the clear is almost gone on the roof and funky in other places, but my 73 F250 still has shiny original paint and the f250 has spent more time in the sun than the van.

Hopefully when it was repainted they used plenty of flex additive in the paint.

I personally do not care for the wood grain dash stickons.

 

that's 100% wrong....they are a few GTA, T/A, and Formula 350 convertibles that are correct around