I recently purchased an 84 15th Anniversary TA and a couple of things are puzzling me:
- The vehicle has black side mouldings. Any other 15th I have seen has white mouldings (which makes sense since the car is white) or no mouldings at all. According to the parts book, code B84 could be any one of several colors, so that is no help.
- My 15th has non-locking T-roofs. I also have an 84 Recaro TA which has locking roofs. Both vehicles carry the code CC1. Any reason for the difference?
- Several promo and magazine pictures of the 15th Ann. show the windshield having a white full-width PONTIAC decal at the top. Did this appear on any production vehicles?
I'll post a pic once I have a chance to get everything organized.

 

I have looked at a couple and they all had locking t-tops and white mouldings. You have to make sure that it is a true 15th because it might be easy to make one up.

Here are a few clues:
Light gray steering wheel, shifter, map bag, side door bag, and emergancy brake. White wheels, 4 wheel disc brakes, electical fan, blue bird on the truck release in the back of the car(where you put in key into). Vin #'s 7 digit should be G which=L69 305 engine. Special recarco seats which say "TRANS AM". With out the seats & interior the car is wrothless.

And the best way to tell is to check the window sticker.

 

Here's a pic.

 

wooow! how much did you pay? how many miles?

 

not my car.

 

It IS a 15th Anniversary.
Believe me, I wouldn't have bought the car if it weren't genuine!! I have the original window sticker and all the sales material that came with the car from the dealer. It's in mint shape and has the 5-speed tranny (only 500 with this option of 1500 total). In addition, I've owned an 84 Recaro for 7 years so I do know my 1984 Trans Ams.

Now that we've put that to rest, my questions still stand.
- My GM parts book lists both locking and non-locking T-roofs for 1984 but gives no distinction as to their application. Any thots from anyone?
- About the black side mouldings. Some 15ths do not have the moulding at all. It had to be ordered as RPO B84, just like any other TA. Maybe they were applied by the dealer and the original owner preferred black over white. Any thots?
- I have the Feb. 84 issue of High-Performance Pontiac were the 15th Ann. is the cover story. Some pics have the PONTIAC windshield decal, some don't. Any thots?

 

I know mine has the locking T-tops; however, I don't have body side moldings. This was an option and fortunately the original owner of my car didn't order them. In any case, they ARE supposed to be white and not black. I would think the dealer would have enough common sense not to put black moldings on a white car. More than likely, I'm sure the owner added them or had them applied.

Check out my 15th T/A in the link(s) below.

J~~


https://www.thirdgen.org/rides/index...ew&rideid=8341

https://www.thirdgen.org/rides/index...ew&rideid=8342

 

Hi guys!
The decals used were the same ones as the 1983 Daytona 25th Anniversary Trans Am! White, with the black stripes thru the white. These decals were for the windshield (in 1984) only for the 1984 15th Anniversary Trans Am. That's why when you see the decals, they are packaged by themselves. Do you need some??
I took some pictures at the 1984 greater Los Angeles Auto Show! Do you know, that the car on display at the LA Auto Show, had steel wheels?? It had while plastic hubcaps on it!! The wheels must not have been ready for the show. I thought that was strange.
As for the black, it must have been put on by aftermarket, or the dealer for the customer. They would have been white.

Hope this helps,

George

 

Hey George, if you have some of those decals I need one for my 84 15th!

 

Why yes Alex...he DOES have some of those decals

I thought about them for my car, but it just would not work. On a 15th (and the 83 dt500's) though I think it would look great.

 

Hi Alex!
I thought that I sent you a copy of my catalog! Just look under NOS Parts, for the 1983 Pace Car Parts!! Oh ya.......before Dan orders them and raises the prices!! Ha!!
If you need my catalog again (which, I just updated it again), post here, or email me at:
WarbirdTA@hotmail.com
It will come as an attachment to the email I send out to you! Now, it's up to 56 pages!!! (Was 53)

Later,

George

 

I know I should have read that all the way through. I was late for work when I got it

 

I did some burrowing on the net I was able to locate and speak yesterday with the original owner of my car. (I'm the third owner.)
We only had a chance to talk briefly and will chat or email at length later, but he assured me that from day one, the car had non-locking T-roofs and a "dark" side molding. (He dug up a photo while we were talking and confirmed this.)

So, here's what I'm figuring... (Sorry if this is long-winded. Too many details!!)

T Roofs
- My car was built in March of 1984. Locking T-roofs were new for the 84 model year. With my early build date it's possible that non-locking 83 roof panels were used.
- Curiously, my hood is further proof that this might be the case. In comparing my 15 Ann. with my 84 Recaro (which was built in May), I discovered that the hoods have different part #s and subtle differences underneath in the sub-frame. As well, there is a 1st and 2nd design hood insulation mat for 1984. The insulation on my 15th is the 1st design; my Recaro has the second design.

Side Molding
- Whether applied at the factory or by the dealer, black could have been substituted for white for whatever reason.
- In looking closely at pictures of 15th Ann. cars with the white molding I've noticed an inconsistency. Check out the length of the molding on the attached "firebirdmania" picture against the one found at www.theautocollections.com (A car collection site in Vegas. Cars are listed alphabetically by make. Sorry, I couldn't grab the picture and attach it. There's a nice sequence of 6 pictures of a 15th Ann. Go to “Current Inventory” and choose page 9.) You will see that the molding sections in front of and behind the doors are the same length as the black ones on my car, and longer than the white ones on the other car. So who's to say which is correct? I sometimes think that the factory or the dealer just applied whatever they had on hand at the moment.

Windshield Decal
- This is still a mystery. The car in the "firebirdmania" pic has it. Check out the lineup of anniversary TAs at http://www.geocities.com/ramairta200...rformance.html The 84 there doesn't have it while some other years do. No real consistency. I'm told that for the 89 anniversaries the decal kit came packaged with the car and either the dealer or the owner could add it themselves. Maybe this was the case with the 84s too?? Or once again, maybe it was an arbitrary thing at the factory.

In my 25+ years of owning and working on GMs I've discovered that changes of model year are not always as clean and seamless as one might think. (That's why some engines, for example, turn up in vehicles a year earlier or a year later than "officially" announced.)

Nuff said, now let me hear from y'all.

 

AARG -- I can't seem to get my jpg files to attach.

 

Hi 84 15thAnn TA!
Just to let you know, not all of the cars recieved the decal package.
As far back as the 1979 10th Anniversary Trans Am, to and including the 1980 Indy Pace Car Turbo Trans Am, the 1981 NASCAR Pace Car Turbo Trans Am, the 1983 Daytona 25th Anniversary Pace Car Trans Am, the 1984 15th Anniversary Trans Am, the 1989 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am Indy Pace Car, the 1994 25th Anniversary Trans Am, all the way to the 1999 30th Anniversary Trans Am,all did not recieve the decal packages that should have been given out by Pontiac!
The cars came to the dealers before the decal package was sent to them. In the meantime, the cars sold.
Some dealers sold the package through their parts department, while lately, dealers sell them on the internet for tons of more money!
Just ask the original owners of any of these cars! My 1989 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am didn't get the owners kit (which included the decals). I called up Pontiac later (during the same year as the car luckly), and they gave me the people in charge of it. I was able to get mine! I was even able to buy extras! I got lucky!!!!
In the later Limited Editions (around 1984 or so, I seem to remember), the dealer was to send Pontiac the new owner information for these items to be sent out. Most dealers didn't do it.
When I bought my 1980 Indy Turbo Trans Am, I tried to get the decal kit. This was in 1987! I found one complete kit at a Parts Department of a Pontiac dealer! After that, I tried all the dealers! I got three more, but with a decal or two missing from each one. I still have them! It was at this time, I found out about the decals for the 1983 and 1984 Trans Ams (Daytona and 15th). I was able to buy 6 sets! For some reason, the windshield decals were packaged separate than the door decals (for the 1983 Daytona Pace Car!). And they were for the 15th Anniversary Trans Am also!
If the dealer had the car when the decals arrived, they went either with the car for the owner to install, or the dealer installed them themselves.
I hope that this helps you out!
Feel free to post here more questions, or feel free to email me at WarbirdTA@hotmail.com
I will try to help you out, if you need.

Have a good one,

George

 

Thanks Mr. Turbo TA. Very helpful info.

So let me get this straight: in terms of the 15th Ann. the windshield decal was an intended component as far as the designers were concerned. In reality though, many cars departed the dealer's lots without the decal.

My intent is to keep my car as original as possible. It came without the decal. My first impulse is that it should stay that way. What do you think?
Its seems that rectifying a factory/dealer anomaly (as with my moldings and T-roofs also) to make it "correct" detracts from the uniqueness of the vehicle.

I will check out your catalog and maybe pick up a decal just to have one on hand.

BTW, has anyone out there had problems attaching jpg pics to this board using a Macintosh? I'll have to try my PC at work tomorrow.

 

Thanks Mr. Turbo TA. Very helpful info.

So let me get this straight: in terms of the 15th Ann. the windshield decal was an intended component as far as the designers were concerned. In reality though, many cars departed the dealer's lots without the decal.

My intent is to keep my car as original as possible. It came without the decal. My first impulse is that it should stay that way. What do you think?
Its seems that rectifying a factory/dealer anomaly (as with my moldings and T-roofs also) to make it "correct" detracts from the uniqueness of the vehicle.

I will check out your catalog and maybe pick up a decal just to have one on hand.

BTW, has anyone out there had problems attaching jpg pics to this board using a Macintosh? I'll have to try my PC at work tomorrow.

 

Hi 84 15thAnn TA!
Well, lets see.......when I bought my 1989 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am new, it didn't have the "Turbo Trans Am" emblems on the car. There was info from Pontiac stating this (I even have the original fax about it-back then, a fax was like those old-fashioned machines you see in the old movies! One continous peice of paper, that you tore off!). What did I do? When they came in, I put them on! Now the decals were the owner's to do if they wanted. That is totally up to you! I personally think that it adds to the car. I only put on the windshield decal on my 20th TTA. I have had other pace cars (both the 1980 Indy and the 1981 NASCAR) that had door decals on. So, this one won't. But I'll probally put the door decals on some thin magnets and use them that way!
I'll be emailing you my catalog. Just email me if you have any questions. I will always try to help others with their cars.

Have a good one,

George

 

Hi 84 15thAnn TA!
I just tried emailing you a catalog, and it came back! Could you email me at: WarbirdTA@hotmail.com
and give me your email address. Then I'll shoot a copy of my catalog right out to you!

Thanks,

George