This ones for you Don,

On my way to visit my in-laws this past weekend I passed a building under construction. Out side was a series of vehicles that the workers drove. One of them was a black and gold Trans Am 85 or 86....T-tops and I looked inside that car as I sped past and noticed the open headrest of a Recaro seat. I have seen this car once before in the same spot several months ago. It has a gold bird on the hood and gold lower ground fx. It also had louvers on the rear hatch. Im driving up past the same spot today and I wonder if it will still be there.

It looks a little rough around the edges. But its sweet none-the-less.

My question is...
yours is all black...no two tone... was two tone introduced in 86? Im trying to figure out what year this t/a is.

Ive also seen two other sweet firebirds on the same trip. A 91 black on black Formula 350 for sale and a 87-90 style white formula 350 for sale.

 

Well telling the difference between an 85 and 86 is easy...Does it have a 3rd brake light mounted on top of the hatch? Although you did say it had Louvers so it could be tough. Look and see if the car has a flat base bird spoiler or the wrap around, the wrap around was optional in 85.
I do not know the specifics of the paint scheme, hopefully someone else can fill you in.

 

Well Im pretty sure it had a flat standard firebird spoiler...so I guess its an 85.

 

Hiyas Bill,

The 82 Recaro T/A was black with gold on the lower portion of the car.



The black & gold combo was also seen on the 85s in a bigger way as the new GFX allowed for a more contrasting color scheme.

The Recaro option was available on any 85 Firebird according to my merchandiser book, however the only AS5 cars I have seen so far have been T/A's with black, gold, or white primary colors.

Here are a few shots of an 85 Gold, it's an awesome car and would love to see one some day:

http://www.ohok.com/82recaro/message...ML/000035.html

I have seen one Red 86 Recaro on Autotrader. And you have seen Chris's 86 by now I hope

There were options on the 86 that could differentiate it from the 85. Lace wheels and the brake light that Dan mentioned come to mind.

The aero wing type spoiler was introduced in 85 as Dan said and it seems to be the more popular one from what I have seen. That spoiler continued until 1990 I believe.

So to answer your question, we can thank the 82 for the color combo

TTYL!

Don

 

Technically, the Special Edition Recaro option (Y84) was only available from 82-84. As mentioned above, Recaro seats were available as a separate option (AS5) in 85 and 86 or as part of the Luxury Trim Group (B20). I had an 84 Recaro which I just sold. Unlike the regular black 84 Trans Ams which had gold gfx and gold strobe stripes the 84 Recaros were all black with gold thin triple-stripes that followed the lower body line and up over the wheelwells, much like the blue stripe on the 15th Anniversary.

 

I scanned this in, a 84 T/A from one of my books, is this what you mean by the strobe stripes?




I'm sure thats what they based the Avon Firebird HW on, it looks the same right down to the upper stripe





The Two Tone Lower Accent was std on the 85 T/A and S/E, mine was ordered without it.



Don

 

Yes, those are the regular TA stripes. I tried ordering Recaro stripes from a few places and they tried selling me the regular stripes. No one seems to carry them. I checked my parts book with a magnifying glass and there is indeed a unique set of stripes listed for 1984 Y84 optioned cars.
If you are interested I can email you several pics I have collected of correctly-striped 84 Recaros.
BTW, the other way you can tell them apart is by looking at the sail panel. The regular TAs had a bird decal (like the one in your pic.) The Recaros had a smaller bird 3D emblem.
As an aside, I'm not sure about the authenticity of the car in the pic in terms of using it as a test case. The gold wheelnut covers seem odd, the inner wheel cap (at least on the rear) is missing, the exhaust tips are non-standard, and the stripe on the upper body is, well, interesting! Also, there should be a TRANS AM decal on the front fenders above the air extractor.

 

Actually a friend at church has an original 84 Recaro T/A that he bought new of the lot which is kinda odd because 83 and 84 were made to order, unlike the 82's that had a pretermined build qty. Somebody must have not wanted it or financing fell through.

Its a 5 sp car w/ 69000 miles

http://www.ohok.com/82recaro/message...ML/000037.html

Don

 

So when does your friend want to sell his Recaro?
I sold mine yesterday--it just needed more work than I had time to put in, and besides I had recently purchased my 15th Ann. HOWEVER, I promised myself (and my wife) that sssoooommmmmeeeee day I would own another 84 Recaro.

 

After talking to him explaining how rare his car is, he will keep it, although the wife needs some furnishings for the new house they are building.

Considering that this car is more rare than a 15th, maybe not as desirable, I feel it will continue to rise in value. The 5 speed is a plus

There is an 84 Recaro T/A for 8,000 on Autotrader

Don