Does anyone out there have any documentation (GM, PONTIAC, ASC) of how many 1989 Formula/Trans AM/GTA convertibles were made with 5.7L. I have read several post/articles claiming only 50 1989 Pontiac convs. with a 5.7L were made. Check out this car for sale in CA.

http://www.autotrader.com./fyc/vdp.....&end_year=1989

The answer is none.

Yeah, and I saw on the Internet just the other day where somebody was claiming the earth is flat too. And of course since I saw it on the Internet, I can be sure it's really true, and we can all be equally sure that car came that way as well.

*whispers in 89raggtops ear*

"I think he's being sarcastic"

Who, mE??

Most will agree on the number 330 for ASC conversions on the Firebird/TranAm/GTA in 1989. I do not know of anyone who can accurately tell you how many were 5.7 GTA's, but there were more than a few converted. Goto
www.gtasourcepage.com and do a search for "convertible". There should be enough info as well as members to contact to answer most of your questions.
I received this number from Ron Edie who was employed at ASC back then and was involved in the conversions.

I'm just trying to further document my car. A few years back HPP mag did an article on a 89 GTA conv. They claimed only 50 89 Pontiac 5.7L converts were made. I made contact with the owner of that car and he had no real documentation, just hearsay. I have letters from ASC for # of total converts made, build sheets with dealer names and last 6 digits of vin#, letters from Pontiac, but I cannot find any doc on number of 5.7L. BY the way RB83L69...LMNOP#&($(*@^$(*^(@, I posted the link in case someone was looking for a car.

I NOTICED YOU SADI YOU HAD DOCUMENTS SUPPORTING PRODUCTION NUMBERS FOR TOTAL CARS THROUGH ASC....I WAS WONDERING WHO I WOUL CONTACT AT ASC ,,OR HOW TO CONTACT ASC AT ALL...FOR MY 84 ZF COUPE THAT WE JUST DESCOVERED WAS DONE BY ASC.....ANY HELP WOLD BE APPRECIATED..THANKS

Your answer is wrong.

Do a search for a member called Chickw on here. Email him with your vin and he might be willing to share some info. I know he has a partial VIN list from ASC for 1989 as well as many pieces of ASC literature and records.

Thanks. I had already talked to ChickW before and got copies of the ASC 89 build sheets with the dealer names and last 6 vin#'s. Called pontiac with this and ws told they could not help me because of that check digit in the vin and privacy. All I wanted to do is send them the list and have them decode the number of firebirds, formula, ta, gta, tta were on this list.

As for the contact person at ASC. I spoke to the president of the co by writing letters and then calling. All this info is in a lockbox at this time. Just go to the ASC website and start there.

89raggtop...you sure thats a GTA? That car has fender vents which I'm pretty sure GTAs didn't have...

No, the link for the GTA I posted earlier calimed 1 of 50 w/5.7L was a GTA. I contacted him and he has no documnetation, only hearsay. As for the Car pictured on my above link, this is my car and is a TA w/orig 5.7L, has every GTA option except leather lumbar seats. Just thought I would attach a pic.

I've been wrong before.

Lets see some photos, vin numbers, and SPID sheets, then I will be proven wrong, and will gladly admit so.

Labrat, La Crosse isn't to far from Madison. Be happy to show you any docs or pixs to prove my car was ordered as a 89 TA w/ 5.7L, dual cats, and sent to ASC from CA (orig railroad rcpt) to be converted to a convertible before being shipped to dealership in IA.

I get down to madison from time to time, and I would love to see your car. So I'll try and email you the next time I'm there, maybe you could show me your car. I will admit when I'm wrong if I see proof. GM always says no factory 350 convertibles were made.

Some were made as aftermarket conversions, but they weren,t GM authorized as far as I know.

If you ever come to La Crosse with your car, shoot me an email, i'd like to see it.

91 was the 1st yr gm offered factory option converts, no 5.7L were made in 91-92. ASC did the conversions just as they did in 87-89 w/ pontiacs and the camaros. Only diff in 87-89 is ASC sent brochures (I have several) to pontiac dealerships and the dealer would order a t-top car (required) and gm would ship it to ASC directly before the dealer received the car. So it was very similar to the early firehawks, order from dealer and car sent there before dealership. There are several 5.7L irocs out there 87-89.

But technically they aren't factory GM cars because they have a 2 in the vin for coupe instead of a 3 in the vin for convertible.

There has been a lot of discussion about that on this board.

I've already posted all that before. Just tell me what picture you want, I'll take it. Better yet... you can come look at it for yourself.

As for 'original' and not, there arent any 1989 GTA convertibles in existence that have a 3 instead of a 2 in the VIN so its kind of a moot point to bring that up when discussing the 89 GTA verts. There are, however, plently of 89 and other year Pontiac 350 convertibles that were converted by ASC floating around.

are you any where near Wisconsin? If you want take a road trip up to La Crosse.

So as firebird convertibles go technically they weren't offered until 91-92 by GM. But dealerships and private owners had Firebirds from 87-90 converted by ASC, which is why the vin would have a 2 intsead of a 3?

Think of it this way. The large chevy conversion vans all decked out are not factory options per say but sent to a conversion co by gm per the dealerships order.

As far as I know there arent any that were converted by individual owners, they were all done through GM channels, cars specifically ordered in advance to be convertibles. It'd be interesting to find something like that though.

Here's my SPID


I can assure you, there's no roof on my car. It was ordered with the form in the sticky on the vert board, sent from GM Van Nuys to ASC, and then to a dealer in Texas that ordered the car.

Cool, I learned a lot about Firebirds, from this thread.