I recently went and looked at at 1989 Firebird, i found the car to be in fairly good condition, the person who owned it had put alot of time into it. Most of the interior had been redone, though the door panels had some issues and the back seats could use a little work.

It appeared as if all the dash peices had been recently replaced as well as the steering wheel which looked very good. The front seats were also recently replaced and were steady. The owner also had a flowmaster exhaust system installed, a K&N air filter, a stereo system installed, a bunch of pontiac racing decals put on it, and chrome rims and tires off a camaro put on it. The original wheels and tires are included with the car and appear to be in good shape. He also had a remote start system installed and lights underneath the car put on. It had 2 year old metallic bright red paint which was still in good condition, and only 3 minor dents on the left front fender. The motorized headlights still worked well, as did the power windows and door locks.

Personally, i dont have any use for any of those addons and it wasnt what i was looking for. I am worried about several things though, the car has a 2.8L V6 in it at 125HP. which severely limits its power, the car is much noticeably slower than my I-4 2000 Grand Am?!? Which has 150HP.

The starter also appeared to have problems. The remote start worked good, but the actual in car starter didnt want to seem to work, he claimed it took about 5 minutes between starting and turning off the car for you to start it again. When i turned the key in the ignition, i heard the battery come on, but the engine didnt start. They said the solenoid was bad and needed to be replaced but never replaced it. They used the remote start and it came on fine. It also has T-Tops, which i heard are prone to leaking.

From what i can see -
Pros: Car is visually in good condition, has alot of addons and accessories making it pretty fun.

Cons: Very small and underpowered engine, odd starting proceedure, has 171,000 miles on it.

They are asking $3,495 for it. Is this a good deal, maybe if i offered $3,000 even? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

 

In my opinion they are asking two much. Only paid 2200 for my 89 firebird hardtop automatic 2.8. with 114000 miles. Only noticable thing on mine was it needed front seat covers.

Did have to do a tune up and replace power steering box and pump.

 

Yeah, i agree on the price, if i offered somewhere in the 2000-2500 range and they accepted i'd buy it. But definately would want to swap the engine, although i do not know whats involved in that.

 

From my understanding you would have to swap the engine and trans. If it has and auto because of the different in trans. Not sure about manual

I like my 89 2.8 . It is fun to drive. Takes me to work every day. 44 miles round trip. Gets like 22-25 MPG.

ANy time you buy a car there is something that you are going to have to do. DId a complete tune up. Replaced vaccum hoses.
Changed Diff fluid. Trans fluid, Radiator flush etc. New alternator. And coil.

 

i paid 2000 even for my 1986 2.8 with 110 000 miles. that is way too much.

 

Agreed. For that kind of money you can easily find a good condition v8 car.

 

I have to agree, that is WAY too much for that car.

My son just bought a 87 GTA 5.7 TPI for $2400.
and it runs great and was in great condition!

The car you're looking at is a $800-1500 car at the most.

Keep lookin'.

Leon.

 

THe starter problem has nothing to do with the starter from your description of the problem. Its probably the VATS. There is probably a broken wire in the column that needs to be soldered or you need to replace The VATS tumbler.

You can also bypass this by finding the wires, and reading the resistance on the key and putting in a resistor between the 2 wires.

BTW, I have a 87 Formula 350 that I am thinking of selling, it has 130K, about 20K on engine, and about 30K on trans, drives, runs and shifts fine. The down side is it needs some body work to be perfect (NO RUST HOLES) as it was an Arizona car from what I can tell for most of its driven life, it moved up to Michigan for about a year where I was told that it was stored inside, and never driven in the winter. From there he was shipped over to Germany and took the car with him for a year, and then was transferred to MO. And then he sold it to his brother in Michigan who I bought it from. It would be a great project car for someone who wants to putter with it... I want $2500 firm, as thats what the parts are worth to me right now...

With that siad, he is asking too much.

John

 

Found another one for sale that might be good, havnt gone to look at it yet. Its a 1982 Recaro Trans Am with the V8, 49,000 miles, he wants $4,000 even for it. Missing the original rims, he put chrome ones on it and doesnt have original turbo cast. Everything else seems original. The interior sounds like it has some problems, the center console arm rest is broken and he says the dash is warped. I will go to look at this weekend. Any comments on that one?

 

milage sounds good, but surprising amount of issues for a medium/low miles car...

Trubo cast rims??? hmm, I think there turbo finned for 82, or did they start in 83... anyway, if its a TRUE Recaro, it might be worth it, depending on what kind of shape its in. V8, thats a given, as all Trans Am's had a V8 (except the 89 Turbo), if its an LG4 its not worth nearly as much...

When your looking at it and it has the powerbuldge hood, check it out and see if its made from Aluminum, some of the early 82's got an aluminum hood... VERY RARE, so rare I know of only 3 right now, one is in CA, one in IL and one in SC. If it has that option alone you could probably sell just the hood for $1000 to the right person.

For $4000 you could probably get a really nice 350 car, I have seen fair condition Convertables for around that much from 91 & 92...

John

 

In 1982 "ALL" Recaro Trans ams had Gold painted Turbo cast wheels & Black Bowling Ball Caps with Gold Pontiac arrow.

1983 had the N24 Gold Turbo Finned wheels with small center caps.

 

Whatever car you end up with....dont be immature and convert it into a "Knight Rider special" . Also, be VERY careful who you buy parts from for these cars. Especially the 82-84 T/A's and Birds. 80% of the poeple out there will throw Knight Rider into the description and ask 5 times what the part is really worth. Just some advice. Good luck with your selection. But if you do decide to go for a car such as that Recaro...please leave it stock.

 

I agree that they are asking waaaaaay too much! The recaro sounds good if it is original, search the history forum to find out about that! I also agree on not trying to convert it too knight rider, our '84 is brown/gold and looks great! There are going to be issues with anything, but the "fun factor" of a third gen is waaay worth it! JM.02W!