Ok guys, I need some help. Does anyone have information or know where the 3 original 1989 TTA Pace cars are located? Is there anyway to tell by looking if it was an original pace car?

Yesterday I ran across an 89 pace car setting in a garage. Appeared to be all original paint but it was in dire need of some TLC. The owner says it's one of "the" 3 original pace cars that drove around the track??? (i'm by far no TTA expert!) Say's he has all the paperwork, documentation, pictures etc from the race. Apparently there are some subtle but notable differences between his car? If I remember correctly he said this car wasn't sold to the public until 1994? Stickers were on the side and some tape around the top edge of the roof (for the light bar on the roof?)

The car has sat for years. The original motor has been removed but it's supposed to be all there. The body appeared to be in very nice shape w/ 90k miles on the body. Said it originally had cloth interior but he changed it out w/ Leather after the seats were a little worn. I couldn't really tell the condition of the interior b/c there was so much crap in and on top of the car. The spoiler has spider cracks but it appeared to be 100% original. It had t-tops. The original motor was removed and stored w/ something like ~6k miles. A replacement was installed. (I'm not sure why???) I think he said something about the car having an original magnesium alloy block and it’s one of the first 5 produced? He seemed extremely knowledgeable on the car but it's hard to believe all 3 original cars aren't setting in a museum..... Anyone know what car numbers are on the original 3?

Ok, so what's this thing worth even though my description is vague? For starters, what is an 80-90k mile TTA worth with all original paint? It's not really for sale but I have a strong feeling it could be!

Could it really be one of "the" 3 cars?

Thoughts?

Unfortunately I didn't have the digital camera on me and I didn't want to seem too eager to take pics. It’s not going anywhere.

Any guidance is much appreciated!

 

There is still one in the "vault" so to speak for Pontiac. It is in their collection.

My guess would be Indy still has one, and one would have gone to the winner of the race,which I believe was Fittipaldi. I heard at one time that he still had the car, and that he loved it.

But that would go along with what happened during other years.

The original pace cars had a narrow lightbar under the rear spoiler as well.

I know for a fact the one in the Pontiac vault still has that lightbar.

Here is a picture I found at Indypacecars.com:

http://www.indypacecars.com/photos/89-transamrear.jpg

The best history I could find of the car is at:

History of the 1989 Turbo Trans Am

Of course, that is just another webpage, so it may not all be correct.

 

I believe that pic is from the 2003 Trans Am Nationals in Dayton OH.

JOhn

 

ok well at least I know for a fact some guy near me does not have the pace car 89 TTA. He works at AutoZone and has all his decals and stuff, but I dont recall seeing those lights on the back under the wing.

 

The replica cars do not have the light bar through the rear wing - only the actual pace cars....
-Andrew

 

Is he selling it? If so, how much? Just curious to see what that thing would go for.

 

Yea I understand that. I shoulda said he told me it was the real actual pace car.

 

This car is not one of the original 3 pace cars. All are accounted for (Indy Raceway, Pontiac and Emerson Fittipaldi). There was one addditional one made with the same parts as the original pace cars by the guy who outfitted them. His name was Dave Doren. It is a cloth/t-top festival car which he sold about 7 years ago. The car is still some where in the Chicago area.

This car you looked at was most likely one of the Festival cars. I have herd stories of people comverting the cloth interior cars to leather. One car that the original owners swapped out the Med Beechwood cloth interior for light grey interior.

The story about the engine is very far fetched.

- Dave

 

Let me know where it is ... I'm inclined to make the trip just to smack the hell out of him for not taking better care of the TTA. The story is complete BS, but letting a car like that get into that kind of condition should be a "requires jail time" offense. It makes me even more glad my 1,206 mile original is resting nicely in a climate controlled storage facility.

Mike M

 

Thanks guys. Some of the story sounded like BS but you just never know.

He did say it was one of the first 5 built as a prototype..... After reading some more I wonder if it could be one of the two "non-white" TTA's out there sold to the general public? Unfortunately I didn't look under the hood.

There was no light bar under the rear spoiler but the spoiler did look like it was removed at one time.

Is there anyway to tell (by looking) if it was a festival car?

 

That is pretty awesome. On what occasion do you bring her out?

 

None of the Prototype cars had a "magnesium alloy block". One of the prototype cars are owned by Rich at Car Motorsports along with two of the pre-productuion "Mule" cars.

1989 TTA PAS Inc. #3 Pilot White Convertible (Plate: "1 OF 1" 21K miles)
1988 TTA PAS Inc. Flame Red Design Check Vehicle Prototype (Plate: "TTA DCV" 61K miles)
1988 TTA PAS Inc. Black Emissions Certification Vehicle Prototype (Plate: "TTA ECV" 54K miles)

The Black TTA is the emissions control check vehicle. This is the vehicle that was built and tested to ensure that the production Turbo Trans Ams would pass applicable emission standards.

The Flame Red TTA is the design check vehicle. This is the car that was used to test the fit of the mechanical components, such as the Turbo Charged Buick V-6 motor and 200-4R automatic transmission. All factory scribe marks are still there and intact as made by PAS/TRIAD engineers back in 1988.

The White TTA Convertible began life as a Pilot Car, number three in a sequence of five pre-production vehicles. During it’s short life as a T-Top model it was driven and tested by Scott Kelly, PAS Inc. Project Manager. Shortly after the Production 1989 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am (totalling 1550 cars) were built; PAS Inc. President, Jeff Beitzel, sent the #3 Pilot Car to ASC Corporation for the Convertible conversion. Jeff made the TTA Convertible his personal car for the next six months, during which time it was pictured and featured in several magazine articles. Jeff Beitzel then sold the car to the highly recognized international collector, Mr. Milton Robson. Mr. Robson maintained this fabulous Turbo Trans Am Convertible in his extensive collection for ten years until he sold it to Rich several years ago.

These cars all had the Iron block used in all the TTA's.
- Dave
__________________
1989 #1456 TTA Cloth/Hardtop (1 of 15) 4655 mi.
1989 #90 TTA Festival Car, 5393 mi.
1979 10th T/A (SD455 Engine)
1974 SD455 T/A

 

It was a nice sunny day back in May. I uncovered the TTA at 1,202 miles - Drove it four miles, and put her back to bed at 1,206. I then put four miles on the 3,800 mile '85 IROC, and 4 miles on the 450 mile '82 Corvette Collectors Edition. Twelve miles - Great afternoon all in all! I drove the Viper GTS nearly 80 miles that weekend, but when it crossed 2,500 miles I started freaking out. I sold the GTS shortly after, because that's a tough car to NOT drive ...

Mike M

 

Dave,
Do you happen to know the Sequence number of that convertible? I only have one VIN of the listed suposed 2 TTA convertibles, (converted by ASC) in 1989...

the only confirmed TTA convertible I have is VIN# 213666

John

 

John,
Unfortunately Rich is pretty "tight lipped" about that kind of information. He does list the cars on his web site: CAR Motorsports

- Dave

 

Thats a good idea MM. All those nice cars with low miles..... When you die you will have all those low mile cars you could have enjoyed.

 

Was the car white?

 

Rideon ... Hopefully that's a good number of years from now! I've had driver versions of all these cars (substituting a GN for a TTA), so I got my fill years before I started tucking them away like museum pieces.

I'm just doing my part to preserve some real automotive history

 

One way to tell if it is a festival car is by looking behind the rear license plate. There should be a number written in marker there. Of course, the car has to be a cloth/ttop car to have been a festival car.

Chris
----------
1989 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am #760 (1800 miles)
1988 Chevrolet Corvette 35th Anniversary #1941/2050
1983 Delorean DMC-12
1985 Kawasaki Eliminator ZL900

 

That's a shame, these cars are meant to be driven.

 

Josh, a 'shame' is losing a child in an automobile accident. Or having your house burn to the ground with the pets inside. Or being severely injured on your wedding day by a drunk driver, etc ...

Preserving cars in their original state does not exactly qualify as a shame to me. Anyone that is that bothered that I enjoy doing this is perfectly welcome to buy them from me and drive them as often as you please

Mike

 

I know this is an old post. But 1 of those 3 trans ams are now in central Michigan.

 

Wow! That's from the way back archives! Did this pace the actual race? Did it come from Tulsa OK area or is it a festival car?