I have an 89 Trans Am that i acquired for FREE! It appears to be a GTA (has GTA emblems), but I do not have the RPO codes, so I am not positive. I called a dealer but the told me they can't access the codes pre 90 (as posted in this forum previously). Here is my question, is this car worth a fairly complete resto with the intention of selling it? The factory package is not that rare. Could I get enough back out of it to warrant the time and cost of parts? I am fully capable of doing the work myself, so I don't have to farm out labor (except maybe spraying the actual color). Should I change the factory color or keep it white? Would any performance mods be wothwhile like rear gears, cam, heads, valvetrain? I am not looking to create a one-off custom, just a very clean TA.

 

You can't beat free

The GTA source page has some good information for confirming whether a T/A is a GTA or not.

1987-92 Trans Am GTA Authentication Tips


Is it 'worth it'.. ? .. It all depends. For restoration projects, I always go by my personal rule of thumb..

- The job will require twice as much work as you originally thought.

- The job will cost at least 3X more than you estimated.

- Unless you're dealing with highly desireable pre 1980 cars, you'll probably never get back what you put in to it.

But.. The fact that the body was free, means you could sell it at some time and get back what you spent to restore it..

If you enjoy working on cars...I think it's worth it

 

It's tough to answer. It really depends on how far you plan to fix it up, what it truly needs, and how much you expect to make.

 

Got any pics of it?

 

Iplan to make it an extremely clean car. The body is fairly straight, just some hammer and dolly work. It needs a driver side door and maybe a front bumper cover, rear spoiler, and a new center section for the tail lights. It need a new interior consisting of carpet, front and back seat upholstery, console, and some trim components. The steering wheel needs to be refurbished or replaced as the radio controls are all cloudy and the leather is cracked. The exterior needs the standard seals weather strip, etc. Rigth now my build sheet is at $6,500. That includes suspension upgrades like torque arm, springs, shocks, struts poly bushings, trailing arms. This is a 170k mile car so the engine needs a rebuild. I have things like new con rods and new intake runners, which I may not even need.
My goal is to produce a nice street performance car that is a blast to drive. I have run some dyno simulations and it looks like I can get about 350hp & 400+ ft/lbs of torque with my planned rebuild.
It looks like the market is there (So. Fla) but I wat to be confident in a positive expected value befor I drop significant cash & time.
Any advice anybody can offer would be very appreciated.

 

why dont you just fix it and keep It? I cant see to put all that work into something, and then just sell it, but if thats what you wanna do go for it, but you wont get back as nearly as much as you put into it, third gen cars generally dont sell for very high even in extremely nice condition

 

You might get $3000 for it all rebuilt. Keep this in mind before sinking double that in parts into it and countless hours of labor.

No 3rd gen (common one that is) is worth a restore yet, when it comes to profit.

 

Scroggin Dickey makes the Vortec Baseplate for the Vortec Heads from the 96-98 Vortec Engine, the whole package a few months back was under $2000, this included a Cam, heads and intake, they claim 360 Hp with larger runners and Headders. So for around $3000 you can get up to 360 Hp, from a basically stock 89 350 engine... not bad.

If its a GTA You will have the WS6 package, quick ratio steering, performance gear ratio (3.27:1 for 350)... If it has T-tops then this would be the only year on Firebirds where T-tops and a 350 were widely used.


John

 

So the guys in the auto trader are off their rocker? I saw several resto cars between 87-89, high mileage asking 12-15k. I will keep an eye on them to see if they sell. I appreciate the info, though.

 

Yes, they are completely insane. Only 1LE and 50 mile cars go for that kind of cash.

 

I think there are alot of people asking more and more for the 3rd gens, this is a good thing for those who own them and a bad thing for those who are trying to buy them. THere just going up in value, The Firebirds may increase more so especially if only the Camaro returns and the Firebird does not.

I HOPE That the Firebird is Gone forever!!!. It just helps the value of my cars.

John