Lloydt2442

Guest

You've come to the right place... well, kinda. "The" source on GTA's would be Frankie Rider's page
http://www.gtasourcepage.com/
Or the production data
http://www.gtasourcepage.com/productionfigures.html
Says 9481 made that year. Unfortunately, GM did not keep records of combinations so at best someone might know how many with a certain engine, or color, but not both.

All GTA's came with the WS6 standard. A GTA is pretty much fully equipped, from the factory. Very few options, like t-tops for example.

The option list was on the side of the console, not the lid... but I'm sure you would have noticed it there if it was still around. If you're lucky you might find a build sheet still in the car somewhere.

Lloydt2442

no I haven't found one yet! someone told me they found theres under the back seat but mine sure isn't there! someone has messed with my wiring also so there is a lot of things not working! you can push the system check button on the dash and it says just about everything!

DSM

iTrader: (1)

There is also a production number breakdown by RPO code on this page
http://www.gtasourcepage.com/87RPOFigures.html but the numbers are for all 87 Trans Ams, not just GTAs.

If you can't find your build sheet, you can always send your VIN into PHS and get a copy of the original dealer invoice. http://www.phs-online.com/

Lloydt2442

thanks for that! I'm not really worried about it because who would go through all the trouble to make a gta clone!? but i have no doubts about it because it still has original paint and interior and the motor looks original also!

okfoz

Sounds like a really nice car.

John

Lloydt2442

well it has a whole bunch of little things wrong with it. the hatch wouldnt open and the key i had wouldnt work so I had to bust that out and the wipers wont work and one headlight wont come up its just all little stuff that has to work to pass inspection! but the car runs excellent! I bought some leather seats for it today out of like a 89 ws6 car for $50 for all of them at a junk yard today!

84ls1_transam

how much did you pay for the car?

DSM

iTrader: (1)

what was wrong with the original seats? The particular shade of tan used in 87 - code 62 - was only used that year on the GTA. I'm looking for some of the seat trim pieces in that color - can you PM me if you are interested in getting rid of the original seats (either whole or in pieces)? Thx. Don

Lloydt2442

$2500!

Spitzfiya

I have one, so mabye we both have rare cars

Lloydt2442

could be

Ward

iTrader: (1)

Digital gauges were only available in 87 and 88, but they were available on both trans ams and GTAs. I don't think there are a whole lot of them, check the GTA source page for exact numbers. For what it's worth, I have an 88 GTA, white with tan leather interior, and also digital gauges. It was originally a hardtop, but it has aftermarket C&C t-tops. Pretty much the same options, except mine is a 305/5-speed. A few years back, I also parted out another 88 GTA 350/700R4, also white on tan, with factory T-Tops. There isn't really a way to know how many cars came with what color combos and options, though. I don't really see too many of them around, so they may be somewhat hard to find.

Lloydt2442

Could be!

lotpowe

i wish the 87 formula had a production site like the gtasource. don't get me wrong okfoz has a great site, but that breaks everything down. great source of info.

okfoz

I try to get the most information I can, unfortunately I have yet been able to procure the data you are asking for... Little by little I have been able to gather some of it, but nothing like what Frankie has on his site...

I should call PHS (If I could find his darn number) and see if I could get the info from him...

John

Stephen

iTrader: (12)

I think thge digi dash was more common than the analog gauges, just because of the "cool" factor.

As for rarity...The 9481 applies to ALL the GTAs, regardless of color. But for the # of white cars built....1769. So, you can be sure yours is 1 of 1769 built.

If you have the UQ7 Subwoofer.. 1 of 1726

If you have the 3.08 or 3.42 rear axle, your ratio drops even lower.

You can see, by looking through the things your car has, you can find the lowest single option code, but there is no way to determine a production ?# of a combination of codes.

My lowest # is the white...So, 1 of 1769 for me...

okfoz

Actually he appears to have the US version of the GTA, so I do not believe he has the Subwoofer option, nor the hatch shade as they were NA on the GTA with the L98 for the US market.

He should have the 3.27 gear however as that is how the GTA was supsed to come with the L98 in 1987...

John

JeremyNYR

iTrader: (2)

I still don't get why some people try to string together a list of 5 to 10 options to try to make their car appear "rare". With few exceptions, thirdgens are mass produced and anything but rare. They are awesome, fun cars though. So forget about rarity and enjoy it!

JT

iTrader: (1)

John, I'm not sure if I'm misreading this, but my US GTA (albeit a 1988) Notchback with the 350/L98 did have the UQ7 subwoofer option. Obviously since it was a Notchback, it didn't have the hatch shade and the Notchback fiberglass lid has a weight difference. Either it being a Notchback allowed the UQ7 with the 350/L98, or there was more to it.

FrankieRider2

I think it's just natural to want to have a car that is rare and desirable.... some people will go to great extremes to try and quantify that.

JT- the UQ7 deal John is referencing applies to 1987 GTAs only. The order sheets show the UQ7 and D42 options were only available on 5.0L/5-speed GTAs that year. For 1988, there were no restrictions on either option for the GTA, except for our AA8 cars built without the D42 cargo screen.... but the B2L T/A could not get the UQ7 nor the D42, and the B2L Formula couldn't get UQ7....

okfoz

JT,
I can see how there was some confusion, but Frankie got what I was talking about... I was talking about 1987, as that was the year of the car in question...

John

okfoz

I think people fall into a trap to where they figure if they can make the car seem more unusual it might appeal to a collector... Unfortuantely most people buying these cars are NOT serious collectors, they are typically kids or men with a mid-life crisis who rememeber when...

The Rarity thing really comes from cars that were made in the late 60's and early 70's when COPO, Motion, Yenko or some other go-fast car was being made either by aftermarket (Motion & Yenko) or by the factory (COPO) for example they made only 27 with this engine and transmission or something along those lines... Usually when you get to the fact that this one has some rare 3 on the tree... Typically its not as a big of deal unless its the ONLY ONE as they were not suposed to come that way.

Some things like a rare color usually does not increase value significantly, it might actually decrease value as the color was probably ugly to start with so why would someone want a Lime green over Purple Z28 now (It was an example not a real combo)... MOST cars cannot be traced backwards to actually say there were only 25 made like this, as GM at this point in time did not save the information in that way... Only when you get into some of the after production cars like the TTA, 324 1989 ASC Firebird convertibles, or the 25 Firehawks can you really start getting specific as there ARE records of those... Going back to the COPO cars, the only reason they know that they only made a handful of those Aluminum block 427's back in 1969 was the ENGINE, they can trace the VINS from those few cars backwards and easily come up with magic numbers of how many were red, black, blue etc... For the most part it would be insane to take 10,000 cars of any year and spell them out in that manor.

For the most part we can really only assume that ANY car is only as rare as the least common option for a given year... So if there were only 500 Red GTA's made in 1987, and 5000 Power windows, and 10,000 power locks but only 100 with power mirrors, then we can only assume that there was an HONEST ratio between cars for each option... BUT There are no hard numbers....

Then you relize that there are some colors that were not available on some models... For example Yellow was a FORMULA only color and NA on the GTA, TA or Base firebird in 1987... So Even tho there may have been 500 Yellow cars, and 500 Red cars which was available on EVERY model its impossible to really break down the numbers in that way.... Then you take the Metallic Brown GTA's in 1987 it was a GTA only color IIRC... So what does that do to the numbers...

Here is an interesting example... If you say that there was only 372 Brown (russet) FIREBIRDS made in 1987 and you figure out the percentages of 64,000 Firebirds, the perecentage seems really low... About .6% or about 1 out of every 173 Firebirds made in 1987 would have been Brown. BUT when you take the options in context (the Brown being only available on the GTA) that means about 1 out of every 25 GTA's made in 1987 were brown as there were 9,481 GTA's in 1987... All of a sudden Russet brown does not seem all that rare...

There are SO many facits to what makes a car RARE, or more importanltly DESIRABLE than low production... To hammer home my point there were 1,555 TTA's made in 1989, 1,554 of them being White and ALL of them are DESIRABLE, they are not RARE by any stretch of the imagination, but finding one under $10K right now is a challenge...

Go figure...

John

vingta1989

Digital dash was also available in 1989..my friend has a white gta ,grey leather, digital dash, and t tops 1989

FrankieRider2

According to my data, U52 was not a regular option for '89; it is not listed on any of the order sheets.

However, my RPO data shows that 3 US cars were built with the option in 1989.... so you might tell him he should think about keeping it.

okfoz

Chances are its a carry over from 1988 when a dealer ordered a car with the Digital dash and they changed over production to 1989 before it was made... So the car got the 1988 Dash...

On one hand I think Frankie might be right, 1 of 3 with the opiton in 1989... However from another standpoint it might not mean anything being that it was much more common in 1987 & 1988... If there were only 3 made from 1987 - 1988 then that would be more significant...

Things like this are a hit or miss...

Of course its not unheard of to swap out the electronics to convert a car to a digital dash...

John

vingta1989

thats true ..i have seen and done a few swaps myself but my friends car is legit..as always thanks for the info..but i have a strange question and maybe you can answer it..what are those little silver plates(lack of better word) on some of the door jambs near the striker on the 89 cars ..

okfoz

Are you talking about the T-top reinforcement plates? They are at the top of the door and have a wedge shape if you look at them straight down... They basically wedged the doors to reinforce the body structure to reduce body twist...

John

gta87ls1

According to GTA Sourcepage there were only 700 made with the options that I have that year. Mine is white with tan interior 305tpi 5speed 3.45 gears and had the funny looking seats in it. What I find strange is that I have eeverything like power mirrors and the subwoofer speakers but is not equipped with intermittent wipers or power door locks and also had analog gauges. It is now a 350tpi with a 6 speed and 3.70 gears and a grey interior I had from my 86 TA cuz was in such better condition.