t_towner

The IMSA car below started life out as the first 1LE built by Pontiac (and maybe Chevrolet from what I understand.) It was a red 1991 Trans Am with tan interior built in the middle of 1990. From what I understand this car was in several magazines late 90/early 1991.

Problem is.....I don't have any of the Magazines that show this car.

I obtained paperwork on the car stating it was originally sold to "Pontiac Scrap." This paperwork has all options along w/ the Vin and it matches the car and the story. One of the IMSA teams had a direct connection to Pontiac engineering and convinced them to donate the car for the IMSA series instead of scraping it. It was never supposed to be in public hands. A Pontiac representative was there when the car was offloaded at the racers shop. The dash vin was promptly removed and destroyed. The car was then converted into the ultimate Firehawk race car.

I'm looking for original magazine articles on the car. Can someone please help? Do you remember a red Trans Am from back in the day? 5 speed…..
Any help would be much appreciated! Tony had a post about magazine articles in the "Would you have bought a 1LE brand new?" forum that brought back the opportunity to locate this documentation.

Thanks again for all your help!

Stephen

iTrader: (12)

You know what magazine (hot rod/car craft, ?) it was in? I have a....few...magazines I can look through.

t_towner

Unfortunately I don't know which magazines.

I have been told by two different individuals it was in multiple magazines but neither could tell me specifically which ones.....sorry.

Mark_ZZ3

I took have a few mags from that time. I've sorted out all the 1LE stuff and Player's Challenge stuff. If you knew what magazine, I could browse the 1990 stuff.

MArk.

t_towner

For some reason Car and Driver stickes in my head....they just couldn't remember the names.


Articles would probably be from September/October 1990 through about May of 1991.

okfoz

Are you looking to purchase this car?

I do know the FIRST car off the assy line in 1992 was a 1LE Formula LB9/M5 car, and it was yellow...

What is the sequence number of the Formula in question... If it was me, I would be so very tempted to get a replacement VIN tag... Unfortunately Simply owning the "Rosette rivets" is a felony in MI.

John

t_towner

I already own the car. That Yellow 92 1LE you speak of is still in Pontiac's warehouse and has less than 1k miles the last time I heard.... I have a pic of it somewhere.

This 1991 car was a Trans Am, not a Formula.

The Vin replacement is tempting but regardless there's tons of documentation to prove the car.

okfoz

I thought I would share this with you. For some reason I thought you had the number 98 car...

I keep looking at the other three pictures and something strikes me... The car looks to be identical to the one you have less the number... But if you look at the placement of the 6 on the Door it is further back, From what I can tell it looks like its in the exact same place... I wondier if this MIGHT be the same car, but somoene added the 2.

Granted if they had two race cars they probably would have been the same with the same decals, but why would the 6 be so far back on the door and not centered?

John

okfoz

Here are some more pix

t_towner

It's the same car. It was originally campaigned as car #26 during the Supercar Series. The pictures directly above show the car as number 6. Ron removed the "2" to race SCCA in the Western division. I have a set of original stickers and decided to put it back to 26.

The "6" on both doors have not been moved or changed.

Car #98 was crashed hard and scraped/parted from what I hear.

From all the stories and research I have this is the last IMSA Firehawk Supercar left?

Guest

I dont remember seeing that car in C+D, but it (especially the intake) looks familiar. If it is in C+D though, I guarantee have it.

92GTA

iTrader: (11)

Correct, 2 built. 98 destroyed/scrapped.

It's good to see you taking care of it. Did you get the unused T-Ram the guy was selling with it and the extra set of wheels? I don't think I ever asked you that.

Alex

t_towner

Not to nit-pick but there were at least 4 Supercar Firehawks built. (2 more besides this #26 and Car #98.) One is still not confirmed/located but it was totaled around 02/03 at a SCCA event. The other 2 were cut and parted. I'm still trying to locate the remains ....I'm close but am afraid it's been scrapped/parted as well.

The extra NOS T-Ram that was supposed to come with the car is in another guys collection and he won't part with it for the world........it also originally came with a spare 6 speed tranny but that's in some guys street rod out west.

The more I dig this seems to be one very historical Firebird. It sure does have an eventful story!

For the record, I'm looking for articles when this car was in stock Trans Am form (late 90/early 91) before it was converted to a Firehawk. It would look like a regular run of the mill Red Trans Am with TPI setup and AC delete pulley.

92GTA

iTrader: (11)

Great info! Thanks for sharing!

Mark 89Formula

Is it possible that the magazine article folks are remembering are actually for SLP's Firehawk prototypes? There were a number of articles on those cars.

June 91 Car&Driver, pgs 155-162, Aug 91 Car Craft pgs 20-24
* The same Firehawk prototype was featured in these two articles. The intake plenum/cover looks like the one in pics posted above but the air intake from filters to throttle body looks the production piece, not the one in the photos above. Car has a NJ used car dealer tag DRK 46.

91 Hot Rod (month unknown) 1 full page of pics and 1 page of text with small photos. Same intake setup as the car in the articles above. This car has unique decals on the doors and front bumper along with different style 5 spoke wheels with the full spokes painted body color. Tag is 30M482.

Good luck on your search. Hope you do find an article that's really on your car.

okfoz

The C&D article is definately dressed in Formula clothing... THe tailights and Spoiler are different...

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Maybe?
http://phscollectorcarworld.blogspot...tion-high.html