So i have read the source page and searched on here and know the signs of what to look for in a GTA. I do not have my SPID Label, and my car was a 3 owner car, with no major accidents from what i can tell. My question is this, my car was repainted by the previous owner, all the emblems were left off of the car, leaving me with a hole where an emblem should be on the nosecone. Im pretty positive i dont have a GTA, but was is possible to get a Trans Am in 87, with any sort of emblems? My headlamp emblem is golden, as is my rear tail light bird, which the sourcepage says only came on GTA's, along with bumper emblems(only TTA's and GTA's got an actualy emblem) Im just trying to get correct emblems for my car, or figure out if someone replaced the Front bumper and rear taillights cause the hole in my front bumper bothers me.

 

Without the SPID or some paperwork to show that it is a GTA its left to guesswork.

GTA's dont have fender vents, most of the time that is a sure way to tell one from the other. Fenders of course can be changed too, but its one of the less likely things to happen. If you read the gtasourcepage, you know the rest of what to look for.
Edit: You didnt mention it but its on the sourcepage, the horn button should say GTA as well. Thats something else that would likely be overlooked.

 

Short of having the SPID sheet and finding Y84 as the rpo for GTA, you have to look at the other options - even those were all available on the T/A as well. However, if they all came together, then your car could be a GTA. Part of the challenge for 1987 was that the GTA was not a stand-alone model.

 

Was it possible to get a T/A with the golden rear bird emblem, and the gold headlight emblem? Im 99% sure i dont have a GTA, im pretty positive that someone swapped this stuff out at one point.

 

As far as I know, the gold "Pontiac" on the headlight door was for the GTA only. I know in previous years of T/A's that the rear bird could be either silver or gold - depending on the body trim color. The "Authentication Tips" section on the GTASourcePage covers much more in the way of how the GTA and T/A differ.

Two other major clues can of course be in the engines - all GTA's had the TPI engine and in the front fenders as GTA's did not have fender vents and T/A's did.

Hope that helps.

 

The headlight surrounds are a commonly overlooked fake GTA. Only GTAs got gold ones, but it is also an easily swapped item.

On my 87 GTA & I had to replace the nose, there was a hole for the emblem, the emblem has the stud to fit in the hole. I pulled the nose off a 89 GTA, which had no hole for the emblem & the emblem has no stud to fit in a hole, nor any evidence on the backside, of it simply being filled in. So I wouldn't base any judgments on the hole being there or not.

As above....Horn button says GTA. The 87 GTA was not a separate package, like the 88+. While still a Y84 was required, the options were not "standard", but were individually selected, in the RPOs. Same car, different way of building it.

Early 87 GTAs, even had the paddle mirrors, but switched to the standard aer mirrors, after about 6 months (iirc).