My '89 T/A is an original, unmodified vehicle that (to my knowledge) has not been modified or received any body work. But there is only one 5.0 Liter F.I. decal (the one that goes under the air vents/behind the front wheel wells.

I thought this was kind of strange and off balance, so I looked online for replacement decal kits. PhoenixGraphix.com does, in fact have the second decal.

So does anyone have any theories about this? Can anyone with these decals on their car vouch for whether or not there should be a second one on the right side?

 

Yes, they should be on both sides...typically at the top of the ground effects, under the fender vent.

I say "typically" because while my 88 has them both in the right spot, my 86 (which still wore OEM paint and decals) had one at the top, and one in the middle of the ground effects on the right side. I told the shop when they repainted it to put BOTH at the top. What did they do? They put both in the middle, swearing THAT was the way it was supposed to be

 

I'm almost certain at the Norwood event it was mentioned that two different people would place the left and right decals on the vehicle, which was mentioned as an explanation for some variations. Regarding a missing one, with inspections at the line and dealership, I'd think there would be a few places where that would have been spotted.

 

JT's explanation and theory make sense to me. But...knowing GM's reputation for"quality" in the 80's, could it be possible that it slipped through the cracks at Norwood and it didn't bother the previous owner enough for him to get it corrected?

It's also possible that the car was involved in an accident before Carfax and the previous owner didn't cop to it. The area looks really good up close, but now that I think about it, besides the missing decal, the right door is also sagging. Of course, that could be a coincidence, as sagging doors are a common 3rd gen problem.

There's really only one way to find out...e-mail the previous owner and ask him about it. That's not an option I'm wild about since I bought the car from him a year and a half ago, but maybe he'd be able/willing to shed some light.

 

Just want to point out that since the car in question is 1989, it would be from Van Nuys instead of Norwood. Norwood's last year was 1987. I'm not certain if the decal application remained the same, but thought it was worth noting.

 

You're right...I totally missed that. Same logic though. I think I'm going to e-mail the seller and see if he replies. He might want to know how his car is doing anyway.

 

Here is my personal story. I've got an original 1988 Iroc convertible with a 5.0 TPI on the passenger side and 5.7 TPI on the driver side rocker panel. It is a 305 Van Nuys car. Could the mistake have been made because it also has the G92 RPO, external oil cooler, 145 MPH speedometer, and everything else that came with that?

 

^^^ I remember seeing an IROC with the same thing sitting on the dealer's lot right after it came off the truck.

We thought the dude putting them on grabbed the wrong one. Probably for the next car.

 

Honestly there is probably an exact location to where the decals are supposed to go. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of conjecture to where they actually went. I know my sail panel birds were in slightly different locations, as are the location of the Door decals is higher on one side than the other...

Its the way it was, slap it, on hope it is close and make sure it is straight. Some things were caught and corrected, some things were not.

An 87 GTA I know of was missing one of the sail panel emblems from the factory. He kept it off and has an original one from the dealer when he bought it, never put it on.

John

 

Well...I got my answer over the weekend at my local F-Body Club meeting. Someone took one look at the right (sagging) door and in seconds, was able to show me evidence of a (bad) repaint job on the door. The finish/clearcoat was not done well and didn't match the rest of the body. Of course, this strongly suggests body work of some kind. The more I looked at it, the worse it looked. The person who looked the car over said the damage was probably minor.

So what I thought was a nearly perfect, undamaged original seems to have at least one skeleton in its closet. Funny, there wasn't any paperwork about that among the oil change receipts I got from the previous owner. Maybe I'll just e-mail him playing dumb and asking about the sticker, and see if he cops to it.

Oh well...the body's straight and the car's still in amazing shape. I got the car for my 35th birthday. Maybe for my 40th, I can get the whole car repainted and then it won't matter anyway.

 

Before you jump him you may consider that it may have been repaired prior to being sold new. I know of cars that were damaged in the Dealers lot, depending on your state, and the dealer they can opt to repair it and sell the car at a used price, more or less the customer gets a new car at a discounted price, or sell the car damaged... I know of a Cadillac that had minor damage done to it, and since he owned a Frame shop he got the car for half price, ended up repairing it for almost nothing and got to drive a shiny new DeVille... Clean Title and all...

The repair may have been done due to a scratch or something along those lines.. My 89 Formula Vert appears to be that as there is no evidence of repair to the rear quarter on the inside at all, but the panel had been repainted. I suspect a scratch or something along those lines to repair the damage.

John

 

John,

Thanks for the insight. I hear you, and you're probably right, or close to it.

I'm not out for blood or anything. I've had the car for a year and a half and you'd have to pry the keys to it from my cold, dead fingers I mean, it's not like he gave me a POS with a blown tranny, misfiring cylinders, etc...it's still an awesome car and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

At this point, it's more of a curiousity thing. I'm more interested in the car's history than anything else. I don't plan on going on the offensive with the original owner, because then I won't get any info anyway.

I'll post again on here if and when I get a response from the original owner.

Doug