I have a chance to buy an 87/88 Trans Am GTA (I thinks it a GTA anyway), its flame red metallic, 305 TPI, tan interior, all the options available, 5 speed, 3.42 posi, disc brakes all around, gold cross lace rims, GTA seats and luxury door panels. It needs a new motor, new paint job, interior needs refreshining. It does have t tops. I do not know how long it has been sitting, but it is completely original. He is not sure if he wants to sell it, but how much should I offer? 3 thousand?

 

The ONLY way to verify it is a TRUE GTA is too look at the RPO codes for that vehicle. If it doesn't have Y84 then it isn't a true GTA.

 

You're insane if you're ok with paying $3k for what you've described. Based on your description, I wouldn't pay no more than $1k for it.

 

i agree .. 1,000 tops ...it sounds like a train wreck to me ...cant even imagine what you would have in that car to make it nice ... you can get a real nice gta for very reasonable prices now a days ..

 

Read this article..It will help you make more of an informed decision.

http://www.gtasourcepage.com/newauthentication.html

 

I wouldn't pay over $1,000 for a 1992 GTA 5.7 TPI if it wasn't even running, let alone offer 3 grand for a '87/'88 possible GTA that has a 5.0 Engine that's not even useable and that the interior needs (Refreshing) which usually means the seats/carpet/headiner/sun visors are in crap no good condition and if it needs new paint that means it's been sitting for a while, probably out in the sun and if it's a t-top then the Weatherstrip is also Crap. I'd first off verify that it is a true GTA and not just a stock trans am, then I'd find out if the car has a clean title history and that the engine just happened to be abused too much and there's no flood damage or collision/accident History on the car and if that checks out then I'd calculate what the repairs on it are going to be and just how much it's really going to cost me to Put it out on the road and drive it. and Once I've figured that out then and Only then will I figure out how much I'm willing to pay for the car and what kind of an offer I'm going to make the Owner on it.

 

The interior is in good condition, just needs to be cleaned, it needs to be painted, he says the only problem is it needs head gaskets, but there aint no telling what else it needs

 

The headliner board and sail panels are still good, visors are good, the body is in great shape, the paint is faded and the clear coat is peeling, of coarse it needs a new spoiler, but there is no rust anywhere, it only has 98000 miles on it, everything is factory, has a different muffler on it, thats the only thing that has been changed

 

I agree if the body and title is clean then I would not pay more than a grand for it.

 

Yes title and body is clean, so 1 thousand is a good price to offer?

 

It doesn't run so yeah 1,000 Cash, if the Engine is no good then why pay more ?

 

Yea. Put it this way...i paid around 3 for a perfect running/driving 305 tpi iroc with 65k miles. It needed paint but i knew that going into it. It had no rust and it had a strong motor with more mods than i would have put into a 305 (they made it onto my 355). Take everyones advice and go with no more than 1k. I would actually offer him maybe 800 bucks for that amount of work. You can look at it as a clean body since everything else sounds like it needs to be worked on in some for or another.

 

How bout some pics!!!!pictures say a thousand words.

 

Imma try to hopefully friday or saturday, I haven't had any time off lately. I do have a motor for it, 350, and I have a rebuild kit for a 305 TPI. I can do the paint for about 5-6 hundred. I'm trying to sell my car to get a truck, and if I have any leftover I am going to get this one

 

Well I wouldn't mind paying a little more, Its one TA that I've always wanted, and I've never liked buying a car that wasn't a project, I can get it running in a long weekend with a couple of friends. I have a 350 TPI out of a vette with the harness and computer in good condition, Camaro serpentine set up installed on it, regular TA valve covers instead of the vette valve covers, its ready to drop in and go, just need to get a fuel pump

 

Here is how I would do the paint job (front bumper would be the same as body tho):

 

Why would u make a gta look like that it looks terrible to much gold on a gta just makes it look terrible paint the car nice an shiny new then clean the cross lace gta wheels reinstall your gta logos back on an guarantee people will be head turning when u go cruising around town

 

My current car turns heads lol, and gets the attention of the po po, I wasn't sure if I would paint it like that, it was just something, to me all GTAs look the same just different color, I want it to be something different

 

Non running for 3K? Sellers usually end up getting only a little more than scrap value. You don't know if the tranny/rear end has issues. Add up the value of the known good parts and pay no more than that.

 

He is 100% positive that the transmission and rear end is good. I'm trying to get time to go check it out

 

The point is that you have to be 100% positive before forking over top dollar. The only way that can happen is if it runs. I've bought dozens of cars, many of them non runners that had been for sale for a while and the top price I ever had to pay was $1000.

 

where is that Y84 code located?

 

Either on the SPID label that shows all the RPO codes for the car (which is most likely gone) or to run a VIN check & get the SPID label reproduced or at least get a list of the RPO codes for that VIN.

I lost my SPID label years ago but never have wanted to sell my GTA until recently, so I never felt the need to go get a SPID sheet reprinted to prove it to anybody. Now that I'm thinking about selling my GTA, I might go get one reprinted.

 

IIRC that car still has SPID sheet, I still haven't went and looked at it