Just figured Id share some Pic's of a TA we acquired at work.

It is a 305 / 5 spd car. Under 8k miles.

 

few more

 

Last few. I have TONS more if wanted.

 

Nice shape.. I always wonder why people cling to such color combos though.
TAs in some colors are just well.. ugly.. there are worse than this though

 

"unique and different". It grows on ya.
Good looking T/A though

 

Thats one clean TA

 

Color actually looks great in person.

 

I think that's one of the most beautiful colors on a 3rd gen. What an awesome and different car, hardtop 5-speed too. Love it!!

 

I think the 2-tone interior is awesome, the seats just look great! The exterior, yeah, it is what it is. Gorgeously clean car tho for sure!

Window sticker is for sure cool to see, I hardly ever seen ones that old with these cars.

 

Its an awesome car but if it were mine id b painting it red or black right away!

 

Has window sticker , dealer invoice , books , brochures , etc..

 

Too bad it is not a WS6 & L69 car...

 

That is a very clean '85! It makes me smile to see another unmolested LG4 as I have kept mine original. What pray tell was the reason for such low mileage?

 

and it would be a more popular color then too maybe...

 

How refresing to see a Third Gen thats not Black or Red.

What a fantastic color and interior scheme. Something we dont see every day.

 

Is that considered more desirable than the LB9 would have been for the same year? In 1984 I know the L69 was the engine to have but in 1985 I thought it was all about the LB9...

 

In 1983, 1985 & 1986 the L69 was only mated with the 5 speed Manual
in 1985 & 1986 the LB9 was only with the Auto.

If I was looking at two 1985 cars, both identical, except one was an L69/MM5 the other a LB9/A4 I would have a hard time choosing... I might go with the L69... 1985 LB9's was one of the hottest years for performance for the LB9.

+ The LB9 is more drivable, it is FI by the way.
- The LB9 used a one year only computer...
+ 1985 was the introduction to the LB9
+ the LB9 in 1985 was really hot,
- More to really go wrong with sensors & all, but they are not as complicated as the new cars.

+ Nothing beats a 5 speed for the pure driving experience.
- 5 speed are a pain in the butt, a little more service with the clutch.
+ Effectively 1985 was the last year for the L69 (they made 26 in 1986 all went to Canada)
+ a 3.73 gear from the factory... oh yeah, the ole seat-o-da-pants-meter would feel that one..
- Have you ever tried to figure out all of those vacuum hoses?

It would be a hard choice.

 

Ha, I had no idea the LB9 was auto only for the first 2 years, that's crazy.

 

1986 was a strange year, they only had the L69 before January, so there was no performance V8 with a Manual for the majority of the year.

1987 they introduced the LB9/M5 combo, it came with the 3.45 with the IROC or Z28 with G92 and the Formula & GTA...

Unlike 1982-1986 that changed engine offerings every year, Basically from 1987 - 1992 the engine offerings didn't change too much, 1 V6, 1 base V8, the LB9/A4, LB9/M5 & L98.

1982 - I4, V6, LG4, CFI
1983 - I4, V6, V6HO, LG4, L69, CFI
1984 - I4, V6, V6HO, LG4, L69
1985 - I4, V6, V6HO, LG4, L69, LB9
1986 - V6, V6HO, LG4, LB9
1987 - V6, LG4, LB9, L98
1988-1992 - V6, L03, LB9, L98
1993-1997 - V6 & LT1
1998-2002 - V6 & LS1

Not entirely sure what years the V6 HO was offered, it was an S/E thing.

John

 

I owned a 85 L69 5 speed WS6 and it was a blast. Before I sold it, (stupid idea) I would run it next to my LB9 for fun. It was pretty close!
FSTFBDY that is an awesome ride, the clean original factor overrides any lack of "desirable" options.

 

+Rare exterior color !!! and 5-spd

-LG4,WS9 and Hardtop


Dave

 

beautiful car !! just cant believe pontiac put a 155 horsepower motor in a trans am .. what were they thinking ..

 

I love the two tone Pontiac interiors. My old 86 Trans Am has the black/grey insert combo. Of all the third gens I've owned, that 86 had the nicest looking, most comfortable interior of all.

That car actually proved to me a third gen, depending on the setup, could be a smooth, quiet, comfortable, decent performing GT-style touring car. If I could ever duplicate that car again (LB9/A4, base suspension, hardtop, power seat, premium interior group), I'd buy it if I had the room.

Can you tell I miss my 86? It was such a fun, relaxing cruiser, I actually enjoyed it more than my 88 WS6 LB9/M5 car....

 

Yeah I miss my 86 too.. black with the two tone silver/gray.
Note my login name....

 

I think the color combo is going to take that certain "someone" to fall in love with it where as if it were say a solid black or white or red it would be an easy sale love the mileage and over-all condition of the car though.

 

Where is this car located? Is it up for sale?

 

I'm one of those special people that love the russet color. It's actually one of my favorite colors on a 3rd gen, especially with the matching russet interior.

However I'm not a real big fan of the Pontiac two-tone seats. Mostly because I think the colors they chose weren't that great together. In this case, I think a darker tan color would have looked much better than the charcoal. Also didn't care much for the silver inserts in the red interiors... but now I'm getting off topic.

Anyway, the color combo of this particular car is great

 

I like the color combo. It scream '80's!! I had an 83 trans am in red/black...it looked awesome and handled good but was not a fast car 305 cfi.

 

An L69 was only 190 horsepower so 155 was within range for a standard V8 of those times. It's obviously laughable now when the base V6 in a Mustang makes 2x that power but you have to put it in context.

 

So what's so special about an 85 LB9? (Just to continue the thread highjack....)

BTW, love the car and the color! Nice grab!

 

i owned a l69 5 speed iroc in the late 80's .. man what a dog that thing was ..

 

Yeah, they were not HP monsters for sure, my '83 T/A was the same way...slow but looked and sounded awesome, and mostly, thats what the chicks liked to be seen in, a nice looking car
But thats what we had to work with in the 80's. Camaro/Trans Am, or Mustang GT or Corvette were THE muscle cars of choice in the 80's as thats basically all there was for American muscle cars that the average joe could afford. But thankfully now to technology, we can make these cars what they should have been then, and allot more!

 

1985 was a one year only 8bit computer, and I believe Cam before new smog regulations kicked in for 1986. They say that if you drive one that is in good running order, you would think that it was a 350 car.

Remember that TPI was designed for a 305 for the Corvette, when people heard that they were going to drop the 350 for a 305 in the 1985 C4 there was as much to-do as there was going to FWD in the F-body. So they did all the engineering on the 305, people complained, they had the tooling, so they kept the 350, and they used the 305 engineered TPI system.

IMHO the runners on the 350 should have been 1.75" to really breathe correctly with the 350, but they were only designed at 1.625"...

John

 

also the new mustang has much more weight but still wins in the hp/weight ratio...