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History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
So, I was at a car show yesterday with KITT, the last car show of the year in fact and this guy shows up in a pearl white paddle mirror 5-speed 87 GTA and he has "1 of 1" written on the car show info. card! It's a 305 TPI. Is this super rare car that only 1 was built really in my town? Really? So a little history, I saw this car for sale about 2 years ago at this little high-end used car lot and I went and looked at it and they wanted $14,000 for it then. I looked it over back then and saw a lot of things wrong with it and politely informed them it wasn't worth $14,000, but of course they know better! The RPO sticker was missing! No lettering on the headlight at all, emblems in the wrong place, silver bird on the tail light panel, fiberglass replacement spoiler, wrong center caps, screws all over the door panels and in the sides of each arm rest, screws along the center console sides, I guess to hold it all together? The dash pad has been recovered with some kind of vinyl and the speaker grills just sort of float about 1/4" above. Poor car has had some stupid owners! Then, when I see it at the show yesterday, this new owner has put some kind of Cadillac plastic engine cover over the TPI, complete with a black painted thermostat and a complete ball shifter running through it with the stem screwed right into the side of the driver's side valve cover!!!!! This appears to be what's holding the engine cover on!
All I can think as I'm looking at it, is how this car if it really is a GTA is dying a slow and painful death. It's in the hands of an interesting guy. This guy also has a thirdgen red Camaro that has so much dumb stuff done to it it will make your head spin and it too has a complete ball shifter in the engine bay. I'm sure as I see this supposed GTA each year, it's just going to get worse!
Here are the pics of this super rare "1 of 1" GTA:
Is this car really "1 of 1" built?? Such a sad looking GTA for being the only one of it's kind ever built!
Last edited by kentuckyKITT; 10-28-2018 at 06:43 PM.
Re: 87 Pearl White GTA 5-speed paddle mirror "1 of 1"
Originally Posted by irvan
What's a ball shifter?
If you look on the driver's side of the engine cover, you'll see the ball kind of recessed in there with the shift pattern on top. Kind of like this one:
The chrome stem (or whatever it's called) is what is screwed to the side of the valve cover.
Re: 87 Pearl White GTA 5-speed paddle mirror "1 of 1"
Bought a parts car this summer off a guy who had an 87 paddle mirror/ 5 speed/ ttop car in his garage for sale. Literal twin to this car. Car was immaculate minus a few chips in the hood, and it only had about 65xxxkm. He was asking 8500CAD which I thought was a great number. Right off the bat unless that car has a specific (and probably meaningless) RPO code, it isn't a 1 of 1, and sure as hell isn't worth 14,000 g's. Some people are nuts
Re: 87 Pearl White GTA 5-speed paddle mirror "1 of 1"
Originally Posted by 1MeanZ
Why is having a fiberglass replacement spoiler a problem?
Not a problem, except when the claim is the car is all original even after I pointed out the spoiler is clearly aftermarket. As a side note, after seeing one of these aftermarket ones in person, I'm not impressed at all. Looks like I'll be rocking the factory one on my Formula for as long as possible until someone makes a correct one. It's not just the tapered tips, the entire shape is all wrong on this one. Not sure of other companies.
10-28-2018, 06:36 PM
