I saw this black and gold trans am for sale online. It’s a 1983,but has 1982 Bowling Ball “turbo cast” rims and a 1982 style steering wheel. Are these original to the car? Did early production 83’s get 82 steering wheels and turbo cast aluminum rims with bowling ball hubcaps?

https://classiccars.com/listings/vie...illinois-62269

 

To begin with, it's not an HO. The VIN is H, LG4. Also has an auto, not a manual trans, which is another non-HO trait. Beautiful car, though.

As for styling, not much changed from 82 to 83, so the wheels could be original, I'd think.

If I was home I'd try to check it out, but with work still closed, I'm currently visiting Indy.

 

i just sold a 83 trans am all original with 33k miles on it and it had the bowling ball caps and that same steering wheel ..

 

Thanks for the info Ray! So I guess the only thing that didn’t make it over into 83 was the pmd seats. How much did you get for yours?

 

sold it for 6500.00 it was a real nice car and a 5 speed car .. those early trans ams are a hard sell

 

Really? How come? I personally prefer the clean body style of the 82-83 trans ams before they put the wrap around ground effects on these cars. I like the subtle front flares before the front and rear wheels and the turbo cast aluminum rims/caps. Plus I like the fact that these years are not fuel injected so you don’t have to deal with any of the pump in the tank BS.

if you were in SoCal I would have been interested in your car. I like the black and gold color combo. I had an 82 in that color

 

Here’s my 1983 Trans Am! Love it, mine has the crossfire fuel injection and same steering wheel that was in the 82 model. Love the car!

 

Beautiful car! That’s exactly what I’m looking for,but would prefer the 82 because if the PMD seats. I’ve always wondered why Pontiac only used that style seat for one year. I’d prefer the carb’ed version. I’ve heard people say the crossfire is too problematic,and of course there’s that pesky fuel pump in the tank issue again.

 

Lol guys, it's really not the end of the world to drop the tank. Install a quality piece and change it again in another 30 years.

 

lol! well,you’re more than welcome to come change mine if it goes bad since you’re implying it’s no big deal.
I didn’t say it was the “end of the world”,but it’s definelty a huge pain in the *** and was dumb engineering on GM’s part. There was no excuse for them not adding an access panel when they went to fuel injection.When it goes bad you’re not fixing it by the side of the road,you’re paying to have the thing towed,and it’s an ordeal to replace. Drop the axle,cut the exhaust down,remove a heat shield,,drain the tank,wrestle the damn thing down,then take it and pay to have the exhaust welded back up. Yeah,it’s a snap! Lol. They turned something easy and cheap into an complicated ordeal,and for what?

On the 1982 cars it’s a mechanical pump on the side of the engine block. A line in a line out and two bolts and you’re back in the road in 20 minutes. And a lot of guys here claim the new fuel pumps don’t last 30 years. Everything’s made in China now and not like it was when the car was new.

Cars are even worse today. Needlessly overcomplicated ugly plastic computers on wheels,reliable to a point but then when you have problems,brother you’ve got real expensive problems and you throw them away. Something simple like a fuel pump didn’t sideline a car in the old days. You could fix it by the roadside and be on your way. Definitely NOT an improvement on these cars

 

Pretty sweet car! I don't know about 14,000 sweet, but nice. Getting hard to find those. Yes, 83 was kind of oddball year, with a one-year only small t-handle shifter and some 82 carry over parts and I believe some 82 parts were optional as well. Sure is a good looking car!

 

KentuckyKitt,do you know if any 83’s ever had PMD seats? I wish the would have kept the 82 style shifter too. I don’t care for the T handle. It doesn’t look as nice.

 

If you were closer I would definitely come give you a hand haha! I agree with you it sucks there is no access panel, would have made life so much easier. When I dropped my tank we didn't have to cut the exhaust just unbolted the cat back. When I was doing my research it seemed to be much worst then it ended up being. My Bosch pump was made in Brazil maybe Ill have a little more luck lol.

Yeah, new cars are fu%ked. Ik's starting to get out of hand but it is what it is.

 

I appreciate the offer! Lol! Thanks for the tip about the Bosch pumps. I will definetly keep that in mind. I’ve had really bad luck with the quality of new parts. Even my gas cap was defective,lol.
Yeah,I love old cars. Driven them my whole life and have zero interest in new cars. The third gens are still “new” cars to me and as new as I will ever go. They have a great body design, very sleek and low. But the 80‘s were when they started flirting with nascent technologies like computer controlled fuel injection.

 

From the looks of it, that brake pedal has way more than 42k miles. Also it has the wrong dash pad. Too many red flags with the car.

 

My former '83 had N89 wheels from the factory, and it was confirmed on the build sheet.

No '83 came with PMD seats, although some Iron Duke cars had the round shift ****. The T-Handle does, in a Fisher-Price way, remind me of an aircraft throttle lever which seems to suit the cockpit theme dash better.

 

The asking price is way too high for this car. The car is going to need a repaint and the rear plastics look chalky.
Would like to see pics of the underside too. The car Ray Jr sold was WAY nicer than this one.

 

I have not seen them in an 83 unless someone installed them later. I recall posts years ago that claim they could be ordered in 83, but I never saw any confirmation that I remember.

 

When it comes to 5 digit odometers, unless it's a well documented car like some of the members examples on here, I automatically assume it's rolled over at least once, especially today.

 

Yes,I think the asking price is far too high on this car too. Hopefully something will
come up locally that’s better than this. I’d rather have an 82,I like the old seats and come shape shifter. Fisher price,is a good way of refer to the early T handle shifter in these cars.

 

Gateway has some nice rides but their price are a minimum 20% to over 50% what it is really worth.

 

That car is very edgy. Look close at each picture. looks like maybe the bowling ball covers were in storage for the last 100K miles. Lots of wear & time in the sun.

Now if it was 7K I would not be so critical. but 14K is just silly, but kind of expected with dealers like Gateway. They don't cater to your regular car guy.
But Still, When I saw the advertised price & claimed miles, I just expected a little more.

All that aside, it Looks very similar to the 82 I had decades ago. Only thing that looked different was the shifter from what I remember.

 

I am curious,are very low mile,like 5-6k mile,showroom condition base model firebirds and camaros worth anything,or only the trans am,Formulas,Irocs and z28’s?

 

Damn!!! The further I got through the pictures, the sicker it looked!!! I have a vehicle with 255k miles on it and the brake pedal looks fantastic. That car is in pretty sad shape. Red flags for sure.