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Our car season is starting to wind down. Cooler temps, colors changing, leaves falling. But there's still a lot of good car related activities to enjoy.
One of the the last for the year for us is the Pontiac Oakland Club International (P.O.C.I) Chapter 16 Michigan Widetracker's Fall color tour and Poker Run. This was our third year in a row attending the tour, and it was quite enjoyable. We started with cider and donuts and a tour of the private collection of a club member (quite impressive), an 80 mile tour through some beautiful Michigan countryside, picking up cards along the way. We ended the tour at our sponsor Ex-Pontiac/Buick/GMC dealer for dinner and a club meeting.
Just a few pics of the collection we toured.
A person could spend a lot of time here, but it's time to get to our cars, and get this tour on the road.
Picking up our first pair of cards as we leave. Good looking GP in front of me. Sadly, he suffered some damage during the tour (the only car that did, thankfully), being hit by a flying branch from a tree trimming operation in the ditch next to the road. It destroyed his windshield, but did not go through, and mercifully did no other damage to paint, trim, top, etc. Scary though.
Thanks guys. The club activities are almost always fun ones. This was no exception.
Originally Posted by shiftman
Hey, I think you know that you have one of only 611 Trans Ams ever built with those RPO 81P Bright Red wheels?
I knew they were somewhat "rare" (not always comfortable using that term), and that I did not see them very often at all. But I did not know there were less than a thousand sets ordered. Thanks for letting me know that.
It is a good looking car. Very eye catching color combo too. A nice couple own it, and have been on all three color tours that I've been on ('16, '17, '18), including last years rain soaked event. Didn't slow him down a bit.
That's sharp. So many LeMans and T37's have been converted into GTO clones....it's nice to see one that hasn't.
There's a guy I see at local cruises who is the original owner of a very pampered GTA. He swears they never made our wheels in red. Frannie even sent me a screen print of the parts book page, which I printed out to show him. I still don't think he believed me. Your book will help me finally put that debate to bed.
My uncle has a early 70s Lemans sport. Pontiac 350/ 3spd manual. Orange w/ white interior. I will find sum pics of it one day. He recently drove it from South Ms to Oklahoma. Very comfy cruiser only mod to it was vintage air. It's hot down in south Ms we like our A/c. There was a 91 or 92 bird here in town with red crosslace wheels for ages. They were almost faded to pink last time I saw it. Yours and his are the only ones I've ever seen.
Here's a little something. This is from a 1988 Pontiac Car Distribution Bulletin dated October 29, 1987. Near the beginning of 1988 model-year production.
Note that the Bright Red wheels could be ordered only with the Bright Red exterior AND Bright Red Aero Kit.
A 1988 Bright Red Trans Am with Silver Aero Kit could not get Bright Red wheels.
Similarly, White wheels for the 1988 Trans Am could be ordered only with White with White Aero Kits. There were 751 units of White wheel White Trans Ams that year, the only year of White wheel availability.
So, your Red/Red/Red 1988 Trans Am is the rarest of 1988 monotone color Trans Ams, coming in at 611 units. (Black was the other 1988 monotone Trans Am. There were 2046 units of those.)
My uncle has a early 70s Lemans sport. Pontiac 350/ 3spd manual. Orange w/ white interior. I will find sum pics of it one day. He recently drove it from South Ms to Oklahoma. Very comfy cruiser only mod to it was vintage air. It's hot down in south Ms we like our A/c. There was a 91 or 92 bird here in town with red crosslace wheels for ages. They were almost faded to pink last time I saw it. Yours and his are the only ones I've ever seen.
I love orange with white interior. Orange was my favorite color as a kid. I think it's an eye-grabbing combo. I wonder if that's a Saginaw 3-speed behind that Pontiac 350? A good friend of mine raced (local short tracks) for years, and that's all he used for transmissions. He had about a half dozen of them built up with different ratios, and some as spares. Pretty darned indestructible.
Originally Posted by shiftman
Here's a little something. This is from a 1988 Pontiac Car Distribution Bulletin dated October 29, 1987. Near the beginning of 1988 model-year production.
Note that the Bright Red wheels could be ordered only with the Bright Red exterior AND Bright Red Aero Kit.
A 1988 Bright Red Trans Am with Silver Aero Kit could not get Bright Red wheels.
Similarly, White wheels for the 1988 Trans Am could be ordered only with White with White Aero Kits. There were 751 units of White wheel White Trans Ams that year, the only year of White wheel availability.
So, your Red/Red/Red 1988 Trans Am is the rarest of 1988 monotone color Trans Ams, coming in at 611 units. (Black was the other 1988 monotone Trans Am. There were 2046 units of those.)
GTA wheels were always Gold.
That is interesting.
I didn't really know they were an interesting feature of my car until Mantaguy (Franny) mentioned it. If I recall correctly, his white T/A with red interior same with red PW7s, though his car is not an '88. So some of those rules around ordering must have evolved over time.
Yesterday was my birthday, and my wife surprised me with this. She had already gotten me some other things, so I wasn't really expecting anything else. It was a nice surprise.
I'm looking forward to reading through it shiftman!
Yesterday was my birthday, and my wife surprised me with this. She had already gotten me some other things, so I wasn't really expecting anything else. It was a nice surprise.
I'm looking forward to reading through it shiftman!
This book rocks! I hadn't read 5 pages and already learned stuff from it.
I was always wondering why someone would put the sticker with the RPO codes into the center console, as my 91 used to have it in the trunk side compartment.
Turns out it's exactly where it belongs and they swapped locations the year after!
Yesterday was my birthday, and my wife surprised me with this. She had already gotten me some other things, so I wasn't really expecting anything else. It was a nice surprise.
I'm looking forward to reading through it shiftman!
So did you see your car is one of only 611 made with red wheels - pretty cool !!
Yes, shiftman (the author) had posted about that. I knew that you didn't see them very often, but didn't think they were all that rare. When I went to the T/A Nationals in 2017, puling through the parking lot, I could hear people nearby commenting on them. That was my first clue.
Winter. Yuck. While it has been pretty nice the last few days, just not the right weather for working on the car in an unheated garage.
We did have our Detroit Swap Meet today, and I found a nice looking '88 T/A 140mph cluster for a decent price. So add that to the list of items that need a little cleanup and installation.
Was tempted to buy a used intake, but ultimately passed.
I bought an aluminum car hauler for the T/A a few years ago...used it to take the car to the T/A Nationals in 2017, and a few other places since.
One of the few things I want to improve is to get a cover for the spare tire. It's mounted on a nice carrier on the side of the bed, but it leaves the spare 100% exposed to UV on both sides most of the year. I can get a vinyl cover, but I wasn't sure it would stay on going down the road, and they don't cover 100% of the back side.
I've been watching for a good deal on a stainless or aluminum band-style cover, and stumbled across this one today. It even has ribs in it that match the deck of the trailer. Needs a little cleaning up, but for $10, I couldn't pass it up.
A couple of fiberglass discs for front and back, and the spare tire will be all protected. And I can get some nice Pontiac (or related) decals for the 'glass disc that faces out. Should clean-up and dress-up nice.
Last edited by DynoDave43; 01-20-2019 at 08:45 AM.
A fellow forum member on mifbody.com (Michigan F-Body) posted this today. Since we don't have a "general" or "social" area here at TGO, I thought I'd post in my own thread for others to enjoy.
You can see some of it in the first photo of the spare tire cover above, but there's a LOT of tar and industrial fallout on this thing. It's quite a mess. I went over it before that photo was taken with some shop towels and Mean Green. It removed a LOT of dirt, but did nothing for the other deposits.
I stopped today and bought a spray can of Lifter 1 citrus Bug and Tar remover. A little leery of the citrus part...I'm used to more powerful and noxious petroleum distillates....but I have to say for this application, where I could rub at it with a green Scotchbrite pad, it worked quite well.
Here you can start to see some of those specks up close.
Cleaned on the right, yet to be done on the left.
In this photo, the Lifter 1 has really started to dissolve the tar, maybe 30-60 seconds after application. I've already gone over the first couple of rows of ribs (top) with the Scotchbrite pad.
It's never going to be a show piece, but it's looks can certainly be improved on.
Being an anodized surface, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it much better looking than this. The hard anodized coating is cloudy to a degree, and I'm not sure if polishing will help. But we're going to find out. As soon as my right hand and fingers are talking to me again...I'm getting old!
While it's tough to do much with an anodized coating, I tried polishing an area of it with Flitz. Section on the right and middle have been done, the left side has not. It helped bring it back to more of a silver color, and less of a milky white look.
I think this is about as far as I'm going to go. Stripping the anodizing, and having it reapplied is just more money than I want to put into the old part. I may clear coat it, but that's about it. My finger tips are not looking forward to finishing this job.
Last edited by DynoDave43; 01-22-2019 at 12:08 PM.
Went around once with the Flitz, and was very pleased with the progress. Took a nylon panel beating hammer and straightened a bend near the latch. And looking it over thought, this one spot didn't come out well...and that lead to going over the whole thing a second time. Made a great difference, and now I AM DONE. My arm, shoulder and fingers demand it.
The centers arrived in the mail too. One for the front, one for the back.
Just completed my registration for the 2019 Trans Am Nationals!
Anyone else registered yet?
I've never been before. I've been thinking about taking my Formula, but I don't know yet. Is there a registration cut-off? By the way nice car!! I just started your thread. Really dig the red wheels!
Thanks Kitt. I'm glad you enjoyed reading the thread. I need to get off my frozen Michigan butt and get some work done on the car.
I think they take registrations up to the day of the event, though it's more after a certain point.
I went 2 years ago and had a very good time. All are welcome...all years, drivers, restos, mods. I think they usually average in the neighborhood of 400 cars. But this year is the 50th anniv., so I would expect a bump in attendance.
Also, the TTA guys were not able to make a deal with Indy to have a reunion there, so they are aiming for the Nats too. Last time they had a get-together, they had 50 cars. So this "could" be a big bump in attendance for the show. They are getting their own class and trophy.
They do dash plaques for the first 350.
The event is held in the joint parking lot of two hotels. I don't know the numbers, but I have to assume there's some sort of cap on the number of rooms available at the show rate? Maybe not. Either way, I wanted to get in early so I didn't have to worry about it.
Too many events to attend to go to this one every year, at leats right now. But I didn't want to miss the 50th anniv. of the Firebird.
Just completed my registration for the 2019 Trans Am Nationals!
Anyone else registered yet?
I've never been but really want to go this year. Hopefully I'll have the car up to snuff enough this year to make it. Time will tell. So far the work schedule has been more relaxed.
Also, the TTA guys were not able to make a deal with Indy to have a reunion there, so they are aiming for the Nats too. Last time they had a get-together, they had 50 cars. So this "could" be a big bump in attendance for the show. They are getting their own class and trophy.
Yeah, they will be attending the 35th annual Trans Am Nationals. Hoping to see all five TTA pilot cars there this time around, but I am not holding my breath. It's going to be a great showing...
09-11-2018, 04:09 PM
