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I decided I will post all of my cars after posting my recently acquired Formula. KITT will be long, so that will be last. I plan on keeping them all up to date. Anyway, in October 2012, I bought a 1989 Base Firebird black t-top. A friend of mine spotted it for sale in someone's yard when he made a wrong turn. I went and looked at it and bought it the next day for $2,800 cash. It was very solid with only minor rust under the driver's rocker which I fixed later. I was told the engine was a replacement 305, but I couldn't tell because every hose, bracket, and wire was put back the way it's supposed to be. It looked stock to me. The interior was so-so and was sporting some 82 Trans Am PMD seats front and rear set which was very odd to me being a Knight Rider guy. I didn't realize it until I pulled the ugly red seat covers off. However, this car is not and will never (as long as I own it) be a Knight Rider car. The car had been repainted in 2008 and was a 10 footer really. It had some god awful "bird" emblems on it. The paint had dirt in it, a huge run on the driver's quarter and I realized very quickly that it was single stage and was never cut and buffed, just shot on there. All of the weatherstripping was pretty well done, but overall a good running and driving car. The interior really needed some sprucing up, the door panels were warped and just junk, the dash pad had some issues. Nothing unexpected for a car with 152,000 miles on it and who knows how many owners.
Here is how it looked the day I brought it home when I bought it:
I've done an extensive amount of work to it over the years including replacing all of the weatherstripping, rear springs, shocks/struts, the entire front suspension components, all brakes, rotors, wheels bearings, seats, door panels, customized the interior a little to break up some of the gray, replaced the fake airbag steering wheel with a custom one, and outfitted it with a set of GTA wheels to name a few things.
The fun thing about this car is that it's just a base Firebird, so I can do whatever I want and not feel like it hurts the value and so I continue to customize it without going over the top and keeping it looking good. This car is mostly driven on nice days to work and back. It's really just a driver and not really a show car, but I do take it to cruise-ins every once in a while. This is the (if I think it might rain cruise-in car).
Future projects for this car:
I have a set of smoke tint 91 Trans Am tailights to go in it. I also acquired a set of GM aluminum louvers for the hatch and just recently thanks to a member on here, got the last bracket I needed to mount them. Took me longer to find the brackets, almost 2 years! It needs new carpet which I'm hoping to do in the fall. I'm also going to color sand and buff the whole car this fall. Tried a little 2000 grit and a buffer on the spoiler awhile back and was amazed at how nice it could be. The dash pad in this car is NOS that I got several years ago for a price that most on here would yell "WHAT??? Where was I????" ...yea, it was less than $100.00 and it will be going in the Formula because the Formula needs to be perfect. The Formula dash pad looks good, but has some slight discoloration that while not that noticable, will be going in the base Firebird. Other plans for this car include sub-frame connectors and someday, some real horsepower!
Everything on this car works including the A/C and every light bulb. It's still sporting all working emissions including the factory cat that I had inspected a few years ago in which they had to install a test port because it didn't have one! The only major problem with this car is that it needs the gas tank replaced or repaired due to loose filler neck, oh and the gauge works half way. I'm on empty at the half mark. The filler neck will seep gas. I only run 7 gallons at a time in it which I figured out won't leak. Been doing this for years, but it really needs to be fixed.
New parking area for the 89 since the Formula kicked it out of the carport garage.
The plan is to tear down the wooden garage at the end of my primary driveway and build a shop big enough for the Formula and KITT and then put the 89 back in the carport garage. I'm a few months away from that though, if not next year. For now, this will cut down on musical cars to get KITT out and I can drive the 89 easier without having to move the truck every time.
Last edited by kentuckyKITT; 09-05-2018 at 06:12 AM.
Reason: spelling
Finally got the rear window louvers installed yesterday! Pretty simple install really. Took a bit of positioning to get them as straight and even as I could. Turned out great! I still have to pull them back off to have them repainted later as they are a bit too glossy for my taste, but they're mounted. Only problem I can see on the test drive is the front corners "flutter" in the wind. Probably going to figure out a way to fasten those sections down at a later date. There's too much space between the top hinge mount and the first side mount. Terrible design really. There should have been one more bracket in that front curve. They do hold on tight and stayed on even at 80 mph. No rattles either to my surprise!
Thanks all! I'm loving the louvers. Really changed the look of the car. Very 80s I'll say! Next up will be window tint for the doors. Then, I'm going to work on the Trans Am tail light install next and maybe carpet this Fall since I failed to do that last Fall.
08-23-2018, 07:36 PM
