Okay. I called the lady up for the TTA (Judy, real nice woman) and I asked her a bunch of questions about the car. I was thinking that at the very least, I can get some pictures of me sitting in a TTA and call it good. I arranged to go met her, and me and my wife go look at their garage-kept car. It has a few issues, so they considered that when they determined their asking price. A/C is out, the heater core is bypassed, the front clip is a replacement one and the painjob they had put on it isn't very good. The hood has a crack in one of hte intake vents and the t-top middle section has some rust. Missing front badge - stolen. (Of them all, the badge is probably going to be the hardest thing to fix, actually.)

Cloth seats, so it's one of 138 (or something like that) out of the whole run of 1,555 cars, the t-tops are GLASS and the bag is intact, the driver's kit is applied to the car and was replaced not long ago (the hood banner and door stickers) and besides a turbo timer, the entire car is bone-stock. They had a run of 13.8 in that condition not terribly long ago, but when they had a custom chip, they ran 13.2 - they didn't like the chip so they put the stock one back in. It's the wife's car, and she's a Pontiac Trans Am NUTCASE. She was a member of the Grand National club here on Ohau, so she knows people who know the Buick 3.8 mill.

They aren't selling it becasue they don't want it, it's that they can't keep up with that and the other toys they also own. It was picked to go. She's attached to it (good thing) so the important thing they're looking for was a person who appreciated the rarity of these cars, not just someone who had a fistful of money. She liked the fact I knew a lot and asked a whole bunch of questions. I felt like it ws a job interview, almost.

With any luck, I should be able to call them in a few days and I'll be the proud owner of a Turbo Trans Am. Yeah, I'm keeping the GTA, but I won't be in a rush to fix it up to more-the-stock levels anytime soon. I'll kee the TTA bone-stock. They're just too nice to be screwing around with. As far as Judy knows, it's the LAST ONE on the Island. So now, if I get it, we need to do a meet somewhere so I can drive up in my two Birds of Prey.

I just hope I can take care of this car, like it deserves.

EDIT: It's one of 187, not 138. My wife corrected me.

 

Hmmm? Real nice! stew

 

Nice, as in 'pleasant to talk with'. I wasn't there to judge her on her physical appearance, nor will I. I was there for the car, 'nuff said. Suffice to say, she's looking for a good home for the car. I guess I fit the bill (or so her husband said) as I appreciated the rarity of the car.

 

Did you check the oil? I'd check it and see if its still good (rub it between your fingers), also check for brown substance (water from a blown headgasket). Very important that they kept up to date on oil changes since it can affect the turbo. And since its boosted, more likely the headgasket could go from higher pressure, so be sure to check that out too. I've also heard those 3.8's had a problem with the rear main seal leaking, so get under the car and check that out as well. Did you take it for a test drive? I would let it idle until it gets up to operating temp and see if it can maintain a good temp. Good test of the cooling system as well as the headgasket. Also be sure to hammer it a good one and see how the tranny shifts. If its a sloppy or slipping shift then you know it was driven hard. When you hammer it, try to do it by your wife so she can see if it smokes. If it does smoke, the color could give you an indication of whats going on. The fact that it has a turbo timer is a great sign, means those people know how to treat the car right. Sounds like those people took good care of the car, but always double check to be sure.

 

I wasn't able to take it for a drive (Ward avenue waaaay up in the hills, kinda crazy friday afternoon, yes?) but I plan on doing so sometime next week, maybe tuesday or thursday. I remember hearing about the rear seal going - 89tta.com is a good source of basic information. I should look under the car where they have it parked (for oil and whatnot). It has its fair share of issues, but nothing that would affect the reliability of the car, I think. Small stuff I can get done when I get around to it, like the A/C, heater core and front badge. I wouldn't drive it much, maybe only once or twice a month. My car plans would change a lot after I get the TTA - I may never get around to the 383 Super Ram build on the GTA - no need to, the TTA is capable of the e/t's I wanted out of the 383 build. All in all, a fun little weekend car, and I can even get another parking stall at my apartment (for 30 bucks) so I don't have to do the stupid three-car-shuffle mess I had to do when I owned the beater Firebird.

Now if I only knew some Grand National guys...

Oh, and I'm going to have to change my sig pic, too.

 

The Buick 3.8 is a nice engine. I had one with a roots blower that came stock in a big 4-door "ultra" and it would really haul when the hammer was down. Only things I hated about the car was it being front wheel drive and a gas-hog, sigh. There's a mini-van I've seen at the dragstrip with this same blown engine and it's running 12's.

 

Ah, the late eighties, when a whole bunch of GM cars were boosted. I'd sure like to have a TGP, that's for sure. I saw one on Ebay for a mere 1,500 bucks. Pretty good price for a 1990. Of course, the wife said no...

 

Ian, have you already decided on purchasing it?

What are you offering her?

I was interested in the car if it is in good enough shape, but from what you said, it sounds like it's not worth 7500.

I wonder if that's the same TTA I've seen around town....

Scott

 

Ian, got to turbobuick.com and introduce yourself. There is a section for Hawaii guys as well...

enjoy...

Rob

 

Nice man... hopefully getting it back to "perfect" condition wont be all that hard or a real pain in the ***.

 

Scott, I'm probably going to offer around what they were asking for, maybe a bit less. Considering that these things go for no less then 4 grand in mint condition, and even more if they have low mileage, 7,500 isn't a bad price to ask for. If it was a GNX, even in that shape, I'm sure it would fetch a MUCH higher price, due to the rarity of those cars. And yes, I plan to cherry it out and maybe take it to car shows and stuff. Good, nice-looking once-a-month car.

Hey, thanks Rob, I'll take that as an invitation!

 

You can get aftermarket nose emblems (or any emblem you need) from a couple of source these days for the 20th Ann. www.carmotorsports.com is a good place.

You say 4 grand for a TTA? I say 10-14k for a nice one, up to 20k for a mint low milage one ...

Anyway, you will not be disappointed if you get it ... I know I own one of just a few here in the United Kingdom :-)

 

Oh, oops. Stupid keyboard. I meant to say 14 grand. There's a site that shows the Ebay bidding history on the TTA (among other rare Pontiac automobiles) so my paying 7,500 for a 92-something K mile car is about right. Saw the non-winning bid on one really low mileage car that was 30 thousand... it was put up twice more and finally sold at 28 grand - it has 16 miles, period. Guy must have bought it and decided to store it, despite the fact that they weren't quite rare at the time. He made back his buying cost, almost, but inflation probably knocked him into the red. The two badges I'm missing will cost something like 130 bucks - it's also missing a rocker panel badge.

 

That's what I thought :-) Or I would have been on a plane to Hawaii to pick another one up

There's been a lot of low milage ones on e-bay and as you said not been a good investment .... A friend of mine had a 49 mile TTA but later sold it as he had some other cars in his collection.

For the emblems, I would recommend you get and change all of them as the new ones (repro) would look much brighter and nicer than the ones on your car already. I installed a complete set on my TTA when I had it resprayed last year and it looks ace, see http://la.rsson.com/tta1078resto/ for pictures from my project.

 

heres who you need if you purchase the tta,i worked for them a long time ago late 89 www.conleyracing.com not to say the others are not good at what they do but these people are a true family that love turbos,you can also see their pics of the 86 GN that is still around and fast,tweaked 1 and tweaked 2,you can also visit www.hotrodgossip.com and www.realdragracing.com, hope you enjoy,mahalo

 

I'm pickign it up tomorrow. Now the parking lot shuffle begins anew.

 

congrats on the new TTA, we all have to check it out some time! we sure got quite a few thirdgens now.

 

When will we see a few photos of the new car?

 

I took a few, while it was at their place, but I don't have acess to those shots here at work. I'll snap some pictures of it tonight and upload them for you all.

If I'm lucky, I can drive it as soon as the insurance cards get mailed to me, and we could link up or something, get a big group shot of everyone's car and stuff.

 

a group meet up would be nice, its been almost a year since the last one... and i missed that one.

 

Pizza Bobs' in Haleiwa ... yum-yum ... has big windows looking out on their huge parking lot...

 

only if I can bring my SS...

pizza bobs sounds good ed...

Where do you live?

 

whoops

 

In Aiea, near the Arizona Memorial, but I commute to work in Wahiawa and Honolulu ... that's why my white IROC is seen all over the place, heh.

 

Pizza Bobs or Cholos works for me...

cholos has crap for parking though...