1555 were produced, 5 being prototypes/mules

out of 1550 cars produced by PAS, the actual pace cars were randomly selected and sent to Indy for testing and modification.

all of the cars were underestimated in power and rated as being below the 89 corvette... however, we had a conversation with the person who drove the car on Car and Driver (i'm pretty sure... i have it in mpg form somewhere...) said that the times were 13.1sec 1/4 mile and 4.6sec 0-60mph times, which was not said on the actual show.

futhermore, not all cars came t-top, or came with leather... there were hardtop cars and cloth cars... however all were made with an automatic transmission (200r4). here is the rundown:

Number Options
------------------------------------------------
1,324 T-Top & Leather Interior
187 T-Top & Cloth Interior
24 Hardtop & Leather Interior
15 Hardtop & Cloth Interior (Base)
------------------------------------------------
1,550 Total Production Cars

4 Pilot Cars with T-Top & Cloth Interior
1 Pilot Cars with Hardtop & Leather Interior
------------------------------------------------
5 Total Pilot (Pre-Production) Cars

=============================================
1,555 Total Cars Built

The five pilot TTAs, because they were for pre-production use, were pulled off the Van Nuys assembly line without regard to color and, in fact, they were not white. Because at least two of these pilot cars were sold to private individuals, there are at least two extremely rare, non-white, factory TTAs in existence!

GM did not offer a factory convertible TTA. However, one was created by ASC for PAS president Jeff Beitzel. This car is unique in that its origins are shared with PAS stablemates Syclone and Typhoon and the ASC-built GNX. The world's only ragtop TTA has changed hands several times, and is presently owned by a wealthy Mexican oil baron who loves Pontiacs. (the above is from www.89tta.com)

for further information on the car, i refer you to http://www.89tta.com/ttahist.htm which has an extensive (for the most part) run down on the stock packages of the car...

i have torn apart and reassembled my own, including the interior, motor, suspension, and drivetrain... so I know the car well... if you need any other information, i will be glad to provide it from my own personal experiences.

 

i want a grand national or turbo trans am, they are awesome cars!! turbo cars have so many possibilities!!

 

GNs are good cars, but are over a second slower then the TTAs... stock anyways. TTAs can be bought for under $10k, which is real cool... or if you want a cheaper solution, go with a turbo Regal, GN, or a T-type... GNXs are currently just insanely expensive. I want a GNX, but i'm not paying no $28+k for one. Anyways... they are real nice cars and have extreme potential, but the stock TTA blocks can only handle around 600 hp (heads and block are made out of cast iron)... so don't aim to high. I've heard of a guy running 11.9s on turbo/intake/exhaust on street tires, which is pretty sweet. Well, I have to go... peace.

 

Check out shrp1 on here, he was hopin for 10s this season, not sure how things turned out though.

 

Some good missing information there, I might have to see about working at it for an update. Would it be ok to use some things you posted exactly??

 

The world's only ragtop TTA has changed hands several times, and is presently owned by a wealthy Mexican oil baron who loves Pontiacs.


Owned by a guy in Georgia now.

 

yes, you can... in fact, e-mail me at logan@thongracing.com for more information and clarification on some of it (because i'm not always able to access the web, but e-mail is available... don't ask, long story)... or if that doesn't work, my other e-mail is logan@gtp-racing.com . i'm full of trivial information based on the 89 TTA and have been there, done that with it... in fact, the current rebuild is using a Speed Pro / FAST DFI system instead of SFI, using a cam that is second to the 9second ver of the TTA, and various other special things which cost lots and lots of money it is really a sweet ride, and would post the rundown of everything, but don't want to give it all away... the cam is well over .5" lift... i can say that sorry, just took it out for a drive and it makes me so damn happy. well, talk to ya later. peace

 

yea, that section was pulled off of the website... i heard about the person who you are referring to buying it, but my memory isn't so good and forget names. he's also the one with the extremely extensive TTA collection, including the red mule, and the 50 mile no-owner ever TTA, right?

 

That be Rich. Yeh, he has quite a collection of rarities.
He was selling his, 50 mile car a one time, don't recall
if he got rid of it or not. He also has the emissions test
TTA as well.

 

Just to clarify the information about the rag top TTA I will jump in. The story about the Mexican oil baron on the TTA website is a myth. The picture displayed of the guy with the TTA rag top is actually Betzell himself. The facts are, Betzell kept the car for about 6 months then turned it over to a brooker for sale. Milton Robson from Georgia purchased the car for his private collection where it stayed for 10 years, right outside of Atlanta. It was then purchased from Robson by Rich Vant'Hoff with 24K miles on it and resides in Peach Tree Ga. another suburb of Atlanta. How do I know this, Rich is a friend of mine. I have personally driven the car, met Robson and been thru his collection. I have also had the priviledge of meeting and talking with Scott Kelly, one of the 3 principals in PAS. Scott is the person that hand tuned all the cars that were shipped to Indy. The statement that the pace cars were randomly picked is absolutely correct. All 1550 cars were equally prepared and any one of them could have paced the race. This was a stipulation by Pontiac. I am often disappointed by the lack of knowledge about this car, especially by fellow 3rd gen owners. This car was the 'super car' of it's day and still is the fastest Trans Am ever built. It was clocked at Indy having a straightaway speed of 171.26 and a lap speed of 158.30. It will run low 12's high 11's in stock form and with a few mods run low 11's. This car deserves far more respect than it's ever been given and if you ever get the chance to own one, jump on it.

 

The TTA information before:

Trans Am is selected to pace the Indianapolis 500. Pontiac markets another pace car replica. This special 20th Anniversary car based on the GTA is only available in white with tan interior and comes equiped with a Buick 3.8L V6 with a turbocharger developed from the Grand National. These replicas are as close to the actual pace car as any replica offered up to this time. The only changes made to the cars that actually were on the track during the race were the additions of strobe lights and safety equipment.

Updated:

The Trans Am is selected to pace the Indianapolis 500. Pontiac markets another pace car replica. This special 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am (TTA) based on the GTA is only available in white with tan interior and comes equipped with a Buick 3.8L V6 with a turbocharger developed from the Grand National. These replicas are as close to the actual pace car as any replica offered up to this time. The only changes made to the cars that actually were on the track during the race were the additions of strobe lights and safety equipment. 1,555 were produced, 5 being test cars. Out of 1,550 cars produced by PAS, the actual pace cars were randomly selected and sent to Indy for testing and modification. All of the cars were underrated in power. Not all cars came with T-Tops or came with leather, there were hardtop cars and cloth cars. Every car has an an automatic transmission, the 2004R. The five test TTA's, because they were for pre-production use, were pulled off of the assembly line without regard to color and they were not white. At least two of these test cars were sold to private individuals. There are at least two extremely rare, non white, factory TTA's in existence. Its known that one is red. GM did not offer a factory convertible TTA. However, one was made by ASC.

Specs:

1,324 T-Top & Leather Interior
187 T-Top & Cloth Interior
24 Hardtop & Leather Interior
15 Hardtop & Cloth Interior (Base)

4 Test Cars with T-Top & Cloth Interior
1 Test Cars with Hardtop & Leather Interior


Is this good enough for you TTA dudes??

 

yea man... it is cool with me... i'm just trying to get a little bit of TTA awareness out there =) however, one thing you could add in/change is the fact that all of the pace cars sent to Indy were in all actuality production cars randomly chosen from PAS' lot.

 

I have, "Out of 1,550 cars produced by PAS, the actual pace cars were randomly selected and sent to Indy for testing and modification."

 

Alright... I didn't see that part... eyes skipped over that line. Yea, reading it a second time, it is damn good.

 

The Tech Data should be updated with it soon.

 

something to include... from Tacho Motorsports to you =)

 

Its updated.

 

Thanks =) glad to see/read it...

 

UPDATE...

There was a total of 2 KNOWN and possibly a third (in Mexico) ASC TTA Vert for 1989.

John

 

I updated.

Thanks.