WOW second wrecked TTA seen at the auction !!!

And this one with cloth interior !!! What a shame

 

Dave - was there a VIN on the website?

 

Dang that is a sight you hate to see.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

 

It was #1481.......

 

Seen that Simo, Thanks

 

Not a Festival Car as it is too late of a build number...........

 

Shame!!!

 

Someone will buy it cheap and rebuild it. The monetary value will be crap though, no way to keep that off the records. I'm sure it's considered totaled so it will likely have a "salvage" title.

That said....I would buy it if I had the time and money to rebuild it. The actual value doesn't mean crap if you plan to keep the car forever.

 

You hate to see that.

 

1G5FW2177KL248741

 

Thats a real shame. Would be great if someone could buy it and swap the body with a donor car. Could Vin swap the body. At least it will save a Turbo car (sort of).

 

LMAO Yeah, right....only if you don't mind being bought and sold for packs of Marlboro Reds and waking up next to various sweaty, hairy guys for several years. That car is FUBR'd but would make a really nice parts car.

 

Yeah I admit it's kind of Shady when people to do that. Happens more than people think especially in the late 60s Mustangs, when you could buy whole reproduction bodies nowadays.

 

Kind of shady??? VIN swapping is illegal! Swapping the VIN to another car does not make the other car a legit TTA. That was just a very bad suggestion.

 

That car has a production number of #1481. ANYBODY that try's to put Humpty Dumpty back together and try's to sell it, that number will always be "THAT CAR THAT WAS TOTALLED". It wont be worth much at all.

 

Would be a great opportunity for someone that wants a Turbo car but cant afford the 25k+ price tag. What do you think it will go for? 5k? It cost me 1,200 to get my 85 back from the Copart auto auctions, but that was just a normal lg4/ws6 car. (simular damage)

 

Probably around 3500-4500. Depends on what it was insured for too. I have 25K full payout on mine. It may have been just insured as a 89 Trans Am through Allstate!!

 

Hammer dropped at $6900 this morning.
Add the $1035 buyers fee, $89 if it was an internet proxy bid & the $59 service fee & the price tag is $8083 out the gates. Not to mention possible shipping fees of $400-$800 depending on where its headed (assuming it wasn't local)


I was interested for a while, but not for that kind of money. That car has some deep damage. Yes, It's fixable, but its now a marked car with a new kind of history & not the kind collectors want.

 

That is a curious amount to spend on that car.

 

So much risk at those yards too. The throw them around with fork lifts & can & do sometimes damage the under chassis & exhaust. They chiseled out the windshield to get the vin & marred up the tag. Then they always throw all the loose parts from the car, back into the car & not usually with care. Way to many unknowns & potential problems for that much money. I would have maybe done it for $5000 out the door, but not $8000 Heck, that's a $10-$11 car rebuilt maybe?

 

WOW that's some "Coin" for a wrecked car !!! TTA or not lol


If anyone on TGO bought it. I do take donations lol



Dave

 

For almost 9K after shipping (assuming shipped a fair distance) That is a big lump for a big lump. But a good body guy can clip that car and you would never know anything happened. I would love a TTA but you would have to be able to do a lot of the work on this and plan on keeping it to make it worth it. Salvage cars don't scare me personally. Done right it isn't a big deal in my mind. Done wrong and you might as well throw it in the trash bin. These cars are just a bunch of spot welds mashed together anyway.

 

Completely agree on everything you said above. But boy, there is no return on the investment on this one. If a good body guy bought the car & rebuilt it for the love of the car & nothing monetary, then it "almost" works provided he's just going to keep the car. but, for me if I had $10-$11 k into that car plus my labor, I would much rather spend another $5000-$6000 & buy one un-wrecked that I can look at & test drive too. The other potential issue is insurance after the rebuild. I have heard some insurance company's now won't insure rebuilt cars to full value. Well, maybe they will charge you full premium, they just won't pay out full value if there is another loss in the cars future. Don't quote me on that. Just something I have heard. I doubt that would be the case with Grundy, American collectors, etc. that a different kind of insurance tho.

 

Yes it would be for love of TTA type investment for sure. Part of the car culture is you don't normally get out what you put in. This would have to be kept to be appreciated. That girl is so clean from the pillars back. Pretty sad indeed.

 

Huh?

 

That was just the high opening proxy bid before the auction actually started.
IAAI takes proxy bids almost like ebay does. Then that closes 1Hr before live bidding & the highest proxy bid from there goes up against the actual live auction.

 

Judging by that kind of front end damage and watching the third gen crash test videos on youtube, I would say no to fixing it. If you've seen these videos and you watch the high speed cameras capture the flexing that's going on with the metal all the way to the rear of the car and the chassis, it's pretty eye opening! That car is more tweaked than it looks. Guaranteed.

 

I was all for fixing it, the only concerns I had was the way the windshield broke & the door looks to be hanging low in the back. both signs the cowl might be pushed back a bit. Also, that impact bar is over nearly 12" & if you look at that bar you can just make out the bent up attachment points to the frame rail & that is really bent to the left. frame cradle also appears to be swung over, Still, It can be fixed & hopefully if it is, it will be done correctly not just bent straight & put together. Would have loved to work on this one, I haven;t done a builder in over a decade. But after $5K it made no sense to me anymore. would be cool if the new owner happened in on the forum & posts some info. Doubtful, but you never know.

 

I'm only 1hr away from it, well less than 15 mins when at work but it could have been fixed and made into a fun car, be it a racecar or whatever.

 

 

I would have used the parts on my 87 to make my Formula a Turbo car...

 

With custom "FORMULA 231" door decals no doubt..

 

THAT would work!!!!

 

Maybe make a 89 formula 305 tbi asc vert into a 231 turbo

 

 

The buyer had 8K invested wrecked, assuming its the same car. I never jotted the vin down
If non of the turbo specific parts were damaged, it wouldn't be expensive for the parts, but boy that was a very wrinkled up car & a ton of labor.

I remember thinking it was a 4-5K car & was shocked at how high the bidding went.

EDIT: I see the vin was posted above. Same car. I guess you knew that already

 

SHHHWEET !!! Happy to that car saved !!


Dave

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1989-Pontia...%7C1000%7C2500

So how high would anyone go on this now? Without seeing it in person and knowing what it looked like the price is going to be interesting. The thing looks almost mint besides the previous big boo boo.

 

If that car was properly repaired and shows / drives as stated, then I 100% think it's worth that price. Forget about collector dollar value because it's out the window, but that's still a true TTA that is now in excellent condition (supposedly). Considering the majority of TTA's are garage queens with less than 50K, I think that's a wicked car to just jump in and the drive the hell out of without worrying about depreciation

 

The problem with any salvage title car is the title will dog it forever... Even if it was done correctly... It would be a driver quality car, as it will always be worth 1/2 the value of a non salvage car.

 

I'm guessing a youtuber, they don't really care if the car + rebuild cost makes sense only if they think the car will have a following to boost their viewership. Also isn't this the same engine in the Buick grand national, so possibly someone got carried away on the bidding for a parts car.... either that or the original owner really wanted the car back and drove the price up.

 

It is not. It is in the sense it is a Buick Turbo 6 if you want to do a build around it. However, if it was for a specific GN... the heads are different on a TTA and so is the intercooler. So, there would be numbers issues. It's not like finding an original DZ302.

I had a guy I knew that had multiple classics tell me when I was considering saving a Salvaged TTA... Most of the high dollar classics get a complete tear down/rebuild restoration. Some from rusty heaps pulled out of a field. What will ultimately determine if someone continues to care if it has a salvage title is how it was rebuilt and what the supply of good cars are. If you could find a 4-speed 69 Trans Am that had been wrecked, it will still bring big money if it is restored correctly.

Being that a high number of TTAs were locked away, my bet is it will always be hurt in value. If the numbers are right, buy it and enjoy having a TTA you can mod the hell out of and never worry about hurting the value. I had #1053, it has a salvage title. I was able to get out of it every penny I put into it. That was over 15 years ago though.

 

I think the TTA engine was closer the GNX engine. but I am likely off on that. Pretty sure exhaust & heads were different among a few other things.

I am surprised that car is over 13K. is that because its a cloth car? or because the bidders have no idea how hard it was hit? Or just typical Shill bidding? No way I would pay that much.. Don't have to spent much more than that to get one with a clean title & history with those miles. '
On the upside It is very clean in the photos,
But man, the Firewall, frame rails & A pillar damage that car had. I studied those picture close when it was at IAAI. that car was likely sectioned, or has some very reworked & tugged on steel.

 

TTA had GNX intercooler, didn't have the Turbo Impeller upgrade the GNX did, and had different heads than the GN/GNX due to clearance issues in the F-Body. Also, I do believe the TTA had different pistons due to the different heads. 100% sure on the heads and intercooler. Running off memory from 15 years ago lol, so don't take having different pistons as gospel.

I too am surprised the auction got so high. Guess someone out there really wants it.

 

I would say that any bidder has no idea how hard that car was hit. Alot of $$ for one that was damaged that bad. Good luck

 

The engines were similar, the block I believe is the same, but the TTA used the Front Wheel drive heads from the Lesabre/Park Ave for clearance. Otherwise they would have had to modify the inner fenders somehow to make them work. Also the TTA engines got a better crank with extra oil passages, basically extra oiler holes, where the GN and GNX got 1 hole for the bearings the TTA got 2.
.

 

I was thinking simialr. Its always been bouncing around in my head to put a GN motor into my 88 Iroc Vert. A TTA motor would be far better. As long as there wasnt any damage from the crash. But alas to spendy for me right now. And I dont have time currently for that type of project.