ok so i have a question about this. I just bought a 89 GTA. The car is all correct with the GTA badges, the wheels, the t-top headliner number system and holder, the dash where it says GTA and the performance suspension, and the 5.7 TPI system. When i look at the vin it has S instead of W. What am i missing, it has everything the GTA came with, event he seats, like i find it hard to believe that someone cloned this car out. The ground effects and front and rear bumper are the TA style with the rear GTA lights. Can someone please help me understand more of why someone would clone a standard GTA and not the 20th turbo car?

 

http://www.gtasourcepage.com/newauthentication.html

 

To answer your post , first things first , if both the paperwork (title) and the car's actual VIN on the dashboard match , and both do indeed say "S" instead of "W" , then you do have a base model bird prettied up with some GTA parts .

Now , as to why ?

Simple , someone had a GTA with no paperwork (stolen GTA perhaps ?) and picked up a good cheap base model bird body and put all the GTA goodies on it since it about triples the sales value to the unsuspecting buyer . They were obviously relying on someone not checking the VIN before purchase , and folks who buy the 1989 TTA know that VIN by heart so there would be no possibility of passing an "S" car off as a real TTA .

Sorry you likely got hosed on price , but if it's a decent car otherwise then what's done is done , enjoy it for what it is instead of hating it for what it isn't , and by all means do not screw whomever you sell it to by trying to pass it off as a "real" GTA .

 

It could be a formula 350. Check the rpo code decal in console. Not sure why people turn them in to TAs or GTAs.

 

They do it because they like some other car better and rather than sell what they have and buy something different, they buy parts and convert what they have...

I've been a bit guilty of this, but usually just with junk.

 

Guilty myself. I went to buy a Trans Am and found a nice sound running Formula that had the bumpers and ground effects changed out. I later corrected some ground-effect fitment issues, done a re-paint, decals, and tail-lites but kept the power-bulge hood which I always preferred.