Thursday, March 9, 2006

While surfing Ebay, I don't know what gets into me but I find myself looking at third gen Pontiacs again.  How I got from C4 Corvettes to F-bodies is a mystery to me but there I am, looking at old Trans Ams.  I hit upon the mother lode with a 1986 low mileage all original Pontiac Trans Am, black with tan Recaro interior.  The asking price was kind of steep but for a low mileage, meticulously maintained LB9 / auto TA with rare Recaro interior and T-tops, sporting just 48,000 original miles and flawless mechanical operation of every option, it wasn't that hard a choice to make.  The car is located in North Carolina, a fair piece to drive but it should be an adventure if this works out.

I'd really like to have a black and gold third gen TA but if I win this car, I can always paint the ground effects gold and add the fade stripe to the body.

I print out the entire auction from Ebay and send the link to my father.  We are looking for a car we can campaign at local car shows and work on together and it is our mutual opinion that the '89 Formula is simply too far gone for anything other than parts or salvage.  Or, to put it another way, I could spend the same amount of money that I intend to spend on purchasing the '86 Recaro TA in restoring the '89 Formula and I still wouldn't have the same grade of car as the '86 TA appears to be. 

My initial misgivings on the auction center around the fact that the 1986 TA does not appear to be a WS6 car.  This concerns me somewhat since WS6 cars are more desirable and I'm not getting the basic heavy duty hardware, from the factory, that I would like.  However, even this minor misgiving is not a problem since I have access to a 3.27 geared 9 bolt Borg Warner posi rear end and 16x8 inch aluminum wheels with almost brand new tires on them courtesy of the '89 Formula 350 I have in storage.  I might have to swap in a quick ratio steering box but since I plan on ripping out the entire factory suspension and replacing all the parts with heavy duty aftermarket parts in the not too distant future, what size sway bars this TA currently has on it now makes little difference to me.  Still, it's just strange that you would find a TA that was optioned with the high dollar stuff like the TPI engine, the mandatory automatic overdrive transmission, the Recaro interior and T-tops.  Why this TA isn't a WS6 car eludes me but that one fact alone won't keep me from acquiring this car should I decide to do so.

Currently, the car is selling for $7495.00 instant buy and there are 8 bids on the car totally just shy of $1100.00.  The reserve has not been met.  I play around with owning the TA in my mind and set up several scenarios for acquiring it, all of them feasible and easy to implement.  I go to bed as my mind starts to work out the details.