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3 question for you TTA experts.

1

15th/20th Anniversary T/A

Member
OK...I've been pondering these questions for awhile now and I'm hoping someone can help me out. Ready? here we go.....

1)I've been into the TTA thing for awhile now (I've only owned mine for a couple months but I have admired them since '89) and I have seen quite a few in person and online. The question I have is why do you generally see TTAs serialized in the 3-4 digit range (example: mine is #1234)? I know they started at #1 (which went to the Indy museum right?) and Unser got #2 ???.Has anyone seen #3 and up? Particularly any single or double digit cars? Also, was there any correlation to these being festival cars? How did they determine which cars would be festival cars and which wouldn't be?

2) This question is regarding collectability and value of the future of the TTA. With 1,555 built and probably all but a couple STILL in existince, do you think the desirability and value will continue to climb on these cars? I bought mine because I've loved it since '89 not for value; however, it would be great if the value and collectability of these continue to gradually climb. The question came to mind when I was recently thinking about my '84 15th Anniversay T/A. My 15th has 32,300 original miles and is very near to original as you have ever seen. But there doesn't seem to be a big following to this car as I thought there would be a few years back. Keep in mind there were only 1,500 made and I bet there are not half (or a little less left). This is why I figured there would be more of a premium on these cars and for them to be a bit more desirable. I know people will argue that the 20th is truly an sports car compared to the 15th but remeber, when things were bleek in the mid 80's the 15th was cranking out 190 bhp which was allot. On top of that, it had 16 inch wheels and Recaros to boot. Pretty impressive to me for back then. In any case, my 15th and 20th T/As are n't going anywhere in the near future. I love both these cars!

3) Last question isn't as long winded. Does anyone have access to their data plate and/or the paint code for TTAs? I am going to get my new fiberglass rear Aerowing painted after the 1st of the year and my car is put away for winter storage. I don't have access to my data plate so I would appreciate any pertinent info you can give on the paint for these cars.

Thanks everyone and I apologize for the long post.

Jeff

[ 12-26-2001: Message edited by: Jeff ]
 
Jeff,
My car is number 90. It was completed by PAS in Jan of 1989. It is a documented festival car. All Festival Cars had Cloth with T-Tops. 187 Cloth with T-Top cars were produced with about 150 of them used at Indy. Most of the Cloth with T-Top cars were built in the begining of the production run as needed for Indy and the press. My car had a Festival number of 130.

The three cars used as actual pace cars were picked at random from the available cloth and T-top cars. One was put in the Indy museum, One went to Pontiac and the thrid one was give to the race winner, Emmerson Fitipaldi.

George can add some interesting items here about Emo. He met up with him at SEMA in Las Vegas this past fall and was able to get quite a few items signed for himself. Including an owners manual he had signed for me!

As far as collectablility goes on these cars...
These cars should appreciate in the Future, when I am not sure. I have noticed a few things over the years on these cars.
1. A whole bunch of these cars were stored away with less than 100 miles. So the average mileage cars are in the 30K mile range.
2. Not very many of these cars have been daily drivers, so the attrition rate is very low. My guess is about 100-200 have been worn out and scrapped.
3. Even though these cars are very fast and even get faster with very minor mods they are not very well known buy Trans Am and Pontiac People. I have noticed more Buick Grand National people are into these cars due to the drive train. They are the Rodney Dangerfield Trans Am "Don't get any respect". Another part of this is that so many of the cars were stored, they never got the visability they so deserved.

It appears we have hit about the bottom of the depreciation cycle of thes cars. Many of the orginal owners are tired of waiting to make the "Millions" on these cars and are dumping them on the market now. My guess is with the new visibility and the increasing popularity of the third Gen Trans Ams, in the next 5 to 10 years we will see an increase in values.
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Of course all of this is my own opinion!

As far as your paint code goes: WA 8554 is the stock color.

Dave
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Hi Jeff!
Long time no hear from! Ha! Anyway, it looks like Dave G. answered all of your questions. As for cars in the low numbers, check on the title page for owners registry, and you will see a few. If you haven't sent in yours, do so! It would be great to see all 1550!
I agree with Dave with all he said (even though my car is in the 'average" mileage range) about these cars. Although, almost everyone (or most of the people I have met) just wants to drag race these cars! Just like almost every Grand National I've ever seen is modified! The only ones I've ever seen were at the dealers or Auto Shows!
Feel free to post here or send me an email!

Have a good one,

George
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I would think that the hardtop cars would not be in demand as much a T-top cars. Even though less were made. Just for the T-tops and leather being an "option". On that note does anyone know if the hardtop cars stickered more or less than T-top TTA's? THANKS
 
Hi carcrazyguy!
One of the reasons that a hardtop car would be in demand is because of the few made. But, the indy pace car version was a t-top, and most of the people (at least back in 1989 thought so) don't see the hardtop version as the pace car! Although they all are.
It seems that back in the old days, the more options, the more demand! It seems that now-a-days, the least options are in demand! So, you will almost always see a hardtop sell for more than a t-top!
As for the sticker price between the two, the hardtop was the lowest of the two!

Hope this answers for you,

George
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Most of the hardtops were ordered by persons who were looking at racing in either SCCA or competition racing. I ordered my car for this purpose and have used my car on various events. I know of another TTA that was raced in Arizona.
 
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