Help Needed with TTA

[Scott in Cincy]

TTA'ers,
A friend of mine from work for many years asked me last week to help her with a car. Her father, who was a doctor, bought an 89 TTA new and kept it as a Sunday car until his death in October of 2010. His health was poor his last two or three years, so the car was seldom, if ever, driven.

What I know about the car at this point is that it was bought new in Columbus, OH and has about 25k miles on it. She's going to send me some more information shortly, like whether it has leather or cloth, or t-tops, etc. I know that it hasn't been driven much the last few years, so that always makes me a little shy.

I'm most likely going to pick the car up on a trailer and bring it back to my house to detail, change all of the fluids, and go through it. I'm trying to decide if I'd like to have it, or just help her sell it and maximize what it's worth.

I've seen values all over the place for these cars, crack smokers in the mid 30s to cars as low as $10k. I guess what I'd like to know at this early stage is:

1) Is it worth keeping as a collectible? I have more cars now than I can deal with, but my garage is always open to a stray. I've got a 1968 Mustang GT, a 69 Firebird project, a Porsche 911 Turbo, and a Lincoln Continental...so my tastes are a little eclectic anyway!
2) If I decide not to keep it, is low $20k range about the right place (assuming it's in very good to excellent condition, which i suspect)
3) Any things I should know before cracking open this beast after a long-ish hibernation?

I'm sure I'll have a bunch more questions, but thanks for any insight.

Regards,
Scott
Cincinnati, OH

 

[72firebird]

If it's in good condition I'd say it's worth about $15-16k if you're buying it before doing any work on it. If you're looking to give fair market after the work is done (basically going it for free) I'd say about $17k.

I would do all the normal maintenance you'd expect when taking a car out of a long storage: fluids, filters, drain the gas tank, and plugs. Some common things that you'll probably want/need to replace are tuning chip, fuel pump, rear spoiler, and tires.

Once you drive it you'll be hooked, these cars are a blast to drive. They squeak and rattle since they're unibodys, but they handle pretty good and are torque monsters. You can consider the cars collectible, but they haven't really gone up in price. I bought my car almost 7 years ago with 16k miles on it, I've put almost 14k on it since and I don't think I'd have a problem selling it for what I bought it for.

 

[2QUIK6]

Find out more about the car. Hardtop and cloth are the rarest with only 15 made. Most popular were Ttop and leather with over 1300..the rarer the more its worth. These cars prices took a beating with the economy, but I've noticed a little uptick in prices here as of late. Mint contdition original 10k car sold for $26k, and a mint 20k car sold for $22k recently, those are the highest prices I've seen in 2 years.
Also, if it has any mods that will hurt prices a little depending on the mods..sounds like it probably is all original.
Get more details and pics always help.

 

[89icbm]

TTA'ers,
A friend of mine from work for many years asked me last week to help her with a car. Her father, who was a doctor, bought an 89 TTA new and kept it as a Sunday car until his death in October of 2010. His health was poor his last two or three years, so the car was seldom, if ever, driven.

What I know about the car at this point is that it was bought new in Columbus, OH and has about 25k miles on it. She's going to send me some more information shortly, like whether it has leather or cloth, or t-tops, etc. I know that it hasn't been driven much the last few years, so that always makes me a little shy.

I'm most likely going to pick the car up on a trailer and bring it back to my house to detail, change all of the fluids, and go through it. I'm trying to decide if I'd like to have it, or just help her sell it and maximize what it's worth.

I've seen values all over the place for these cars, crack smokers in the mid 30s to cars as low as $10k. I guess what I'd like to know at this early stage is:

1) Is it worth keeping as a collectible? I have more cars now than I can deal with, but my garage is always open to a stray. I've got a 1968 Mustang GT, a 69 Firebird project, a Porsche 911 Turbo, and a Lincoln Continental...so my tastes are a little eclectic anyway!
2) If I decide not to keep it, is low $20k range about the right place (assuming it's in very good to excellent condition, which i suspect)
3) Any things I should know before cracking open this beast after a long-ish hibernation?

I'm sure I'll have a bunch more questions, but thanks for any insight.

Regards,
Scott
Cincinnati, OH

With all this selling, the car will bring about 15 to 16k. There was 50K Grand Nationals made and they still out sell the TTA, this doesn't include the T Types or Turbo T's.
Honesly, don't get your hopes up.

 

[fast400]

Scott,
Looking at the collection you have makes me think that you definately need to have this car in there. The performance is a totally different feel than any of the others in your collection.....and yes the price will go up eventually, so 15k is a bargain.

 

[ChrisK]

Anymore info about this car???