What's new
By:
TurboTransAm.com

Register today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

You ever feel like a history book when it comes to the TTA?

R

Rodimus_Prime

Well-Known Member
It seems like NOBODY knows what this car is. Yea from a distance its real easy to confuse for a GTA. I find myself even around self proclaimed "GM car guys" constantly reciting the history of the car because they don't know what it is.

At the few meets I've been to nobody knows what year it is even though it has a huge decal on the door. They don't realize its turbo even though it has it on the car 3 times in big letters. Then if by some chance they recognize its a buick turbo engine they all think its swapped in and not factory.

I can understand maybe some of the younger folk but the older guys usually the ones in 30s and 40s are the ones that are completely clueless as to what it is. I was 8 years old when this car came out, I knew what it was even in the early 90s. Then again not everyones favorite book at age 13 is Muscle Car Color History Firebird and Trans AM 1967-1994. So I guess I was a bit "different".
 
Yeah, people are generally uninformed about this car. I eventually played it from a few angles. I would run mid 12s at the strip (this goes back to the early 90's) and take all the credit for being so smart as to take out the super awesome L98 (slow) and make a little v6 run so good with the addition of a super star trekky turbo and intercooler and ohh, I'm a mad scientist with an alky injection system. Really, you can play the fools and have a more entertaining time. I gave up on trying to educate the numb. It became a drag and not the cool kinda drag. My satifaction is in the time slips and that the fact my car looks showroom sweet and can spank 2000-2009 supercharged stangs and run with modified vettes. Then drive home with the A/C on and playing some mp3's while they load unstreetable stuff onto a trailer for a drive home that's probably only across town. And usually they are within a second slower or faster than me. The TTA is the red-headed step child of GM, but a very sexy red head when all is considered. :cowboy:
 
RatFink said:
I gave up on trying to educate the numb. It became a drag and not the cool kinda drag.
Click to expand...

Thats so true, but it seems like you have to educate almost everyone. I think the worst are the Buick guys who THINK they know about the car lol It does become annoying, but like you said there is satisfaction in the way they perform. Here's a quick example, in 2007 I raced at HPP Pontiac Show & Go at etown with my 89 GTA. I was placed in P1, which was the fastest class (10.99 and quicker), and I was the fastest car in the class dialed at a 10.60 (next closest was dialed a 10.75). I had the smallest engine and was the only car in the class that drove there and home :D All I did was fill up with Sunoco Maximal when I got there, swapped out the chip and lowered the air in the rear tires. After winning the class I aired up the tires and drove home, but didnt swap back in the street chip till I stopped for gas later on in case I wanted to play a bit more :) Top it off with a pic in HPP for winning the class and it doesnt get much better than that for me.
 
Not only do people not know what it is, but everyone (around here at least) seems convinced it says "official race car" on the side, which bothers me to no end. From the parking lady at a garage to an officer that pulled me over. It's a pet peeve.
 
echostatic said:
Not only do people not know what it is, but everyone (around here at least) seems convinced it says "official race car" on the side, which bothers me to no end. From the parking lady at a garage to an officer that pulled me over. It's a pet peeve.
Click to expand...

I had a girl at car show ask me if it was really an official race car. I thought it was funny. But yes I go through the same thing. Most people do not no what it is, and the younger import guys think its an aftermarket turbo on a GTA.
 
In 20 years I have had only one person stop by that knew what a TTA is. The funny part is this guy was riding a bike. As he went by he did a double take then turned around and came back to take a look.:WOOT:
 
I was at autozone trying to get a price on something. The 3.8 liter 89 firebird wasn't in the computer. (3.8 liter engine used to be in their computer under firebird, but not under trans am).

Anyway, the stupid guy was so stubborn. He refused to allow himself to be enlightened. He insisted that gm never had a 3.8 in any 89 firebird. I told him about it. Told him it was a pace car for indy 500, and told him it's in many muscle car books, showed him the owners manual with instructions on how to operate the 3.8 liter turbo engine, and showed him the car.

He insisted that i made all of it up. The car, the books, everything. He said i had a phony owners manual printed so I could fool people.

I have always been interested to learn new things. Here is a guy who absolutely refuses to learn anything. He insists that he already knows everything about every car, and I must be wrong because he says so. I told him i bought one of these cars new from pontiac and he believed me, but insisted that the car does not exist. That the dealer made up all the brochures and just put a grand national engine in.

This fool even said he was an engineer. And somehow that makes him right and me wrong. (an engineer with the prestigious job of parts counter flunky at the worlds cheapest auto parts store.)

I have been going through this for 20 years. Spending 10 minutes trying to convince these idiots that the damn car exists before they are willing to sell the parts. It got easy when i figured out that the parts store computers havethe 3.8 turbo motor listed under firebird, but not under trans am. Now that autozone changed their system i am back to the nightmare days of arguing with idiots just to try and give the store my money and buy a part. I don't care about these idiots. I'd rather they stay in the dark about the cars. It is just impossible to get the right parts without this stupid argument.

I went to napa and they still have the 89 firebird 3.8 turbo listed in their computers. I don't know about any other stores. 7 years ago all the parts stores had the 3.8 turbo firebird in their computers. I have been without a tta for 7 years, though. I wonder why autozone would remove a vehicle from their database? I assume they changed software to a different company and got short changed in the process.
 
That must have been very recent, they still have it under firebird here. If I had to deal with someone like that I would just call them an idiot and demand them to sell me what parts I needed or get their manager. I hate putting up with crap.
 
Maybe they are more educated here in Chicago about these cars? I always have people talk to me about wanting one and that this is there dream car. I had a younger girl (mid 20's) come up to me and talk to me about the fact that mine was a festival car since it had the cloth interior and she knew the entire history of the cars. She did ask if it was a real pace car since I do have the 4th car with all the strobe lights from Dave Doern. I find it interesting to talk to people no matter the questions.

It was more fun when I had my Camaro Convertible with the TTA Drivetrain and Interior in it. Just think of what questions I got asked with that car. LOL
 
Mike Arrigo said:
Maybe they are more educated here in Chicago about these cars? I always have people talk to me about wanting one and that this is there dream car. I had a younger girl (mid 20's) come up to me and talk to me about the fact that mine was a festival car since it had the cloth interior and she knew the entire history of the cars. She did ask if it was a real pace car since I do have the 4th car with all the strobe lights from Dave Doern. I find it interesting to talk to people no matter the questions.

It was more fun when I had my Camaro Convertible with the TTA Drivetrain and Interior in it. Just think of what questions I got asked with that car. LOL
Click to expand...

That might have been the girl who owned a TTA in Chicago that I looked at buying. She lived on the North side if I remember right and she was around her mid to late 20s and was looking good at the time from what I remember :thumbup: I made a mistake not buying her car cause it was spotless. But she knew her shit when it came to TTAs.
 
I'm having trouble with JC Taylor insurance in getting my car insured. They want to top me off at 8K for an '89 TA!!! I explained the car to the lady who said "the underwriter was a 'Junior' underwriter! I'll give this to the Senior underwriter!" I emailed her a copy of Ebay auctions for low mileage cars ... I'll call tomorrow and haggle it out. Does anyone have a better company ... I'm ready to move my GTO insurance over. They've been my insurance company for 20 years and many classic cars. This is bugging me.
 
PhillyD said:
I'm having trouble with JC Taylor insurance in getting my car insured. They want to top me off at 8K for an '89 TA!!! I explained the car to the lady who said "the underwriter was a 'Junior' underwriter! I'll give this to the Senior underwriter!" I emailed her a copy of Ebay auctions for low mileage cars ... I'll call tomorrow and haggle it out. Does anyone have a better company ... I'm ready to move my GTO insurance over. They've been my insurance company for 20 years and many classic cars. This is bugging me.
Click to expand...

send them a couple ebay auctions and if they're not willing to haggle/deal then move on. You're going to honestly get a better deal from one of the companies that deal in specialized vehicles for the TTA and your GTO if you don't DD either of the cars, something like hagerty, grundy, classic car insurance, etc....
 
PhillyD said:
Does anyone have a better company ...
Click to expand...

In the past I used to have my Oldsmobiles and Fiats with JC Taylor and they always gave me a hard time about the newer cars. I've got my T/A's with Grundy now and have had no issues.

HTH,
Steve
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top