[njsteve]

Back in the early 1990s when I worked as the tech editor at Musclecar Review, one of our editorial staff members bought a yellow 1LE directly from Pontiac and convinced them to add A/C onto the car on the assembly line. We were located in central Florida and there was no way the project could go ahead in that kind of climate without A/C on the vehicle. Since the guys at Pontiac really wanted to see some press on the car and the car was going to appear in several issues of the magazine, they agreed to the request. It has all the paperwork to back it up. As far as I know he still owns the car. That would make it a definite one of one.

[The Boss]

If you can get the VIN for that car Steve I can verify it - would be VERY cool to find that Pontiac built some with A/C as well. Rumor has it two of the 1989 TA's got A/C and one of them was supposed to be in the DC area about 10 years ago.

[TTOP350]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Back in the early 1990s when I worked as the tech editor at Musclecar Review, one of our editorial staff members bought a yellow 1LE directly from Pontiac and convinced them to add A/C onto the car on the assembly line. We were located in central Florida and there was no way the project could go ahead in that kind of climate without A/C on the vehicle. Since the guys at Pontiac really wanted to see some press on the car and the car was going to appear in several issues of the magazine, they agreed to the request. It has all the paperwork to back it up. As far as I know he still owns the car. That would make it a definite one of one.

I have the mag/story (BIG 'Bird) and have been trying to get in touch with Mr. Scott ;-) for a few yrs now! Would like to buy it if he'd consider selling. It ran 14.80s @ 93.55

I almost had a JY 92 Formula 305 5sp TTOP 1LE with A/C and cd player ordered back in the day. (still have the order form, it was going to get the SLP goodies dealer installed too.
Was a bit young and needed a cosigner, had money down, dad was on board and then he finally really read the options....... It didn't get it ordered but I still have the order sheet.
Greg found me a car that was 1-2 options shy of my original order, even has dealer SLP parts installed and dealer documents of that!

[The Boss]

So update on production numbers, the car is not 1 of 1 with the 1SC package, 6 of the 8 with t-tops came equipped this way so not rare by that measure.

Another factoid we discovered is that 9 of the 46 came equipped with C60 Air Conditioning, none of them were t-top models however.

Amazing amount of documentation came with the car, original key ring with dealer tag on it and all of the key knock-outs, original title with lien from GMAC, GM Media Archives documentation, all of the e-mails between the 1st two owners on the sale, original order dealer documents - I'll post up more pictures later.

[Judge273]

Originally Posted by The Boss

For 4th gens Mike you'll want to stick to the Formula's and the TA's & especially the Firehawks, Comp TA's, LT4 models, WS6 Ram Air cars and then any of the LS1 98 & up ones. The 4th Gen Camaros don't seem to have the same following or carry the same values unless they are super low miles or Anniversary editions - maybe because they have such a close resemblance to the Geo Storm.

Thanks!

[TTOP350]

One of 46 is still fairly low production and with 1LE it's good company to be in.

Like my 1 of 43 89 formula 350 verts. One of 4 with a top color other than black, 2 tan 2 dark blue. Mine is the only dark blue top left, the other was totaled early.

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by TTOP350

I have the mag/story (BIG 'Bird) and have been trying to get in touch with Mr. Scott ;-) for a few yrs now! Would like to buy it if he'd consider selling. It ran 14.80s @ 93.55

I almost had a JY 92 Formula 305 5sp TTOP 1LE with A/C and cd player ordered back in the day. (still have the order form, it was going to get the SLP goodies dealer installed too.
Was a bit young and needed a cosigner, had money down, dad was on board and then he finally really read the options....... It didn't get it ordered but I still have the order sheet.
Greg found me a car that was 1-2 options shy of my original order, even has dealer SLP parts installed and dealer documents of that!

Yup, that's the car!

He played with Pontiac Motor Division to get his project car and I played with Dodge to get mine: ;-)


http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...381#Post145381

[TTOP350]

Very very cool! I built quite a few of those vipers back in the day. Dang near put em in 6th gear from a stop and itll pull away

[The Boss]

When it rains it pours! I looked at this car a year ago and patience & persistence finally paid off. Not a 1LE but equipped nearly identically to one, 68,000 miles, two owner car owned by this guy for 17 years. 1990 was the shortest production year of any Firebird, and only 480 of the LB9/MK6/G92 cars were built - and this one has T-tops & A/C.

[The Boss]

Originally Posted by TTOP350

One of 46 is still fairly low production and with 1LE it's good company to be in.

Like my 1 of 43 89 formula 350 verts. One of 4 with a top color other than black, 2 tan 2 dark blue. Mine is the only dark blue top left, the other was totaled early.

I'd really like to have one of the verts Tony & John Glasgo here checked one out for me in Ohio recently but they had two deposits on it the night before he got in there. Rare cars & tough to find - yours has a great color combo!

[muscle_collector]

Originally Posted by The Boss

When it rains it pours! I looked at this car a year ago and patience & persistence finally paid off. Not a 1LE but equipped nearly identically to one, 68,000 miles, two owner car owned by this guy for 17 years. 1990 was the shortest production year of any Firebird, and only 480 of the LB9/MK6/G92 cars were built - and this one has T-tops & A/C.

looks nice translate the LB9/MK6/G92 for me im too lazy to look it up. the G92 sounds familiar.

[Held for Ransom]

305 TPI, 5 speed manual, performance rear.

[The Boss]

Mike's got it, same drive line as the 1LE except this one doesn't have the aluminum drive shaft.

LB9 305 Tuned Port Induction engine - When equipped with the MK6 it got the better L98 (350) Cam Shaft
MK6 World Class T5 with the different 5th gear (not overdrive)
G92 Performance Gear package 3:42 Rear gears which also included the KC4 Engine Oil Cooler

Car also has the G80 Posi Rear, J65 4 Wheel Disc Brakes, N10 Dual Cat Exhaust (free flowing) with 3" rear pipe, and the N64 Aluminum lightweight spare.

What the 91 has that this car doesn't is A/C delete, special front spindles for larger outboard wheel bearings, the Borg Warner Corvette calipers, the larger Caprice rotors, the previously mentioned aluminum drive shaft and some have argued a different chip.

[The Boss]

Just got some Trans Am data & to explain, we run a known VIN through the Comp 9 database and then we can extrapolate how many of that particular combination were built.

For this we used a known 1991 1LE Trans Am VIN

62 1LE's built, 43 exported to Canada, 19 delivered in the US
of the 62, 27 of them were equipped with T-tops 12 of those delivered in the US
None of the 27 with T-tops got air conditioning

[Jerry H.]

How about a 85 IROC, TPI, Red w/ red interior with ONLY 482 original miles? This was bought new by my stepfather and he passed away shortly after he purchased it.

[TTOP350]

Originally Posted by Jerry H.

How about a 85 IROC, TPI, Red w/ red interior with ONLY 482 original miles? This was bought new by my stepfather and he passed away shortly after he purchased it.

That was THE car to have back in the day!!

[The Boss]

That's a good one to have Jerry - the 85 was the first year for the TPI engine and it got the L69 cam which made great horsepower (for the day) and was a strong rival for the Corvette with the same engine. In 1986, they de-tuned the TPI engine because of that.

With only 482 miles, if it's been stored properly, that car would be worth well more than he paid for it - probably low to mid 20's, more if it has the optional Lear Siegler interior.

[The Boss]

Originally Posted by The Boss

Just got some Trans Am data & to explain, we run a known VIN through the Comp 9 database and then we can extrapolate how many of that particular combination were built.

For this we used a known 1991 1LE Trans Am VIN

62 1LE's built, 43 exported to Canada, 19 delivered in the US
of the 62, 27 of them were equipped with T-tops 12 of those delivered in the US
None of the 27 with T-tops got air conditioning

Mistakes were made above - new numbers:

106 Total 1LE Trans Am & Formula Models built in 1991
60 Trans Am's, 46 Formulas

By drive line:
350/Auto = 19 Formulas
305/5spd = 60 Trans Am's, 27 Formulas

With T-Tops RPO CC1
19 Trans Am's, 8 Formulas - all 305/5spds

With A/C RPO C60
0 Trans Am's, 9 Formulas - all 350/auto

Export models RPO Z49
43 Trans Am's, 0 Formulas - all 305/5spds, 15 with t-tops

Domestic delivery
17 Trans Am's, 46 Formulas - 4 TA's & 8 Formulas with T-tops

I should also note that NONE of the 1LE TA's were GTA's.

[The Boss]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Back in the early 1990s when I worked as the tech editor at Musclecar Review, one of our editorial staff members bought a yellow 1LE directly from Pontiac and convinced them to add A/C onto the car on the assembly line. We were located in central Florida and there was no way the project could go ahead in that kind of climate without A/C on the vehicle. Since the guys at Pontiac really wanted to see some press on the car and the car was going to appear in several issues of the magazine, they agreed to the request. It has all the paperwork to back it up. As far as I know he still owns the car. That would make it a definite one of one.

Originally Posted by TTOP350

I have the mag/story (BIG 'Bird) and have been trying to get in touch with Mr. Scott ;-) for a few yrs now! Would like to buy it if he'd consider selling. It ran 14.80s @ 93.55

I almost had a JY 92 Formula 305 5sp TTOP 1LE with A/C and cd player ordered back in the day. (still have the order form, it was going to get the SLP goodies dealer installed too.
Was a bit young and needed a cosigner, had money down, dad was on board and then he finally really read the options....... It didn't get it ordered but I still have the order sheet.
Greg found me a car that was 1-2 options shy of my original order, even has dealer SLP parts installed and dealer documents of that!

Steve,

The car must be a 350 L98/Auto configuration with the A/C and Tony this may answer the rejection you got on your order. From my research above, the ONLY 1LE cars built with A/C were 350 Formulas.

[72projectbird]

Really cool car! Gotta love the 1LE cars!

I think its great you're jumping on these 3rd gens now. I always felt these poor cars never got the respect they deserved, but you can slowly see the tides changing.

The car looks amazing. There's just one thing... did the guy you bought it from really screw in a front plate holder on a car he just restored?