1990 1LE Trans Am 1 of 4
 

Now that's it's safely on the transport and (somewhat) in my possession, 1 of the 4 1LE TA's Pontiac built in 1990 (zero 1990 1LE Formulas were built) has been discovered & is on it's way to Detroit where I will pick it up in the next week or two.

Ordered new by Jim Crist of The Toy Store in Largo Florida, this car was raced it's first year in showroom stock before being converted into it's current configuration to be raced in the SCCA American Sedan series for the 1991 season with the more aerodynamic bumpers and one of the ultra rare aluminum hoods. The SCCA logbook should hold more detail but I do know it was raced at Dayton & Sebring in this configuration before being sold to it's 2nd owner.

The VIN was the key to unlocking it's true lineage and documentation is inbound from GMMA but I do know it was originally red with a tan cloth interior and was one of the 2 domestically delivered 305/5spd 1LE TA's.

I'll keep you posted with pictures & details as I unravel this enigma.

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Damn! You are the man for sniffing this car out. Can't wait to hear more on this one.

When are going to enlarge the barn?

LOL, sometime after I pour the slab. :D

The other car that's inbound and getting delivered tomorrow is Greg Williams Blackhawk project car. A 1990 Formula 350 that had the SLP catalog thrown at it back in the late 80's/early 90's when the original owner was unable to order a Firehawk. Tony, (T-Top350 here) has provided me with the one missing piece - the dual feed, cold air intake! Thanks Tony!

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I've always liked these cars as I've owned a couple over the years, plus the 400 mile 85 IROC that me and my brother have now. But I've also owned one of the 305 TPI cars and although it was an automatic, I was NOT impressed! I know the 1LE option was a race type option, but do they actually perform that much better than an automatic WS6 equipped car?

Super cars Boss, nice score on the '90, and Tony really hooked you up with that air cleaner!

Jerry, you need to drive a 1LE car...they are a blast and you would not know it was only 305 cubes under the hood! The rear axle (3.42) and the special gearing in the transmission (MK6) make is a great car for the highway.:D

Jerry, the LB9 305 TPI in the automatic configuration unfortunately received the LG4's "Peanut" cam while the 305 TPI with the Manual (1st available in 1987) received the L98 350 TPI Corvette style cam which was a much better performer. Your 85 would be the only deviation from that formula in that all 85's received the L69 Cam which was much better than the LG4's but proved to be too good of a performer when matched against the General's flagship car, the Corvette.

Although not considered performers when compared to most of our 60's & 70's cars, they were good for the day with my original 1987 LB9/MM5/G92 IROC in bone stock condition pulling a 14.57 @ 91.71 time slip with close to 100k (real) miles on the clock and after driving to the track. That kind of time was stock Grand National territory back in the early 90's.

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On the trailer...

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I was wondering when you were going to post a update on your new finds!!

That Tony guy did hook you up with the air cleaner setup!!!!!!

He's a good man, probably only leaves him with a cool dozen of these left. ;)

Thanks for the teaser pics of the other parts last night - you'll make this spiral out of control in no time flat! :thumbup:

Chris - feel free to stop by while you are in town - or - let me know if I can help with the exhange in any way.

Also - I have a few 1LE stories. Remind me to share when I see you in person.

K

Congrats!
 

Chris-

Congratulations on your recent purchases! Wow, very impressive find! Are your plans to leave the 1LE in the current race configuration or back to as delivered?

My wife and I had a '91 GTA, black and gold, black leather, 23K miles about 15 years ago. It was one of eight optioned delivered new in Canada. These are really fast, solid cars!

Ok, so if you and Bob are competing, my hands are up in the air!

Keep us posted!

Jim

I'm just dumb lucky Jim, no other way to explain it. That being said, how can somebody know to sell you something if you don't ask?

The car will stay in the form it is in while I have it but I will be bringing it back to the original look with the decals and stripes in the right size & location.

Keith, tentatively planning on heading out there for the weekend of the 23/24th, shoot me a text when you have a chance, I got a new phone a couple of months ago and lost every number from the last couple of years. Got something planned for Saturday you may want to jump in on.

Four cars and no burn out videos. Guess you world travelers kind of lose focus every now and then.....

Maybe you can post a picture of some old skid marks or something.

after getting these scores he probably has skid marks in his underwear :D

Obviously that cam change made a BIG difference. I had a 86 TA with the 305, auto, WS6 that was dead stock. I was the second owner with only 27k miles. I bracket raced it for one entire season and the best I ever got out of it was a 15.9. It generally ran in the 16.1 range.

:jumping::jumping::jumping::jumping::jumping:

sticky britches....its whole different mess...and is in the front...just sayin'

Right to the gutter....

Love you guys! :thumbup:

Burnouts will be coming - come on! It's me! :noidea:

Unfortunately the SLP car showed up damaged and went straight to the shop. The Red 91 1LE is in paint for some fluffing and the Sunoco car is in transit.

1986 was unfortunately the dog of the decade Jerry. Neutered and stuck with the high mounted tail light blister it was a sore thumb from the get go. It is the one year of the ten that I won't touch at all.

Fun item I discovered when going through the paperwork on the SLP car - two prior owners in North Carolina & their plates were 1BANDIT & YNOTRACE :pound:

1 owner, low miles, lady owned, never raced!!!

In cars & women, I prefer a little bit of experience, I don't necessarily need to know how they got it. :D

1990 1LE.
 

I'll send you pictures and video of the car doing a burnout!!!!!

thank you for noticing..i do what i can...

A couple of great scores, congratulations

Oil & fuel leaks seem to have been taken care of on the Blackhawk and it'll be road tested and hopefully home today. Going to need a good cleaning and some paint/body work done - got bumped (hit) in transit but we'll get that taken care of. Once it's cleaned up, Patrick is looking forward to driving it for the summer, I'll wait until the fall to take it apart and make the updates I want to it.

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The Sunoco car is half way home, safe in a garage & in good company at Brian's house. Spoke to both Jim Crist & Jim Mattison about the car yesterday, waiting on the log book and whatever documents GM Media Archives can produce to confirm it's full history. Log book and other documentation from the prior owner should be here tomorrow. :D

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interesting cars for sure. have fun!!

Hey Boss, I see it still has the 1990 rear bumper and tail lights...was spoiled and front bumper changed to run 1991-92 season?

Two different cars here in the thread.

On the SCCA car, the tail lights are TA but the rear bumper is the 91/2 Formula version. My Postal Person decided to just leave the simple stuff in my mailbox this afternoon and not make the trek up the driveway so the documents including the SCCA Log Book are sitting down at my local Post Office now. :mad:

Waiting desperately to see what it says! Car is supposed to be a record holder at Daytona, won at Sebring & Road Atlanta too.....waiting! :rolleyes:

I was trying to ask, Why does a 1990 1LE Trans Am have a 91-92 front bumper? I assume it was changed to race as a 1991 or a 1992? I thought they could change engines and sheetmeyal and keep competing in later years.

I got you now - I believe that is the case. The hood is different and there are no ground effects either but this body is likely more aerodynamic than the the TA and lighter with the aluminum hood.

Here's a pic of the console sticker from one of the four - the only one sold in Canada. Note the CC1 T Tops. Car was blue with grey cloth. The owner parted it to put all the 1le stuff in his plain jane 89 Camaro.:eek:

Thank you for that Dave! Dark blue too - that's sad.

Two were delivered to Canada and two sold domestically in 1990 according to the codes. One each of the T-tops to US & Canada. I've also been told the other domestic one was totaled early on, but have no hard documentation to base that on.

So there's possibly another hardtop somewhere in Canada. I always check the adds for 5 speed hardtops. Every once in a while, I see a 5 speed GTA with T Tops but they aren't common either.

I got the SCCA log book on Saturday and the Docs from GM today - amazing this car didn't get crushed along the way because nobody seemed to know what it was!

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...4&d=1461106097

What year could you start getting air conditioning with the 1LE option?

Wow, super low sequence number on the last 6 of VIN! Were these cars batch built? I know the 90's were a very short production year but a sequence number of 202763 is fascinating for December 22, 89. I bet that car was not built in sequence but assigned a VIN and batch built with the other 4, but I have been wrong before. Cool info Boss, thanks for sharing.

No A/C with 3rd gen 1le. The closest you could get was a GTA which came with A/C plus everything the 1le did except the bigger front brakes. My 90 GTA is like that - the brakes look slightly odd since the rears are bigger than the front.

Actually the Firehawks were 1LE with A/C cars and are so far the only documented ones we have. I have heard that there were some 89 1LE's that had A/C but so far no proof has been presented.

You may be right, that is a very early VIN number to have been built on one of the last days of production. The 1990 model year ended December 31st and the 1991's were produced throughout the 1990 model Calendar year and through the first half+ of 1991.

I also find interesting the airbag delete - I wonder how that made it through the system although I don't believe they were federally mandated at that point were they?

Edit - reading the invoice further, Priced 08-14-89 - could that be when the VIN was assigned?

The Ship To: 60-278

Does anyone have info on that? Ultimate GTO dealer/zone has 60 206 AC Spark Plug Division - GMC, Flint MI from Todd Young 71 GTO

Right! Forgot about them.

Firehawks, 89 TTA and B4C Camaro cars were 1LE with A/C.
I have heard of 1 92 formula with A/C and 1LE but nothing of the 89s.

92 Camaro with 1LE, auto and AC a desirable car?

It would have to have been a B4C Police Package RS Jerry, to date, no Z28's with 1LE have been identified with A/C. But yes, desirable.

That's a decent (read low) price for a non service B4C/1LE car and I'm sure a blast to drive. The 92's also benefited from the new panel adhesives and were a more stable ride.