[thepontiacman]

Nice find.

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[sdbob]

Congratulations, nice.

[jhein]

Originally Posted by thepontiacman

Nice find.

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I think so, and I hope so. Hopefully it doesn't end up being a black hole that sucks all the money out of my bank account.

But as far as actually finding it, it was a bit obscure. I've been following these cars for sale online for years but just recently decided to buy one. This car was not listed on any of what I consider to be the sort of mainstream websites. I found it on a site called Autoblog that didn't even have a picture or detailed description. It did give me a link to a GMC/Buick dealership in Maryland which had a dozen or so muscle cars for sale. Turns out the owner has a little collection of about 30 or so cars. He bought this car at a Mecum auction in 2016. It had a frame off restoration done the was supposedly completed in 2014-2015, but there is no documentation whatsoever. When I got the car it had a business card from a guy named Rick Deiters at Trans Am Specialties of Florida in the glove box. So I thought maybe they did the restoration. I called and talked to Rick, who seems to be a very nice guy. He talked with me about the car for a while as he was searching through his records. Unfortunately, he could not find any history of the car ever being at their shop. So who did the restoration and when remains a mystery as does why there was a card from that shop in the car and they say they have no record of it. So who knows, I'll probably never know the history of it.

I do have PHS documents that confirm the car was restored to original spec except it came from the factory with a radio, which was deleted on the resto. The resto seems pretty good to me so far. The quality of the paint, panel fit, interior and underside all are very good. Sadly for me it is not a numbers matching motor. It has a correct WS code block though and #12 heads and correct exhaust manifolds. Fenders are correct. It has Rally II wheels but they are reproductions. the headliner definitely looks original, or at least very old. The headrests also look original. Motor sounds good. Shifter feels good, no slop, nice and tight. Clutch feels good. I haven't been able to drive it much because of the weather here and I just got my temporary tag yesterday. I'm working the next few days but hopefully I'll be able to get it out on the road a bit next week if the weather cooperates.