[The Boss]

Originally Posted by 70ram4

1969 TA maybe I misunderstood you could you please clear up the last sentance for me?
"And it was a true 1969 trans am that was never to be sold to the public" Im not breaking chops just wondering if I should jump off the bridge if this was the car and I didnt pursue it.

Paul,

The car in the auction was not the fabled "9th TA Convertible". It may or may not be the IDOJ car but it was built at Lordstown and there were no TA's built at Lordstown - it was shut before TA production began.

1969 TA, for whatever reason is trying to queer the deal on this car, using everything he can to dissuade all of us that it is the IDOJ car - for what reason I don't know. If you want the car get in touch with the guy - I think it would be a very cool/valuable car done!

[1969T/A]

Originally Posted by The Boss

Paul,

The car in the auction was not the fabled "9th TA Convertible". It may or may not be the IDOJ car but it was built at Lordstown and there were no TA's built at Lordstown - it was shut before TA production began.

1969 TA, for whatever reason is trying to queer the deal on this car, using everything he can to dissuade all of us that it is the IDOJ car - for what reason I don't know. If you want the car get in touch with the guy - I think it would be a very cool/valuable car done!

The Boss no one said the ebay car was from Lordstown but you in your statement
If you look at the cowl tag you would have seen that the cowl tags
not from a Lordstown car. So what are you talking about?

[The Boss]

Originally Posted by 1969T/A

The Boss no one said the ebay car was from Lordstown but you in your statement
If you look at the cowl tag you would have seen that the cowl tags
not from a Lordstown car. So what are you talking about?

My bad, L is Van Nuys - 02C is still way before TA production began.

What is your deal on this car? Why are you trying so hard to prove him wrong?

[1969T/A]

Originally Posted by The Boss

What is your deal on this car? Why are you trying so hard to prove him wrong?

There is no deal on this car
All Im doing is trying to help make sure the correct
info is put out about the IDOJ car.
If Im so wrong why didnt the seller want to talk to me to
and see what info I have on the IDOJ car?
You would think if you have a buyer that has been
researching the car and trying to track it down
It would be a sure sale.
The seller didnt want to talk to me
In my opinion a seller would only do that if what
their selling is not what they say it is.

[The Boss]

When you spoke to Barris about a Certificate of Authenticity - did they say if they had the vins on the Superteen cars they built? Do they have the vin on the IDOJ car? If not, how would they authenticate them other than being able to verify the parts?

If they have the vins, that would take all of the guesswork out of this.

[1969T/A]

I dont think they have the vin numbers.
Thats why the seller is trying to base his claim off a pic.
Im sure if they had them Brett Barris would have offered him a
Certificate of Authenticity.
From what I have been told George Barris daughter runs the company.
maybe they just dont want to put their necks on the line.
They also said he never talks about the IDOJ car.

[John Haley]

Why would this car have any special value? It is not a 1969 Trans am convert like Dave has been trying to say it was for the past how many years, and trying to lead us to believe he may have the car. I can see this thread does not sit well with Dave, as it shoots his story's full of holes.

I see that this car is a regular 400(330hp) convert loaded with power options with some after market parts that was shown on the show for about 10 seconds. There were other cars on the show that saw more air time. I don't see why any cars on that show would have any special value as these cars were not the stars of the show nor did they appear on any regular basis.

I believe this is the real green with white stripes Firebird used on the show, but not worth any more than any other 400 firebird convert needing to be restored. It is not the Batmobile, not the Green Hornet car and not Barney Fife's cop car. The car has about ten seconds of TV fame and is only of interest because it looked like it might be a Trans Am convert.

I did get the black and whites from the seller, they were forwarded from someone with the last name of Barris.

Neat looking car, but I don't see any special value.

[John V.]

The Boss, just to keep things as accurate as possible, the ebay car shows a Date Built at Van Nuys of 12C, not 02C. The first character is often obscured by the rivet, but as I pointed out in my first post on this thread, the VIN correlates with the late Dec. build and the PHS will most likely show a Date Shipped on or about 1/2/69. Way before TA production began which was May, 1969 at both Van Nuys and Norwood.

I can buy into the repaint theory, just want to see the paint evidence on the car which shouldn't be so difficult.

I don't really see why anybody imagines this car has any connection to a TA. Except that the Barris mods mimicked the TA Hood and Spoilers, the paint scheme was not at all suggestive of a TA IMO.

Anyway, I've already commented about the valuation, don't need to repeat that but I agree with John Haley, it's not like this car was a regular feature of the show. In fact, it was used by a secondary character in the cast, not the two main stars.

Last comment, I don't recall how many episodes this car appeared in, but I think the episode(s) were only from the last season which went into production around Labor Day 1969. I'm not so sure that the episodes would have been aired in order of their being filmed, but I seem to recall this car appeared in the very last episode aired, shown originally in May, 1970.

Was it common for shows like this to be GIVEN cars to keep or were they loaners used for promotional purposes and not retained? It occurs to me that Pontiac may have stopped supplying cars to IDOJ for the final season (whether loaned or given) and the Green IDOJ car may have been a car owned by somebody in the production crew or maybe it was the CR car that had appeared in earlier episodes and then transformed.

Either way, it is interesting but not incredibly valuable IMO.

There was an earlier lengthy thread here that I think identified the episodes the green car could be viewed in if anybody wants to dig that stuff up. At the time, the episodes could be viewed in their entirety on the web.

[1969T/A]

The one thing that I dont understand is how people who werent even there
Can take what people who were there and say it "as fact." that it was a 1969 t/a
Turn it around and say they dont know what there talking about.
To me that doesnt make sense.
You should take what they say at face value
until you can prove them wrong.
Also if you base a car off a pic.
That would mean every Dukes Of Hazzard General Lee clone
should be worth $10,000,000

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by 1969T/A

Jim Wangers was the one that gave the car to the show
to help promote sales of the 1969 trans am.
Barris put the body kit on the car. I tried to contact
Jim Wanger today but he's out of town until Aug 17th...

LOL! That's because he was at Norwalk and now he's here for the Dream Cruise. I saw him last night and will see him again on Friday; would you like for me to ask him about this car?

K

[1969T/A]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

LOL! That's because he was at Norwalk and now he's here for the Dream Cruise. I saw him last night and will see him again on Friday; would you like for me to ask him about this car?

K

Please ask him so that way people will stop thinking
Im making up stories. LOL

[intense]

The question is "who cares if its the car or not "? Its clearly not a 69 t/a conv.. And if it were it would have been found long before now !

[John Haley]

More black and whites. Barris logo in same place as ebay car. What is above the Firebird name plate? I do not know. I tried to zoom in on it but it gets to fuzzy.





Scoop detail.

[The Boss]

$10 says that's the car.

I swapped e-mails with the owner - his current plan is to partner with a restorer, get the car done and send it to one of the auctions. I think the car can still be bought, but it would be somewhere north of where a similar condition CR/Deluxe 400 convertible would sell for.

He made a point to let me know he has owned the car for a LONG time and it is not a distress sale situation.

[69TAPOSER]

I used graphics software to enhance the edges of the emblem and it appears to say "Delta."

Would this make sense based on the military nature of the story line?

Phil

[JLHarper]

May have something to do with the "Delta" wing aircraft (swept wing) and the air intakes/ leading edges.

Kind of a tie in there perhaps. A Delta Firebird?

Nelson and Healey were Astronauts, one Air Force one Army, and I think they used "real" NASA mission names.

[keith k]

Originally Posted by The Boss

$10 says that's the car.

Yep... badge on fender was what I was interested in seeing. That pretty much seals the deal for me.

Putting aside any "value" discussions, I think this would be a fun car to restore just because it has a story that's a bit more unique than the average '69 Firebird 400 convertible. Even if the car was only on the show for 10 seconds, the Barris element adds a bit of flavor to it as well. Properly restored, this car would attract plenty of attention at a show.

But alas... too many other projects, not enough time/space, etc. right now, blah, blah.

[1969T/A]

Originally Posted by keith k

Yep... badge on fender was what I was interested in seeing. That pretty much seals the deal for me.

The badges are the only part of the aftermarket body kit he still sells
You can still buy them off his website for $300 a set.
http://www.barris.com/shop/shop_plaq...p_plaques.html

[John Haley]

The last one that I have.

[keith k]

Originally Posted by 1969T/A

The badges are the only part of the aftermarket body kit he still sells
You can still buy them off his website for $300 a set.
http://www.barris.com/shop/shop_plaq...p_plaques.html

Cool. One less headache for whoever ends up restoring it.