[Bull]

I am going to look at this car in a couple of days. $1500, 94k miles, off the road since the mid 90s. 305 and a 4 speed. Supposedly not rotted. Needs paint, carpet, headliner, rear package shelf, and the column is broken. Is not currently running.

That price sound low, high, or average?

Anyone here have a similar car?

[2manyT/A'S]

Sounds like a pretty FAIR deal to me.

A stick car that's NOT rusty,and looks pretty original?

ANYTHING in that price range is going to need bodywork & paint.

Toss in a Pontiac 400 & you're good to go!

[1971WARBIRD]

i don't know about as a collector car,but if it's solid could make a nice driver.perfect for the 400 i have in the garage.

if you don't take it,can you give me a shout?

[Bull]

Originally Posted by 1971WARBIRD

i don't know about as a collector car,but if it's solid could make a nice driver.perfect for the 400 i have in the garage.

if you don't take it,can you give me a shout?

Yeah, I'm not much into "collector" cars and rare cars and all that. The only thing I collect is JUNK!

So yes, I am looking at it from a driver standpoint...I have always wanted a black 2nd gen TA with a shaker and the Bird on the hood.

I will let you know if I pass on the car. The guy has even offered to store the car for me for a couple months if I need to gather the money together....

[transamfan1981]

Sounds like a good price. I paid that for my 81 T/A( same body style) On the body I need to replace the passenger side front fender. The driver side rear quater panel Is totally cancered out. The hole in it is about 8 inch. long and 3 inch wide. I attached a photo of it. When you go to look at the car look for bondo. Look down the side of the car, if it is wavey it probably has bondo. Check carefully because a 28 year old car that doesn't have any body panels rotting is hard to believe. I had acouple cars I went to look at. I was told no rust or cancer spots.Went to look at them and they had bondo on them. Don't get me wrong! I am not trying to scare you away from the car. I'm just trying to give alittle help. The car does look nice. Good luck!! Hopefully the guy tells you the truth. Stve

[Bull]

Thanks for the reply, Steve.

The guy seems nice, and on the level. There might very well be rot that he just has not seen, hidden away. He only just got the car himself. He's on another board that I am on. Part of me hopes that there IS hidden rot, because buying this means I will probably have to give up my '92 Formula, which I really like.

[transamfan1981]

Your welcome. Well, your going to have to sit done and think hard if you might have to give up one car for another. Especially if the 91 holds a centimental value. I just posted a thread under 77-81 trans am tech. It has info and some pics of my 81. If you want to take a look. It is called building a bandit. Steve

[Young Pontiac Guy]

I think that sounds pretty good. I payed 1100 for my 80 Bird. It has a 455, auto and very little rust. I have to convert to 4speed. Most of these cars are seriously rusted out so if this one has minimal rust and seems to be all there, it will make a very nice project. I would say that sounds pretty fair. Heck, offer him a little less- it never hurts.

[Young Pontiac Guy]

As well, definitely check the typical spots: rust and water leaks in the bottom corners of the windows, rear frame rails and tail light panel, the lower entry points on the car. You do not want to mess with these if you do not have a lot of money to pay now and later!

[transamfan1981]

You don't need tons of money for those things. If I find stuff like that on my T/A I am going to cut it out and weld sheet metal in

[Young Pontiac Guy]

Indeed. If you are capable with the welder, that puts you way ahead of the game. Fenders and other stuff are pretty cheap. If you are not capable, then this type of work can be costly. In my case, I need something pretty solid to start with!

[Pontiacmuscle]

Cool 'Bird Dave.....I hope you get it!

[Bull]

Originally Posted by Pontiacmuscle

Cool 'Bird Dave.....I hope you get it!

Thanks, Josh. I hope all is well with you. I still love that wagon of yours in your avatar

[mike nixon]

So Bull what're you gonna use for a winter beater when you buy this? Bird's suck in the snow.
For 1500.00 if it's solid I'd buy it. At that price you can make money on it in a year.

Mike

[Bull]

Mike, my wife works about 1 mile away, and she drives our '05 Silverado Z71. I take a bus to work most of the time (our school runs it to bring in kids from neighboring towns. It stops within sight of my kitchen window.) But, I do have to drive to work sometimes, and so my '95 Formula, which is almost back on the road, will have to navigate a little bit of snow now and then. It's a balancing act! lol

Originally Posted by mike nixon

So Bull what're you gonna use for a winter beater when you buy this? Bird's suck in the snow.
For 1500.00 if it's solid I'd buy it. At that price you can make money on it in a year.

Mike

[Bull]

I'll be able to post a lot of pics here later this evening. I took about ten with my own camera, then the batteries died. The seller loaned me his, and will e-mail me the pics tonight.

I crawled around this car as much as I could without the benefit of a jack and stands. Here is my report:

Interior: Needs a lot of cleaning, and certainly a new headliner, carpet, package shelf, armrests. Door panels might be ok after a cleaning. Column looks like someone tried to jimmy the lock, so I'll need either a new column or at least lock cylinder. Original Hurst shifter intact.

Engine bay: dirty, but everything looks like it's there i.e. AC stuff, shaker etc. Some old style Holley intake on the car...did not remove the shaker to see what carb is there. The Holley intake would definitely have to go. Core support does not seem to be rotted, or the inner fenders. Some rot on a couple brackets up towards the top of the radiator, but that seems like a non-issue since they can just be unbolted and replaced.

Fenders: Tapping with my knuckles on the bottoms of the fenders, there does not sound to be ANY Bondo in them. The DS fender has some rust bubbling up, which I have a pic of. The DS fender also has some rust along the top edge, near the front of the hood.

Doors: The outside edges of each door show no bubbling. The DS has one rust spot just below the handle, and also the inner lower lip has some definite crust in a few spots, on that seam that all GM cars suffer rust in. PS door basically has no rust anywhere. DS door definitely sages when opened, so it will need some work on the pin or hinge or whatever causes that issue.

Quarters: No rust, no bubbling. I felt along the inside of each wheel well opening, essentially felt no rust there, either. Wheel wells looks clean and solid. Lower bottoms of quarters, viewed from the front and from the back, show no rot.

Trunk: could not get into it, as the seller does not have the key from the previous owner.

Underneath. Floor pans do not seem to have any rot, except for one small area that I found under the DS footwell area, where there are two pieces of steel that overlap. No hole, but definite crust. I looked at what I believe are the rear framerails (never been under a 2nd gen F-body before) and they seem fine, if I was looking at the right parts. I did find two rot holes on a panel behind the rear bumper, down low, just to the left and to the right of where the exhaust pipes are. I don't know what this panel is...inner bumper structure, maybe? I have pics for later.

Miscellaneous: Small bit of rust under part of rear window trim. Car has 4 wheel discs.

Need to think this over, because I wish there wasn't ANY rot at all. But, for $1500, a 2nd gen TA with NO rot and a 4 speed probably is not a reality. It does not seem like what the car has would jeopardize its structural integrity or make it not worth buying. Maybe you guys can help with your opinions after you see the pics.

Thanks for reading.

[transamfan1981]

The ignition isn't any problem. You just need a new ignition cylinder. All the interior parts you need you can get cheap from NPD and AMES. The door panels on the other hand are pretty expensive. Around $280. The floor board toe pan from NPD for about 75. The carb is most likely a rochester Q-JET. They are the inly carbs that fit the shakers. If there is only bubbling there is probably the begining stage of rust. So it could just be sanded off. As long as it isn't cancered you should be able to just sand it off. Your very lucky there isn't any rust on the quaters and frame rails. No your not going to find a 4 spd 2 gen T/A with NO rot for $1500. If you do find one the price will be very far from $1500. The car sounds AWESOME. Can't wait to see the pics

[Pontiacmuscle]

Cant wait to see more pics either Dave; sounds like a good deal for $1500! Something you can drive in the nice weather while you fix it up.

[Bull]

Ok, my pics are below. The last in the series were taken by me while under the rear of the car. I just kind of pointed the camera up into the area above the fuel tank and above the axle to get pics of whether there was any rust up there. I did not have a good angle since the car was sitting low to the ground. They are kind of confusing to look at.































These next two pics show the rot I am kind of concerned about. Feedback would be great. These are on opposite ends of the rear of the car, above the rear quarter bottoms, behind the rear bumper.





My pics of the door bottom inside edges did not come out well enough to use them.

[Pontiacmuscle]

Drool....doesnt look too bad at all! The rot our concerned about dosent appear to be anything major IMHO.....and well worth the $1500 I think. How does it run?