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History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
I'm just curious if there was a way to fund out how rare my old 1988 GTA was. I'm thinking about going on the hunt to find the car, again. I sold it 22 years ago. Anyways, the car was optioned like none I ever see...
1988 GTA. Ordered with the 305 TPI, auto. Digital dash, grey leather, t-tops. Bright red. It had everything except the 5.7 and subwoofer stereo. Was this car rare at all? I never, EVER see t tops, leather, AND digital dash together. Here's a pic of the car, and a pic of the window sticker.
Just seems weird that NONE ever surface with leather, t tops, and digital dash. I look at GTA's for sale all the time.....and have been looking for years...
BTW - I know a guy that just picked up a twin to your old car - mint and ultra low miles as well - I can give you his contact
info if you want to ask him if he'd sell
BTW - I know a guy that just picked up a twin to your old car - mint and ultra low miles as well - I can give you his contact
info if you want to ask him if he'd sell
Thanks man. You can PM me the info if you like. I kinda want to see if I can find my old one, first.
Just seems weird that NONE ever surface with leather, t tops, and digital dash. I look at GTA's for sale all the time.....and have been looking for years...
ill keep an eye out for it .. i just did a quick search and only found like 2 or 3 with leather , t tops and digital dash so the production numbers for them options were probably pretty low ..
ill keep an eye out for it .. i just did a quick search and only found like 2 or 3 with leather , t tops and digital dash so the production numbers for them options were probably pretty low ..
I have seen 1 other one in person, and it had Bose and the 5.7 as well. But that was back in the early 90's. Yeah those options together seem to be few and far between.
Keep us updated on the search for your original 88!
I will! Hopefully the car hasn't met the crusher. I bought it with 28k miles and sold it with 60 some thousand if I remember right. The car was SOOOO nice when I sold it. I traded it in on a 2 year old Chevy pickup, and the dude that bought it looked me up. He seemed really cool and took really good care of his stuff. It would be cool if he still had it. I remember his name but I can't find any contact info for him
Considering the 970 production number posted above for grey leather, I'd say that after 32 years it would be very rare. Was it an automatic too? I may be wrong, but I thought that 5.0 GTAs were often 5-speeds, the 5.0 being required to get a 5-speed GTA. An automatic would make this kind of unusual. Although I guess the 5.0 was required for GTA t-tops too.
Narrowing down that 970 cars to only ones produced with the 5.0 and the digital dash, well, even in 1988 that's a pretty rare car when new. That doesn't mean more valuable, since there are probably few people looking for a Firebird that would limit themselves to such specific parameters. But in 2020 if you can find it, I think you'd have a very unique vehicle.
Any luck with the CarFax? If not, do you know a police officer or someone at the Motor Vehicle Office? They can’t tell you who owns the vehicle, but they may tell you if it’s still Titled/Registered and in what State.
Any luck with the CarFax? If not, do you know a police officer or someone at the Motor Vehicle Office? They can’t tell you who owns the vehicle, but they may tell you if it’s still Titled/Registered and in what State.
No luck, yet. I think Chazman has a carfax acct....maybe I'll shoot him a text
I have seen 1 other one in person, and it had Bose and the 5.7 as well. But that was back in the early 90's. Yeah those options together seem to be few and far between.
Chazman ran the carfax for me. Nothing has appeared since 2015....and it was in Bagley, MN. I found a dude there with the same name that bought the car after I traded it in, and it's less than an hour away from the town I traded it in to. I'd bet he still has it...
Chazman ran the carfax for me. Nothing has appeared since 2015....and it was in Bagley, MN. I found a dude there with the same name that bought the car after I traded it in, and it's less than an hour away from the town I traded it in to. I'd bet he still has it...
Ahh, the magic of the internet. I bet someone out there is trying to find my Formula since it was theirs from 90-94 (only years I have no record of on the car)! I keep waiting for that contact.lol
You going to go try to get it? 5 years of no activity? No registration renewals either? Doesn't necessarily mean anything, but usually not a good sign in my experience.
I'm just curious if there was a way to fund out how rare my old 1988 GTA was. I'm thinking about going on the hunt to find the car, again. I sold it 22 years ago. Anyways, the car was optioned like none I ever see...
1988 GTA. Ordered with the 305 TPI, auto. Digital dash, grey leather, t-tops. Bright red. It had everything except the 5.7 and Bose stereo. Was this car rare at all? I never, EVER see t tops, leather, AND digital dash together. Here's a pic of the car, and a pic of the window sticker.
Bose? And the 5.7L with T-Tops? Can tell you're a Camaro guy.
As stated above, there is no known records of how many with X, Y and Z for 1988. Compnine, which is normally used for this, doesn't cover us prior to about 1989 and older unless it's an export. And that is a small fraction of the figures.
BTW, you probably know this but you could not get the 5.7L and T-Tops on the GTA or Trans Am in 1988. Some C&C aftermarkets are out there but T-Tops and 5.7 in 1988 on the Trans Am/GTA was N/A. So if you wanted T-Tops, you had to get the credit and downgrade from the standard 5.7 to the 5.0. Also, according to Frankie's figures that he obtained for the GTASourcepage, the digital dash option accounts for just over half of all 1988 GTAs. It was popular.
The UQ7 subwoofer was really the only extra stereo option. They all had the UT4 radio.
Bose? And the 5.7L with T-Tops? Can tell you're a Camaro guy.
As stated above, there is no known records of how many with X, Y and Z for 1988. Compnine, which is normally used for this, doesn't cover us prior to about 1989 and older unless it's an export. And that is a small fraction of the figures.
BTW, you probably know this but you could not get the 5.7L and T-Tops on the GTA or Trans Am in 1988. Some C&C aftermarkets are out there but T-Tops and 5.7 in 1988 on the Trans Am/GTA was N/A. So if you wanted T-Tops, you had to get the credit and downgrade from the standard 5.7 to the 5.0. Also, according to Frankie's figures that he obtained for the GTASourcepage, the digital dash option accounts for just over half of all 1988 GTAs. It was popular.
The UQ7 subwoofer was really the only extra stereo option. They all had the UT4 radio.
It had the "gain" stereo slider thing on the dash, and had the weird speakers in the sail panels. I was thinking it was a Bose thing, but must not have been.
Yup, definitely a Camaro guy.
BTW I say that in jest.
Yeah, no T-Tops in 1988 on the GTA or Trans Am if you got the 5.7L. Unless, like I said, they were aftermarket C&C. 1989 was the year you could get the 5.7L and T-Tops from the factory on the GTA or Trans Am. There might be something if it was a Canada export, as that was the loophole in 1987.
Yup, definitely a Camaro guy.
BTW I say that in jest.
Yeah, no T-Tops in 1988 on the GTA or Trans Am if you got the 5.7L. Unless, like I said, they were aftermarket C&C. 1989 was the year you could get the 5.7L and T-Tops from the factory on the GTA or Trans Am. There might be something if it was a Canada export, as that was the loophole in 1987.
Huh. I wonder if my buddies that I saw was an 89, then. I didn't think the digital dash was available in 89, though....and his definitely had it.
Chazman ran the carfax for me. Nothing has appeared since 2015....and it was in Bagley, MN. I found a dude there with the same name that bought the car after I traded it in, and it's less than an hour away from the town I traded it in to. I'd bet he still has it...
if it’s of any inspiration, I found the 88 Scottsdale k2500 my parents bought in July of ‘89. Ran a carfax so I knew it was up in Redding, CA. Did a Craigslist search and happened to find it in September of 2011, roughly 12 years after they traded it in to buy a new 99 Dodge Grand Caravan. Haven’t touched it much since then but I’m bringing it out to Utah in the spring to finally get it driving again! Good luck!
Yep, both in college, lol. I had a white 91 Mustang GT convertible, too, and a 1968 Firebird. My Dad had a wheat harvest crew that I went on every summer, plus helping on the family farm, so I made pretty good money and always blew it all on cars lol. I bought the Mustang and the flame red GTA to flip. I did that a LOT
The red one had a 3" Flowmaster cat back with left side single exhaust. I had a custom tip made at an exhaust shop that split the 3" exhaust into a twin outlet. I really liked the look of it.
It also had a Hypertech chip and Aircharger, custom ram air setup, torque converter lockup harness, and a 100hp NOS kit. And about $3 grand worth of custom stereo. I loved that car!!!
Considering the 970 production number posted above for grey leather, I'd say that after 32 years it would be very rare. Was it an automatic too? I may be wrong, but I thought that 5.0 GTAs were often 5-speeds, the 5.0 being required to get a 5-speed GTA. An automatic would make this kind of unusual. Although I guess the 5.0 was required for GTA t-tops too.
Narrowing down that 970 cars to only ones produced with the 5.0 and the digital dash, well, even in 1988 that's a pretty rare car when new. That doesn't mean more valuable, since there are probably few people looking for a Firebird that would limit themselves to such specific parameters. But in 2020 if you can find it, I think you'd have a very unique vehicle.
First one was a hard top, fitted with aftermarket t-tops.
The second one has had different seats put in it. So, we don't know if it was a factory leather car without seeing the SPID. The way the odds are....I'm gonna bet it was a cloth car.
So far that's only 2 found that we know are legit cars from the factory with those options. U52 B20 CC1 LB9
I found one on a thread here in the for sale section, but it was a 5 speed and it'd had an interior swap with a 91-92 car....so who knows if it left the factory with leather or not
So my girl friend has family in Pocahontas, not far from you. I usually go up there about once a year. How the heck did you keep that thing clean? If y'all farmed you must have lived on the gravel roads but even the regular roads up there get pretty grimmey.
So my girl friend has family in Pocahontas, not far from you. I usually go up there about once a year. How the heck did you keep that thing clean? If y'all farmed you must have lived on the gravel roads but even the regular roads up there get pretty grimmey.
I graduated from Humboldt.....only about 20 miles east of Pocahontas! Our farm was on a blacktop road....so my vehicles NEVER saw gravel. I was super **** about my stuff being clean lol
01-18-2020, 01:24 PM
Lol. 
