ADMINISTRATOR'S NOTE: While it is not "the norm" to highlight or document individual's cars in this section, the scarcity of this particular car has caused me to post this short report so that everyone may enjoy it.
"Remember six to nine months ago when Turbo Trans Am Pace Cars were hard to get?
Dealers were apt to want more than sticker, and with no more than 1,500 of these
V-6-engined musclecars being built, there were more customers than cars. That’s
when super Poncho enthusiast Chris Joseph felt a little out of luck. Being in
sunny Southern California, he couldn’t land a car and decided to wait for all
the hoopla to die down, and maybe get a used T/A Pace Car later.
Then, a surprising advertisement appeared in the local Press Telegram
for a Trans Am convertible. A Pace Car convertible. Say what?He was convinced that Pontiac didn’t build a Trans Am convertible, but why not investigate? The car was at Victory Lane, a Pontiac dealership, in Bellflower. The owner told them the story. He had ordered a pair of Pace Cars, but had luck in getting only one, which shows how hot the cars were. Every dealer wanted at least their share of Turbo V-6s. However, the owner of Victory Pontiac was offered a special deal. If he would pay American Sunroof Company in Michigan to make a Trans Am Pace Car into a convertible, he could have another one.
This conversion upped the price of the car considerably, or around $7,000 more than an already expensive (low 30Ks) Trans Am Pace Car T-top, but the cars were so hot the dealer was positive it would sell.
When Chris discovered that his car would be invoiced so by the dealer, and purchased brand new as a convertible not done "after the sale," he snapped it up in a hurry, just beating another buyer in the showroom floor.
American Sunroof built three Pace Car convertibles, and that is all. So here are the unofficial model year production figures for Pace Car T/As: exactly 40 were coupes, with 1,515 T-tops and 3 convertibles. That’s it. Now Chris was glad he waited. He feels this Trans Am convertible ranks up there with some of the rarest of the rare, like the 1969 model T/A convertible, all Ram Air IIIs, of which eight were built.
