View Full Version : Just Recently Joined the Site and Bought a Black 1990 GTA!
Hey guys, my name is Josh, 18 years old and I just joined this site today and couple weeks ago I recently bought my 2nd car of my life (first was an 85 GMC Jimmy 4x4 but the engine went), which I am proud to say is an authentic 1990 Pontiac Trans Am GTA! (Is 1990 a rare year to own a GTA from what I read?) :rockon: (Yes the rockon sign is necessary)... but I am very happy in my purchase so far and I believe it won't dissappoint me at all. I bought it from a small town 2 hours away and the owner was asking $10,000 at first (Canadian, Yes I am from Canada) then $9000 but I talked him down easily to my affordable price, $7000 with the help of a loan and made the deal official. He is the second owner and 3 years ago he had the 350 professionally rebuilt with the receipts he gave me as proof. The rest car has all the GTA's features you would expect. The car also has T-Tops which seem to be factory T-Tops and by looking at other factory T-Tops they look the same. Now some people say that there were never any 350/T-Top combos but there were and this site says so too. After 1987 there was until 1991 when they switched to the hardtop. You can see I have done some research for awhile in this site until I joined. Going from an old suv with no power to a GTA with more than I can handle is simply amazing and it can sure beat those Ford Mustangs I see every minute I drive and have come to hate.
Moving along, the car is also black and has the beige (I think its called Beechwood) looking cloth interior. The car has only 164,000 kms (not miles for you Americans) and has really no rust except for a slight amount under some areas of the vehicle and wheel wells but nothing you can see just by looking at it.
Anyway I think I've ranted more than enough by now but I am quite happy to own a rather rare and beautiful car for having just finished highschool and only being 18 and having bought the car myself makes the experience much more rewarding. So I am excited to be a member of a great group of people who all own the awesome Trans Am GTA and you will likely hear a few questions all the time from me seeing how I don't know a whole lot about cars in general but I know alot now about the GTA thanks to this site. Thanks for reading and I would like to hear back from you, Josh
Xophertony
07-25-2007, 04:27 AM
congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!
i too own a black 350 GTA, but mines a hardtop. :rockon: <--very necessary.
keep it nice, and have fun.
congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!
i too own a black 350 GTA, but mines a hardtop. :rockon: <--very necessary.
keep it nice, and have fun.
I have heard a couple people saying that the 350/T-Top combo was not available in 1990 but this site and other sites say so, so it seems confirmed that the 350 was available with T-Tops until 1991 but it was rare. Seeing how 1990 was a slow production year and I have the 350/T-Tops combo how rare is my car?
I have heard a couple people saying that the 350/T-Top combo was not available in 1990 but this site and other sites say so, so it seems confirmed that the 350 was available with T-Tops until 1991 but it was rare. Seeing how 1990 was a slow production year and I have the 350/T-Tops combo how rare is my car?
Hmm...I think I may have bursted my own bubble unfortunately...just checked the spi label and there is no CC1 for Roof Panels (T-Tops right?) although some 1990 GTA's were equipped with the 350 and T-Tops so even if my T-Tops aren't factory it doesn't really make my GTA not a GTA or less of one right? I need some reassurance so I don't get down on something dumb like this...I however checked everything else such as the B2L for the 5.7 litre and its on there, L98 is, my colour black 41U and 66C beechwood cloth is along with everything else I checked for so I guess that's what mainly matters is that my engine package is factory along with everything else except the T-Tops is seems like. Maybe they forgot to add the CC1 for T-Tops lol or maybe I have the wrong rpo code? Anyway Thanks and someone please help...Josh
strc09
07-25-2007, 07:31 AM
Welcome to the site! :D
Congrats on your purchase and enjoy the car. It's nice to see younger folks taking an interest in on of GM lesser known sports cars...IMO...one of their best sports cars ever. As for the RPOs, Frankie has all of them listed on the Source Page that way you can check out your option against the SPID label. The biggest and most important RPO you want to make sure is there is the Y84 code.
FearThisGTA
07-25-2007, 08:17 AM
Welcome to the site and as always got pics. :BG:
gtayumiko
07-25-2007, 10:33 AM
Welcome to this site with a lot of good information by GTA owners with a lot of experience. And congratulations on your GTA purchase! Owning a GTA is rare in itself, even though some years of GTAs are rarer then others, in my opinion there were not a mass production of GTAs made and then over the years many have been destroyed in some way or another. I had a friend who bought one of those Mini Coopers brand new when they first came out thinking that it was a limited production. And then they had a recall where something like 400,000 were recalled. Compared to that amount, in my opinion there were not a lot of GTAs produced.
So enjoy your GTA, respect it and drive it with pride but also be responsible with it and you should have many fun times ahead and it should be a fun car for you to drive and to work on. I was twenty one years old when I bought my first car, my GTA. I remember how excited I was when my friends who knew about cars would bring me to auto parts places to get oils, filters and that sort of thing. It was so exciting to me to learn to work on my GTA. Everything about it excited me. Getting the stuff at the store, planning the work, doing the work, and driving it after the work to make sure everything is done right. It was always so exciting to me. That was twenty years ago and I still have my GTA. So these may be things that you will also experience too. Hopefully your GTA will bring you the same fun, happiness, pride and joy that mine has brought to me. Do it all responsibly and it shall. Yumiko
FrankieRider2
07-25-2007, 01:10 PM
Josh, welcome to The Source Page. Congrats on your purchase.
With only about a half year of production, the 1990 models aren't seen too often. To reference what I posted in another thread, if you don't have a CC1 code on your SPI label then your car did not leave the factory with T-tops. Thy are probably either aftermarket (C & C) or dealer-installed. To date, I've only seen a few 1987 models and one 1991 model that had the codes for both options from the factory. 1989 was the one year where so many B2L/CC1 cars were built; the reason for this fact has not been discovered as such yet.
But that makes yours no less of a GTA or no less of a nice car. Have fun and enjoy it with all the rest of us here. From the rarest model to the most common, we love them all.
MunsonGTA
07-25-2007, 01:40 PM
welcome to the board.
Stephen
07-25-2007, 01:47 PM
The only time the aftermarket t-tops would a difference in, is if the car was being judged for a concourse restoration. Even then, if it was originally sold that way, from mile 1, it still applies as a concourse item.
TX_1987_GTA
07-25-2007, 02:00 PM
Welcome to the site Josh..... Congrats on the new ride & becoming part of the ranks of proud GTA Owners.
My only suggestion to you is enjoy your ride, reguardless of what it is or has on it..... Its all about the fun factor.... and these cars are a blast to own & drive.
Welcome to the site! :D
Congrats on your purchase and enjoy the car. It's nice to see younger folks taking an interest in on of GM lesser known sports cars...IMO...one of their best sports cars ever. As for the RPOs, Frankie has all of them listed on the Source Page that way you can check out your option against the SPID label. The biggest and most important RPO you want to make sure is there is the Y84 code.
Yeah the Y84 code is there :rockon: so I own an official GTA which alone is awesome. I figured out that my GTA is all stock except for the T-Tops which are Cars and Concepts.
Louvers
07-25-2007, 07:04 PM
Welcome aboard indeed!!!! You have now joined a fraternity of car owners unlike any other you will find ..... Sounds like you have a nice ride there as well, I know we would all love to see some pics if you have them.
Okay everyone .... now what should we do to Josh for his initiation?
LOL
Darrell
mr.turbota
07-25-2007, 07:38 PM
I wouldn't worry about the T-Tops being aftermarket, after all, there are quite a few Trans Ams and GTAs out there with the same T-Tops.
Glad to see you love your GTA!
George :cool:
tandy806
07-25-2007, 07:44 PM
Welcome aboard indeed!!!! You have now joined a fraternity of car owners unlike any other you will find ..... Sounds like you have a nice ride there as well, I know we would all love to see some pics if you have them.
Okay everyone .... now what should we do to Josh for his initiation?
LOL
Darrell
I'm not sure, but he for certian does not need to talk about sunset drives :-) Seriously we all welcome you here. This site has been a huge blessing to me and my entire family. I think you will find that the folks on this site are a cut above the average Web site junkie.
It is full of information and valuable tips on our cars as well as people that have become my friends. Thanks Frankie for getting this thing together!!!!, Tandy
Thanks for all your respones...I am glad to own an authentic GTA... Seems even though the only thing that is not factory (the T-Tops) my car may be fairly rare. Not sure how to calculate this exactly but here is what I have come up roughly according to this site.
1990 - 884 GTA's produced
260- Had the 350 5.7 TPI
260- Had Black Exterior
43- Had the Cloth Beechwood Interior
So if about lets say 20 of the 43 Beechwood Cloth's were Black, how many of those 20 had the 350 engine with the black exterior...lets say 10...so does that mean for my year 1990 that I may have 1 in 10 1990 GTA's with Black Exterior, Beechwood Interior with the 5.7 litre 350 Engine? Thanks, Josh
FearThisGTA
07-25-2007, 09:15 PM
Welcome aboard indeed!!!! You have now joined a fraternity of car owners unlike any other you will find ..... Sounds like you have a nice ride there as well, I know we would all love to see some pics if you have them.
Okay everyone .... now what should we do to Josh for his initiation?
LOL
Darrell
Let me drive it. :sly:
strc09
07-25-2007, 09:59 PM
LOL @ Cliff and Darrell.
I agree about the tops...like was mentioned, many cars had that same mod done when they were knew on the dealer lots. Again welcome. :D
irritated_cube
07-26-2007, 12:03 AM
Hey Josh,
I also bought my GTA myself when I was only 19. I live in Calgary Alberta but my car is currently stored in Niagara Falls Ontario.
Don't worry about the rarity or correctness of your vehicle it will drive you crazy, trust me on this! Just enjoy it for what it was designed to do! Drive it!
Post some pics when you get a chance!
Hey Josh,
I also bought my GTA myself when I was only 19. I live in Calgary Alberta but my car is currently stored in Niagara Falls Ontario.
Don't worry about the rarity or correctness of your vehicle it will drive you crazy, trust me on this! Just enjoy it for what it was designed to do! Drive it!
Post some pics when you get a chance!
Yeah I know...I was just curious though and now that I know everything is factory except the T-Tops am I happy.
Andy 91GTA
07-30-2007, 08:18 PM
Congrats on the new purchase. I'm pretty sure I've seen your car listed in the Auto Trader a few years ago and I should still have the ads for it.
If you really want to know how rare your car is, you could get it documented by GM Vintage Services. There were only 259 sold in Canada that year.
Andy
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