Original Owners

michjim72

michjim72

Member
#1
#1
Has anyone ever inquired how many TTA owners are the original ones?
My father in law is one of those guys.

He resides in Michigan. His car has just over 13,000 original miles. It is the last cloth car made #1527. Never modified, everything original.

I've known his car it's entire life and have probably amassed 2,000 of those miles.

My wife and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this July. I actually drove the car with my wife (to be at the time) to our proposal dinner back in July of 1989.
 
jarredsoon

jarredsoon

Gold Member
#2
#2
Hey that's pretty cool. I'm too young to have been original owner. I'd buy a new car now if there was anything cool out there. Nothin I'm really interested on right now.
 
kidsixpack

kidsixpack

Silver Member
#4
#4
The TTA is the first and last car that I ever sat in at the Detroit Auto Show. 31K was a lot of coin, but I knew that I would get one. My car was in the hands of the son of the original owner so all the paperwork is there and it was well cared for. Interestingly enough I traveled a bit looking for the right TTA and the one that I bought was 4 miles from my house.
KID
 
RatFink

RatFink

TORQUE
#6
#6
kidsixpack said:
Ratfink: How were you able to buy such an expensive car at such a young age?
KID
Click to expand...
Dad was a Pontiac dealer, so we got the car at the auction in Indy at the Pontiac dealer auction. Never titled, just Pontiac people had driven the car.
Got it for $18,500 in the summer of 1990. Yes, I was a spoiled 17 yr old giving old dudes in vettes a hard time.

On a side note, there were 7 TTAs at the auction that day. Two of them were cloth hardtops, I had no idea that they were the rarer of the bunch. I like t-tops and leather and also, my car was the only one that had all of the badges. The others were missing atleast 1 or 2. I beleive the hartop/cloth cars went for less $$$, I still have the auction book, I should look up what they did go for.
 
RatFink

RatFink

TORQUE
#7
#7
michjim72 said:
Has anyone ever inquired how many TTA owners are the original ones?
My father in law is one of those guys.

He resides in Michigan. His car has just over 13,000 original miles. It is the last cloth car made #1527. Never modified, everything original.

I've known his car it's entire life and have probably amassed 2,000 of those miles.

My wife and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this July. I actually drove the car with my wife (to be at the time) to our proposal dinner back in July of 1989.
Click to expand...
Hey michjim72, I posed a similar question a couple years ago, you may be interested in the thread...

http://www.turbotransam.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2654
 
kidsixpack

kidsixpack

Silver Member
#9
#9
RatFink said:
Dad was a Pontiac dealer, so we got the car at the auction in Indy at the Pontiac dealer auction. Never titled, just Pontiac people had driven the car.
Got it for $18,500 in the summer of 1990. Yes, I was a spoiled 17 yr old giving old dudes in vettes a hard time.

On a side note, there were 7 TTAs at the auction that day. Two of them were cloth hardtops, I had no idea that they were the rarer of the bunch. I like t-tops and leather and also, my car was the only one that had all of the badges. The others were missing atleast 1 or 2. I beleive the hartop/cloth cars went for less $$$, I still have the auction book, I should look up what they did go for.
Click to expand...

Ratfink
That is awesome! There was a young man here in MI that had one in Highschool too. Had a 5.0 and a Jimmy as well. I had a dealer buddy around 90 that bought a couple at auction too! He had two TTAs A GN and 4 Typhoons that he purchased at auction. He offered me a cloth T top car for 11,500 and I wasn't able to pull the trigger in a bout 91. OOPS!
KID
 
S

Suitcase_Sally

Active Member
#12
#12
Actually, I trailered it home. I was waiting with baited breath for the car to come in.

When these cars first came out, several dealers around the area were getting one or two. One dealer I talked with told me I could put $100 down for one. "Let me get this straight - I put down $100 and I will positively, absolutely get the car, right?" "Yes.", he said. Wrong!!! What my $100 got me was the OPPORTUNITY to bid for one.

I went to work and was talking to the woman that handled PEP cars (this was at a GM plant where I worked). She gave me the name of a guy that worked at a Pontiac dealership in Holly, Michigan. She said he was an honest guy. He wasn't a salesman, he worked in the parts dept. I went down and he said the dealership was getting two of them. One was already sold and the dealership owner was trading the other one to another dealer that had done them some favors over time. This was in October. I left with my spirits as low as they can go.

A few months later, I was at home sick when I got a phone call from a guy I work with saying that the car guy was trying to get in touch with me. I called, and he asked if I still wanted the car. YES!! He said he talked with the owner and convinced him that he shouldn't trade the car when he had someone waiting to purchase it. He told me he needed $2500 down, which was much more realistic, and the car was mine. I got dressed, went to the bank, got the money and headed for Holly! When I got there they had the papers made out, even showing the VIN (so I knew it wasn't hype). I then went home and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

I already had an 87 GTA (still do) so I used that to practice putting the car on a trailer. I had to get the angle of the trailer right so that the nose wouldn't dive into the trailer bed before the rear wheels started up the ramp.

Finally, one Saturday morning in May I got the call from the dealer. He said they were taking it off the truck right then. I told him to not do anything to the car (prep) and would be there in an hour. Picked it up and trailered it home and right into storage. It had 11 miles on it when I bought it. The other 30 miles came from the start-ups and moving it around.
 
Last edited:
Q

Quiky One

Silver Member
#13
#13
Suitcase_Sally said:
Actually, I trailered it home. I was waiting with baited breath for the car to come in.

When these cars first came out, several dealers around the area were getting one or two. One dealer I talked with told me I could put $100 down for one. "Let me get this straight - I put down $100 and I will positively, absolutely get the car, right?" "Yes.", he said. Wrong!!! What my $100 got me was the OPPORTUNITY to bid for one.

I went to work and was talking to the woman that handled PEP cars (this was at a GM plant where I worked). She gave me the name of a guy that worked at a Pontiac dealership in Holly, Michigan. She said he was an honest guy. He wasn't a salesman, he worked in the parts dept. I went down and he said the dealership was getting two of them. One was already sold and the dealership owner was trading the other one to another dealer that had done them some favors over time. This was in October. I left with my spirits as low as they can go.

A few months later, I was at home sick when I got a phone call from a guy I work with saying that the car guy was trying to get in touch with me. I called, and he asked if I still wanted the car. YES!! He said he talked with the owner and convinced him that he shouldn't trade the car when he had someone waiting to purchase it. He told me he needed $2500 down, which was much more realistic, and the car was mine. I got dressed, went to the bank, got the money and headed for Holly! When I got there they had the papers made out, even showing the VIN (so I knew it wasn't hype). I then went home and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

I already had an 87 GTA (still do) so I used that to practice putting the car on a trailer. I had to get the angle of the trailer right so that the nose wouldn't dive into the trailer bed before the rear wheels started up the ramp.

Finally, one Saturday morning in May I got the call from the dealer. He said they were taking it off the truck right then. I told him to not do anything to the car (prep) and would be there in an hour. Picked it up and trailered it home and right into storage. It had 11 miles on it when I bought it. The other 30 miles came from the start-ups and moving it around.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing! Did you think you would keep it low mile forever as a collectors item?
 
R

RUSTYNAIL

Active Member
#14
#14
Suitcase_Sally said:
Actually, I trailered it home. I was waiting with baited breath for the car to come in.

When these cars first came out, several dealers around the area were getting one or two. One dealer I talked with told me I could put $100 down for one. "Let me get this straight - I put down $100 and I will positively, absolutely get the car, right?" "Yes.", he said. Wrong!!! What my $100 got me was the OPPORTUNITY to bid for one.

I went to work and was talking to the woman that handled PEP cars (this was at a GM plant where I worked). She gave me the name of a guy that worked at a Pontiac dealership in Holly, Michigan. She said he was an honest guy. He wasn't a salesman, he worked in the parts dept. I went down and he said the dealership was getting two of them. One was already sold and the dealership owner was trading the other one to another dealer that had done them some favors over time. This was in October. I left with my spirits as low as they can go.

A few months later, I was at home sick when I got a phone call from a guy I work with saying that the car guy was trying to get in touch with me. I called, and he asked if I still wanted the car. YES!! He said he talked with the owner and convinced him that he shouldn't trade the car when he had someone waiting to purchase it. He told me he needed $2500 down, which was much more realistic, and the car was mine. I got dressed, went to the bank, got the money and headed for Holly! When I got there they had the papers made out, even showing the VIN (so I knew it wasn't hype). I then went home and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

I already had an 87 GTA (still do) so I used that to practice putting the car on a trailer. I had to get the angle of the trailer right so that the nose wouldn't dive into the trailer bed before the rear wheels started up the ramp.

Finally, one Saturday morning in May I got the call from the dealer. He said they were taking it off the truck right then. I told him to not do anything to the car (prep) and would be there in an hour. Picked it up and trailered it home and right into storage. It had 11 miles on it when I bought it. The other 30 miles came from the start-ups and moving it around.
Click to expand...
Did he mention it was a hardtop car also ?:wall: Man I would like to have that car.
 
michjim72

michjim72

Member
#15
#15
Suitcase_Sally said:
Actually, I trailered it home. I was waiting with baited breath for the car to come in.

When these cars first came out, several dealers around the area were getting one or two. One dealer I talked with told me I could put $100 down for one. "Let me get this straight - I put down $100 and I will positively, absolutely get the car, right?" "Yes.", he said. Wrong!!! What my $100 got me was the OPPORTUNITY to bid for one.

I went to work and was talking to the woman that handled PEP cars (this was at a GM plant where I worked). She gave me the name of a guy that worked at a Pontiac dealership in Holly, Michigan. She said he was an honest guy. He wasn't a salesman, he worked in the parts dept. I went down and he said the dealership was getting two of them. One was already sold and the dealership owner was trading the other one to another dealer that had done them some favors over time. This was in October. I left with my spirits as low as they can go.

A few months later, I was at home sick when I got a phone call from a guy I work with saying that the car guy was trying to get in touch with me. I called, and he asked if I still wanted the car. YES!! He said he talked with the owner and convinced him that he shouldn't trade the car when he had someone waiting to purchase it. He told me he needed $2500 down, which was much more realistic, and the car was mine. I got dressed, went to the bank, got the money and headed for Holly! When I got there they had the papers made out, even showing the VIN (so I knew it wasn't hype). I then went home and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

I already had an 87 GTA (still do) so I used that to practice putting the car on a trailer. I had to get the angle of the trailer right so that the nose wouldn't dive into the trailer bed before the rear wheels started up the ramp.

Finally, one Saturday morning in May I got the call from the dealer. He said they were taking it off the truck right then. I told him to not do anything to the car (prep) and would be there in an hour. Picked it up and trailered it home and right into storage. It had 11 miles on it when I bought it. The other 30 miles came from the start-ups and moving it around.
Click to expand...
Where in Michigan are you? I'm in Shelby Twp and my Father In Law (who has the TTA) is in Clarkston.

I mentioned above his car has 13,000 miles. It was a GM PEP car (his own) so the first 3,000 had to be put on in the first 6 months so actually it has 10,000 miles on it since 1990 which equates to 500 miles a year. We took it out to Woodward last August which was the only time it was out last year.

I too have an F-Car but it's a 72' Camaro Z-28 (Clone).
 
S

Suitcase_Sally

Active Member
#16
#16
RUSTYNAIL said:
Did he mention it was a hardtop car also ?:wall: Man I would like to have that car.
Click to expand...
Rustynail, actually, it's not a hard top. Way back when I first said it was a hard top, I was thinking "as opposed to a convertible" because someone on another site made a comment about having a convertible. It wasn't factory sanctioned or produced, so in my mind it was ruined. I never thought about t-tops not being a hard top. Sorry about the confusion. I apologize.

Michjim72, I'm in Lapeer county.

Quiky One, yes I'll keep it low miles. I want someone in the future to find it hidden in a building under a cover. Some teenager would love to find that. :WOOT:
 
72firebird

72firebird

Super Moderator
#17
#17
Great story, hopefully for your sake the cars start increasing in value. Do you ever plan on selling the car if they do? What are your ultimate plans for it?

Is it possible that you could get some detailed pictures of the car? You better hope Jan doesn't see your posts, otherwise you'll have about 100 PMs by tomorrow with a long list of stuff that he wants to see :WOOT:
 
S

Suitcase_Sally

Active Member
#18
#18
Hank Graff Chevrolet in Davison offered me $20,000 for it in January. Yeah, right!....

Yes, I'll sell it if the price is right. I'd sell the 87 GTA, also. It has 34,xxx miles on it, in pretty good shape, except for the spoiler. (we all know about the spoiler, don't we?)

I have some good pictures of it but they aren't digital (35mm) so I can't upload them. I'll have to wait til the next time I get it out. Right now it's buried in the back of my barn, makes it harder for anyone to get to it.
 
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