I would much prefer a show without trophies done for a charity fund raiser that lasts no more then 4 hours. Unless I set a weekend aside for something like Syracuse or Carlisle I just don't have time for it & since my Wife is not into cars, it's hard to spend too much weekend time doing separate things. I'd rather be out on the bike with her than all day at a static display event. I find the "vote for your buddy" shows insulting & will not take a vehicle to them.
Was out in the TTA to a local cruise last night, finally had the T-Tops out, had a great time, car worked good & enjoyed every minute of it. :burnrubber:
Wanted to mantion that I found the number 41 scribbled under the back license plate area along with a red dot sticker. No idea what the sticker meant. The 41 plate that came with the car has round holes vs the repop ones I've seen on the net that have slotted holes. Next week I'll contact PHS for the package. Have not found a build sheet yet. Is there any way to determine by festival car # what the car might have been used for ?
So looking back at older threads on the forum I found this: EDIT: Found Jan's original post on this...
"Thought I post the info I got many years ago from the gentleman at Indy responsible for the numbering and plating of the pace cars, parade cars and support vehicles for the 1989 event ....
This is what he sent me:
All of this information is from the 1989 Indianapolis 500 Pace Car program file. As all of you already know the Turbo Trans was the "Official Pace Car" that year with GMC being the "Official Truck"
As we do this every year all of the cars that are going to be used during the months from March until May for this event are assigned a number. All cars receive this on the front windshield down low by the VIN number with the trucks and vans to have them applied to both the front and rear glass. The plate that is issued matches this number. The basic guide is that all of the "Official Pace Cars" that are used by the Speedway are numbered 1-80. These are then broken down again and the 500 Festival Committee then gets 34 cars with the remainder to be kept and issued by the Speedway. The Press cars are then numbered 81-100 and the last are usually Administrative units.
Vehicles numbered in the high 200 are normally support units or as they have been issuing Teams vehicles and that is why you see such a high number. We do have the BMV press plates up to 300 to 350 as sometimes the manufactures usually send more in after the first group arrives and is processed.
I hope this explains how the plating process works and here are the numbers from 1989 and there assignment.
Cars plated 1, 2, 3, and then from the numbers 53-78 were used by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and these are what we call Track Cars. Cars numbered 4 through 40 were issued to the 500 Festival Committee (now it is called Indy Festivals) All of the cars from 41-51 were used for the parade and on race day for the drivers parade around the track.
Units numbered 79 through 83 were GMC Safari vans with 84 being a Bonneville SSE.
Cars then numbered 85 through 156 were replicas and some of these had press assignments. The GMC Safari vans then were numbered 157-161 for Pontiac Administrative use. Cars numbered 162-171 were Bonneville SSE models and were for Admin usages with 172-206 being Sunfire Convertibles and these were used for the parade and press and Admin and others during the month of May.
Here is the total recap of the different models that were used:
500 Festival Committee
50 Trans Am replicas
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
3 Actual Trans Am Pace Cars
28 Trans Am Replicas
5 Safari Wagons
10 Bonneville SSE
1 Bonneville LE
Support and Courtesy Vehicles
72 Trans Am Replicas
35 Sunbird Convertibles
10 Bonneville SSE
5 Safari Wagons
Total 219 units
RECAP
3 ACTUAL TRANS AM PACE CARS
150 PACE CARS REPLICAS
35 SUNBIRD CONVERTIBLES
10 SAFARI WAGONS
10 BONNEVILLE SSE
1 BONNEVILLE LE"
Kinda hijacking my own thread, but found this interesting as I'm trying to look into the history of my car, The previous California owner did not return my call, I did not really expect them too, but would have been nice to talk to a previous owner.
The key is don't get discouraged and keep showing the car keeping it out there in the eye of the car show folks and people that come to admire them! I actually had a guy thank me for showing it because he never see's them out anymore. Here is a shot of Frankie (him and his dad were at the TTA reunion and his dad was one of the judges for the reunion) and myself. I know I know he owns a Mustang but it's the only one I'll let park near me! 
