When it comes to placing a value on a vehicle, the options can make all the difference. While a Pontiac Trans Am GTA is already a desirable specimen, this example comes equipped with a few extras that set it apart from the limited number of examples still roaming the Earth. Equipped with the rare notchback option, the seller claims it’s one of just 718 made and one of under 600 that got sent to the United States. In addition, it’s also one of just 100 equipped with the optional digital instrument cluster! That’s hen’s teeth territory, and it has only 52,000 miles to boot. Find the GTA here on craigslist in Columbia, South Carolina, with an asking price of $19,995.
That’s also all the money for one of these, but I don’t know how hard I can argue against the seller’s asking price. The only tricky aspect about the valuation is the notchback: despite the rarity, it’s not the sort of feature that leaves Pontiac fans tripping over themselves to have the chance to own. Now, I, on the other hand, love goofy stuff like this that manufacturers only offered for a short time and to a point of obscurity that relatively few people even know it exists, but whether it drives values significantly higher is up for debate. Regardless, this GTA wears the sharp color combo of red over gold wheels with the blacked-out taillight panel.
The interior features cloth bucket seats in great shape, though I was secretly hoping for caramel-colored leather seats. The mouse-fuzz-gray interior just seems like a let-down against the striking red over gold combo. Regardless, many Trans Ams of this era, no matter how highly optioned they were otherwise, made do with more sedate interiors that could look like anything else out of the GM product catalog were it not for those thick bolsters letting you know these seats belonged to a Trans Am. The dash shows no flaws, either, and the same goes for the door panels. I would have loved a photo of the digital cluster lit up, but no such luck. The Trans Am also features air conditioning and an upgraded OEM stereo with factory equalizer.
The GTA badges let you know that this isn’t your base model six-cylinder Trans Am. This photo also shows us just how tidy the paint job is, and with those low miles, one would assume it to be original. The seller spits out some additional production numbers, which make this one of 52 red examples made that year. All in all, assuming the numbers bear out, the color scheme and the options make this Trans Am GTA Notchback a stand-out, and a car worthy of collecting. The only question for me is whether anyone will want to pony up $20,000 for a GTA with cloth buckets and an automatic?
Interesting, I remember these. I think they were a dealer installed option. You could also just get them aftermarket and have them put on yourself.
i worked on the these back then
they were an OEM RPO, RPO AA8
they MAY have also been a dealer installed thing, but the rear seat backs a SPECIFIC to the notchback …
It’s that rare undesirable Factory option that looks like a aftermarket kit.
exactly correct JCA , sold a couple of the “kits ” think they ran around $1200
Regarding that rear hatch:
“That was some weird sh_t!”
-To quote a former President
Glad to see I am not the only one who thinks this is ugly and impractical. Maybe what we need now is an inspiring post by Steve R with one of his pearls of wisdom to show us how truly wrong we are.
I actually own one of these. The biggest difference I notice is how much quieter it is inside the vehicle and also how much cooler too. That big assed stock rear window builds up a lot of heat inside these in the sun.
It’s all about personal preference when it comes to the appearance of these. The option code for this 1 year item is AA8. I do think there was one or two of the 89 turbo pace cars that also had this hatchback as well
Didn’t know there is a website on these notchbacks.
http://www.gtanotchback.com/what-is-gta-notchback.html
JC Whitney after market product
so wrong, AA8 is the factory RPO
Initially all 1988 GTA’s were intended to have this in order to differentiate it from the plain Jane Trans Am.
It was factory first. I could have ordered it on my 87 GTA
Quite sure that is not factory built!
Seen a Corvette with the same kit. The owner installed it himself. I would have to see a window sticker with it as an option before I put down $20,000 on a $5,000 car.
Dean:
It might well be factory: It seams like the seems – or is that seems like the seams! – between panels and parts on a lot of GM products contemporaneous to that Trans Am, was not as tight or at least as consistent as on vehicles coming from well East or West of here.
In any case, I’m sure this thing could easily be switched out for an OEM F-body greenhouse, provided one in decent shape can be sourced.
I would be switching it out ! I loved my 87 GTA ! https://photos.app.goo.gl/sY6h5mbYAZaQZpcP9
this IS a factory built car, RPO AA8
Research is your friend
we had a shop in ortonville mich called autofab we did these i had to go the the gm tec center to help with them we also did the grandprix 2+2 for nascar
Ugly ?
That is one rare ugly worthless KIT. Know what you are reading and possibly buying into. I think BEE EES comes to mind
ummm, not a KIT. It was a factory RPO, AA8
learn something about it and google GTA AA8 …
gtanotchback dot com has some great info
Not having t-tops is a plus. Had a 84 with t-tops and driving in Las Vegas in 1987 was all the air could do to keep car cool. It was a great car 25 mpg on highway.
I ordered a new 87 GTA in early spring. This was an option then. As far as the digital dash. I loved it , yes I ordered it on my car. The only other option I didn’t get was leather and the steering wheel controls for the radio. Cloth seats was the way to go as the fake leather didn’t last. I would love to have my car back ! And the asking price for this is reasonable. Since mine actually cost me a few pennies less then this one. Yeah, I got one hell of a deal but I had to leave it at the dealership show room for a month to get my deal. Mine listed for $24,800. I miss that car
How Pontiac approved this option is amazing to me . The dealer I worked at back then got one in and it leaked water from day one. They ended up putting a standard rear glass and panel in that car.I bet this was not the only one that leaked.
I think this is one of those factory options that will not make the car more valuable down the road. This option makes a good looking car an ugly car. Rarity does not always translate into a higher dollar value. The mid-80’s SS Monte Carlo in my opinion had the opposite effect. The notchbacks looked great, but the aero lid did not.
Yes they are rare and you could order them from the factory they are sought after now it all depends wether what your looking for and what your willing to pay and the configuration your looking for
Looks like it came from the JC Whitney catalog.
Not sure that the Notchback option increases the value over the same car with the glass hatchback. The lack of T-Tops decreases the value. A 52K mile GTA is always desirable, and the values of clean low mileage turdgens are rising however, 20K is optimistic.
the fact this is a hardtop and NOT a t-top does not hamper its value.
This car will not experience cowl shake while you’re driving it or you won’t get rain on you because it has a roof, and hasn’t been hacked apart to put in disco t-tops
Agreed. I would rather not have the t tops. I welded in subframe connectors on an ’89 f body with t tops, just to get it to corner.
I believe those are optional recaro seats? I just went through a bunch of crusty old jcwitney catalogs from my dads estate. You could order this style notch/hatch through the good folks at jcw for $1299! Want to keep the standard hatch? They could set you up with black abs louvers for that
This is the first firebird that ive seen with the disco nights of tokyo dash
One of these in white sold on B.A.T. for around this owners asking price. It too was low mileage (around the 62-67k range IIRC). Not my “cup of tea,”but it is a low mileage F-body with a TPI 350 and that alone is worth much of the entry price.
2 criticisms on the advert in Craigslist: 1)The connotations of parking a low mileage classic next to a mechanics sign featuring “Jasper Engines” is ironic. And 2) as the owner of a similar year big GM sedan with a Digital Dash, I’d like to see the dash lit up, just to make sure it works.
Although this is only 150 miles away, I’m going to pass.
I searched BAT and didn’t find a $20k Notchback listing or sale in the search results.
It looks like a regular GTA in this condition is worth around $14K according BAT sales history. So this seller is putting a 40% premium on the notch and rarity that it seems a lot of people don’t really care for to begin with.
One on eBay has 15k miles and a asking price of 30k.Like the one on eBay
Dave wrote:
Jan 25, 2021 at 11:04am
Agreed. I would rather not have the t tops.
I welded in subframe connectors on an ’89
f body with t tops, just to get it to corner.
__________
WOW. Was the 3Gen F-body really that ‘floppy’, as introduced in late ’81?
Really surprising that the T-Top cars did not break every t-top that was ever installed. I had a 88 IROC and a 89 Trans Am and both cars when you had your hand resting on the pillar ware the t-Top met the windshield header you could feel that moving all the time you were driving. Had to watch you did not have your finger in that space because it would have pinched it pretty bad. A amazing amount of movement there. Both cars so only summer use and went to bigger cars with sunroofs after those two.
Wow Keith, thanks for sharing!
I fell in love with that F-body the first time I saw it, either on ‘KNIGHT RIDER’ or one on the street.
I learned what handling meant in my thirties, and these Firebirds and Camaros quickly went on my bucket list of must drive cars.
A long story short: one of my college cars in 1991, an ’81 Buick Century, was a decent driver, just a boxy sedan, four doors and a steering wheel. But I noticed how drafty it was inside.
So I purchased the correct size star tool, and proceeded to shift all the door strikers in, 1-2mm at a time, until I was satisfied that the doors were making good contact with the frame.
Sure enough, the cabin was both quieter and stayed warm inside without blasting the heater constantly. But I noticed something else going on:
The steering on this (at that time ten year old) Buick had changed after I tightened up those doors: It was tighter, quicker reacting to my inputs. Plus it stayed centered when I was going straight better.
Could bringing in the four doors like that have made the whole body a little stiffer?
Yes I believe they were pretty bad 87 T-tops were not an option only after market ! I think the factory offered them in 88. Look under ask the factory installs and you see a unibody stiffener rail on both sides. I can live without t-tops. I could also live without the notch-back ! Nasty ! But I love the car.
MBorst:
So do you think that my ‘bucket list’ test drive of a – relatively low mileage decent shape – example of 1982-89 F-body be a relative let-down, due to the apparent lack of body stiffness?