I had my 67 Camaro in a small car show in Convention Hall in Asbury Park NJ back around 1981. One of those 8 T/A convertibles was right next to my car. A young lady in her 20s owned it. It was a really nice clean car, too. I wonder if she held onto it all these years.
A friend of mine used to own one of those 8 T/A convertibles, blue interior, automatic. This was long ago! We always knew it was rare and something special, but not so special it couldn’t be used. Nearly all my friends from that era at one time owned and used a car that now exists behind velvet ropes. We got to beat on them, with a clear conscience, something the current owners will never get to experience.
Oh yeah, my 66' Ford Mustang coupe was called a Rustang in 1982...my high school buddies had lots O laughs. Back then the Datsun 280Z were real popular and old Mustangs not so much. I Still have that coupe in my garage and the laughter is over.
I remember reading among the letters to the editor of Hot Rod Magazine back in 79 following their 10th Anniversary T/A issue - a reader wrote in, said he’d read the article and had one of the convertibles. They thought here were only 4 built at the time. His had been converted to a drag car and had a SBC. He was going to continue to race it with a BBC until he read the article. The reader did some research and indeed, it was a factory T/A convertible and this got restored. IIRC, his original was equipped with the Ram Air IV. This was a great video. Almost forgot about these cars.
Always loved the 69 trans am. I have original owner 67 firebird 400 HO turbo 400. I was with my mother on May 28th 1967 at the dealer when she was about to buy a 326 firebird and a red 400 came in on a car carrier and I told her to get the red one and she did. She said the hood scoops were cute. It was her 35th birthday. 10 years later the oil pump seized and she gave it to me. I was 14 and rebuilt the motor. I raced it before I was old enough to drive. The title was never transferred so still original owner. Ps. Interesting story about how Pontiac cheated the rules to put a 400 in them.
I'm so old that I can remember when a 67-69 Camaro was under $7K used and a Firebird wasn't even considered in the used muscle car market. During that time, I bought a "complete" three pedal 67 Mustang with all the speed goodies for $7500, ready to go! Boy, has time changed!
In 1978 I was going to college in Fullerton CA and had to drive by a used car lot on Anaheim Blvd in Anaheim everyday to and from school. They had ‘69 T/A convertible out front for sale with a sign on it saying ‘financing available’. At the time I was living at home with my parents and working nights and weekends at a store. The dealer was asking a whopping $4500 for it. My car at the time was a clean 66’ Impala which I offered the dealer as a trade along with $600 I had saved up. The dealer offered me $500 and said all I needed was a co-signer and that T/A was mine. My dad gave me a hard NO and said I would probably destroy it before it was paid off and there was no way that car was worth that much. Fast forward to a few years ago when my father was still alive one popped up on Barrett Jackson and went for WAY north of $100k I called my dad and reminded him of it. He still stood firm on his reasoning.
Came back from Vietnam and bought a brand new firebird convertible 400/4 speed from Vince Webb in Pensacola Fl...best car I ever owned 3500 dollars might have been a base price but as I remember mine cost 5500 about out the door
I had a '69 Firebird when I was in HS that I bought off my brother in 1988. It had the deluxe interior with factory tach, 160 MPH speedo and those saw-tooth gauges. Supposedly, it had the RamAir IV motor when my brother got it but he blew it up. Come to find out the gauge package is supposedly ultra rare too. I wish I had that car today. Side Note: I couldn't finish the video because the narrator kept saying "1969 Trans AM" every single sentence. Torture.
I had the privilege of owning a 69 firebird w/ 400 engine! Removed the 400 transmission and replaced it w/ a Muncie 4 speed! That baby could bark the tires at 50 mph just by stepping on it! Boy I sure miss that beast!!!
My first car in highschool was a 1969 Firebird. I bought it in the early 80s from the original owner. It was amazing how many muscle cars were still available and driven in the 80s. So many memories made and I miss that car even still today. Not knowing how valuable they would become but we drove these cars and enjoyed them. 😎👍
I bought mine here in Sweden around the same time... Oxblood red with black rag-top, 400 HO/4 spd manual/12 bolt diff... Fun car to rupp around in... Good times...
I had the privilege to see a 69 Trans Am convertible in person once. Local dealer had one nut and bolt restored. I asked the salesman what they were asking and he said they didn't know how to price it. They ended up selling it for $200,000. The guy that bought it turned around and sold it for $1,000,000.
I had a black on black 1984 5L HO 5/spd. 3:73 posi-trac T/A from 1989- 1994. I bought it from an Italian dude in Dallas for $4k. I still remember his name- Innocenzio Dantonio. Idk what he had done to it, but it was way faster than it should’ve been. I pegged the speedo twice, topping 145mph, and regularly dusted IROC’s and Corvettes. Im lucky I survived. I was 22-25 years old. Plus my Kz Kawasaki… lol.
My Holy Grail of cars -- The Pontiac Trans Am - 1979 Bandit -- All years this car was made is American auto industry at its best! - Always look forward to a new video from this channel!
In 1972 - 73 etc in north Stockton ca off El Dorado St on Morada ln was one of these cars setting on the street flat tires and filthy and there for a few yrs. It was outside the Stockton city limits so did not get towed away. So it seems all 8 of these cars are accounted for, I know one of them came from Stockton ca area because at age 14 I used to be driven by it going to a buddies house who lived right up from there on Los Felis. Glad the one I used to pass by did not get towed off to a wrecking yard and scrapped. Had that been a few yrs later after I started driving at 16 I would have tried to buy it because I did take notice and thought it was cool. Probably could have got it pretty cheap as I think it was blown up and not running. We used to buy decent muscle cars back then for 600 to 800 bucks. 1200 for a really nice one. When gas started getting more expensive muscle cars got cheap. Great time to be be a kid who liked fast cars.
A friend of mine had one of the 8 convertibles, he bought it used in 1972 when he got back from Vietnam. Needless to say years down the road he was regretting having sold it by the mid 70's.
I think you're a little wrong about your dates...in 1979 a 69 TA wouldn;t have been anymore then 5-10k...if that...these cars didn't take double digit up turns until at least the mid to late 80's
@@joshthemediocre7824 I remember the price very very well. I also recall that at the time there were only 7 located and the price caused a mad dash to find the 8th. Because of Pontiac's record keeping the vin of the missing car was known and there were a lot of fakes being churned out.
@@trashbandit2449 Just a few thousand. Not 5 figures. At the time there was zero parts availability. In fact, someone just gave Jay Leno one of the two Miura's that he has today. It wasn't running, there were no parts and nobody could fix it.
I've learned so much from this channel. So The IROC-Z basically copied Trans Am by licensing a name from a race circuit...Chevy taking a page out of the Pontiac book instead of the other way around 🤔...wow.
In the beginning of the show with the music is that a Dodge Challenger going down the road just to let you know you have a great show I watch it all the time
Ikr I LOVE this series but they sound more and more robotic everytime, almost like the words are chosen from a prerecorded list and pasted together. Idk maybe its just me.
A true "restoration" would mean making the car look exactly as it left the factory. My father still owns his Corvette he bought new in 69. It's never been hit, still wears it's original paint, and the fit on it is *far* from perfect. The drivers door is actually quite bad. So bad in fact that I'm surprised he didn't have it warrantied back then. Most of us prefer to over restore our cars, for obvious reasons, but that's not how they came. In theory panels that fit better than they came originally should cost you points when judged.
Was looking at a used Jag that I was considering that was at a custom shop in south Minneapolis back in 1998. IIRC, they also had two of the convertible 69 Trans Ams there at the time (it may have been just one). Having owned a regular 69 Firebird for a time and having read up on them, I knew they only made 8 of the convertibles Trans Ams in 1969 and asked the shop owner if it was real, and not some sort of conversion. He said it was the real deal, and this customer was somewhat of an exclusive one. I didn't buy the Jag.
I don’t think you and I grew up very far apart in NOVA . An old friend of mine restored a coupe to factory condition back in the early 90’s I never got to ride in that one. Beautiful to admire though
@@thebigpicture2032 very true. Supply and demand rules all. However, if I REALLY wanted one, I'd build a clone for 1\10th of the price. On the flipside, it is a sound invesment. Even at $1M.
@@joshuagibson2520 Maybe not. In about 1979 I remember a '69 ragtop TA selling for $35K. Keep in mind that this was vastly more than a 250GTO or Miura at the time. It was huge money at the time. But as an investment only the Ferrari outperformed the stock market.
I haven't seen official production numbers, but I've read they were available in either white with blue striping as stated in the video, or blue with white. I've only actually only seen two myself, both coupes. One was white/blue. The other had been repainted red with black highlights.
I read an article years ago that stated that there were 8 of these built. However one was wrecked, leaving only 7 of them in existence. If anybody else has any insight on that please let me know. I believe I originally read it in a car and driver magazine back in the 1970s?
I would've loved to be an owner of both Coupe & Convertible fully & i mean fully equipped and loaded to the max the both of them, besides i've always been more partial to the pontiac firebird than the Chevrolet Comaro, but again big 3 was at their best back then as usual. From the debut of the 1st generation of the 1967 Pontiac firebird formula 2 the 2nd generation 1981 Pontiac firebird formula coupes & convertibles 2 the 1967 1st generation Pontiac trans am 2 the 2nd generation 1981 Pontiac trans am coupes & convertibles. Yes those are some of my favorite muscle cars along with luxury rides known as land yachts. Ivan I J
I'm waiting for my first Pontiac firebird trans am either the 79 or 81 preferring an original not a restored one, but if the restore is available I want papers on it.
I heard there was a clip on the throttle cable somewhere they put on the Firebird Trans-Am when you remove this clip they gave you a lot more horsepower I was told the government was restricting the horsepower I don't know but it sounds like a cool idea
The original 8 owners never bought those cars. John DeLorean had them made for his 8 Pontiac District Sales Managers in North America. Some of them went to Canada. Only one was triple white. At least 4 of them today are in one collection.
Firebird is the Starting Point! The One 1970 (Thats August of 1969 )455 WT5 was a California Freeway Enforcer ! From a 3speed on the floor Base Firebird ! right on past the Trans Am fees right on Past the GTO Judge with the first 455 F-BODY ! right straight to CaliforniaFreeway Enforcer ! (IN 1969) For First1970 Esprit that 0 were made ! ☕🤓sip Wanna know why 1970 has a 160 MPH ! And the first of High Energy Ignition ! H.E.I . Google Pontiac WT5 CaliforniaFreeway Enforcer
There Seems To Be A Lot Of Cheap Skate, Penny Pinching Commenters In These Comments.. In My Opinion; If A Car Is Rare, Low Mile, Taken Care Of, Etcetera; Don't Listen To The Cheap Skate Commenters.. They'd Probably Rather See Prices Go Back Down To $$800, So They Can Gripe About That Being Too High Of A Price As Well.. People Seem To Not Get That Prices Go Up On Collector's Items; Not Down; So If These Low Ball Cheap Skate Complainers Can't Handle That Prices Skyrocket; They Should Just Stay Out Of The Car Hobby..
I remember those cars when they were new, no offense, but they were a little on the flimsy side, the front plastic nose fit and finish was not all that great
because importers know smucks would pay top dollar for them without batting an eye for a car with performance on par with a ls camaro..... a gtr fast back, maybe, but an R34? id rather buy a 92 gts or gte and spend that extra money on making it fast than drop 80 to 100 grand on a r34
