Tonight I was taking a break from writing and found a site that listed production figures for 4th gen Pontiac F-bodies. It was pretty cool info, and the small production volumes of such cars as the '98 T/A convert with the WS6 package (339 built) fascinated me. The Firebird Formulas, which came with the V-8 the T/A's used (LT-1 or LS-1 after '97), are also pretty rare. In '96, there were 524 Firebird Formulas built with the ram air hood and WS6 performance package. I was pretty amazed to learn that some of these configs are even more rare than the Firehawk, which was a souped up, limited edition Formula or T/A produced by SLP.
I scrolled down to '93, just to see how many of my Trans Ams are out there in the world. Okay, jaw hit the desk. There were 839 Trans Ams built that year with the T-Top option like mine has out of a total of 4,282 produced. A quarter of the 93's came with manual 6 speeds, which means George, my T/A, is one of roughly 200 configured with the six speed and the T-Tops. There were fewer of my cars built than Firehawks in the years that followed. While that doesn't make the care more desirable than the ultra-performance version, it does make it a small piece of Pontiac history.
At first, I thought this was pretty cool. But now I have a problem. George is bone stock, but also bone weary from the 200k on the clock. Do I continue with the rebuild and destroy the car's original configuration with a crate motor, new exhaust, headers, etc, then gather the guys (and Jones) to thrash him at the Woodburn drags as I intended when I bought it. Or, do I toss the drag racing idea and rebuild the motor so all the numbers continue to match and hold onto George in hopes that someday, his value will appreciate?
Being an historian, I don't think I've got the heart to destroy a rare car's integrity. So, I think we're back to square one with the drag team. Maybe we can use that '62 Lincoln Continental Sergeant Jacques keeps threatening to buy!
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