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When my good friend Bruce Hawkins of Hawks Third Gen Parts first sent me a picture of this beautiful red GTA convertible I knew I was in trouble....  I had been looking at a red 90 IROC convertible, but the rarity of the GTA far surpasses that of the IROC convertible.   Bruce didn't really want to part with the car, but he knew if he did I would take excellent care of it.... Thanks for trusting me with this beauty Bruce! ( Bruce negotiated a first right of refusal on the car if I ever decide to sell it... ).  

This car is one of only about 58 L98 GTA convertibles built in 1989 per John Zofko's research at 3rdgenformula.   The 5.7 liter L98's were not put into the Camaro convertible, for reasons known only to Chevrolet.   But Pontiac converted a small number of L98 GTAs in 1989, and I'm glad I found this one.  

I'd like to thank Frankie over at the GTA SourcePage for doing so much hard work standing up and maintaining a great site where much of my technical and historical education has come from.   I'd also like to acknowledge John over at 3rdGenForumla for all the info he has collected on convertibles at his site and shared.  The number of L98 convertible GTA's is sometimes thought to be about 60.  John's research has documented some 58, a few of which were exported.

In 1989 Pontiac produced 64,409 Firebirds, 31,876 were straight Firebirds, 16,670 were Formula's, 5,701 were Trans AMs, 8,081 were Trans AM GTAs, 1,555 were Turbo Trans AMs, and 26 were Trans AM 1LE's.  ( from ThirdGen.org )  In 1989 the Indy Pace Car was a t-top Trans AM with the Buick V6 Turbo!!

Y84 -- GTA Option Package -- 8,470  -  A number from Frankies's site.    Of these 8,470 GTA's, 366 were 5.0's... the remaining 8,104 were all 5.7's.....  of all 1989 Firebirds.  A total of some 175 Firebirds went to ASC to be converted to convertibles, and at least 58 were L98 GTAs.  Production Numbers (3rdgenformula.com)

This particular car was sold by Gay Hood Pontiac in Riverside CA in April of 1989.    It was originally produced as an RPO CC1 T-top car, and then sent to American Specialty Company ( ASC ) to be converted to a convertible.  Most all convertible f-bodies from GM were 'converted' by ASC, none were actually done at the Pontiac plant. 

The car was delivered to ASC in early December of 1988, converted and shipped to Gay Hood in January of 1989.   The sticker price was $21,797 when it left GM, but by the time it got to Gay Hood it was selling for $28,463.   The original GMAC paperwork was all in the trunk when I purchased the car, along with all of the original sales information, warranty cards, convertible top information and more.   I was able to get an accurate reproduction of the window sticker from the good folks at Pontiac Historic Services ( PHS ) sans the ASC option   A fellow GTA 'Vert owner (John) has a list of some 300 or so 1989 VIN sequence numbers given to him by ASC in 1992.  Only the sequence numbers ( last 6 digits of the VIN ) were recorded by ASC and tallied by John.   Some 175 went to ASC in 1989 for conversion to convertible tops of which 58 were L98 GTAs.

Some of the documentation   <<---click here

Gerry's other websites:

www.gmassie.net

My massieg site 

L98 GTA Convertible site

13secss website

Tidewater Regional Impala Club (TRIC )

gem 09/26/2023 10:34 AM