Fromula Trans Am GTA... such a thing

Ok.. I have to figure this out. I went by some ones house the other day because I noticed that they had a pontiac that looked just like mine but better condition but had the side air vents on the fender so I had to stop and tell the guy that it looked good and that I liked it. Well to my suprise when I got out of the car I looked at the side and it had the words FORMULA written on it and the nose had the Trans Am GTA emblem!!! I thought how could this be.. Aren't they two diffrent models I wondered to my self. Ever since then I have been asking every were to find this out.. Some people say its possible... some don't.... Will some one help me figure this out becuase I'm just baffled. Now what ticked me off the most was the guy who owned it was a ignorant fool when it comes to the TAs, birds, and formulas... Kind of dissapointed me..Now I may not be an expert, but I will honestly say that I know at least enough to be a proud owner of the wonderful TA family.

He probably added that gta emblam and fenders with scoops.Wut did his hood look like?

It looked like mine. With the vents up front and the two on the sides, the GTA style hood he said he got the car like that. I poped the hood and the motor was identical to mine with the exception that he had a BBK performance throttle body on it...... It was a brand new paint job pretty much. I said something to him about the Emblems and like I said this kid was ignorant about every thing pretty much on his car. All he did was drive the thing becuase it had wheels. What a shame. If I rember right though I don't think he had the WS6 suspension. I could be wrong on that part.

Wut kind of taillights did he have?the blacked out ones or the color ones.Where did it say formula?

Mine is a 1988 TransAm and it has the louvers in the hood AND the louvers on the side fender, my son owns 3 1988 GTA Notchbacks and they have the louvers in the hood, BUT not on the sides of the fender.

As far as the word Formula written on the side, this is a decal that can be ordered online or by any body shop, so it is possible someone ordered it for its looks and slapped it on.

That is most likely. It is probably a Trans-Am with GTA emblems and an aftermarket Formula decal.

A couple of things to look for to authenticate a real GTA most important is the code Y84 located on the options label inside the center console. simple little appearance items to look for, on left headlamp of 87 - 90 GTA's should be a PONTIAC nameplate in gold. These year models will also carry a gold bird logo between the taillamps. GTA's did not come factory with fender vents, this was most commonly used on Trans Ams. There was no Formula GTA. it is either a Formula or a GTA, but not both.

Since he did indicate the air vents on the side of the fender I would think it was not the GTA as none of my sons 3 GTA's have them on the side. Could also rule out GTA if it does not have the radio controls in the steering wheel. But tx 1987 gta has the best way to prove it by the code in the console. Just like in the mid 60's, people tried to take a Pontiac LeMans and slap the GTO badges on it and pass it off as a GTO, many have tried to slap the GTA badges on a TransAm.

The steering wheel controls are not an acurate way of determining a GTA either, since they were only used on certain year models. early 87's did not have them and neither did 91 & 92 since they had the beloved air bag in the way.

trans am formula gta was a limited edition pace car not many made but its real maybe not the one you saw but they did make it dealer special like a vet with twin turbo's or for another one yanko camaro factory but not you know

Welcome crazyjoe but please read the Important message about Please read before posting. I am asking all new members to please not bring back old threads. If the subject interests you please start a new thread and provide a link to the old thread. Any thread thats within 2 weeks old though I don't care if its brought back.

Thanks you and welcome to AF

John