Trans Am

hi guys, i am looking to buy my first car soon. I am hoping to save up 12 thousand to spend on it. I really want a firebird trans am, which year should i be looking at for my price raqnge. Also, tell me what condition I can be expecting this car to be in if I'm only spending 12k. Also, is the trans Am really a good choice for my first car? I know that |I for sure want a muscle car but are there any other cars that I should be looking at? I would rather have a challenger than a trans am but I've realized how expensive and hard to find they are. I also like the plymouth muscle cars. Which is your favourite plymouth muscle car?

hey guys, so yesterday i went to look at a firebird. It was an '87 formula with ws6 package, tune port, and fuel injected. I know that it's not exactly a muscle car but I really liked it. It has 139 000 km's on it. It has a 5.0 litre in it with the tune port. The guy told me that it was running 225 horsepower. The engine needed no work whatsoever. The exterior of the car needed a little work including the back spoiler needed to be painted, the rubber on the driver and passenger windows needed to be replaced, the tint that was put on the windows had some chips(not the actual original window just the tint) and under the black thing on the nose, like the fabric, it was very dirty. The interiour was very nice and clean but the guy said that the center console needed to be glued because it's a little loose. The car is a 5 speed standard and it runs great. We never took it for a drive yesterday, only started it up. Also, the car is fully saftied. He was asking 6800CAN$ for it but we haggled him down to about 6200$CAN. Is this a good car to buy for the price that he is asking? (Don't forget that's canadian dollars.) Also, to do all of that exteriour work how much do you think it would cost me? Should i buy this car? here is the link to the online ad: http://www.usedwinnipeg.com/classified-ad/3421329&category=sports-cars

Thanks for all your help,

Tim

It's pretty good, but no screaming deal. On autotrader.ca, I found several newer Firebirds (made in the 1990's) in Manitoba for about the same money.

IMO you are paying a premium for the 5 spd manual transmission. Likely the automatics are less money. If you do not have a preference for a 5 spd, go for an auto and same some $$$

BTW, in the late 80's the 350 cid engine came only with the auto. The lower hp 305 was the biggest you could get with the Borg Warner T-5 manual trans.

This is because the 350 produced more torque than the 5 spd could reliabily handle. Generally, an auto trans 350 was slightly faster than a 305 with a 5 spd. You may get lucky and score an auto trans 350 for less money.

Whatever you get, take it to an independant mechanic that you trust for a thorough inspection.

my first car was a 96 firebird formula with a Lt1 6 speed, and it was great!! with only 25k miles i got it for 13k. i dont know about up north but you really need to call your insurance and make sure 1. they will insure you, 2. you can handle the insurace payments on what you get.....

If you have 12k to spend then you can get a really sweet car. You can get 4th gen LS1 f-bodies for 12k in good shape, but it's all about what you want. You can buy a third gen(82-92) for 4k and spend 8k making it insanley fast. here some insight..

Thirdgen f-body are nice, but if you go with a 305 with a world class 5 speed then your going to need to do the following. First get the transmission rebuilt cause they are weak from the factory. There are t-5 that can handle 400ft lbs. The 305 isn't the end of the world either, you can mod one and make good power, it's just going to take more then a 350. In all honesty in 1990 the 305's were making almost as much horsepower as the 350. i think they got up as high as 235-240hp. early 90's third gen with 305 and t-5 have been known to run 14.4 in the quarter. best i've seen a thirdgen with a 350 and 700r4 is 14.5 in the 1le trim.

4th gens are the hot ticket because the LS1 is a great under rated motor that reacts very well to mods, but they are expensive and insurance will be high.

1985-1990 Monte carlo SS- fairly light car that has sporty looks. Only came in automatic. You can make these pretty quick with the 305 they come with, but a lot of ppl do swaps. dropping in a 350 or 400 is easy. these cars run about 15.7-16.1 bone stock.

1996-1998 Impala SS- pretty sporty car that came with a detuned LT1 and automatic tranny. 265hp i believe. these are kindy heavy but do well with mods. run 15.2-15.8 bone stock, but have potential.

1985-1993 5.0 Mustang- these cars react really well to mods. stock they come with up to 245hp with cobra. Can be had for cheap and you can mod the shit out of them. the t-5 they have are much better then gm's. Typically run 14.3-15.2 stock. Hot ticket car with tons of mod options.

1994-1998 mustang GT- these truley suck. the heads were extremly bad flowing. these cars only put out 215-225hp and are slow. however the cobra of this time was a hot ticket. 305hp comming from a DOHC V8 that react well to mods. these run 13.7-14.1 bone stock. you can get these for under 12k.

1999-2004 Mustang GT- these are much better then the previous generation. they have the same motor as the last but have better flowings heads and cams. make 260-275hp. these react well to mods, but after making good power your gonna need a new rear end. these run 13.9-14.3 bone stock and can be had for 9-16k just gotta find a good deal.

1989 Corvette- these can be pretty sweet. this yr you could get these with a zf(6 speed manual). these had 245hp and were fairly light. I've seen an auto 86 vett run 14.2 bone stock. I'm gestimating that the manual gear box and 15 more hp would yield 13 second times.

Buick grand National- sweet ass car! came with a turbo 3.8 ranging from 180hp to 245 in 87. the rare and expensive GNX had 276 hp and 360ftlbs. I'd hit up an 87. these cars are pretty quick from the factory running 13.5-14.5 stock. The big thing is these cars can be made super fast easily. Not only that but if you get your hands on one don't let it go cause it will be worth a lot of money some day.

As far as GM cars go you can take any of the following and swap in a better motor or upgrade the existing one: Nova,monte carlo,camaro,firebird,cutlass,regal,impala,chevell e,gto, and grand prix. any of these cars have potential to be fast.

I would stay away from chrysler products cause they are cheap and aside from old school muscle cars they don't have anything to offer you in the form of V8 and rwd. Old school cuda's,darts, and chargers are going to be way out of your price range. I can give you a few cars that are sweet and slightly different from what your looking for:

Stealth R/T- 320 twin turbo v6. awd and a 6 speed. these are fairly heavy cars, but have potential to be very fast.

Viper- 450-500hp, but they are expensive, and hard to locate.

Daytona iroc/ r/t- These were front wheel drive, but had turbo 2 liter engines that got pretty peppy. up to 245hp, but because they are FWD you can't put any power down. they can be fast with upgrades though.

So as you can see you have a ton of choices and cars to pick from, just be smart about it and ask us questions if you have any. Just as an example of what you can do look at my sig. i have a third gen formula, with a early 70's 350 running a carb setup. You can do anything with GM parts!

Thank you for that valuable input, dave :smile:

Unfortunately, this threat is getting very old and should be put to rest.

Thread closed