1987 Pontiac Trans Am GTA - Be Still My Beating Heart

For over a week now, this very worn third-generation Pontiac Firebird has been sitting at the transmission shop next door to my office in Youngstown, Ohio. Imagine my delight when I finally sauntered over to it and found it to be not just a Firebird, but be still my beating heart, the ultimate 1980's Firebird, a Trans Am GTA. 

When cars like this were new, their high sticker price, insurance rates and terrible performance in bad weather put them out of reach for me. Not knowing any better, like fawning over the unreachable and untouchable homecoming queen or cheerleader captain, I thought they could do no wrong. 

Over the past twenty-plus years, I've been lucky or unlucky enough to have had my fair share of what are referred to as "pony cars". Long story short - these things are not for everyone. Trust me, the idea of having one is far better than actually having one. At least as a daily driver. As a weekender? Oh, by all means. Every day, though? I don't know about that. To me these are "party cars" that don't know how to do anything but party; sometimes, you just want to crash on the couch and watch Netflix. Still, I'm drawn to cars like this like a moth is to a flame. And I'm willing to get burned again. 

Pontiac's answer to Chevrolet's Camaro IROC-Z, the Firebird "Grand Touring American" were built from 1987 through 1992; this is a 1987. Like the IROC, these cars were supposed to offer buyers even greater performance than the models they were based on could muster. To a car crazy kid driving a crusty 1975 Chrysler Cordoba, what they could do, or would I imagined they could do, the stuff dreams were made of. 

Checking the "GTA" box on the order form got the original buyer a Trans Am with the WS6 handling package which included higher rate springs (fancy car talk for stiffer), thicker anti-roll bars (car geek nomenclature for back breaking), rock hard bushings, an even quicker steering ratio and 245/50 tires on "cross lace", 16-inch alloy rims. 

Under the hood, sorry, I couldn't get this thing up higher than this, we see it has the tell-tale "Tuned Port Injection" intake runners that defined powerful engines at General Motors at the time. This car has an automatic so that means this is the 350-cu. in., or 5.7-liter, "L98" engine you'd also find in Corvettes of the era. This one would have been slightly detuned, of course, since the Corvette had to be the most powerful car in GM's lineup. Even if the difference was maybe five- or ten-horsepower. 

You wanted a 5-speed, you'd have to make do with the 305-cu. in, or 5.0-liter, "LB9" engine that had the L98's sexy pipes, but it made less horsepower and torque. Legend has it the torque of the L98 would detonate the Borg Warner T-5 manual. So, you wanted the big motor, automatic only, pal. 

Contemporary road test reviews of these cars are decidedly mixed. Scribes heap praise on their straight-line performance and adhesion in the corners on smooth surfaces. Lest they didn't offend manufacturers who spend big bucks advertising with their publications, you have to read between the lines their utter contempt for their flinty rides, wonky ergonomics, terrible seats and sloppy, cheap construction. 

I wonder how many of these were bought by buyers who quickly thought twice about their purchase. Again, if they were bought as daily drivers. If you know, you know. 

Damned with faint praise at best, the critics harsh words came across to me like a coach yelling at my favorite sports team players. You bastards can't say that about my favorite genre of cars and get away with it! Well, guess what? Turns out those guys were right. And then some. 

Though they sorted much of what ailed these cars through the years, they (General Motors) never got them one hundred percent right. The Trans Am GTA's, though, were as good as third-gen Firebird's got. What you bought one for going a long way as to whether or not you ultimately liked it or not. 

You bought it for its aesthetics or what it could do for your image, you probably regretted your purchase quickly. As a performance appliance, though, you got a lot of bang for your buck. 

The jarring ride, droning exhaust, their impracticality and difficulty of ingress and egress; these are cars are not for the faint of heart. Every pony car I've had had me questioning my decision. Naturally, I bought them as dailies. 

Sigh. Funny how contempt can replace lust. 

I'd love to know the story behind this car. Goes without saying it's got transmission problems. Doesn't appear to have any rust issues which is unusual for a forty-year-old car that appears to have spent considerable time outside in the shoot-me-now cold then brutally muggy and hot summers we get here in northern Ohio. 

So, it's got loads of potential. I'd just get it running and rat-rod it. 

There's a humility to it I like that when new, this car and cars just like it, did not have. Not unlike an older athlete, professional or not, with a mile or two on them who still "has it", just without the off-putting arrogance that may or may not have gotten them into trouble back in in the day. 

1968 Cadillac DeVille convertible - That Land Yacht Has Sailed

This nice but not perfect, 75,000-ish mile, 1968 Cadillac DeVille convertible popped up recently on Marketplace with a towering $25,000 asking price. I know inflation is warping the values on most everything these days but twenty-five grand...for...this? 

Back in the day, I swooned for these cars and others like it that had buckets more panache than anything current at the time; performed better overall too. Then again, these General Motors class-of-1965 full-size cars where the last crop of cars that didn't have to bend to government regulations regarding safety, emissions and fuel economy. 

With no literal and figurative "governors" to be concerned with, that didn't stop General Motors and Cadillac from applying their own brakes, as it were. By 1968, a "Cadillac" was a far cry from what it was just five-years prior; although it wasn't as bad as it would get come 1969 and beyond. 

Blame the "bean counters" for trying to squeeze every last dollar they could to maintain profit margins. Rather than jack up sticker prices, Cadillac just cheapened the cars themselves; they also stopped innovating. Innovation as much as part of what made a Cadillac a "Cadillac" as styling did. 

Seeing how people bought Cadillac's in increasingly large numbers, despite their being less and less "Cadillac" and more "Chevrolet" like with each passing model year or two, that didn't seem to matter at the time. Well, didn't matter until it did matter which by then it was too late. 

1968 was the last year for the stacked vertically stacked headlights on Cadillacs, an ethos that went back to 1965. The last year genuine wood veneers, thin as they were, were available as well on the interior. Although the design of the front seats left a lot to be desired, 1968 was the last year Cadillac used a leather that was of a near glove-soft quality. Cadillac improved the seat design for 1969, but the leather they used was hard and slippery. 

Cadillac introduced this dash design in 1967 replacing the 1965 conjuring that was bejeweled in comparison. Think this looks cheap? It ain't got nothing on the 1969 and 1970's mold injected plastic horror. 

It wasn't all downhill, though. 1968 was the first year for the last "great" Cadillac exclusive engine, the venerable "four-seventy-two", 472-cubic inch V-8 that would stick around, in one form or another or displacement, somewhat amazingly, through 1984. Love the gold air cleaner cover. 

If buyers felt they had to defend the fact that the interior of their car wasn't quite as plush as it used to be, they could brag they had the world's largest passenger car V-8 engine at the time. Although, they'd then look sheepish when a yokel with a 427-cubic inch V-8 in his or her Chevrolet Caprice smoked them at a stoplight. 

Behind the wheel, I've found these cars to be a chore to drive. Their structure spindly, the body shudders, the seats not supportive. Yes, they look lovely, but, sorry, I've come to expect more from a car that's not a daily driver than just looking pretty. 

I'll drive yours and gush enthusiastically about how nice it is and drop my geeky tidbits about what I know about it. Would you rather I tell you what I really think of your car and that I think you wasted your money? 

Seems my penchant for literal land yachts like this has sailed. 

1974 Cadillac Coupe deVille - The American Standard (of the World)

 

After years of cost cutting to maximize margins, by 1974, what General Motors marketed as the "Standard of the World" had devolved into more like, warning, incoming deliberate and awful pun, "The American Standard of the World". That's not to say Cadillac didn't have anything to blow their horn about for '74. Gosh, for starters, there were a number of new "firemist" colors with coordinated interiors to choose from like Cranberry, Persian Lime and, as on our '74 Coupe deVille here, dare I say, the rather fetching Terra Cotta Firemist. 

Such was the strength of Cadillac's position in the market in the 1970's that they could tout frivolities like new paint schemes and expect their customers to buy into it. Oh, and they did. Despite the first energy crisis clobbering sales of full-size cars, Cadillac still managed to sell more than 242,000 total units in 1974 none of which could honestly get more than ten-miles-per-gallon. 

Model year 1974 for Cadillac wasn't without its fair share of firsts and lasts, though. 1974 was the last year for the 472-cubic inch V-8 Cadillac introduced to much fanfare for 1968. Smooth and durable, let's be fair, Cadillac lovers, there wasn't anything particularly special about it save for its elephantine size. Cadillac replaced it in 1975 with their 500-cubic inch version of it that had been an Eldorado exclusive going back to 1970. Legend has it Cadillac had planned to increase the size of the "472" to as much as 600-cubic inches. 

Like many makes and models sold in the United States, 1974 was also the last year Cadillac's were sold without catalytic converters. Catalytic converters use precious metals to react with toxic exhaust gases and literally convert many of them into less harmful ones. Early "cats" severely restricted exhaust flow further limiting engine performance that was already castrated by primitive emissions controls and lower compression. 

On a list of firsts, 1974 Cadillac's featured a redesigned dashboard all Cadillac's, except for Seville's, would have through 1976. Critics torched it's lilliputian speedometer and, save for the fuel-gauge above it on the left, a brace of "idiot lights" running along the top of it to relay vehicle information to the driver. 

                                         

For 1974, a government mandate required all cars sold in the United States withstand a five-mile-per-hour impact without damage, hence all Cadillac's got this new rear end treatment complete with a new taillamp design. 

Save for a fussy and garish new grill, the front end was mostly carry-over from 1973; 1973 the first year for the government mandated, five-mile-per-hour front safety bumper required up front. I can't think of a single automobile that benefited aesthetically from this mandate, although at the time, putting shock absorbers behind bumpers seemed like a sensible if not smart thing to do. "It's about time they did that", bellowed my old man who regularly dented the thin strips of chrome pretending to be bumpers on his 1968 Ford Ranch Wagon 

Back to lasts, 1974 was the last year for round headlights "nestled" in bezels on Cadillac's. This look gave way to rectangular headlights along with another front-end refresh that made it look blockier and heavier than ever. 

Along with the new dash, all Cadillac's for 1974 got a new steering wheel all would would have through 1976. GM would share it with, of all things, their GMC motorhome through model year 1978. Sans the Cadillac logo, of course. 

Most importantly, 1974 was the first year all two-door Cadillac's were not actually hardtops if we define such by what they had been going back to 1949;a fixed-roof car with no center post to emulate the roofline of a convertible with its top up. 

Like the safety bumpers, at the time, it seemed a natural evolution of an existing design that provided structural support to a car that desperately needed it. In retrospect, it ruined what made a two-door Cadillac more than just a two-door sedan. Oddly enough, Cadillac continued to sell four-door Calais' and Sedan deVille's as pillarless hardtops through 1976. 

A coupe even a coupe diehard didn't like? Yup. Especially with the padded "cabriolet" roof like this one has, these cars appear to be two different cars fused together behind the doors. Full disclosure. when these padded roofs first came out, to this kid from Long Island, it seemed the epitome of taste, class and elegance. 

The most unusual thing about this car is that while the rear seat is trimmed in your atypical of the time, to-die-for-looking but slippery as hell Cadillac leather...

The front seat is...cloth? Bet the front seat was shot and someone found cloth front seats in the correct color. I'm sure doing this was a whole lot less expensive than reskinning them with NOS seat covers. If you can even find them. 

The front seats situation didn't hamper someone from dropping $8,450 for this thing at a Haggerty online auction recently. Neither did this crack in the dash, good luck fixing that, the 1977-1978 wheel covers, non-working air conditioning and cruise control, locked up eight-track player and ancient, replace-now-or-die tires. The paint has blemishes and there's rust on the frame. Did the buyer not read the vehicle description beforehand? 

Sadly, I feel a part of my youth has faded away as I used to love dreadnaughts like this, they're nothing more to me now than a nostalgia trips reminding me of the way I used to look at the world. They handle and brake terribly, they're slow, inhale gas, shoot, they're not even that comfortable. Sorry, I don't see the fun in appreciating something simply for the nostalgia value in it anymore. With me and cars, love may transcend reason, but it's not unconditional. At least not anymore. 

After all these years, despite my fruitless attempts to convince her otherwise, I still hear my mother, who was born in 1925. wistfully dreaming of a Cadillac like this. "There's something special about a Cadillac", she'd say. Sorry, ma, while that may have been true at one point, by the mid 1970's, that simply wasn't true anymore. 

1972 Ford LTD Convertible - Wave and Blow a Kiss

 

On paper, these full- or "family-sized" convertibles like this 1972 Ford LTD made sense. Sort of. They eluded glamour and have an elan the fixed-roof cars they're based on lack while being as practical (or not). Ah, just imagine the quality family time, the whole gang blissfully basking in mother nature's glory while the bourgeois eat their hearts out. Acknowledge them with a simple wave. For kicks and giggles, blow a kiss or two. Nothing beats a leisurely drive in a convertible on a nice day. Preferably early morning or late afternoon and early evenings. Remind me to tell you about the time I got sun stroke driving my wife's 2004 Mitsubishi Eclpse Spyder GTS from Cleveland, Ohio to Toronto. 

In reality, top up or down, these cars made no sense. They're noisy, they shudder, they moan, groan, squeak and creak and, because they're easily broken into, can be an insurance liability based on where you live. Oh, and manufacturers charged a premium for them because they were expensive to build. Not surprisingly, they didn't sell well and in the early to mid 1970s, one by one, the Big Three and a Half discontinued selling them. Ford dropped out of the game after 1972. 

Rumored government regulations banning convertibles because they were said to be unsafe in roll-over accidents fueled the demise of these cars as well. Truth was, while said federal guidelines never came to prohibit convertibles, what did them in was they sold poorly. In fairness, they didn't flip over with any more frequency than their fixed room brethren. When they did flip over, well. You know. 

Convertibles had been part of manufacturer's lineups going back to the earliest days of the automobile. Back in the "olden days", lowering a convertible top was an efficient way to ventilate the cabin. With the advent of air conditioning in the 1950's and 1960's, the practical side of convertibles became less important. 

Due to their complexity, convertibles were expensive to build and manufacturers, naturally, passed that onto buyers. The added complexity involved either removal of the fixed roof, which was a major part of the car's structure or a different body was crafted altogether. Either way, additional heavy bracing was added as reinforcement. Because of their sheer bulk, full-size convertibles like our LTD here needed a considerable amount of bracing. Forces being forces and stressors being stressors, seemed no amount of additional buttressing was enough to eliminate "the shimmies" these cars are famous for. Shimmies they were famous for even if they had a fixed roof as well. 

Our '72 here is part of Ford's new-for-1969 full-size cars they updated for 1971. That 1971 reboot included an even more pronounced front-end than the 1969 and 1970 models referred to by many as the "Bunkie Beak" in deference to Bunkie Knudsen. In February of 1968, Henry Ford II hired Knudsen away from General Motors' Pontiac division to run his company. At Pontiac, Knudsen was famous for insisting on a front end with a prow or beak ala the 1969 Grand Prix. Knudsen lasted on 19-months in the job. 

Frankly, this car's front-end resemblance to Pontiac's is only obvious after being literally pointed out; what's less discussed is how much it resembles an Edsel's "urinal" front end. 

I've always been fairly ambivalent towards these big Fords which seemed to be everywhere when I was a kid. If anything, their styling was obviously influenced heavily by General Motors; I can't say it's an improvement over anything GM sold at the time. In fairness, it's not an awful looking car in my opinion. 

Where these cars really come up short of General Motors' makes and models is in their ride and handling. Squishy, mushy, disconnected, unresponsive and boggish, the new-for-1971 Ford 400-cu. in. V-8, one of the first "smog motors" incidentally, didn't do these cars any favors at the drag strip either. As if anyone bought a Ford LTD to go as quickly from stoplight-to-stoplight as possible. These cars also get dinged for clumsy, non-sensical dashboard ergonomics too. 

This car has just 62,000-miles on it and appears to be in generally good condition. I don't think brown is its best color, it only adds to the dreariness of the all-black, all vinyl\plastic interior although I like the contrast of the tan top. Might be the camera angle but it does have a sporty, rakishness to it I appreciate. The Ford "Magnum" rims are to die for; someone had the good sense or taste not to fussy the appearance of this car with raised white-letter tires. 

Asking price is $12,950 which for an early '70's full-size convertible in what appears to be solid shape, seems like a bargain. If you're into this sort of thing, go get it at 1972 Ford LTD Convertible 400 – Best Stop Auto Sales. Best Stop Auto Sales appears to be a consignment shop and that could make negotiating somewhat challenging since the back and forth could be a cumbersome process. Frankly, the closer this can be bought to $10,000 the better. Out the door for $12,000 I'd think someone did quite quite well.