Barrett-Jackson 2008.....

[mockingbird812]

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I know nothing more than those cars were about the worst GM F-Bodies ever built; they are total crap, no performance, rattletraps with tacky decals. I don't care if it had 7K miles on it, whomever bought it either wanted their 20 seconds of fame, or won the Powerball.

Any early Turbo T/A or Formula is a candidate for worst car ever, and viable evidence of approximately when GM de-railed.

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Well, considering the 70-81 Trans Am's were FAR better cars, with more power, better handling, better build quality, and nicer interiors than 70-81 Z/28's, I guess that puts the 70-81 Camaros and Z/28's just beneath the AMC Pacers and Gremlins on the old hiearchy chart.

The 80-81 Turbo T/A's were slow, very slow, but in 1980-1981 they were considered fast. The 210 hp rating on those cars was accurate, but without much torque, it's pretty hard to push a 4000 lb car with 301 cubes, even it it was helped by a turbo. Buick got it right a few years later....

The Turbo T/A only had to compete with the likes of 170 hp Camaros, Corvettes, Citations, and other rolling embarrasments like the infamous Hurst/Olds W-30, or the gelded AMX, or a host of other cars we'd all like to forget. Face it, everything pretty much sucked during those years.

But at least the 80-81 Turbo Trans Am's remained performance cars during this dismal era. They remained the best handling cars in America, they came with 4-wheel disc brakes, and are remembered for being one of the more beautiful cars from that time period. Probably half of the people that bought those cars didn't have a clue about all the research and work that went into creating an aerodynamic tour de force, with functional spoilers, extractors, and how the WS6 suspension was a source of jealously amongst the Chevrolet engineers. To most buyers, it just looked cool.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but considering the 80-81 Special Edition black/gold cars are going for $40K+ now, it shows that even though these cars, while slow in the 1/4 mile compared to 1960's standards, are now bringing prices equivalent to restored base 64-72 GTO's, 442's, GS's, and Chevelle SS's.

Different strokes....

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Nice commentary - I enjoyed the story!