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!

[Hylton]

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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.


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I have owned 4 2nd gen Trans Ams and I agree that the 2nd gen T/A was a better handling car than the Camaro but the only people I can see prefering the valour interior are pimps and John Travolta whannabees. The turbo cars may have had more horsepower than the stock LM1 Camaros but everyone knew that all you needed were headers, a cam and an aluminium intake to get the car into mid to low 14's. We even kept the stock rear, crappy heads and Rochester on them.

[Fast67VelleN2O]

In a 1979 Issue of Car Craft, that I believe I still have around, they took a bare bones (no p/w, no t-tops, no a/c etc) 79 Trans Am WS6 400 4 speed car with a 3.42 posi, and I believe they got it to go high 13's stone stock! If thats not badass for 1979 standards, I don't know what is!

[StealthBird]

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I have owned 4 2nd gen Trans Ams and I agree that the 2nd gen T/A was a better handling car than the Camaro but the only people I can see prefering the valour interior are pimps and John Travolta whannabees. The turbo cars may have had more horsepower than the stock LM1 Camaros but everyone knew that all you needed were headers, a cam and an aluminium intake to get the car into mid to low 14's. We even kept the stock rear, crappy heads and Rochester on them.

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Uhmmm....yeah....I guess modifying a Z/28 with headers, cam, and intake, and leaving a Turbo Trans Am dead stock, is fair.

[67rscoupe]

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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.

[/ QUOTE ]

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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i was paying attantion to that as well.