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Vehicle Description
I ORDERED THIS CAR IN 1983 AT THE AGE OF 19. IT WAS THE FIRST NEW CAR I EVER PURCHASED.
SEE THE PICTURES OF ME 25 YEARS AGO WITH CAR AND TODAY!
IT'S TIME FOR ME TO MOVE ON...IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT.
THERE IS NO NICER TRUE RECARO TO BE FOUND.
I HAVE INVESTED OVER $20,000 IN THIS CAR SINCE 2002.
IT IS IN PERFECT WORKING ORDER.
PAINT IS NEAR PERFECT-REALLY!
SEND MY YOUR E MAIL AND I'LL FORWARD THE PICTURES OF MY CAR THAT GO ALONG WITH THIS Q A
Q: How many were Recaro Trans Am's were made?
A: "About 2000" Recaro Trans Am's were produced for the 1982 model year. In 1983 they made about 2500 and in 1984 they made 1321. 1983 and 1984 were made to order.
Q: Is this a Recaro T/A?
A: Must have AQ9 on cowl plate.
Q: When purchasing a Recaro Trans Am, what should I look for?
A: OK, this is a long answer that runs to the end of the page, so get comfortable. First of all make sure that the Recaro-specific parts are there and in good shape. For example check for gold turbo-cast aluminum wheels. If they are silver, they are not original. They should be painted gold and the gold paint should be laid on pretty thick, almost to the point of being sloppy. Second, check the hubcaps, which are always a trouble spot. Most of the time they are not even there at all! Check for all 4 disc hubcaps to have a gold sticker in the middle. Only Recaro Trans Am's got gold emblems on the hubcaps; all other cars got red emblems. if you see red emblems, they are not original caps but were taken from a regular car, and even though they still command top dollar, consider that they made over 100,000 sets of the red type, but only 2,000 sets of the gold type. Check to see if the hubcaps have a matte-type finish plastic film over the metal cap. If they do, it's a sign of originality. If they don't, they may have been sanded down and repainted to hide rust, cutting their value. Check for a smooth reflection with no uneven bulges or dents because bulges and dents are signs of the caps being banged back into shape after years of grueling wear tear. If possible check the hubcap backing plastic to make sure nothing is broken off because they are notorious for cracking and losing structural integrity, thus getting loose and flying off only to land in some ditch. Third, check for the door handle inserts. The door handles should read "RECARO T/A". If they are not there, your door handles (or whole doors even) were taken from a regular Trans Am. Not mentioned but important Recaro only emblem is the hard (not a decal) black and gold logo just behind both windows. Fourth and final, as you move to the interior, examine the Recaro seats to make sure they are there and complete. Each seat should have a raised-letter Recaro emblem in the middle of the back support. On both front seats, there should be oversized lumbar side support foam sections on the left and right of where an occupant's body would be. These lumbar supports are on the back support as well as the thigh support . They should be of about equal size on the left and right, on the inside and outside of the seat. If the outside one is smaller, more round, or easier to compress, this is a sign of heavy seat usage and it means the inner foam is starting to collapse. They are often missing or broken. Look at the seats from outside the car, directly in front of the front bumper. Make sure the seats don't bend outward and that the headrest assemblies are more or less straight and level, otherwise there could be structural damage to the seats' frames. Sorry to be so detailed about the seats, but if ya think about it, they are really what makes this car special. Recaro is not a mechanical package, in other words it doesn't have some special engine or drive train; it's just a seat package and a cosmetic package.
Now you've examined the Recaro-specific parts. We move on to trouble spots which are either 1982 only, 1982 - 1983 or 1982 - 1984. These are parts which are extremely hard to find, so they better be in good condition to begin with, on a car you're thinking of buying:
Front wheel flares, 1982 - 1984. These are the downward curved body molding pieces in front of the front wheel. They are so fragile because they're hollow, not solid. They crack very easily if abused or after years out in the harsh elements. Nobody makes aftermarket replacements. If they are unbroken, they are like a Holy Grail of sorts.
Rear wheel flares, 1982 - 1984. Same thing, same comments. This is a smaller piece, in front of rear wheel well.
Automatic shifter with top-style button, 1982-only feature. This is not available anywhere so better make sure the original is in good functional shape. Oftentimes the upside-down cone-shaped piece around the top button will break and fall down like half an inch, making it look like the button is sticking way out. Not sure how to repair that. I can't speak for other cars, but my button easily pops out when shifting into "Park" and locking the shifter in place, if I don't have my thumb on it. The button does not look like it would attach in any way to the rest of the shifter assembly, so I presume all cars have separate-piece buttons like this. It has a rod under it which is about 5 inches long and extends into the shifter assembly, and has some original grease towards the bottom. Strange? Maybe. Super-duper rare? Definitely. All 1982 automatic Trans Am's and Firebirds have it as standard equipment but other than that, nobody sells them, period.
Center console with square-type lid, 1982 - 1984. The square lids had to be made out of some really cheap dog-sh*t because they fall apart really easily. Over time and regular use / abuse / wear tear, the lid will curl up and inside out, falling apart in the process, and ceasing to lock down on the console anymore, or even more amusing, the lock-down button part will come apart from the lid and still lock onto the console while the outer curled-up part dangles in mid air. . I'm beginning to think there were at least 2 different types made (this is only a theory), because I've seen low-mile cars with totally obliterated console lids and then I've seen 200,000-mile cars with good lids. Since nobody sells them at all right now, just make sure your prospect car has one and that it's at least complete.
"Smoked" dark plastic lens taillights with gold eagle insert and gold Pontiac letters, 1982 - 1984. All Trans Am's have the smoked taillights by default, but not all have the gold eagle and the gold letters. I'm still not sure of the application rules, but I think maybe only black gold Trans Am's got those, while the rest got silver eagles and silver (or white?) Pontiac letters. Either way, the gold eagle / gold letters middle taillight piece is extremely rare, and cars are often seen with it removed altogether from having been stolen, so make sure one is there.
Original tires, Goodyear Eagle GT, a.k.a. "gatorbacks". These will probably be missing and replaced, but just in case, check for tires that say simply "GOOD/YEAR" and "EAGLE GT" across from it, and they should be raised letters painted white on the letter outlines, tire RPO code QYZ. If they are true factory originals, they will also say "TPC SPEC 1042" somewhere, in raised rubber letters. They may also be black walls. Mine are whitewalls and I know them to be original; that's all I can say for certain. Tread ware should be "190", traction should be "A" and temperature "B". I've seen a Recaro Trans Am with black walls of the same type with same stats except the lettering was NOT painted white but was rubber black and also raised outlines, but I don't know if this was a true production option on Recaro's because they called for QYZ which are the whitewalls. No replicas of either of these tires are known right now, but they might pop up in the future, you never know.
Original dash pad, 1982 - 1984. These are not available at the moment and I wouldn't be surprised if they are gone for long, so a prospect car should have a good one with no cracks or warps. These are very fragile when it comes to long exposure to the sun's UV rays and temperature extremes. A car that's never been garaged since new and always parked outside is almost guaranteed to have a totally destroyed dash pad with numerous little cracks all over, where you can see the inner foam, so make sure there are no cracks. Check for 2 parallel grooves running the entire length of the dash pad's inside edge. If it's not there, you have a 1985 - 1992 replacement and the car's value is lowered by about $350 because even replicas of the 1982 - 1984 will cost you around $350 currently and as I said, originals are not available unless you perchance to find one on eBay, where they occasionally pop up.
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