[JLMounce]

The lease I have on my 2016 VW GLI is coming to a close so I'm looking at replacements that can serve as a near daily for myself.

I work primarily from home and only really need to drive 1 day out of the week and maybe for half to a full month twice a year. Around 3000 miles per year is all.

As much as I like modern cars for their comfort and convenience, I don't like nanny's watching over me and they just don't have a soul in many cases.

I'm looking at an all original 81 TA that has popped up locally. It's a two owner car, 86400 original miles and has had a repaint only.

The engine was gone through in 2000 and the heads/turbo was rebuilt in 2012. Everything is present on the car and functioning in factory form. There's zero rust and the car is well documented, including the build sheet that was atop the gas tank.

The only modification to this car is a set of glass packs where the factory mufflers would have been. It's otherwise completely as it left the assembly line.

What should I be looking out for with these cars, especially when considering more than just weekend cruising?

Thanks in advance!

[ponchjoe]

Jason,

I’ll take a stab it. As far as the 81s they have all the similar issues as 70-80, rust in tail panels, inner wheel wells, corners of the dash and it’s drainage or seal related. As with any 37 yr old car it will require more up keep than today’s cars. The good thing is your not driving 15k miles a yr like a lot of us. With 80k on the odo I would be thinking about bushings (all rubber parts) Springs and other suspension parts. Was the engine gone through or just heads and turbo? You also have the fun of having a carburetor again which needs more attention these days because of fuel.
I say as a driver with the amount of miles you expect go for it if it is solid all around performer!
Post up some pics so we can enjoy it too!

[JLMounce]

Fortunately the car is rust free. It's been garaged in Colorado all it's life and although we do get snow, it's dry here so cars don't generally rot.

The engine was gone through in 2000. Based on the machine shop bill I was shown I would say that consisted of a tear-down cleaning and bearings/rings. Nothing major like new internal parts. The car wouldn't pass emissions in 2012 and they found the #8 cylinder dead due to intake leakdown. It was recommended at that time to rebuild both heads and the turbo, which then got the car to pass emissions in 2013 with 83,200 on the clock.

This is the car in question. http://conquestclassiccars.com/1981-...9/Details.aspx

[72projectbird]

1981 has a lot of little 1 year only parts (but so does the 80).

The car in question looks nice. It still has the correct 81 cloth material. It still retains the 81 console, correct gauges, and correct steering wheel. It's a rather unique car, having deluxe interior with roll up windows, manual locks, and no T-tops, but also having cruise control and a tilt column.

The engine bay looks pretty correct, and it looks like it's still running the factory computer setup. It still has the smog pump and A/C in it, so that's cool. I would be a little worried about the battery disconnect on it, as it might have a draw on it somewhere.

I really like the color of it! Amazingly the turbo lights on the hood aren't cracked.

Some things I noticed: It has the wrong decals on it. They kinda look like they're from a 79 10th anniversary, but the bird is a little smaller as it doesn't run on the fenders. It should have the turbo bird, which was only 2 colors in 1981 (largest bird on a T/A besides the 10th cars). It should also say Turbo Trans Am on the rear spoiler. It's missing it's Turbo wheels, but maybe you could've ordered Snowflakes on a turbo car?

Overall it looks like a nice car. I don't know if it's worth what they're asking, but that's something that you'll need to decide.

I'm surprised you guys still have to pass emissions with these cars!

[78w72]

81's are the first year of GM's computer control, so its a little harder to work on & tune these 81'a than previous non computer years. the carb is computer controlled & can be finicky, you cant even set the idle with the idle screw, the computer will overide it. so just be aware you need to learn a lot or find someone that knows these cars if it ever needs work or tuning.

i also noticed the wrong decals, common when these cars are repainted by people who dont know or care about the details to get it correct. the little birds on the sail panels & fenders are definitely wrong & look tacky IMO. also the hood & nose seem to be poorly aligned & the rims are probably wrong, pretty sure all turbo t/a's were WS. & came with either turbo rims or 15x8 WS6 snowflakes... but aside from that it looks like a decent car if its really rust free, cars rust out in colorado too & who knows whats under the repaint. but the uncrackeed dash & clean interior indicate the mileage is legit.

but aside from that issue, the turbo cars are nice drivers & get a bad rap from people that either dont know how to work on them or just assume they are turds because what they read or heard over the years. fact is they have about the same rated horsepower as a 78 400 t/a, give or take 10-20hp. also many were delivered with under the factory rated psi so again people thought they were slow. in reality when properly tuned they will hold their own against mid 70's 400 & 455 t/a's. the bigger v8s are faster off the line & probably overall, but from a rolling punch or highway speeds they do pretty well & get better gas mileage. so if you just want a nice car to cruise around in these cars are great.

for more info & all you could ever want or need to know visit 301garage.com. excellent site dedicated to these cars.

[Dave R]

Snowflake wheels were an option. The turbo cars are nice cruisers with decent mileage. I daily drove a Turbo Formula for a year and it was a lot of fun. The key to making the turbo live is to let the engine idle for a minute before shutting it off. They tend to get hot in summer with the turbo mounted on top of the engine but mine was a Formula which didn’t have the heat extractors that a Trans Am does.

[Lee]

In the early/mid-80's there was a local guy who put a Doug Nash 5-spd manual in his Turbo T/A. It ran 15.0's at the track, which was a good improvement over stock. I was a teenager in the 80's, and we raced everything! Off the line, the Turbos were rather pathetic. I raced one from a 60mph roll once (I was in a 403 powered T/A) and we were pretty evenly matched.

I always suspected that just installing a torque converter that would stall in the 2400-2800rpm range would make a HUGE improvement in how those performed. The old style catalytic converters were notorious for strangling horsepower, so replacing that with a modern larger diameter high flow should make it "cleaner" and give the power a boost, I suspect.

In one of the old magazine articles, I read that the turbo was rather undersized on those motors. I think the SVO turbo 4-cylinder Mustangs used a similar sized turbo.

[Skip Fix]

FWIW my 81 still had the stock convertor from the Turbo in it when I put the 400 in it. It was so tight it almost bogged he car. Chric at Continental built a looser 13" for the lockup TH 350 that worked good.

The NHRA Stocker guys that run these turn up the boost.

[Grand73Am]

Originally Posted by 72projectbird

Some things I noticed: It has the wrong decals on it. They kinda look like they're from a 79 10th anniversary, but the bird is a little smaller as it doesn't run on the fenders.

Good catch. Those are 79-80 decals, called "Charcoal" graphics on the build sheet, and "silver" by Phoenix Graphics. Used on regular TA's with compatible colors like Platinum(silver), and red, for example. I have an original Platinum 79 with those decals.

[FrankieT/A]

It's definitely a repaint...judging from the car color on the wheel wells looking through the fender air extractors.

[JLMounce]

Yeah, the car has a documented repaint. The snowflakes were optioned on the build sheet as well as the 4 wheel disc option. I didn't look closely enough to see if it was a ws6 optioned car, but it was my understanding, that option also provided the 4 wheel disc brakes.

I wouldn't be looking to do any modifications to this car. I have my '69 Firebird for that. this would just be a driver when the occasion arose.

[ponchjoe]

Jason,

Have you considered a 1999-02 Bird for your daily? Although not true Pontiac powered they make great daily drivers. $18k seems like a lot to me for an 81 but maybe I’m wrong. And don’t ge the wrong, I’m a fan of these cars.

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by ponchjoe

Jason,

Have you considered a 1999-02 Bird for your daily? Although not true Pontiac powered they make great daily drivers. $18k seems like a lot to me for an 81 but maybe I’m wrong. And don’t ge the wrong, I’m a fan of these cars.

If I found the right one, but most of them I see are beat to ****.

Conquest is asking 18 for that car, but that's not what I'd be paying. I have a figure on what I can get it for from them, but I help them out on socials as well as being a return customer, so I get a few favors.

Even so, having viewed the car personally, seen it's documentation and driven the vehicle, I actually wouldn't be opposed to paying the asking price. The car is actually that nice.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Grand73Am

Good catch. Those are 79-80 decals, called "Charcoal" graphics on the build sheet, and "silver" by Phoenix Graphics. Used on regular TA's with compatible colors like Platinum(silver), and red, for example. I have an original Platinum 79 with those decals.

I love those Platinum birds! I haven't seen one in person though, so I didn't recognize the graphics.

I would also suggest a 98-02 Trans Am as a daily. I owned a 2000 WS6 as a daily for a little while, and it was a blast. Pretty quick in stock form, and once you start modifying them, forget it!

[Lee]

Originally Posted by JLMounce

Yeah, the car has a documented repaint. The snowflakes were optioned on the build sheet as well as the 4 wheel disc option. I didn't look closely enough to see if it was a ws6 optioned car, but it was my understanding, that option also provided the 4 wheel disc brakes.

I wouldn't be looking to do any modifications to this car. I have my '69 Firebird for that. this would just be a driver when the occasion arose.

WS-6 would have had the 8" Snowflakes, not those 7-inchers. I really doubt that THOSE are the snowflakes it came with.

[JLMounce]

Thanks for the information. I'm going to go take another look at the car this weekend and I'll take a closer look at the build sheet and window sticker.

Can you confirm my assumption that 4 wheel disc would equal a ws-6 optioned car?

[78w72]

Originally Posted by JLMounce

Thanks for the information. I'm going to go take another look at the car this weekend and I'll take a closer look at the build sheet and window sticker.

Can you confirm my assumption that 4 wheel disc would equal a ws-6 optioned car?

pretty sure the 4wheel disc was ws6, but for sure if it was ws6 you could not get those 15x7 snowflakes. i have seen many turbo cars claimed to be original with 15x8 snowflakes so chances are they were available as an option to order.

i dont think all turbos were ws6 but i know all the pace car turbos were mandatory ws6. again, to get these questions answered without guessing go to 301garage, the owner there has all the info & details you will ever need & can confirm all these questions.

[Skip Fix]

I am not sure they still has snowflakes -didn;t they all ue the 8" "turbo" wheels?

[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by JLMounce

Thanks for the information. I'm going to go take another look at the car this weekend and I'll take a closer look at the build sheet and window sticker.

Can you confirm my assumption that 4 wheel disc would equal a ws-6 optioned car?

Take some pictures (at least for us...)

How does it drive???

I test drove a new 81 Turbo T/A. It wouldn't pull the hat off your head. I'm glad I didn't get sucked into that deal...

Roger, where are you??? ("ol pinion head)

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

Take some pictures (at least for us...)

How does it drive???

I test drove a new 81 Turbo T/A. It wouldn't pull the hat off your head. I'm glad I didn't get sucked into that deal...

Roger, where are you??? ("ol pinion head)

It drives real nice,. Pretty cushy compared to my '69. It probably needs new shocks as it's a little floaty at times.

Definitely not fast, but I wouldn't call it anemic. On par with a modern civic or something like that. That would be my biggest concern, I'd probably want to turn the wick up, but that's why I have the '69.