Back in 1996, in a high school electronics/tech class I was surfing the internet which was fairly new and I came across a picture of a car. I fell in love with that car. I wanted it so bad, only to find out the chances of finding and buying one was almost impossible.
This was the picture I had seen...
Turns out only 718 Notchbacks were built. 624 were for the US, and the rest went to Canada. Now imagine how many of those 718 still exist 28 years later. Some people think maybe 350 or less might still be out there complete.
Well, Since they were so rare even in 1997, I got the closest thing I could, a regular black GTA. But I always wanted a notchback. That picture started my love of camaros/firebirds. A few years ago I bought a low mileage white GTA and then managed to buy 2 OEM notchback hatches. I planned on building a "clone", since I wouldn't claim it was a real one. That car will still be getting built eventually.
However, back in may, I found a real Notchback GTA for sale on Craigslist up in CT, for a great price. I contacted the seller and didn't hear back so I assumed it had sold. A few days later, I finally got an email from the seller with additional pictures I had asked for. He asked me to call him if I was serious so I did. It had some accident damage and had a rough life but I still wanted it. The following weekend, I took the trip up there with my truck and trailer and bought it.
The car had been rear ended by a Harley Davidson around 2007/2008 and then parked in a garage since. The car had also had a front end accident on the drivers side which was repaired but caused the car to now have a rebuilt title. The son of the owner also explained how they swapped the black interior from another GTA, but it was originally beechwood tan. The car even came with the rear sheetmetal and bumper of a parts car in the same color. The motor was also said to have been rebuilt and a new trans installed not that long before it was parked. Due to the higher mileage on the car and the rebuilt title status, I had no intention of dumping a ton of money into this car, but I did want to bring it back to factory correct in regards to the interior. I bought beechwood interior stuff and I am just waiting to install everything.
I removed the damage rear pieces and pushed/pulled out the tail panel. I still need to finish it up a bit and bolt it all back on, but its almost done back there.
After I gutted the interior, I found a few rust holes that need to be addressed in the kick panels and under the floor. They aren't really that major and should be easy to fix. My neighbor will be taking care of that for me once I can drive it to his garage.
That means I need to get it running. When I bought the car, I knew it wouldn't start due to bad gas from sitting 7+ years so I told them not to even try. I assumed that since it was damaged it was safe to say that it was running up until then and when it was parked. All fluids and such looked fine. Today I washed down the engine bay and got it ready for a tune up which I hope to get to this week or next. I also have to drain the gas tank. Only thing missing under the hood was the washer fluid tank. Everything else looks stock and original. So I'm not even sure about the "rebuild". We shall see how it runs though.
The body has the common peeling clear coat in some areas and some minor rust spots. My plan is to just get the interior finished and the car running/driving. I have no immediate plans to do the bodywork/paint. Once I can enjoy this car and take it to local shows, I will focus more on the full rebuild of my white GTA.