1989 was a pretty good year. The Berlin Wall came down. “The Simpsons” and “Seinfeld” premiered. The World Wide Web was invented. I was born. Cher released “If I Could Turn Back Time”. And Pontiac celebrated 20 years of Trans Am by launching a limited edition, turbocharged model. And those last two facts are somewhat connected
I’ve said this before and I don’t think I’m the only one around that has this wish. Imagine being able to travel back in time, say to 1989. Since we’ve gotten this far, imagine you’ve got a briefcase filled with cash. What dealership would you walk into first? I would walk into the first Mazda dealership I could find, and get myself a brand new Series 5 TurboII RX-7.
And I can’t help but feel that this 1989 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am would be my second choice. This is a 20th Anniversary model and it has only covered 2,392 miles (3,849 km) in the past 32 years! That adds up to less than 80 miles (128 km) per year! That being said, you’ll probably stare at the photos provided by seller nj-truck-king for a while. And the more you stare at them, the more you realize that this is as close as you can get to a time capsule!
But let’s take a more in-depth look at this rare bird. Pontiac only made 1,555 of these and they worked on the project with a company called Prototype Automotive Services. The Turbo Trans Am was going to be an Official Pace Car for the 73rd edition of the Indianapolis 500 race. This is something you’ll be reminded of when you’ll look at photos of the trunk. Bobby Unser drove the pace car back then, while Emerson Fittipaldi won the race.
Pontiac decided not to use a V8 engine in this, and so the Trans Am ended up with an upgraded version of Buick’s turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 unit instead. These were rated for 250 horsepower, but some claimed that the actual figure was closer to 300 horsepower. If you’re familiar with stories about the Nissan GT-R and Toyota Supra, then you’ve probably encountered this scenario before.
This particular car is still running the original automatic transmission. But you might be excited to know that back in the day, it could go as fast as 181 mph (291 kph) with a ZF six-speed manual gearbox and a host of other upgrades. To put things in perspective, a 25th Anniversary Edition Lamborghini Countach would top out at around 183 mph. Let that sink in for a moment.
Looking at photos of the interior, you could swear that this is a brand new vehicle. Whoever took care of this car knew what he was doing. Back then, this would set you back approximately $40,000. So it comes as no surprise that the seller is currently asking for $79,900. And yes, there is a long list of cars that are faster than this all while being cheaper. But can you put a price on time travel, even it’s not the DeLorean type, to begin with?