vickyUK

Hi Everone,

I am new to the forum which looks great

I am in the UK and have a few Trans-ams but I have just bought my new toy which is an 84 Trans-am convertible two seater, the only thing I know about the car is the conversion was done by autoform but thats about it really, I dont know if they are rare.

Any information would be brilliant and much appreciated.

I look forward to talking to you all.

Thank you Vicky

joshtownsend

iTrader: (16)

some where between 50 and 250.. I would bet 250 because I have problem seem 4 or 5 in my life just around Houston. but not to many of them..they were produced in 83 and 84 And yes auto from did them much like slp does the ss. anyways, the construction was less desirable to say the least. Way to much body flex. but a fun car to have. I would not going trying to sell it for some ungodly figure . gm never really put anything in the vin number about being special. so you have a hard times proving that it is an org. They also so kits to do it yourself. I had an 83 camaro..white..sold it for 2000. the guy who bought it want it because I wanted one when they came out new.. he put about 10000 in it.. maybe its worth about 4000 if that.. until you find the right person that just wanted one I guess. At any rate. the are fun cars.. just enjoy it and drive it..that's what they were made for anyways..

badjuju342

iTrader: (3)

Go to www.thirdgen.org , look for a moderator there named Willie. This guy eats , breathes and sleeps 3rd gens . He can tell you just about anything about that car you'd like to know.

toddztoyz

Hey Vicky UK, What would you like to know? I have an 84 Z28 done by autoform. I am the third owner of this car. My father in law bought it from the original owner in 2000. She only had 19,000 miles on her and was garaged. My father in law passed away in 2003 and left the car to me. She now has a little over 28,000 on her.

Your Trans Am is extremely rare!! There were very few TA's converted. Probably less than 200 cars. I believe there were only about 400 Camaros done. I have the original paper work and build sheet for my car. The conversion was a $2300 option. It was done in Indiana by Autoform corporation. I have the parts manual that was sent to the dealer with the cars. Of course none of the parts are available any more. If you could post a picture I bet no one has ever seen one of these cars.

badjuju342

iTrader: (3)

I have seen Autoform cars. There is no backseat and the tonneau cover comes right up to the back of the driver/passenger seats. The top was different as it snapped on the side of the body rather than on a folding frame at the bottom of the top. A really great-looking car with the top down but the top detracted from the car when it was up. In other words , it looked better than my ASC convertible with the top down and my car looks better with the top up.

vickyUK

Hi,

Thanks for all your reply's, here are a couple of pictures of the Trans-am, she doesnt look much at the moment as she needs all the ground effects putting back on and spraying, but other than that shes a nice car.





I hope the pictures show up OK.

I think you have answered a couple of my questions as 1 question was going to be are the parts still available which you have answered and is a no, and are they rare and you said yes.

Thanks again, I will post some more pics when she has had a respray.

I have a few other Trans-am aswell, I would have more if I could afford it.

Let me know what you think of her.

Vicky

vickyUK

Hi BadJuJu you are right I think she looks loads better with the top down, I dont think it looks nice when the top is up, but then that could cause a problem for me with our English weather the top will constantly be up.

vickyUK

Also to let you know about the other Trans-ams we have.

1977 T-Top S/E Trans-am
1978 T-Top Trans-am
1981 T-Top Trans-am
1984 Convertible Trans-am
1984 T-Top Trans-am
1988 Trans-am GTA T-Top

and 2 1977 rolling shells.

We only started with one as a hobby and now we just keep buying them.

Thanks again Vicky

vickyUK

and heres a picture of the interior, let me know what you think.

vickyUK

I would think that is the only one in the UK as I havent seen many of them and never a convertible, its lovely, and I bet you get loads of attention.

We go to a few shows we have only been into American cars for 2 years now, we go to Americana at Newark and we went to Billing AACI this year and have been to a few smaller ones, sadly we only got the convertible a month ago and she needs work before she can go on the road but she will ready for next years shows along with the other Trans-ams that we own.

You will have to get yours to some shows next year and show everyones Trans-ams up, yours make the others look plain.

When I signed up to this site I never thought I would be chatting to someone else in the UK, are there more from here on the site?

Hopefully we will meet next year at the shows, as I am sure I won't mistake your Trans-am

Talk to you soon Vicky

vickyUK

Hi,

That is a good saying The only thing is that we are in the UK and guess what its raining again, that is the only down side with having a convertible or is it a down side living here in the UK, not sure about that.

Anyway its nice to have a convertible isint it, like you said there are not many about, which is good for us.

Yes you will have to get to some shows they are good, we camp at the shows and the atmosphere is brilliant, we are hoping next year at the Americana and a couple of other shows to have 4 cars there, but that depends on how we get on with them over the winter.

Here's my baby that I have been using this year.



She's an 81 Trans-am T-Top.

I can give you some website addresses if you like to get in touch with some of the main clubs, do you go onto the AACI, that is one of the biggest and they have some fun chat on the forum.

I would have liked to see the Corvettes that must have been a Corvette club, its nice to see them altogether, I like the Corvettes but I dont know much about them.

Talk soon.
Vicky

toddztoyz

Hey Vicky,

I thought I would post a couple of pictures of my 84 Autoform Z28. She has less than 29,000 miles on her. She is still mostly original except I had her repainted due to a bad factory paint problem. I have added a polished intake, edelbrock 600cfm carb., shorty headers, 3 inch Borla Exhaust, and a set of 99 Z28 chrome 5 spoke wheels.

ACW

Here's what I found for my Firebird Models list

Auto Forms Sport Roadster Convertible Firebird and Trans Am (1983-1986) (Auto Forms was a company that popped up in the early 80s. They provided a custom conversion service to convert a normal Firebird or Trans Am into a 2-seater roadster convertible. Auto Forms was a company based out of Elkhart, Indiana that performed convertible conversions on Firebirds. It is believe the conversions began in 1983 and were performed through early 1986. Autoform was sanctioned by GM and as such did conversions on both Firebirds and Camaros. The conversions were performed at two different facilities: one in Elkhart, Indiana and the other in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The conversion took about two weeks and cost an estimated $5500. Auto Forms worked directly with participating Pontiac dealers and did not accept customers off the street. New cars were drop shipped to one of the facilities and then delivered to the dealer for delivery to the customer. Year by year production is also not known but its believed that about 600 total cars were built between 1984 and 1986 including both Firebirds and Camaros. About 200 were produced each of those years. The conversion used an extended rear decklid that extended through the rear seating area to the front seats. The decklid was formed with two bullet shaped bulges that sat immediately behind each seat that provided both support for the head rest but also served to enhance the euro style race car look. The decklid was comprised of a 2-layer fiberglass laminate and opened up and back from the front so the top could be retracted for stowage. The rear portion of the decklid functioned as a trunk lid swinging open an external chromed hinges support by the struts re-used from the original glass hatch. The design maintained the size and space of the original trunk. The fiberglass panels came in stock Firebird colors: black, beige and red.)

vickyUK

Hi Todd,

Nice Camaro, it looks lovely, I wish mine was original but sadly someone has changed the nosecone and the hood and a few other things, so I am just tracking the right parts down now, so hopefully I can get her as original as possible.

Cheers Vicky

soldaustin

I have a 1985 Trans Am convertible that was made by autoform. It has 14,500 original miles on it. I don't have a great photo of it but will take some soon. I took this one when I bought it about 3 or 4 years ago.

The only complaint I have with mine is it has a shake when you take off like the body is moving back and forth. I have seen others post that theirs did this and their x-member underneath was loose. Mine seems tight. I will try and remedy this though. The car is mint inside and looks like it hasn't been sat in. The paint though needs a little work. The spoilers beneath the doors need to be painted because of the door rubber dragging them. The fiberglass part on the back is yellowed because my parents (who bought the car before me) kept it covered up in their workshop with a plastic car cover. I am sure this is what did it. The drivers corner of the convertible top is slightly chewed up but I am having that repaird. I have a convertible shop here that is going to replace the corner patch (glad it is a piece that can be replaced) and is putting on new snaps since the old snaps don't snap. (Maybe 4 or 5 will snap) So after getting these things done, the car will look like new. The engine compartment is like new and hasn't been cleaned. It has the original belts and hoses believe it or not. I replaced the original tires when I got it because they were worn out and dry rotted with age. Anyway it still turns heads. I agree it looks great with the top down. With the top up it still would look good if the top snapped like it should. Oh, also I need to get the top dyed. Does anyone know how to do this? I know body shops spray vinyl tops but not sure about these. I can't find my photo now but will post it when I find it!!

soldaustin

Here are a few photos I just took of mine

vickyUK

Hi soldaustin,

Nice car, I am thinking of putting a GTA style hood on mine, I think they look really good, and seeing yours makes me want to even more.

I cant wait to see more pictures of your car, I will post some new pictures as the restoration goes on.

Thanks again everyone for all your replies, I really appreciate every post.

Vicky

DocT

Your car is beautiful! I have the Z28 version that I'm working on right now. Mine had the 305 Cross Fire injection system, no one knew how to work on them so I did a LT1 swap a while back (having heads P&P and a nice size cam with supporting stuff put in soon).
When my cross members were loose, it would pop occasionally when I put a little torque on the body like turning up into my driveway, and it still does sometimes...it helps when you tighten them. I don't know about the dyeing of the top. Mine's been replaced and has a heavy canvas type top.
Good luck on reviving her; you'll continue to turn heads, but you'll find that everyone wants to run ya.

Also, I'd get a tracking system and a top notch alarm system for her because these older cars can be stolen in about 30 seconds!

wyo_vr4

Nice cars, guys.

Vicki: Greetings from a fellow Brit, now living in America. I'm from Leeds. Not too far aways from you. Like UK-WS6, I have an 02 WS6 vert. I'm new to the forum too but hey: Welcome!

mrws6speed

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to posting on the forums. I happen to be a convertible person....and I have long been tracking down information.

Here's the history. In 1979 GM started CONTRACTING with companies to produce "factory" convertibles like what ASC and SLP have done with GM cars. It started with National Coach Enterprises and another company. Moving on to the 3rd gens, GM contracted with Auto Form and another company that did some conversions (not too many and they weren't particularly that good).

I've tracked down many people to get information on these cars. I had the privilege of talking to some original owners of these cars who had the savy to contact Auto Form when the company was still around. I purchased an '83 T/A convertible from the original owner. He was able to talk to Autoform and only 10 '83 Convertible T/A's were built. He also met the person who purchased one of the other '83 T/A's. Upon seeing him years later, he asked about the car. It had been in a bad acident, was totaled and crushed.

I also had the opportunity to talk with the original owner of an '86 T/A convertible. He contacted Auto Form and wanted to know about his car. He learned that there were 500 T/A Convertibles produced total for All the Years. I'm unsure of how many Camaro's were produced, but it was significantly more than the T/A's.

Now, the only production year I know for certain is the '83. But given it was such a low production year, there would have to be more 84, 85, & 86 cars to make up for it considering there were 500 total. Here's the thing, based on imperical evidence (I've run into quite a few of these cars), '84 was by far the highest production year. I also own an '84 T/A vert as well. My guess was that there were probably close to 250-350 of these produced.....and I'm leaning towards the higher side. The '85 and '86 ones seem to be much rarer. I run into about 5 '84's for every '85 or '86. I also own an '86 T/A convertible as well.

I have more info, but I've rambled on enough already. I would like to thank everybody for posting to this thread. It is extremely difficult to find information on 3rd Gen convertibles.

Thanx,
Mike
Treasurer, Burnin' It Up: The Firebird & TransAm Club of New Mexico
2002 WS6 Convertible
1992 WS6 Convertible
1991 WS6 Hardtop 350
1988 GTA Hardtop 350
1986 WS6 Convertible
1984 WS6 Convertible
1983 WS6 Convertible