The history and story of my 1992 Trans Am GTA:



Pontiac MSRP as factory optioned: $27,380
Supplemental "SLP Performance Products" (GM part# 12341398): $2,818
Total cost: $30,198 + Tax, Document & License Fees on a 5yr term.

I have the original Pontiac window sticker, the dealership "supplemental" window sticker for the SLP Performance Package, and the original dealer purchase agreement showing the SLP package was ordered with the car and financed into the purchase price.

Date Manufactured: Monday, September 30th, 1991
Final Assembly: Van Nuys CA, USA
Order #: NFH578
Dealer #: 23-991
Ship to Dealer #: 23-238
Delivered to dealer at: Richmond CA
To whom delivered: Pontiac Motor DIV-GMC, PO Box 23090, Oakland CA 94623
Original Selling Dealer: Wood Pontiac/Cadillac , 2925 Corby Ave, Santa Rosa CA 95407 (707) 525-0600


In high school I had a 1982 Firebird S/E. I freakin loved that car and built it myself using an engine from a 1986 Camaro. After high school once I had a good job, I started searching for what in my mind was the ultimate 3rd gen Firebird. Of course for me that meant a last year (1992) top of the line model (Trans Am GTA). After nearly 2 years of searching I found one north of me here in CA. It took me so long to find one because I wanted a very specific 25th anniversary color and they only made 18 GTAs in that color (Dark Jade Grey Metallic, paint code 18). What made it even sweeter was it was a t-top car with grey leather interior instead of brown. To this day I have only seen 2 other 92 GTAs in this color, both and brown interior and only 1 had t-tops.

I found this car on AutoTrader.com on 5/18/00 disguised as a regular Trans Am believe it or not (the picture gave away the fact that it was GTA!). I immediately called the seller and it turns out that he was only 330 miles away. I told him to take out the ad ASAP as he had a buyer! I happened to have called him when the ad was barely a day old! The next weekend I drove up to check out the car and it was perfect! I knew that it was the car I wanted. It took me about another 3 weeks to sell my other car and I went to pick up the GTA 2 days after that on the day of July 1st 2000. The seller was asking $7,800 I eventually got the car for only $7,000 cash. On July 1st 2000 the car was sold to me, the fourth owner, with 80,019 miles and I then obtained the fourth title on July 6, 2000.

My car was ordered on 8-16-91 and was built on 9-30-91. The person that bought my car also opted to purchase the "SLP Performance Package" at the time of ordering it so that it would be financed in with the purchase of the car. He finally took delivery on January 2nd 1992. Soon after this time he had seen what the new 1993 Firebirds were going to look like so in March of 1992 with only 1,900 miles he returned the car to the original dealership and put it towards the purchase of a newer 1993 model.

It was in turn sold at auction by that dealership on April 22, 1992 with 1,907 miles, then it was inspected by the purchasing dealership and passed emissions on April 24 1992 with 1,916 miles on it and the car still remained in Santa Rosa California. It was then sold to the second owner who obtained the second title on December 30, 1992. On February 8, 1995 the car passed California Emissions testing again with 38,614 miles on it in Santa Rosa California and once again on February 1, 1997 with 61,517 miles on it. It was then sold to the third owner in December of 1998 who obtained the third title on January 28, 1999 with 73,000 miles on it.

1992 was the last year for the 3rd Gen Firebird and the GTA model was sold as an "order only" vehicle. No 1992 GTA's were built without a customer order being placed and so none were dealer stock (unless of course the dealer bought one themselves to have on their lot). Because of this, and the fact that the base price of a GTA was increased in 1992 to around $28K, there were only an estimated 226 1992 GTA's ever made. Of those 71 had t-tops, 34 had grey leather, and 16 were Dark Jade Grey Metallic. According to the VIN/option code database at www.compnine.com which is complete for 1992, my car is 1 of 1. Over the past 15 years I have only seen 2 other 1992 GTAs with the SLP package installed as well.

In October 2001, on a trip to the original selling dealership in Santa Rosa CA, I found out that my car had been ordered with the SLP Performance Package. They provided me with an archive copy of the supplemental window sticker which listed "SLP Performance Products". None of the parts were on my car when I purchased it because apparently the original owner never had the kit installed after taking delivery. He already knew he wanted to trade the car for a 1993. In 2001-2002 I set out to locate all of the correct SLP parts to put back on the car. I succeeded right down to the very last SLP PROM chip for AXXF (which is the EXACT PROM my car had stock) left in dealer inventory in the entire U.S. I also located original C.A.R.B. labels for the SLP Tri-Y headers and an original SLP package decal for under the hood. I have found some other originals over the years so I also have spares. I've gone to Pontiac Historical Services and gotten a complete information packet from them on my specific car and I also got a reproduction window sticker made by them so I can keep my original one framed and use the fake for shows.

My car took 2nd place in its class at the West Coast Trans Am Nationals (Trans-A-Rama) in 2002 and it's been published in the book "Pontiac Firebird, The Auto-Biography" by Marc Cranswick (pg. 139) along with my 1991 Firehawk #003 (pg. 163) which I owned at the time. At the time I took the pictures for the book, my GTA had the fender emblems in the wrong place from a dealer paint job back in 1996. I removed the fender emblems and sent them off to Rich at www.carmotorsports.com to have them reproduced using mine as a color sample. A year later I got my original back with a new GM authorized reproduction set. Thus some pics have the emblem in the wrong place, some show no emblem at all.